The Daily Alaska empire., 1949-10-28

the University of Alaska in Fair
 banks for assaying. Lord was re-
 luctant to send the gold out at
 first but after implications of his
 refusal were pointed out to him. he
 consented to release the nuggets
 in the custody of the Fairbanks News Miner
 The nuggets, worth about $2, were sent to Fairbanks late We'd nesday afternoon NUGGETS TOO SHINY Now the scene shifts to Fair i banks.
 The glass vial containing the !, nuggets were examined by experts
 of the University of Alaska. Three of the nuggets are gold and one is brass" Ragle reported,
 and one large and one small mug i get appear to have been pocket or <, pcke-worn for several months"
 He explained that when trans
 ported in water, gold is < rounded off but not polished Pockets or pokes wear off the secondary metal
 coating on the gold, and smooth
 and polish the surface. Ragle also said two of the small
 CT nuggets were from entirely diff
 ferent vein sources and too deli
 cately structured to have beer
 transported any appreciable dis
 tance by the Yukon River, tui
 could have been carried by ice.
 He said nitric acid dissolved one
 of the small, sharp nuggets show
 ing it to be not gold but brass,
 which is a combination of copper
 and zinc, a man-made alloy.
 MIGHT BE FROM BOAT
 This might have been filings from the housing of one of the old stern wheelers," the professor said, though what it is doing on top of silt is hard to explain | Ragle said he found one of the particles of brass contained grass roots which indicated the filing had been close to the surface and not in it's environment very long. Brass. like gold, tends to sink to ,edrock," he said.
 The presence of two or more different types of gold would be possible, but brass would have to lave been brought in by human eings.
 If we accept these nuggets as ,aving been transported by the Iukon to the position in which hey were found, we must accept a jolume and velocity of water which would have been sufficient to have flushed silt and gravel entirely )ut of the vicinity.
 "The density per unit of the surface of gold is so high that a current of water sufficiently strong to move gold will also carry gravel many tons heavier than the metal CONDITIONS NOT THERE Tn other words, 1t is like asking us to believe that balloon and an iron ball would fall through the air at the same rate of speed. The professor said that placer conditions accumulate under cer- tain physical laws which are ob- yiously not present in the new Klond ke"
 Meanwhile, reports from the Ter .itorial Department of Mines also take dim view. B. D. Stewart, Commissioner at Juneau, expressed grave concern over the unjusti- jed excitement
 Art Glover, department repre-
 sentative at Fairbanks, said ot
 F.shwheel that there's absolutely no evidence that would permit
 It's endorsement as the real thing
 )r even as "a reasonable gambling
 hance."
 I1t COIlCluQcu tlldL III lilo UpiAiioii
 more money has already been spent on the affair than will ever De taken out of all claims com
 oined."
 Returning to reporter Datum at FIshwheel, he wound up his dis
 patch:
 "Fishwheel awaits the assay re- port with jagged nerves" He reported newcomers were expressing bitter disappointment with fruitless banning. But he said Ed Farrell, senior member of the prospecting fraternity, is still hope full.
 q saw one nugget banned with
 my own eyes and I know the gold was there in the muck Farrell said. Its this way in every rush.
 Cheechakos (tenderfeet) expect
 nuggets to whistle at them from the gravel. Prospecting is nothing but hard work"