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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1907)
r.!AGAZiras:xTio:i tii?xe JUAGAZIIfEiSCCTION TU?.Z I'D a- r.. i' ' ..- 4 4V 5 rOI 'long1 ago' a cable train, flashed, S: frpm farroway 'India'. state'd'thai lVSvn lUdin ' the Swedish traveler, Md discovered fUhgotd fields in an almost . , .... .. . " .. . . . uhkhqwh section or twei. - -w vv; - t . Thif announcement, such as started the : y t c t . y- 11 " wwn... i I miu Mil imiw i ii jjii l .iiuir. I . nta fiftyight (fears agoanda frenzied dash - AT jeeligSm This U truly the -o Alaska wtthtn recent memory, scarcely yoJjeH age , , , ..::-f4;.irv created ripple of excitement at least in :- 0ne hears less now of frantic rushes f this country . And yet the world, today is ;.:to new gold fields, but this is not because busier delving for gold, and with ' greater men'i . lust : for the yellow metal has ,j suceess,Jhan ever before. ; i .C V , abated. More alluring than ever, 'the - Amazing, too, has. been the increase ' glitter of gold lisltolling them,; to-, the y'; in the world's output of gold of late. Last . world's out-of-the-way places, where they j year it ' was ; about $400,000,000 nearly - are struggling, suffering, starving, dying, double' he- figures of a decade before, -or dinning fortunes as, fate decrees; and I; Within a few years' statisticians believe it - writing -new -chapters -in the-great-ro- f will rise to the great flood of $$00,000,000-' mance of human endeavor and' adven-r annuauy, ana mat me time ts not rar axs Gold! told! gold! cold! -. . - .v... - '. -. Bright ma& yalloir, bard and cold. Hood. A broad Md rnmpl. r4 whoM duat to cold. Milton. OLD is mora . than . the ttandard by which the ? value of other material thing is measured; it is the magician's . wand. -which, Blaring noon the varied activities pf the human race, determines by the' boldness or timidity of its touch whether there shall be progress or stagnation, v i 1 6o familiar one almost says commonplace has the search tor gold become, that the world at large seems nearly to have lost interest in oma of the most' important -and - picturesoue ; quests of the day. ' - - V.-- -Yet the ; unprecedented production, of the present shows that more of her children are aearohing for fortunes in the ample bosom-of Mother Earthand are meeting successthan ever before.'- v - In the weetorn United States,' in Alaska and Canada in Mexico, in Australasia and bleak Si beria, in pee t-ridden Africa, soldiers of fortune,' drawn from all quarters of the globe, are crowd ing the territories where "strikes" have been made, and aire toiling for a share of the vast wealth hidden away by nature. ' 4 . , v One seldom hears, for instanceof the dej termined gold hunt now going on in 'Siberia. The , field is -not new it was discovered away '. back- in 1845 but. today- it I holds out : to the aeeker afteV spontaneous wealth a lure alto gether top veL ' - ' : . i i. ... ' ' ,' .-; . Only now is the full extent of its enormous . possibilities being realised; now; that the pro .Suction in its chief field, has; grown to 00,000 . ounces annually, and when experts are sure, the amount may be doubled with up-to-date hand' ling.'''"' w.--;r .-, ; ' ; To the average American who may eeek to " keep in touch with 4he .Siberian, field, there comes a recurrence of a Buaso-Japanese war' time trouble. One must tear one's self away from such good, comfortable, easy-sounding names as "Last Chance" and "Grubstake," and must get acquainted with such jawbreakers asPreobra , - jenck and Alexandroffjkv these are samples of the names of Siberian mines. i .- ,. Carried on in . a region ' where the traveler , from a. wanner country shivers in furs, this Si berian mining, la -not permitted to lag even in ' blisxsrd .weather. - -r , ' v The miners are inured to cold. They have ! to be. Work." infesSnt,work,Xo. them .means .v imply staving of! starvation for the common , G , PORTLAND, PA ; -7 " ! r.. -. K V r- it,. 1) tan f when the" output r will be$6oo,- poodopr'V- , , : iV Jo Mpprectate such,aH: !' W.".f. 4 ; . tuAAith trnm Yiti! source alone. So bust r ,, i. "; v : !.;..;' . . .w, MPd Ear tht however, hef fnergies ta : vdntzcd tnto unprecedented acttvtty tn all - ture. laborers receive no more than mere living. There are -fewer v independent, free-lanco"; miners there, perhaps, than anywhero else, as nearly all the gold hunters are miserable toil- era, laboring for the enrichment of the mine owners.;' - - ; . ' .v ' . Hardship unspeakable hardship such as ( no other gold craxe has developed is theft W Not 'suffering for the men alone. Othei , f"..l';! ?4 FIT ' A mm I.. hri V:. V v., ' - . -h, gold fevers have sucked, the lifeblood of men,Jtl,dlrrnord-sr permission, to mine gold on his - hut thia malrM nmn: nA ta - Tl;.'!,. : i.J v. n. ij. : Everywhere you . -ee them, poor,, broken. ,, - - - t ... ...uu., . joyl iea women.. pawentiy, aiouajy wasning ine yellow lumps-free of 'baser accretions.' :Toilitg, ' OREGON. SUNDAY- ' MORNING. APRIL 2 J, l37 - . - jit . J r I'M ML,, 3 -J - .. H.. V U r day in ad day out from dawn tilllark,' under ; the most rigorous ; conditions. At home their .' : . i- -1 j . 