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THE ALLEGHANY GOLD FIELDS.

The Appalachian chain takes its origin in Canada, southeast of the St. Lawrence, and forms a broad belt of mountain ridges extending in a southwesterly direction to Alabama. The entire length of the chain is about 1,300 miles; its breadth is variable, gradually expanding towards its centre, and contracting at each extremity. The most striking feature of this mountain system is the fact that it is made up of a series of parallel ridges, very numerous, especially in Pennsylvania and Virginia, no one of which can be considered as being the main or central chain to which the others are subordinate, but the whole forming a system of flexures which gradually open out from the southeast to the northwest, as has been made evident from the results of the geological surveys of Pennsylvania and Virginia, under the direction of Professors H. D. and W. B. Rodgers. Along the southeastern edge of this great Appalachian system is a relatively narrow, undulating range, known under different names in the different States. In Vermont it is called the Green mountains; in New York, the Highlands; in Pennsylvania, the South mountains; in Virginia, the Blue Ridge; in North Carolina, the Smoky mountains. The rocks of this belt, which has a width of 10 or 15 miles, are of the lower palæozoic age, but highly metamorphosed, and, for the most part, having their organic remains entirely obliterated. Still further to the southeast lies the great auriferous belt, nearly parallel with the Blue Ridge, and not easily separated from it in geological age, either lithologically or by palæontological characters. The central axis of this belt has a direction in Virginia of about north 32° east; towards the north it assumes a more nearly north and south direction, and to the south it approaches an east and west line. Its width, where most developed, does not exceed 70 miles. This is about its extent on the borders of North and South Carolina. In Virginia it does not exceed 15 miles. Starting from Georgia and proceeding northward, we find it developed in the following counties: In Georgia, in Carroll, Cobb, Cherokee, Lumpkin, and Habersham counties; in South Carolina, through the whole northwestern corner of the State, especially in the following districts: Abbeville, Pickens, Spartanburg, Union, York, Lancaster; in North Carolina, in Mecklen burg, Rutherford, Cabarrus, Rowan, Davidson, Guilford, and Rockingham; thence through Virginia, in Pittsylvania, Campbell, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Louisa, Spottsylvania, Orange, Culpeper, Fauquier; in Maryland, Montgomery county. Beyond Maryland, to the north, the indications become fainter, and consist only in a few scattered lumps or fine scales occasionally picked up, until we reach Canada, where there is a considerable extent proved to be auriferous. Throughout this whole extent the auriferous belt presents rocks of nearly the same character; they are slates of every variety intermixed with bands of a granite and syenitic character. The predominating kind of slate is talcose, passing into chloritic and argillaceous. The prevailing dip is to the east at a very high angle. In Virginia they stand nearly vertical.

Since the California discovery of 1848 little attention has been given to alluvial mining in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, and until recently capitalists have acquiesced in the opinion so confidently expressed by Sir Roderick Murchison, in "Siluria" and other publications, that, notwithstanding numerous filaments and traces of gold near their surface, the Alleghany vein-stones held no body of ore downwards which would warrant deep quartz mining. At pres ent, with 20 years' experience in gold mining; with the testimony of miners in Colorado, that a lode apparently closed by cap-rock can be recovered with ́increased richness at a lower depth; with other analogies, however imperfect, from the successful treatment of pyritous ores in Nova Scotia; and with the earnest application of inventive minds to new and improved processes of desulphurization, it is evident that the working of the southern mines will be resumed,

* Whitney's Metallic Wealth of the United States.

perhaps with the encouragement of a scientific survey under the auspices of the general government.

The deposits of gold at the United States mint and its branches between 1804 and 1836, from the States traversed by the Appalachian gold-field, are reported as follows:

Virginia...

North Carolina...
South Carolina..

Georgia
Alabama..

$1,570,182 82 9,278, 627 07 1,353, 663 93 6,971,681 50

201,734 63

19, 375, 800 80

If we admit that an equal quantity passed into manufactures or foreign commerce without deposit for coinage, the aggregate production would be about $40,000,000, of which fully three-fourths, or $30,000,000, was mined between 1828 and 1848.

It might be expected that during the year ending June 30, 1867, the produc tions of the southern mines would reach results as considerable as at any former period. The United States mint and branches report the deposits of that fiscal year from the Alleghany States as follows:

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It was my purpose to give in detail the organizations for gold mining in the south Atlantic States, with practical results, but so far the attention of parties interested has been so exclusively occupied in acquiring titles and preparing for actual operations, that it seems inexpedient at this time to attempt such a detailed statement. Referring, therefore, to my preliminary report for a review of the geological and mineralogical features of the region in question, I repeat the following general observations:

1. There is yet much room for the vigorous and intelligent prosecution of alluvial mining; especially in Georgia, where the country is abrupt and nature has subjected the auriferous rocks to much dislocation and atmospheric exposure, not only the beds of the rivers, but the adjacent detritus of their valleys, will unquestionably give large returns to the new and powerful methods for washing ponderous masses of earth. It is understood that companies are now organized who propose to introduce these hydraulic appliances upon the Chestatee and other tributaries of the Chattahoochee river.

