witnessed the growth of a great gold and silver mining industry in the Western States; an iron industry of stupendous proportions in the Lake Superior region; lead and zinc in the Mississippi Valley; while coal is found in large quantities in almost every section of the country. "The greater development of our mining interests, like the greater development of the country itself, has taken place during the past few decades. This is shown by the fact that the total value of the mineral products of this country has grown from about $370,000,000 in 1880, to more than $600,000,000 in 1890, and to more than $1,000,000,000 in 1900. This means that while the United States is expanding over the surface of the earth it is also expanding underground; it is producing the gold with which to purchase the other countries as they are offered for sale." "Copper now ranks second in the value of its product, the more important metals ranging in 1900 as follows: Pig iron, $260,000,000; copper, $98,500,000; gold, $79,000,000; silver, $74,500,000; lead, $23,560,000; and zinc, $10,650,000.” 1 The following summary of the yield of the various mineral products as late as 1897, gives an idea of the growth of the mining industry and the development of the country.2 "If we fail in an appreciation of the extent of the mining industry we are equally at fault in recognizing the influence which it exerts upon our development. The utilization of 150,000,000 to 175,000,000 long tons of coal annually, won from American mines, for industrial and household purposes, may, perhaps, be approximately gauged; or we may measure the advance in wealth due to the exploitations of the minerals each year to produce 55,000,000 to 60,000,000 ounces of silver, 2,000,000 to 2,250,000 ounces of gold, 350,000,000 to 400,000,000 pounds of copper, 170,000 short tons of lead, 90,000 short tons of zinc, quicksilver to the amount of 36,000 flasks, more than 500,000 to 1,000,000 pounds of aluminum, 53,000,000 barrels of petroleum, 8,000,000 to 9,000,000 barrels of cement, 11,500,000 to 13,500,000 barrels of salt, clays valued at $10,000,000, $35,000,000 worth of building stone, $13,000,000 worth of natural gas, 12,000,000 to 14,000,000 pounds of borax, 15,000,000 to 16,000,000 tons of iron ore, etc. But even this array of figures does not convey a just idea of conditions, and few truly realize what has been and what is being done by the mining industry to advance our nation." 1 Mines and Minerals, Vol. 23, p. 219. ' Colliery Engineer, Vol. 18, p. 13. The growth of the mining industry has been of direct benefit to the manufacturers of machinery and, in fact, all commodities, although the manufacturing of mining machinery is in itself one of the large industries of the country. Taking dredging machinery alone: It is claimed that in California, in 1906, more machinery was purchased in weight and cost of manufacture (by that industry) than any other mining industry.1 In a paper entitled, "The Relation of the Mining Law of the United States to the Development of Its Mineral Resources," Dr. R. W. Raymond makes the following statements: 2 "Enough has been written, perhaps, concerning the curious, haphazard origin of our unique mining law and the innumerable disputes which its eccentric, vague, inconsistent and ill-considered provisions entail upon mine-owners- though, perhaps, all these things will need to be reiterated again and again before they will be realized by all parties whose coöperation is necessary to a radical reform. "Enough has been written likewise, perhaps, concerning the object lesson presented at this time by the mining districts of the world, including the greater part of the mining industry of this country, in which mining litigation (in the sense of disputes over the boundaries of mining rights, otherwise held by perfect title) is unknown, while in certain of our States and Territories such litigation burdens the courts, oppresses the owners and operators of mines, and enriches only lawyers and experts. This lesson also may need to be enforced hereafter by repeated exposition; but only because of the slowness of the pupils who should have learned it long ago. "The full development of the mineral resources of the West will never come to pass until the capital it requires is better protected by definiteness in title and boundaries of mining property. And that cannot be done, in my judgment, by any amendment of the present law which shall leave in it the present abnormal, irregular, indefinable, precarious and mischievous extra-lateral right."" The causes of failure in mining are many and varied, varying somewhat with each locality and material produced. The principal causes of failure are probably: lack, of proper foresight in the development and equipment of the property; extreme positions taken by the management, i.e., either too lavish expenditure in equipment, or lack of appreciation to provide sufficient funds for the proper develop1 California Miners' Association Annual, 1906, p. 115. ' Mineral Industry, 1894, pp. 711, 713. ment of the property (a gold mine because it is such cannot be operated extravagantly, but on a sound business basis); too great an expenditure for speculative purposes and too little for practical mining; too great an expense in extracting ores and too great a loss in the extraction of values. Other minor causes are: basing estimates of ore obtainable and value of the same on small extent of openings and on a few assays; lack of experience and knowledge of operation of mines; erecting mills before mine is assured; holding mines without working them; ill-adapted methods and machinery; high salaried officials; encountering much water; and excitements.1 