7
THE YELLOW MEfAL
HOW AMD WIIKKR nuiiDI9DI9-CUVKU1CI).
Curious Form In Which It l Knnnd
ltlch Deposit Heattered Kvei-y-where
Urent HoiiriU In In
din I1I3 : Nuggets.
I AM surprised nt tha stories 1
daily hear m to tbe now develop
nicnts of our gold territory,
4 write Frank U. Carpenter in the
Chicago Times-Herald. Old districts
are being roprospocted, and judging
from the result it is safe to say thnt
the best of onr mining regions have
not as yet hern tonched. The great
mountain chain running from Alaska
to Nicaragua soems to lie an almost
unbroken mineral bed. (lold nml sil
ver are found in tbe continuation of
the chain in South America, and min
ers are working to-day at intcrvnls all
along the western part of our hotm
phere from the Yukon Iiirur even to
Patagonia.
Mot of the gold which hits made the
. world rich in the past has come from
nuggets and from reins so large that
you could see them, Tha Hood of the
precious metals which is now begin
ning to deluge the tarth comes from
infinitesimal particles, so scattered
through the rock that not a gleam nor
a glint of them can be detected by the
naked eye. According to some scien
tists this gold has been deposited in
CALtFOBSIA'H nil NfOdBT.
(WelKht 19J pounds. Worth 14:1,0 X).)'
the rook in the form of gas. Ages
ago, say they, there was an cruptiou
in the bowals ol the earth, nt which
time this gas, ruixsd with gold, rushed
up through the vertical fissures with
great force acd soaked its way into
the porous rock in which the gold is
now being found. It wis by this
means that the little bits of gold were
dropped throughout the rock, the
preoious particles being so small that
they oould not be doteoted. Many of
the old miners had no idea of their
existence, and thoir extraction now is
only possible by moans of the cyanide
process. There is plonty of gold in
salt water. Scientists say that gold
is generally diffused in tha waters of
the ocean, and one eminent chemist
states that the tea water of tbe British
coast contains one grain of gold to
every ton of water. The proportion
is much larger in the Great Salt Lake,
and the man who can invent a cheap
process of getting out suoh gold will
Lave a fortune.
GOLD CRYSTALS (ACTUAL SIZE) AND
T-rtTTK-n TV
Pew people bave any idea of the
queer forms ia wbioh gold is found.
Dame Nature is tbe most wonderful of
i'ewelers, and she has deorated the
ioom of old Mother Earth with gold
in thousand different sbapos. 1 saw
box of gold nuggets and crystals
taken from the Little Johnnie mine
near Leadville. Many of them would
have made beautiful brooohes without
redeeoration. Some appeared frosted,
and others had been torn from the
rook in the form of sheets and plates.
A great deal of gold is found in crysf
tala. Not long ago there was brought
to tbe Philadelphia Mint f 1000 worth
of Australian gold. It was made up
of little gold oryitolf, ranging in size
from that of ft marrowfat pea to that
of tha head of pin. Gold is also
found in cubes and eight-sided crys
tals are common. Soma of tbe gold
nuggets from the California mines are
- shaped like moss. The Little Johnnie
baa produced great deal of wire gold.
I have seen bits of rook from Cripple
Creek npon wbioh, when subjeoted to
. an intense beat, the gold would bub
ble ont and stand up like little gold
rin heads npon the dark atone. Gold
is, ita natural state ia usually mixed
r:'h silver. Tha new Utah gold da
f xaite are associated with arsenic In
s 1 Mercnr mine yon find tha yellow
ia aoonectioq ita quicksilver.
MIL
IF 4 Y&V s w &
and In South Amerioa it Is sometimes
mixed with bismuth.
I have spent sometime watching the
placer miners in different parts of the
West, l'lacer mining was the chief
source of gold production in the days
of 1819. It is still carried on, but the
output is much less than in the past.
