The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-06-21

In the book Of job 1t Is written:
Surely there is q vein for the silver
and a place for the gold where they
fine it." The miner, in a cynical mood
has been heard to misquote these
words of the old Hebrew poet and
say: There Is a place for silver, and
gold is where you find it," The word
fine" in the Bible means refine" Of
course, and, therefore, to say that
there is gold where it is refined is like
telling the prospector that the pre-
cious metal of his search is to be
found at the mint. But the patient
Job was not man likely to trespass
upon the patience of his fellows: the
revised version puts a comma after
gold and says, (which they refine" So
the miners saying, which most of us
have often heard, is without biblical
warrant. Yet venture to tell story
Of later day in which the same idea
found humorous expression. In No
vember, 1851. soon after gold had been
discovered at Ballarat in, Australia,
Charles j. Latrobe, the lieutenant
governor OF the young colony of Vic
toria, rode to the diggings, then the
scene of feverish activity. Passing
along the flat at Golden Point he
watched the miners at work and talk
ed with them. Finding himself chat
ting with man of more than average
intelligence, he put forth the great
conundrum: Where do you think the
geld came FROM The old Cornish
man--of course, he was a Cornish
man--leant on his shovel, scratched
his head for moment, and then an
swered: well. sorr, wheer 1t Is, theer
II is; and wheer 1t amt, theer be l."
That reply remains to this day the
epitome of geologic vision and mining
realization. Nevertheless the diggings
at Ballarat furnished the setting for
che Of the worlds biggest adventures.
What u rush that was! Sailors de-
serted their ships, clerks jumped off
their stools, traders abandoned their
counting houses, every able bodied
nan shouldered his blanket and made
t'acks for The g I'D mines. The news
reached Europe ana started STAN
redc. Ships came crowded with peo-
pie so unsophisticated in mining that
they thought gold in quartz meant
that the metal was to be found by the
double pint. They had much to learn,
Ike most of us, and they were taught,
as most Of us are, by that supremely
wise and forceful teacher. the pro-
fessor whose name Is experience. 1t
was great hegira. From the min
ing camps eager prospectors plunged
into the bush, the forest primeval
that covered the habitable portions
OF Australia. They found more golden
gravel and they discovered also the
grassy uplands on which the Austria
liam was to grow a later silver fleese,
4 source of wealth more abundant |
than the gold and more beneflcent
This hint of the golden fleece re-
calls the adventure Of an ancient day.
According to the classic myth, Jason
and his comrades sailed on the ship
Argo from Tessaly, on the quest Of the
tabled Golden Fleece, which was In
Colchis The king of that country
consented to yield the precious fleece
If Jason would perform sundry prod
igies, which would have been beyond
his strength if Medea, the kings
daughter, a typical wise woman, or
witch, had not given him a charm that
helped him in his hour of trial. BY
aid of this he won the prize, He seiz
ell the fleece and fled home with his
sweetheart and friends II
The fable may be interpreted thus; [
The sacred ram, the fleece of which !
Jason sought, refers to the Tibarenl, '
or sons of Tubal whose name means s
hammer" for Tubal was a smith 1
family. The Tibareni were tribe I
that mined for gold near the northern /
shore of Asia Minor. They washed h
the gravel Of the gold bearing stream a
Into sluice boxes on the bottoms of v
which they placed sheep skins to ar @
rest the fine gold When the time k
came to clean up, they removed the Il
sheep skins, shook out the coarser r
particles of metal, and hung the fleece r
to dry, so that the fine gold might be c,
beaten out Of it and saved. Thus the r,
Greek mariners heard of the land in q
which golden fleeces hung on trees In
In a sacred grove by the Euxine. ia Ii
son is the type of youth, the seeker d
who goes forth with his comrades S
across the sea on the miners quest Il
He finds that he must perform prodi- r
gles of labor before he can win the &C
u ecious metal. In winning 1t he is ds
,ided by the sorceress Science, the II
modern Medea, who shows him how ii
o use the fleece for arresting the fine ht
yold in the bed of the stream Colchis, to
md even explains to him that the or
natural grease on the wool serves to or
the adhesion of the particles pi
# gold. Placer mining, the aid of
cience to industry and even flotation IS
re typified in the story of the Argo-
auts. III;
We recognize the undying truth of
he ancient myth and speak of the
;olden Age in California, of the Argo- Ye