Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-12-24
MINING WILL
BE DEVELOPED
VERY RAPIDLY
Hamilton Believes Cessation
of Hostilities Will I'm
prove Business.

San Francisco, CAL. Dec. 24.-Min-
ing, the industry which has played so
vital a part in the winning of the war,
will assume a position of greater inn
portance following the cessation Of
hostilities, than ever before. accord
ing to Fletcher Hamilton, state min
eralogist. Development Of new min
ing fields is essentially a pioneer en-
terprise, said Mr.. Hamilton, and &C
tivities of this character have always
been evidenced in the periods after the
important wal of the world. The in
dependent, open-air. d and dare
spirit is engendered in the hearts of
The soldier and sailor. and thousands
of the American boys who are soon
to come home from France will
again be satisfied to sit at a desk
through the day. and go home to a
stuffy room on a city street at night.
Mining is the type Of industry which
will attract these men.
Three contributing factors, said MIR.
Hamilton. will assure the truth of the
statement that mining, particularly in
California, is on the eve Of a great
revival.
l.. The demand for metals, struc-
tural materials, petroleum products
and heavy chemicals which will &C
the reconstruction, rehabili-
tation and reorganization of the en-
tire civilized world.
2. The existence OF all hnds of
mineral deposits, both developed and
undeveloped, in every one of the So
counties of the state. which will maxi
possible partial satisfaction of that
demand at least.
3. The accessibility of labor and
brains trained to tasks of the neces-
sary character, and the energy and in
itiative to carry on the work. as rep
resented in the presence of returned
soldiers and others who will look to
the west for a field in which to be-
gin life anew.
The mining laws of the state and
nation are so framed, Mr.. Hamilton
said. as to offer every encouragement
to the prospector and pioneer. When
a mineral deposit is discovered on
public land-and there remain large
tracts of government land yet open
for location in California-the stalking
out of a claim and recording of that
act in the local county recorders Of
flee gives the locator possessory title
to the ground. One hundred dollars
worth of assessment work annually
performed maintains sue title in
definitely.
In the beginning gold. he said. was
the sole mineral substance produced
in California. Last year 54 different
mineral substance were Mined and
marketed in 81 counties of the state,
Gold is still a big item in the total
output, out where it constituted three
fourths Of the total value in 1887 and
almost one-half in 1907. it made up
only one-eighth of the entire amount
in 1917. This in face of the fact
that the gold reproduction itself was
consistently increasing during the 80
years mentioned, which means that
scores of adopted and native sons have
slowly but surely applied business
methods to the earthing of bodies OF
clay, asbestos, graphite, ochre, mica
scapstone. granite, slate n soda, as
we'll as to gold. silver, copper, Lead
and zinc, and the structural and in
dustrial materials, and salines, and
petroleum which underlie the hill:
and valleys and deserts of our vel
named Golden State