The ohiof placer mines of to-day are in
Siberia, where tho earth has some
times to be dug up In a frozen state
and melted before the gold nan be ex
tract n1. This is tha case in some of
the Yukon ltiver mines. The faotthat
there is a gold placer is evidence that
there is gold-bearing rook near by,
and miners pretend to tell from the
character of the gold of tho placer as
to the nearness ol tho gold-bearing
rock from which it comes. If the gold
dust is very line it is supposed to have
come loug distanoe. If coarse it is
thottght the lend is not fnr oft. Home
of the first mining of California was of
gold scales which measured loss than
1-lllth of an inch in length and one
millimeter in diameter.
Placer miners usually find their
biggest nuggets in streams where the
bowlders are large. Where the
streams nro tine gravel the Sold is
generally line aud scaly. The biggest
nugget ever discovered in this coun
try was taken out of a mine at Carson
Hill, in Calaveras County, California.
It weighed 195 pounds and wits worth
more than $1:1,000. A number of
other large nuggets were found in this
same ragiou, ranging in value from
$1000 upward. Jn 1855 a nimget of
gold was discovered in Sierra County,
Cnl., worth ?l0,()l)0,aud in 1850 a mass
of quartz and gold was picked up in
Tuolumne County which was worth
$(0,000. Outside of California some
of the largest lumps of cold in the
United Hlates have come from the
South. North Carolina has produced
three nuggots ranging in sizo from
thirteen and a halt ponuds to thirty
seven pounds, and in Georgia a num
ber of big nuggots have been discov
ered, the largest of which weighed
737 penny weights.
J urongu tbe mining engineers
whom I havo met hero in the West and
information which has rocently come
to the director of tbe mint at Wash
ington, I am able to givs some facts
as to the mines of Africa, wbioh are
maMng such a change in the gold
product of the world. These gold
mines are a snrpriso to geologists.
One fnraom man said he would have
rather expoctod to find gold in tho feus
of Scotland than in the Jtand District
of 8011th Africa. William Wostou, a
lending mining engineer of Cripple
Crick and a graduate of tho lloyal
School of Mines of London, tells mo
that ho believes that the South Afri
can gold deposits originally consistod
01 the bed of n great laUc, which,
having been dried up and solidified.
was by tho action of the elements so
heaved up that it Mood halt on end,
The upper half of this great gold do
posit is now being mine I, but as the
region is further developed the miners
will have to go deeper aud deeper into
the earth and tho cost will be much
greater. As it is the prospects of an
enormous quantity of gold from south
Africa are excellent.
Hamilton Smith, wbo is perhaps
one of the best mining engineers of
the world, and who was here not long
ago as the agent for the Kothschilds
to look up their Amoriosn invest
meats, estimates that the Hand gold
district of Africa will produce a billion
and a quarter dollars worth of sold.
He says that gold has been found
there as far down in the earth as U5U0
foot, and that it exists in all probabil
KCGGET OP BHEET GOLD (FULL SIZE)
flTlVADUII
lty to a depth of 3000 feet. Much of
tho mining will have to be done at
tnis depth, and according to his OHti
mato it would take about 3,000,000
to equip a mine working at a depth of
3000 feet. He expoots the product of
the African mines to exceed 600,000,
000 a year by the close of tbe century,
and he believes that they will be
profitable for years to come.
To-day all of the Africau mines must
be economically managed in order for
thorn to pay dividends. A great part
of the gold has to go back into tbe
mine in tbe shape of machinery and
labor,' and up to the present only
about one-fifth of tha gold gotten out
has boen dear profit. There are now
employed in this Afrioan gold distriot
5000 white men and 80,000 blacks.
Wages are low, and everything is done
on tha largest and most economical
scale.
New mines are being discovered in
different parts of Australia, and re
cent report to onr direotor of the mint
states that tha gold fields there have
hardly been soratobod. Some of the
best mines of to-day are in West Aus
tralia, in distriot where there ia lit
tle water. In tha Coolgsrdie gold re
gion, for instanoe, water sometimes
brings at muoh as twenty-five oenta a
gallon, as there era no great quanti
ties of water within 300 milts of tat
gold fields. There is a great gold reef
in this distriot. II was discovered by
two yonog men, who found forty-five
ounce nugget stioktng out or a moun
tain of quarts. They took ft bag of
nuggets off ft single claim and name
baok to their camp loaded with gold.