In closing this introductory chapter we can hardly do better than to quote the words of Dr. R. W. Raymond: 2 "Thus East and West bear witness of our great inheritance of natural wealth. Every period of geological change has been laid under contribution to endow with rich legacies some portion of our land. Our territory epitomizes the processes of all time and their useful results to man. Divided, yet in a stronger sense united, by mountain chains and mighty rivers, our diversified mineral resources may figuratively represent, as I firmly believe they will literally help to secure and maintain our characteristic national life, a vast community of communities, incapable alike of dissolution and of centralization; one, by mutual needs and affections, as the continent is one; many, by multiform industries and forms of life, as the members of the continent are many." 1 T. A. I. M. E., California Mines and Minerals, 1898, pp. 4, 9, and Min. and Sci. Press, Vol. 29, p. 88. 'T. A. I. M. E., Vol. 1, p. 39, 1873. CHAPTER II. AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND SILVER. First Discoveries and Legends. Legends concerning the presence, occurrence and use of the precious metals in the United States are almost entirely lacking. However, relics of mining operations prior to the earliest recollections of the aboriginal Americans are not altogether wanting. Such indications of prehistoric mining on the North American continent were found and are yet to be seen in the Southern coastal States and those States and Territories bordering on Mexico, both of which localities were formerly occupied by the Spanish. Further, similar indications of early mining have been found in Alaska and Michigan. However, it is only through careful search of the records of early European explorers of the more civilized nations that it is possible to get a glimpse of the conditions and traditions of the peoples inhabiting a land that was a virgin wilderness from sea to sea. Necessity is the mother of invention and adaptation, but necessity had not called, and up to the earliest times that we have authentic records of the inhabitants of North America, there had been no evident or pressing demand for the use of the precious metals and their adaptation as money or jewels, and it was then only on the advent of the foreigner with his ideas of trade and barter that the need of a medium of exchange was created. In like manner was the primitive taste for decoration by leaves and shells developed into the elaborate and ostentatious display of jewels, of precious stones and precious metals. Regarding the existence of such pronounced evidences of previous mining operations as pits and shafts sunk in hard rock, walls and ditches made for the control of loose materials and water, and buildings erected evidently for the treatment of mineral and the possible reduction of ore, practically no word comes to us from the past. The vastness of the territory compared with the number of the inhabitants and the dreary, rough, uninviting character of the country in which deposits of the precious metals have in many cases been found, together with their inaccessibility, must have been largely responsible for the remarkable lack of knowledge evinced by the early inhabitants of the country. Further, extreme climatic conditions coupled with scourges of disease may have eliminated portions of tribes who perchance had acquired such information, either through their own efforts or on the discovery of other people's work, before it could be transmitted by word of mouth to surviving members of the tribe. Dr. D. G. Brinton is of the opinion that the Indians are responsible for some of the development, at least, in the Southern States.1 And it would seem that many of the supposed ancient workings, especially in the Nacoochee Valley, were made by them instead of the Spaniards to whom they are attributed the work seems to have been done comparatively recently. That the Indians of Georgia knew where gold and silver was to be found can hardly be doubted, for when questioned regarding it they indicated the direction in which it was found, which corresponds well with the known localities. However, it is known that they prized copper as highly as they did gold, and it is possible that the two metals were thought of and spoken of by them in such terms as to confuse their inquirers. According to Mr. R. L. Packard there is good reason to believe that the principal source of native copper was the Lake Superior mines.3 Lemoyne in his Brevis Narratio of the journey made by Laudonnière in 1564 says: "That chief sent me a sheet of copper dug from those mountains (Appalachian), from the base of which flows a torrent rich in gold, or, as the Indians think, in copper, for from this stream they draw up sand in a hollow cane-like reed until it is full, then by shaking and jarring it they find grains of silver and gold mingled with the sand. Hence they conjecture that there is a vein of this metal (sic) in those mountains." Further, he says: "Plenty of gold and silver is found among them and they use them in internal commerce. As I learned from themselves, these metals were obtained from the wrecks of ships which had been thrown on the coast, and I am readily persuaded that this is true, for in the neighborhood of the Promontory (Florida) silver is more plentiful than to the northward. They assert, however, that in the Appalachian Mountains there are veins of copper (aes)." Charles C. Jones says, in his paper on Antiquities of the Southern Indians, particularly of the Georgia Tribes: "Gold and silver, to a 1 Notes on the Floridian Peninsula, 1859. 2 Hernando de Soto, by Charles E. Jones, Jr., Savannah, 1880. |