r.!AGAZiras:xTio:i tii?xe
JUAGAZIIfEiSCCTION TU?.Z
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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
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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 ,
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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
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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 ,
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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. ,,
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joyl
iea women.. pawentiy, aiouajy wasning ine
yellow lumps-free of 'baser accretions.' :Toilitg, '
OREGON. SUNDAY- ' MORNING. APRIL 2 J, l37 -
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day in ad day out from dawn tilllark,' under
; the most rigorous ; conditions. At home their .' :
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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-
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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
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" But even at that, tributors might strike it
rioh at ' times ' so further, restrictions are . im-
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poseo. a tnbutor may go to tne qeptn 01 water
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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-
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" 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 '