The Merour mining district, south of
Salt Lake, is also affected by the lack
of water, but this has been remedied
IV..'
MOH9 OOI.D FttOW OltEOON.
(Aotunl slxe).
by forcing water over the mountains
from a stream on the other side. The
parties who own the waterworks have
a fortune in them. Water, in fact,
costs so much in Merenr that the mills
using it do not allow the steam to
escape, but run it oil into pipes up the
mouutnin. As tho Bteam strikes the
cold pipe it condenses and flows back
so that it can be used again.
An enormous amount of gold of the
world is locked up in India. During
a visit to that country a few years ago
I found that gold had gone out of cir
culation. Tho people seemed misora-
bly poor, but they bad quantities of
jewelry. Girls dressed iu cotton often
wore gold and silver bracolets and
auklcts, and many a barefooted girl
had gold rings and gold bolls on her
toes. I or ages the Lust Indians have
been oppressed. They hove not dared
to loan their money for fear they
would lose it, aud they have preferred
to put it into ornaments. This cus
tom prevails to-day, evon though
there is now nnder the English secur
ity of property. Among the chief
hoarders aro the Indian rajahs, who
wear tho most expensivo of jowolry. I
saw many gold rings sot with preoious
stones worth (1000 and upward, and I
found gold ohains for salu everywhere.
Sir David Barbour estimated tho
amount of tho gold hoarded in India
during the half century provious to
1883 at $050,000,000. This was tho
accumulation of only fifty years. He
estimated that $R0l),000,000 woarth of
silver was hoarded in this time, and
states that nearly all of tho gold and
filver which came into India in return
fnr its exports was thus kopt. The
Hindoo buys little from other
countries. He lives on rico or coarse
grains. A cotton rag in most cases
forms bis olothing. AH the tuonoy he
gots he keeps, and if this hoarding is
to continue it is certain that a great
part of the gold will eventually be
absorbed by the East Indians. The
English have realized this for a long
time. They have attemptod to remedy
it, bnt in vain. About ten years ago
they tried to get tho hoarded gold and
silver into circulation by offering high
rates of interest for money, but the
natives would not respond. There are
about 300,000 native bankers in India,
who lehd to the peasant, but the most
of their business is done in kind, tbe
money lender advanoing so muoh
grain with the understanding that he
shall ruoeive so muoh back whon the
crop is harvested.
Another gold board was discovered
not long ago npon the death of the
mauarajau of liurdwan. This was
opened up on the death of the mahara-
juh. It consisted of seven rooms filled
with gold and silver and prcoions
stones. Three of the rooms were looked
and tbe doors brioked up. One room,
forty-eight feet long, fourteen feet
wide and thirteen feet high, was filled
with gold plates and cups, gold and
silver ornaments and preoious ntonos.
Iu nearly all of the rooms, vaults, were
found containing money, and in one
vault there were 10,1'UO gold moburs.
All of the vaults were so protoctod that
it was not possible for tbe Government
to find out exactly bow muoh they
held, and even tho exact number of
tbe vaults isnotknown. This treasure
is now in the hands of the maharajah't
descendants.
There is undoubtedly a vast amount
or gold in Chiun. ihero are mines in
different parts of the empire, and a
great doal of gold is brought down
every year from Siberia. It comes to
I'ekin and, and is there meltod down
into small bars of about the size of tbe
little cakes known as lady fingors. It
is almost pnre, often running over
KiAOSB GOLD FBOII TUB BLACK HILLS.
twenty karats in fineness. It is oaat
in this amall shape iu ordei that it
may be hoarded and easily passed
front hand to hand. The offl
oialswho in luany easea make for
tunes oat of their offioet, buy these
gold bars and secrete them. They do
not dart to pat their money into tat
or
banks, for fear thnt their brother offl
oials may discover their wealth and
confiscate it. The result is that suoh
gold bars will bring two per cent,
more in Pokin than they will in
Shanghai, There are said to be more
than 100 places in China where gold
is found. In Mongolia there nre a
number of mines, and ia the south
western part of tha oinpiro there
f'-iKySA
vsrsj -JUG
A CALIFOIWtA. NUGGET.
