Structure of Gold Nuggets

1895

The structure of gold nuggets was the subject of a paper recently read before the New South Wales Royal society. Nuggets upon being cut through and polished and then etched by chlorine water were found to exhibit well marked crystalline structure closely resembling that shown by most metallic meteorites, except that in the nuggets the crystals are more or less square in section and show faces which belong to the octahedron cube.


A Sure Thing

Jess — So their engagement is off. How did it happen?
Bess — He knew himself so well that he was sure she would get tired of him. — Kate Field's Washington.

Mountains of Gold

1895

OLD MINES RICH IN MINERALS AND DEAD MEN'S BONES.

Mr. Russell's Discoveries In the Stronghold of a Race of Strange Indians — Remarkable Stories Told by an American Residing In Mexico.

Fabulous deposits of gold are known to exist in the Sierra de Nayarat, in the territory of Tepic, near the west coast of Mexico. D. B. Russell, a well known American residing in this place, and who is an extensive manufacturer and dealer in machinery and apparatus for mining, has returned from a trip into the mysterious fastnesses which, with their inhabitants, have long baffled the attempts of the prospectors to unravel their golden mystery of the centuries. Mr. Russell, who is an old resident here, and whose word is never disputed, is perhaps the only man who has been allowed to view the riches and live to repeat the story. Others have penetrated a part of the way into the Eldorado, but have always met death at the hands of the Alacian Indians, who hold the stronghold and jealously guard its secret.

The gold belt lies in the Sierra de Nayarat, a rugged and almost inaccessible range of mountains some 90 miles north of the road to San Blas and several days' journey from this city. There is also another range known as the Alica, running nearly parallel with the Nayarat, which is inhabited and guarded by a brave and warlike race of Indians, the Alacians. They are supposed to be direct descendants of the Aztecs. Securing a military escort from the governor of Tepic, Mr. Russell set out on his perilous journey and in due time reached the entrance to the canyon, in and about which are all the settlements of this mysterious people.

Near the close of the second day the explorers passed over the last range of mountains shutting in the Alacians and had their first glimpse of the entrance to the valley. It is a narrow pass between two cliffs, which rise almost perpendicularly to a height of nearly 3,000 feet, and is a natural wonder. The view into the valley proper is shut off by a mountain wall running at right angles to the pass. From the top of the mountain the captain of the escort sent an interpreter to notify the chief of the first village beyond of the coming of Mr. Russell and his party, while they followed cautiously. It was after dark when they neared the entrance to the village and were met by a chief and a crowd of natives in their gala dress, who, accompanied by a band of music, came to extend a seemingly hearty welcome. All the natives except the chief wore complete suits of birds' feathers, which covered them from head to foot. At daybreak they started for the main city, a placo of 6,000 or 7,000 persons, a long day's travel away. The intervening country was found to be under a high state of cultivation, corn, vegetables, fruits and other products being raised in abundance on terraces 2,000 feet or more up the mountain sides, which, in places, have a slope of 45 degrees. Even the highest of these terraces seemed to be well irrigated.

The houses along the route were roomy and comfortable adobe structures, and the people were well supplied with cattle, cows especially, and large numbers of tame deer. The natives are straight featured, with long rather than oval faces, very quick and energetic in their movement and experts at handling their bows, arrows and slings, with which they always go armed.

Mr. Russell scanned the surrounding hills eagerly during the journey for evidence of the mineral wealth, and it was not long before he was overwhelmed by it. The valley is so narrow that he could scrutinize the mountains on both sides, and along toward the middle of the day he began to catch glimpses of old tunnels and the openings of abandoned mining shafts. On nearing a projecting spur he saw what looked like a mineral vein, and when he came to it there was plainly to be seen a fine streak of gold quartz, 8 inches wide, running through rocks.

That night was spent at the house of the chief of the main village, who told Mr. Russell that his people were the descendants of the "fathers of Mexico" and had been conquered by either Spaniards or Mexicans in their wars with the latter. Some 50 years ago Mexican troops tried to subjugate them, but were driven out of the valley and far beyond. Then the government made peace with them, so that now they have to pay only a small tribute to be left alone in their mountain homes. The old chief hesitated long before granting Mr. Russell permission to inspect the holes in the mountains, but finally consented and the next morning sent him off with a guard of 30 men. These were greatly exercised when Mr. Russell announced that he was going down into the shafts, and it was only on the chief's order that they accompanied him. When Mr. Russell climbed up to the shafts, he saw at once that they were openings of old mines.

The first mine Mr. Russell entered was dark, and he had to descend by means of a log of wood notched for footholds. When he landed at the bottom, he felt something under his foot, and holding a candle down was horrified to find himself standing on a mass of human bones, Which fell apart and rattled with every move he made. He was so overcome that he sank down on a rock and gazed aghast at the mementos of either some tragedy or religious observance, but as he sat his eyes fell upon the finest ledge of gold he had ever seen in his life. By this time the horrors of the dead chamber had worn away, and he chipped off some specimens. Mr. Russell visited half a dozen other mines and in every one found human bones, some of the shafts being filled to the brim with them, and in all also rich gold ledges.