1 1 . 1 . children may be crying, hungry, sick, miserable ' what matters it 1 One must hvel '. .- . . And for this what do ihe" Siberian women receive? t IJeduced to American currency, about 12.50 a week. ' Even the men who do the- mining receive on an average' no more than $4 a week. , 'A curious feature of 'this field is an anti- .-J ....u-j . J -.1 : ii : estata aid .hr. aida with tnAM .nuwlara tnana.-' Mt- inero a ciass or people known tnare aa iuuu. ,imiiKiij uui vtuimra m kid uw pin he, digs to'the landlord himself at about $10.60 ' , an ounce, and pays about $10 a-dayfor the use of the landlord's 'miDs i-. 5. -itj.-,-" j, r.-5 '''iLrr'iS.v ; i 1 1 4 r i -' S -. v; 1 1 " But even at that, tributors might strike it rioh at ' times ' so further, restrictions are . im- . ...... . . . 1 . 1 . poseo. a tnbutor may go to tne qeptn 01 water J l r --.1 . .a .1-. : . .L. 1 jevw,. ana no wv-. -P" , oecoroee in property oi u owucr,.w uceiup 4n alnahU' 1-TMMit'' ' ... SVX&rU the mass J of workirs from getting more than a living, the Siberian irold fields are bein enertreticallr de- . - i v j t .. poverty-stricken viljaga to reach the field, and M.r....nlr.n -,iUnr tn teaoh th fir.M .n.4 find TOurMll in -a wonaeruma 01 actintT- , Mininflr works tre on all tides; big mills hundreds of. them puff snd grind night and ! .... ;iii..,i,j Tv- r aay., ouncia.ys are uiviuuuu m w nuoswu jci . of toil for gold. For miW around are mines and mills.' Seem- Ingiy out ef place,"' err at least." out of accord- ' - - ' ..- S , . " l " 'WVy . iBbrJfihp ar Gferfrr fit . t&c , with one s improsaiop-. of.' the .centre, of Siberia, , , there are electric-lights throughout moat of the V forty square miles of .the principal geld field,. . and the mine owners hare luxurious homes, fit- ;' ted with modem' cdnvenieHceii. " , . Yet,; in spite i of this modern side, one may v ; v see in many parts of the region the ' "horse- . -whim,' or windlass for hauling .the .ore. 'from , ' . . the shaft . A, boy aits astride a horse, .which, ..... traveling,around and around in. a small circle,,, , winds about. the drum the pulley rope. . . ' ' ; '.. ;:.' To the. Siberian field rush constantly in- t; creasing crowds of adventurers, who think that ' the. mere presence of " gold holds "for themthe . J : magio thing, opportunity, 'the word .which now . pervades all EuBsia.v.v v ... Posthouses are crowded with these pilgrims. '.The snowy .roada to the . field are, dotted with them for many are! too .poor to go by train. 3 " Passenger traffic there is enormous. Indeed, it ' was" principally the "opening' up" of the Tran- , Siberian Railroad which gave the great impetus to gold 'seeking: ' . : J . . "' , It is not only in-the Siberian portion of . Russia that the lure of gold holds out the covet- ... ed prize to its devotees; in the entire nation, ac- , t . cording to a recent estimate, the annual output :. I is more than $22,000,000.;- v - s . StUl, Iiussia, or; indeed, Europe as a whole, 1 cannot' lay claim to leading rank in' the output ' of gold. No complete figures ire available later- , than 1905, but these place Europo fourth on the list, and Africa second. '. " -1 " Of course, North America is first, with an ,, , ; output for the year of $118,176,774.' The figures 1 for the other continents are: Africa; $11326,- , 71; Australasia, $85,970,779; Europe, $27,668, 111; Asia. 24,44636South America, $10,069,- . , r 842. : ' ';- ; v : In three years the continent which had shown . t at that time the most marvelous increase in gold' " , ' production was Africa, which had produced but : $68,036,433 in' 1903, and even a lesser amount ( i by almost two millions-in 1904.'. , In the same "; ';' period North America's ' production waa ', in-. . t . ' creased over $13,000,000. , (i , , . , . ; '; v While dealing with figures it might be' well "vy', to absorb a little general information at' this ; ' 4- point regarding the wonderful 'increase f the ' ..world's output. .- ;,., 'jJ .,i . f ' . Examining' the records, the first startling " . . fact that we find is that during the first half of , ' the nineteenth century the total production r s amounted to $787,000,000, while -during the see- v ' ond half it aggregated $6,900.000,000. ' ' .Here is an even more striking fact :' Tot ; 1 -the eleven years, 1896-1906,. both, inclusive, the , ' harvest of vellow metal amounted to $3,319,- 000,000, or much more than had been mined in all the world from the year. of Columbus' voyage down to 1S50. From 1492 to 1895. s little over 1 400 years, the world's gold product hsd sggre- ' gat( $8,700,000,000. - t-. . j i ... 0,t -., - o? the decade ending with 1850 the average Paction was mmm. This ws. T rorl,.tcou,'., .ao- tC nn for fomis yield.ng op.it. richM the avege for tne Tailowinar tv trrar wns Iia'J.tJ.lw;ii. " " Was not until the 1801-1.K)0 period tn I vwu- c - mA -0P;.I" "22 w $325,000,000. in IOCS about f S7"..00O.0OO. and last venr estimafi' t at :im (im mA i. j r, . a ,la cesng. . (Contijtubd o.v jNSira rxcr) It ' ' . , ' ' ' ; e '