(Aotunl slso).
are gold workings which are 100 feet
doep.
A great part of the gold of both
Japan and China comes from Korea.
The Korean mines are said to be very
rich. Korea is mountainous, and
nearly all of its mountains contain
minerals. During my visit to tho
oountry eight years ago onr Amerioan
ministor told me that he believed th
gold produot amounted to $'1,000,000
a year. General Clarence Greathouse,
the American foreign advisor to the
king, described the mines as ver
valuable, and foreign morohants
showed me quills of gold dust and lit
tle nuggots which had been brought
to them by tbe people. So far nearly
nil of the gold gotten ont of Korea-
bat. come from placer washings. There
are few quarts mines, bnt these nre
worked in tbe crudest of ways. The
loose rook is pried out with picks or
crowbars. When suoh means fail 1
fire is built npon the rook, and when
it is hot wator is thrown upon it to
oraok it. After the ore is gotten out
it is ornsbed between two stones, the
under stone being flat and tho upper
one somewhat round, so that it can be
rolled bnokward aud forward over tho
oro, crushing it. After it is crushed
the metal is saved by hand panning.
No pumps are used, and blasting pow
der and dynamite are practically un
known. Thore is no qnioksilver to
gather the gold, and in all probability
the most of it goes to wasto. Tho
mines are the property of the king.
but those who work them nndoubtodly
steal a greater part of tho produot. A
number of foreigners are now trying
to get possession of tho mines, and
within a few years they will probably
by ownod by English, Amoricans and
ItussiaiiB.
CHAMl'IOX WOOUIAKEIt.
Dearest, Illggest and Woollost Ram
on Kurtll Just Sold for $840U.
Behold a fine likeneis of the most
distinguished member of one of the
most useful families in the world.
He is the champion Merino ram
President, and was reoently bought in
Sydney, New South Wales, for the
enormous prioe of SH101). This is be
lieved to be the largest prioe over paid
for a ram. His championship is there
fore an honor, wbioh ha claims rom
the whole world. If any American
ram has any claims to make let him
step forward and state them.
In size aud in quantity and quality
01 wool be surpasses any rain now be
fore the public. His horns are also
remarkable for size and symmetry,
and would make a lino household
ornament, but his owner hopes that
it will be long before they suffer that
late, lor too ram should bare many
years of activity before him.
It is not eay to decide whioh of the
many apeoies of domestio animals is
the most valuable to man, but it is not
difficult to make out a good case for
the sheep. We have many substitutes
lor tne flesn ol tbe ox, bnt the wool of
the sheep seems almost indispensible,
Tbe world would be very uncomfort
able u it bad to go in cotton, and that
is the ouly other olothing material
which the majority of men can afford.
We should therefore gaze with deep
rispeot npon this magnificent ram and
the abundant coat whioh envelopes
him. Shorn of this onoe year he
will supply hundreds of human beings
with warm and comfortable clothing,
From hit wool will be woven the coats
wbioh cover the backs of statesmen
of dandies and horny-handed aons of
toil, and also tbe more intimate oar
raeuts whioh lie next to the skin and
preserve them from tha deadly oold.
-la will also bave a part in famishing
iloomers to tbe new woman.
Not only will he personally yiold all
.is wool, but ha has already founded
large family of sheep who will com-
ji:ta with him in usefulness. Bams
uuver fail to do their duty in this re-
speot.
Leprosy first apptared on tha Eft.
waiian Islands in 1834. To-day there
art about 1200 lepert thtrt, of whom
ouo art women.
"VJ-l
fill
CHAUFION RAM OP TUB WOULD.
LIFE INJCELAND.
Wondora of the Frozen Island in
the North Atlantic
Its People Are Hardy, Indopsnd-
ent, and Very Intelligent
Iceland belies its chilly name every
now and thou. For years its lava
flows gave it nil equatorial repu
tation, aud now its earthquakes arc
performing a like service. The Dan
ish colonies are an extremely inde
pendent class, and no cry for help has
oome from tboui, although tho dam
age by tho September shocks may be
estimated at several million dollars.