2. There is abundant evidence, also, that the upper portions of auriferous lodes have been in a remarkable degree desulphurized, and may be worked to a considerable depth with great advantage before the intrusion of what is called "cap" in Colorado, or before the main body of the vein becomes obstinately pyritiferous. Surface quartz mining, if the phrase is admissible, will warrant considerable investments whatever subsequent experience shall demonstrate in regard to the refractory sulphurets. It may be admitted that hitherto a quartz so modified in chemical constitution as to be honey-combed, having become cel lular and brittle from the decomposition of pyrites, with the gold set free from its matrix, is the only material which it is profitable to reduce. But the testimony is ample that immense quantities of ore in this favorable situation are accessible in the Allegheny gold district.

3. There are no grounds for the opinion that the auriferous lodes, strongly marked as they are by native sulphurets, will not prove true fissure veins,

improving in quantity and quality with their depth. Professor Frederick Overman, in a work entitled "Practical Mineralogy," published in 1851, claims that the pyritous veins of Virginia and other south Atlantic States will be more sure and lasting than the gold-bearing localities of California. If the lower beds of Colorado mines can be raised and reduced with profit, deep sinking will be equally successful in the Carolinas.

METALLURGICAL TREATMENT.

The process of amalgamation still generally prevails in the mining districts enumerated. It consists in reducing auriferous rock to a fine powder by means of stamps, arrastras, Chilian mills, or other mechanical contrivance, and subjecting it to a continuous agitation with mercury, with water enough to give a pasty consistency to the mass, the object being to expose as fully as possible the fine particles of gold and silver to the attractive power of the mercury, with which they form an amalgam easily separable by subsidence in the lighter pulp of carthy matter of which the ore consists. The amalgam thus obtained on being subjected to moderate heat in an iron retort gives up its mercury, which passes over in vapor and is condensed again in another vessel, the metal being left in

the retort.

In the case of pyritic ores, however, it is found that the process of amalgamation is seriously retarded by the impurities with which the gold and silver are associated. Probably the ores of Colorado do not yield by simple amalgamation an average of 20 per cent. of their assay value. A previous process of desulphurization is therefore indispensable, and how best to accomplish this is the problem which has occupied the attention of metallurgists for many years. Many methods have been advised, the majority of which being merely empir ical have had but an ephemeral reputation.

The opinion is widely prevalent that smelting-the attack of gold or silver bearing ores by fire-will be the final and indispensable expedient for separating the precious metals from its matrix. If smelting works on a large scale could be established in all the mining Territories, there would doubtless ensue a subdivision of labor in the business of mining gold and silver, as is now the case in iron mining. The miner would limit his efforts to raising ore from the mine, and the smelting furnace would afford a market where the ore might command its price, which would be better for all parties than the method hitherto pursued, of raising and reducing ores under one administration.

But at present there are two great obstacles to such a development of mining in the Rocky mountain districts, and perhaps elsewhere: excessive prices of machinery, chemicals, and utensils, resulting in a great degree from the high rates of taxation, external and internal; and the cost of transportation west of the Missouri river. The former is of universal application; the latter has special reference to the interior districts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana, as well as other western Territories. Except for these causes of obstruction the gold and silver product of the United States could be readily doubled. They will be considered with some fulness of illustration.

TAXATION.

It will be instructive in this connection to compare the taxation of Victoria, the leading province of Australia, and the United States, premising that 10 per cent. in addition should be added to the Victoria rates, to express the difference of freights, interest, and insurance, over the shorter communication between Europe and the United States. Tables have been compiled from the American tariff of 1867, and the latest revision of the Victoria tariff, and are presented in the appendix No. V. The tariff of Victoria has been recently advanced beyond the average of the other Australian colonies.

The taxation of Nova Scotia has not hitherto exceeded an average on the dutiable list of 10 per cent., although, as an incident of confederation with Canada, it has been recently raised to 20 per centum.

Far the largest portion of the importations in Victoria are charged with a. duty of five per centum, while the average duties on the whole bulk of imports, under the tariff of the United States, has been computed by the special commissioner of revenue at 42.71 per cent.

In all the gold districts of the world, the opportunities of placer mining induce a high price of labor; and hence the great necessity that government shall impose the lowest rates of taxation consistent with its necessities upon machinery and other materials or utensils, which experience has proved indispensable to the exploration of mines. At present the burden inseparable from an ill-adjusted revenue system is a grave obstacle to the increase of our supply of the precious metals.

TRANSPORTATION.

A ton of ore in California producing $10 is remunerative of capital and labor employed; and in Canada, Nova Scotia, and the southern States it is profitable to reduce auriferous or argentiferous rock where the average yield is $8 per ton. Yet, in the mining Territories of the Rocky mountains, on account mainly of the cost of transportation, a lode must yield $25 average per ton to warrant its occupation and improvement.

