The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-07-26

10 the difficulty in securing evidence
,of the necessary character Legisla-
tive relief has been considered in the
form of a law requiring the licensing
and examination Of assayers, and the
so-called blue sky laws have also
been considered as a possibly remedy
IN general, it may he stated that
little or no progress has been made
toward the eradication of the evil 1t
is not our purpose to suggest rem
edy As is we'll known. the bureau of
mines has no police powers, and the
interior department has always re-
garded such matters as subject for
state. rather than federal legislation,
except so far as the postal laws may
be violated in the distribution of
fraudulent literature The object of
this paper is therefore not to suggest
remedies but rather to present the
facts as they exist. hoping that they
may be of some use to the various
state officials who are now taking an
lactive interest in this matter"
Assayers Checked Up.
A table is presented giving the
names and addresses of assayers who
report finding platinum from a frac-
ltiOn of an ounce to the ton up to the
value of $4,000 per ton. the values
found in each sample, the results OBJ
ltained by the bureau of mines, and
THE kind of sample tested. Many of
the samples tested were duplicates of
those from which platinum had been
reported by other assayers, and all
Others came from the same district as
claimed. Forty-four tests were made
by the bureau. IL of which are credit
ed to r. A. Dozier, of Grants Pass.
Ore, gov of Occur d'Alene City. Mr.
DOzier found values ranging from S205
up to $4,000, while the bureau inves-
tigators failed to find any values what
ever in platinum or anything else. The
S25 900 assay was also sponsored by
D. L. Johnson, and Chas. L. Hull, of
Grants Pass. This same d. L. John
son, whose fame has heretofore reach
ed the Occur d'Alene district, is also
credited with several other assays in
whichehe found high values in platin-
nm. but in which the mining bureau
engineers found nothing. Among the
many assayers mentioned in the tab
ulation is c. c. Titus, who represented
the A. $. & r. company in this district
many years ago and is now manager
of the Homebuilder company. near
have found platinum in commercial
quantity. In the one sample credited
to Mr. Titus he claims to have found
from O.S to O.5 ounce platinum, but out
of five samples the bureau metallur-
gists failed to find a trace. The list of
assayers and chemists checked by the
bureau represents many states east
and west besides those mentioned. L.
A. Rodimer, of Seattle, found 3S
ounces of platinum family minerals
and he adds "One of the richest assays
] ever made" but singularly enough
the bureau found samples from the
same district blank. The same result
followed tests of samples which the
Azarite Mining company, of Tacoma,
found very high in platinum and
gold" In the entire list the mining
bureau investigators found only one
sample that had trace of Platinum.
Evidence of Sailing"
They did find, however, some inter
esting evidence of the methods used
by fake assayers. A sample of pulp in
which the Silver State Chemical COM
pany q. f. Sowers), of Winnemucca,
New, reported platinum up to $4,000,
was examined by the bureau metallur-
gists and upon which they make this
comment: Water soluble platinum
salts were found in large quantity in
the pulp sample, and under the micro
scope platinum sponge was detected,
neither of which exists in nature and
therefore indicates sailing"
Another sample credited to r. A.
Dozier, of Grants Pass. now of Occur
d'Alene, is reported to contain SO per
cent platinum. The mining bureau
men class the sample as metal and
add: Examination of this sample re-
vealed wire and foil therein"
were recheeked by independent assay
ers in various parts of the country,
and the results invariably confirmed
those obtained by the bureau of mines.
Conclusion.
Much other interesting and valuable
information regarding platinum is
contained in the report. all having in
view warning the public against the
fraudulent platinum promotions, most
of which will appear in the next issue
of the Miner, from all of which the
gentlemen making the report reach
the following conclusions:
a. There is a large demand for
platinum and the price is high.
80 A number of samples of ore or
sands taken in various regions of the
United States have revealed platinum
to some assayers, but by others and
by the bureau of mines none has been
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