The farms destroyed number well
over !200, and few buildings of Reyk
javik, the capital of this Ultima Tbule
of the ancients, escaped softie injury.
But these Icelanders, while tbey don't
mind the ordinary earthquakes, have a
rare respect for such as shook them
up in September. Iu fact, it is years
since the little country has had any
thing to equal it, but as for outsido
aid it would tuko a sorios of such
earlhquakos to bring thorn to seek it.
They aro peculiarly hardy and ex
ceedingly intelligent In fact, edu
cation is with them of such import
ance that where distances make it im
possible for children to attend school
the "mountain is brought to "Mo
hnmnied" in other word, t lie school,
or rather the itinerant feu-ber, comes
to them. Almost every parish, if it is
any distance from the coast towns, has
a traveling podagogup, who, as a rule,
simply directs the educational work iu
each household, lays out the course of
study, and leaves thu actual work of
hearing lessons and of elucidating
problems to tho parent?.
It is a inro treat to go info tho home
of 0110 of theso Iceland furmer fami
lies mid during the loug winter even
ing watch the cdticutionul work as it
progresses. The purish priest Ice
landers have been Lutherans since
1510 niny perhaps be on his monthly
visit, and this menus not aloiio conso
lation for the soul, bnt a rigid exami
nation of tho younger ones iu their
studies. At tho ago of 14 comes the
final examination, and no child cau bo
Confirmed until this has been passed.
Education for the farming classes
ends at this point ; but for the ambi
tions tlioro nro tho high schools in
various parts of tho country, tho
School of Philosophy uud Languages
at It jvkjuvili, and for maoy there is
tho university at Copenhagen, for uo
inconsiderable proportion of the high
school pupils end up thoir curriculum
of Btmlios in tho Duuish capital.
Wheu they return they become the
leaders iu tho political c intents which
are always stirring up' this liberty
loving nation. Nominally, Icolnnd is
a dependency of Denmark, but since
1874, when their Constitution was re
stored to thorn, thoy havo been enjoy
ing almost absolute freedom of politi
cal action. Tho Althing, or Iceland
Parliament, meets every othor year,
and of the outiro membership of
thirty-six, only six nre numod by tho
King. Theso six comprise just one
hulf of the upper House, whilo tho
twenty-four members of the lower
House are elected directly by the peo
ple. The LamUhofding, or Gover
nor, is named for life by tho King of
Denmark, but only upon tha recom
mendation of the Althing. His power
does not extend to the voto, for a
majority voto of both Houses makes a
measure a law, unloss, of course, it be
a matter involving a changd in the
Constitution, whon the King's voto is
effective.
But in its literary life Iceland in
many respects even surpasses its so-
cullod mothor couutry. Its scholars
havo transplanted the classics of nil
nations into their owu vernacular.
Magazinos aud daily aud weekly news
papers have excellent circulations,
and Iceland's libraries are becoming
exceedingly massive.
To tho eye of tho traveler' Ioelund
presents many features of interest.
While it borders on the Arctic Circle,
the Gulf Stream gives its coast a mild
temperature, but iu the interior there
it little possibility for varied industry.
The low-growing grass makes the
raising of pouict aud sheep remuoera
tive. In fact Iceland exports 5,000
bead of pouies annually, and over half
a million sheep. Six million pounds
of cod fish aud 7,000 pounds of eider
down exported lost year give ft fair
idea of the iudustries of the country.
Vegetables aud grain which can ripen
quick make up the ouly planted crops,
for the summers, though warm, are
very short. In fact, almost all tha
breadstuff used are imported. Bo ia
the wood, for trees ara a rarity there.
In tha neighborhood of Daltifoss.
Iceland's Niagara, tha traveler fiud
himself in oonttant wonderment at tba
terrific power of the glacier streams,
whioh, by the way, invariably forct
the student of natural history to
change his route. But at suoh times
the hardy nature of the Iceland pony
pulls one out of many difllonlty.
