The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1920-04-15
ANTIQUITY OF MINING
TUBAL GAIN MODERN
FIRST UNDERGROUND MINING
STARTED IN EUROPE TO-
600 YEARS AGO.

Sclentuc HreSS).
The ancient and honorable vocation
of mining is of such remote antiquity
thar Tubal Cain. "the instructor OF
every artihcer in brass and iron" may
be considered quite modern. Iron
came into use not earlier than 2OOC
b. c., which sets a definite chronology
ical limit upon the blacksmithing ac-
tivities of the famous early descend
ant of Adam. The bronze "copper" age
had its beginning In Egypt about 1000
b. c.; but underground mining for
flints began in western Europe 10000
years ago. For the making Of their
fine stone Implements and other arti-
facts, the new stone age men were not
satisfied with the flints that could be
picked up on the ground. as their am
cestors had been for $4,000 years. so
they began to dig for them. They
We're the first miners. Eighty of their
worn deer-horn picks were found re-
Gently in the tunnels of the flint mines
al Brandon, England. oven the skele-
ton of one of these early miners has
been found in an old flint mine in Bel
GUM, lying beneath fan Of rock
from the roof of his tunnel with a
deer horn pick still elapsed i'm his
hands.
Egyptians First Metal Miners.
The first metal mining was done by
ancient Egyptians in the copper mines
of the Sinai peninsula nearly 5000
yeans ago. The Slopes. looking very
modern, are still open. and ON the
walls are the inscriptions Of the early
miners. We have their copper chisels
and moils-shaped like our tools of
today-their clay canteens and heavy
stone picks Already those wonderful
people had discovered the art of
smelling ore only i'm recent years
have metallurgsts succeeded i'm de-
vising processes more successful and
efficient. The copper bearing ores /
that they dug and smelted were chief /
ly turquoise containing about 1-3
per cent Of copper oxide; a hydro-si-
icate of copper; and granite rocks
bearing a small percentage Of carbon
ate and hydro -slicate. The highest
grade of ore was a hydro silicate.
In the pyramid age 3OOO-250O b. c..
the Egyptians invented a tubular drill
which worked on the same principle .
as our modern diamond drill and pro-
duced a perfect core of hard rock Pre-
sumabiy the drill was of copper and
was fed on its cutting edge with
something like emery powder, just as
those extraordinary craftsmen fed the
long copper saws with which they
sawed blocks Of stone for their build
irgs and monuments The shaft of
the drill was revolved by hand 10y
means of a crank at the top the turn
ing motion being assisted by two
heavy stone governors swinging just
below the handle
Mother of Civilization.
The story of Egyptian civilization
has been told a thousand times yet
the wonder of it grows with ncreas-
ing knowledge We Of today owe much
to Greece and to Rome-our civiliza-
ton would scarcely exist but for them
hut Egypt was thousands of years
old and decadent before the Greeks Z
had emerged from the condition of
simple barbarism.
Egypt was the mother OF civilza- N
ton. From her all of the ancient 81
peoples learned nearly an they knew.
She gave to the world agriculture. ir-
rigation the domestic animals fruits D.
and vegetables. the alphabet. paper h
ink, architecture, sculpture, painting A
glass making, goldsmthing weaving d
other arts and crafts of various kinds
the mining and smelling of ores NEE r
.allic tools and weapons. the calendar Id
the first knowledge of the stars. the "a
art of building sea- going ships. tools ~
many useful mechanical inventions Fl
The first moral precepts, the belief i'm
immortality, and an elaborate and NJ
efficient administrative system Az g
If these things she had devised and ~,
argely perfected over 5000 years n
B. c.
The scientific and mechanical ac- "
Of the 18th century. D,
wonderful as they are pale beside the "a
Of the early Egyptians. 90
'ince they created mechanics and the q
sciences. They had no teachers civ q
lization arose with them al
In one domain only did the Esvp- O.
ians fail to excel that Of the intel
ect; they produced no great phnoso-
'hers and no literature of vaule Their II
ncient code of laws has not surviv- u
d. To-
1t is almost Incredible that such j
,rogress should have been made ID