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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1880)
1 68 THE WEST SHORE. June, 1880 DISSEMINATION OF COLD. Wc Iwlicvc it to be a sound principle, that the working cIim.- lrcncrallv m no 0 should hive a practical knowledge of all those elements of wealth which con titutc the lending resources of the country in which they live. A little knowledge It a dangerotM thing," in every tense of the word ; while a lib eral share of useful Information eon earning ,nc feoeral topic of the age in which wc live, is ever an ark ol safety In whatever situation we may lie placed. There ii a rcmarkalile dilTercncc be tween American ami Bnroptan 1 rafts men. Our mechanics coma into the peaaaaaion of their trade with a fund of inlormalion based upon a wide experi erne and observation. A blacksmith. fr example, know how to huild hit. own lorgc ami prepare his own char- coal. A wagon-maker not unfreipieutly Implies such u man as is able to huild the woodwork of a carriage, i"' and uphol.tcr it. A machinist knows how to fashion his tools as well as he knows hw to use them in the execution of a piece of work. Not so, however, with the Kiil'IisIi nneiativc. lust as I hoist km.ws how to turn a treadmill, so is the r.uroncau mechanic irenerallv. con versant only with those things whu h come within the narrow limits of the sole tiosineu to which his father np- pfnttond him. With these Introductory remarks, we w ill proceed to the subject liefore us, . Gold is one of the acknow ledged ie sources of the Pacific States and f er tit 'iies, and, as such, it becomes our coplc to uudetstaml something about lis geological history and the most ap proved methods of cs-racting the metal fiom the arious earths vshciciii it is found dtMsitcd. Old mincis and prmptcting experts ate, as a rule, art im to the study of elaloiale works on 111.11 eralogy and metallurgy. Thcv require but few tbaoraUcal principles, and will tolctaU those only which they can re time to practic-e on the spur of the mo ment when most in need. Hence, Wl conclude that a newspaper or magaiinc article, Writtan in an easy and popular Myle, will Is read and lieasured up vshen unwieldy tomes would grow musty upon theii ihclxes. It may not he generally understood that gold is one of the most unisertalh diascmmatrd of all lbs met sis. Iron, mi fad, is the onlv exception. It is only a few veais aim that the auriferous belts j n of the earth were supposed, by the leading geologists, to be extremely lim ited. Kut few isolated gold -producing regions were known to the ancients. These were doubled in number during the medieval sues, while thcv have been mart than quadrupled by the ex plorations of modern times. The gold regions of the United States, the onlv ones of which wc shall treal in the 'present article, may be di vided into two principal sections the Appalachian and the Californian, The first named section comprises all those auriferous rocks, alluvia and dilui ia.cx tending from Georgia to the Canada ; gold hal ing been found to a greater or less extent in portioni of Georgia. North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachu setts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Cold, in small quantities. hl also bean discovered in portions of I ennessce, Alabama and Michigan. The California section comprehends an auriferous svstem of mountains and hills extending from Lower California to iititish Columbia, and eastward to theSieir.i Nevada and Cascade moun tains. Latterly, the precious metal has als., ken found in New Mexico, Colo rado, Arlaona, l tab and Idaho. The fold producing areai of Oregon und Washington art daily widening as adventurer push their way into the bare tobra unexplored sections. It is getting to be a inattei of common nr. eurrtnea to And gold indications n all qui river-bedi and gravelly drift. may, we are persuaded to believe th.t ssWTI IT! but few of our old pioneers throughout thli,the Pacific Northwest, who would be afraid tit Mmr Ikaii they could find the "coloi " in the- hats. f the streams thai water their farms. Tins wonderful dissemination of an- "! row particlca is vet an 1 pioblcm among mineralogists. Tint the 1 rests of mct.il.rw:,.; IJ abraded and torn by the com ulsioiJof Zr.y """ l""1- there .s M '"T. ,C'UC' " " ""' dillicult to oiueie how thesr I ----- . 1 a"-s am masses of earth u, r "! the vancvsXillwXr I bis i the rrndrtin,. ..t ..... 'W' osimegration of min. rial r.w-L .1. t R PMkK .7 ItSr.lJ.IW in making Vxtend d continues in our own day, though with far less violence and activity than in former times. Let not any of our readers be startled when we tell them that in many instances placer gold is none other than an actual crop of an nual renewal. This is conclusively i )..- itsA r.Ktornrinti rtf m-inu nf the California river bars, which have become a second and third time im pregnated with auriferous particles since they were first worked out in the early days 01 then discovery. It is but reasonable to suppose that, bv the melting' of enormous masses ni snow and ice, annual mountain torrents ire formed in the Nevada and Cascade ranges, ot whose violence we can form no adequate conception. Thus, through the instrumentality of these streams, various mineraliferous ledges are broken down and their mingled debris carried headlong into the canyons below, and theme, by slower and less active pro cessess, their smaller particles are trans ported by purling brooklets to the table-lands and plains, where they arc finally ensconced in the all-pervading alluvial deposits. It is only about fifteen years ago, or, at the longest, within the last two de cades, thnl amnnatmtm l... Iw.l.ll.. - J , I.N.V I'wnuy mm confidently predicted the finding of gold in certain definite formations. While it is, to a certain extent, true that nunrtz rock is the natural matrix of gold, it is a conceded principle that where the main geological formation largely com prises talcotf. stillr. with linr,. or.,1 u i, " .... .i.v ..ml nil L intrusive rods, there gold.thcorctically .m.l ...-St.. .11.. sir v .. J '7i " v e neiicve it was 1'vson who , . O J i"Miv,WI 1.1113 coincidence as a natural law in geology, while a few years later, Dana first made a practical application of the principle on the Pacific coast. By far the greater amount of gold taken from the earth mint .,.) c ii . . imui cooio from alluvial deposits, and in these iinww is more extensively dis tributed than in any other localities. From what has We,, said, it will llius appear that the So-called 'kumgs will continue to be the most ProfitaBle depoalta for solitary miners am smal corporations. "Panning" and "rockin.r" ,.. i -i 6 . .;.. , ' "-"'"ps, UN most piimitivc methods .,r - . . - I'.o.iioij. m gold from the containing earths, and ,l,l mwc 110 slH"dal olltly- Sluic- " ""c little ready capital to n-gura.c efficient operations; while h.vdraul,c process necessitates a uu expenditure for apparatus. The reduction of irold.rsesrinwILl.. i .c -'-.ion of the metai'is'on y' Plbe.1 by the most costlv maMTV rm!;uS;i("S!r:.''.i ,.i i : . ' "Ul "uierwisc em- cxplora- U0'W thc precious metal.