The traveled routes ara lost in this
flood, and the pony, with nnorrlng ac
curacy, finds the shallowest way to
the land. Bridges are now, however,
being constructed over many of these
streams, making the travel muoh
eavier than a few years back. In fact,
tbe two great iron bridges over the
Oclftis and Thjors rivers ara marvels
of engineering slid makes passage to
tbe majestic Koljalsnd cataract very
easy.
Now, too, one finds Government
employes busied everywhere in build
ing roads through the lava beds, and
this will, mnko easily accessible tbe
famous Iceland geysers, now infre
quently visited by travelers, beoansa
of the hard, rooky roadway. In fact,
it is strange that this work has only
just been begun, for it is bound to
make loelniid n muoh travoled couu
try for summer tourists. Not alone
will it make tho famous geysers of the
Haukndair ncoessible, but tho entire
couutry round about Mount Hecla,
with its iuuumorablo craters, and the
famous plateau of Thiogvalln, with
its magnificent lake aud its wealth of
historical connections. St. Louis
Globc-Dumocrat.
Straightening Chimney,
The straightening of a chimney
stack nt a brick nud tilo works located
nt Earnest, Poun., was recently ac
complished iu a novel manner. Tha '
ittack is one hundred aud twenty-two
feet high, eleven feet square at the
base, tapering somewhat at tho top,
and weighs four hundred tons. ' Tho
walls are thirty-six iuches thick. The
lop was found to bo leuniug forty-five
inches from the vertical line. To
right tho chimney, ten and a half in
ches of brickwork was removed from
the foundation on tureo sides. At the
bricks were removed, square blocks of
wood were ' inserted, one after
another until tbreo sides of tha
structure rosted on tho block. Be
tween tho blocks substantial brick -plurs
six iuuhus high wore built, leav
ing a space four and one-half inches
betwoen thu top of the piers and the
bottom of the uudermined brickwork.
The blocks were then set on fire and
kept burniiig evenly. If one bnrned
f istcr than thu others, the fire on that
particular block was checked, so that
all were rnado to burn uniformly, and.
as tho blocks wero reduced to ashes,
the stack slowly righted. As tbe top
gradually swung back through tho
forty-five inch nro small fissures ap
peared near tho base. Ii evory groove
a steel wedgo was driven to maintain
tho weight of the walls. Tho entire
work consumed one day, and the re
duction of tho woodon blocks to ashes
required ouu hour. Electrical II J
view. A Friendly Critic.
The poetio young man was talking
about autumn.
"8 uo how tho leaves fall trembling
to the ground," he repeated, softly.
"That's something of your own,
isn't it?" rcmarkod the person with a
calloused nature
"Yes. Is it not a sad, impressive
thought?"
"I dou't kuow that I oan appreciate
it," wts thu reply. "It sounds like -poetry,
"though."
"Do you really think so?"
"Yes. It jiukety-jinks along in
first-rate style. But I don't uoo auy
thing impressive about it.
"Doesn't it appeal to your imagina
tion V"
"Not much. I dou't see how it's
worth the trouble it takes to write it
down. Tho public didn't have to
wu it for y oil to bo born to fiud out
that autumn leaves full to the ground.
That's the way they always full. If
you'll go out sometime and find them
falling straight up or sideways, yoa
oau write a piece about it that'll leave
Sir'Iiuac Nowton a bauk number, ami
make a hit with any editor iu the
country. Aud yon won't have to pat
it iu poetry, either." Washington
Star.
Meteoric Showers.
Every year the earth passes into
what is known as the meteorio belt.
This modern exhibition is believed to
be due to the esrth't crossing belt
made up of minute bodies, the precise
character of whioh has not been ascer
tained. The earth goes into thie path
about the 12th or 13th of November.
These orbitt are supposed to inter
sect daring November, 1893, or Novem
ber, 1900. ' It is believed that the belt
is about one hundred thousand mile
wide, but as tha earth passes through
it iu au oblique direotiou, only about
four or five hour ara occupied in tho
flight