Some statements from the official records of the quartermasters' bureau of the War Department will illustrate the oppressive freights now imposed on the people of the remote interior by the necessity of wagon transportation. In 1865 the cost of transportation of a pound of corn, hay, clothing, subsistence, lumber, or any other necessary, from Fort Leavenworth to

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The cost of a bushel of corn purchased at Fort Leavenworth and delivered at each of these points was as follows:

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To the last point none was sent.

5 03 9.26

10 05

17.00

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1863, the Quartermaster General estimated the cost of transportation of military stores westward across the plains as follows:

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1,439, 578 00

Cost of the transportation of grain on above routes, where the grain was delivered by contractors, and the transportation entered into the price paid the same year:

1. Utah route...

$2,526, 727 68

2. New Mexico route....

697, 101 69

3,223,829

Cost of transportation of military stores across the plains same year by government trains: 1. Utah route...

2. New Mexico route..

$34, 600
166, 730

201, 330 00

'Total by contract and government trains

6,388, 856 37

Under date of April 18, 1866, General M. C. Meigs, Quartermaster General, furnished the following unofficial statement:

The distances to the northwest are great; the interior and local transportation as costly. The use of the Missouri river, however, will enable the government to place a large part of its supplies upon the upper waters of that river, by taking advantage of the summer rise, and thus the extent of land transportation will be reduced; but, until the Missouri valley itself is settled, the navigation will continue to be slow and perilous. Steamers are now obliged to stop from day to day to cut green cottonwood or drift-wood upon the banks, and a trip to the upper Missouri is a season's work. Many boats are wrecked; some are caught by the falling waters and compelled to winter on the upper river. Insurance to Fort Benton, the head of navigation, costs 20 per cent.; and the government has this year been obliged to engage freight from St. Louis to Forts Berthold and Union, old trading posts now about to be occupied by troops as military posts, at $5 per 100 pounds, or $100 per ton. Fort Union is, in a direct line, 330 miles below Fort Benton; by the river the distance is probably one-half greater. From Fort Union the supply of the troops and posts throughout Montana and the districts supplied from the east will be by wagon trains. On the well-travelled and well-guarded routes of the central and southwestern overland trails the cost of this transportation by contract last year averaged 45 cents per ton per mile. The contracts for the present year are at much lower rates, but in the remote districts of the northwest such favorable rates cannot be expected as yet. The distance from St. Louis to Fort Benton by river is estimated at 3,450 miles by river men. The cost of transportation of freight to that point is $350 to $400 per ton. From St. Louis to Helena, a town of 4,000 inhabitants, which has sprung into being in Montana within the past year, the estimated cost of transportation of freight by the river and wagon trail is $500 to $600 per ton.

Within the last two years the construction of the Union Pacific railroad has contributed to the reduction of the aggregates paid for freight, although the wagon rates are not materially diminished. In 1866 the rates from the Missouri river to northern Colorado, Nebraska, Dakota, Idaho, and Utah were $1 45; to southern Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico, $1 38, with an addition from Fort Union, in New Mexico, to posts in that Territory, in Arizona, and western Texas, of $1 79 per 100 pounds per 100 miles. The total number of pounds transported was 81,489,321, or 40,774.10 tons, at a cost of $3,314,495.

A prominent citizen of Montana authorizes the following statements of the amount paid annually by the government of the United States and by the people of Montana for transportation. During 1867 there were 40 arrivals of steamers. by the Missouri river, averaging 150 tons of freight, an aggregate of 6,000 tons. An equal quantity was delivered by wagons from the west and south. He estimates that the average charges for freight and insurance were 25 cents per pound, which, on 12,000 tons, would be not less than $6,000,000. If the population of Montana is 30,000, this would be $200 per capita; if the population is 60,000, as sometimes claimed, $100 per capita. A merchant is deprived for seven months of the year of the use of his capital-a very considerable loss of interest. In addition, the unavoidable expenses of travel, incident to the business of the country, is an immense tax. A trip to the eastern cities, or to the Pacific coast, requires a direct expenditure of $1,000. It is estimated that 20 such journeys weekly are already incident to the intercourse of the people with the business centres of the country; and if so, another million must be added to the account of transportation expenses. The wonder is, notwithstanding the richness and productiveness of the Montana mines, that such a burden can be borne, while the effect upon prices can be readily conceived.

This statement of the amounts paid for transportation in Montana will not seem improbable when it is remembered that $13,000,000 in gold was paid in 1863 for transportation eastward from San Francisco to the State of Nevada and Territories east of the Sierra Nevada.

The progress of population under these oppressive conditions in the mining States and Territories of the west, gives an assurance that the construction of an adequate railway system from the Mississippi river to the Pacific coast would be attended with such an extension of settlements as would justify the immediate reduction of rates of transportation to one-third of those now prevailing. A

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