By this time his guides had become so surly that he had to return to the village, where the first move was to ascertain from the chief the cause of the mines being filled with bones. Talking through an ignorant interpreter, he found it difficult to follow the chief's explanation, but he gathered that many years ago there had been a great revolution, in which many thousands perished in battle, so many that the bodies could not be buried, and all, friend and foe, were thrown into these shafts to prevent a pestilence in the valley below. The only inference is that the foes were Spaniards, and that these people had thus gained the independence they yet maintain under Mexican rule. Doubtless the bones of many missing Americans also rest in those charnel pits. — Guadalajara (Mexico) Cor. St. Louis Globe-Democrat.


Sympathy

Tom — You look awful blue. I suppose it's because of Miss Maybelle's having rejected you?
Cholly — Yes; I can't help feeling sorry for the poor girl. — Pick Me Up.

Iron Jewelry No Novelty

1916

Many months ago, almost from the beginning of the war, we were told that German women, following the example of their great-grandmothers, voluntarily gave up their gold rings, necklets, earrings, bracelets and ornaments of every description, to be made or coined into money for the national need.

Whatever truth there may be in this story, there is no doubt that many German women have been presented by the government with iron rings to replace the gold ones they have parted with.

But that happened a century ago. Then Prussia, crushed by Napoleon, and bankrupt, was in dire need of money, and the Prussian women gave up all their jewels and ornaments to help cope with the prevailing poverty. And out of this sacrifice a new industry arose.

This was nothing less than the manufacture of cast-iron jewelry to replace the gold and silver ornaments which the great ladies of the kingdom had given up. At first sight no material would seem less promising as a substitute for the precious metals than iron. It was entirely owing to the wonderful craftsmanship of the ironworkers that the results were so extraordinary.

Strength, of course, would be a distinguishing mark of such jewelry, and a complete set of these iron ornaments, now in the possession of a Toronto (Canada) jeweler, is as rigid and firm as on the day it was made. This particular set, comprising a pair of earrings, necklet, locket and bracelets, has not been looked after until lately.

The ornaments have a wonderfully fragile appearance, due entirely to the exquisite workmanship. Their weight, too, is astonishingly small, the lightness of every article being quite a feature of the set.

The True Poker Flat

1901

In 1852 Poker Flat produced $700,000 in gold bullion in a single month and celebrated the event with a triple hanging. Then came the public spasm of virtue which caused the John Oakhursts and the "outcasts of Poker Flat" to depart from thence and die of cold and starvation on the snow bound road to Sandy Bar. There are no "Oakhursts" nor "Uncle Billys" in Poker Flat today, and when the stranger makes the slow descent and suddenly by a sharp turn in the trail comes upon the famous camp he finds in that huddle of cabins little to remind him of the Poker Flat of 1852.

The famous slope presents almost a picture of utter ruin. There are but eight persons living in the old town, while a hundred dead ones sleep in the cemetery. Some of the graves are marked with wooden headboards, some with stakes, but many have nothing above them. Nearly all of them were laid to rest without religious rites save a Bible reading by old Charlie Pond, who, though a professional gambler, was selected for the religious office owing to his excellent voice and oratorical ability.

In 1853 and 1854 there were 2,000 souls in Poker Flat and 15 stores, 5 hotels. 3 dance halls and 7 gambling houses. There is but one man left today of that original company. He is an old and grizzled veteran, who delights to tell how in 1856 a circus came to town and sold 1,500 tickets of admission at $20 each. — W. M. Clemens in Bookman.

Steal Gold Cargo

1919

Scrap Iron Is Found in Boxes Packed With $50,000.

SAN FRANCISCO, California — A box supposed to hold $25,000 in gold coin shipped by the Anglo and London Paris National Bank of San Francisco on the liner Korea Maru Aug. 2 was found to contain scrap iron and metal washers when opened by the consignee in Hong-Kong, according to advices received by the bank and steamship company.

The bank, acting as agent for a New York firm, packed two boxes, each containing $25,000 in gold and the correctness of the shipment was certified to by three trusted employes.

Both boxes were put in the strong room of the steamship, but only one of them arrived at its destination with gold in it.

Officials of the bank said they believed the substitution of scrap iron for the gold was either made on board the steamer or after the consignment reached Hong-Kong.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 7.

One Cent

1920

An ingenious professor of mathematics, according to the Omaha News, has figured out that 1 cent, invested at the beginning of the Christian era (1,919 years ago) at a rate of interest equal to the Government Liberty bonds, that is, 4¼ per cent, with interest compounded to date, would make 100,000 globes of solid gold, each the weight of the earth.

The earth weighs six and twenty-one ciphers tons. But the 1 cent with its accumulations, reduced to a minimum weight in gold at the rate of $20 in the ounce, would, he says, make 100,000 planets of the earth's weight!

The moral is: Save the pennies!

Thousands Seek News of New Gold Strike

1920

Rich Ore Is Reported Found Near Alaskan Border

KETCHIKAN, Alaska, Jan. 1. — Thousands of persons in the United States and Canada, and even England have been sent here for reports regarding a supposed fabulous gold strike just across the Canadian line south of here, near Hyder, a town on the American side of the international boundary.

Hyder residents expect a "rush" next spring, according to word brought here.

Reports from Hyder rather discourage the coming of men who have not adequate financial backing. Prospectors described the place as "not a poor man's camp" and "not a second Klondike."

A body of what is reported to be extremely rich ore has been discovered.

Sweating Gold Coins

1899

This Trick of Swindling is Easily Performed

Sweating a coin is merely robbing it of a portion of its legal weight without in any manner altering its appearance. Manifestly gold coins alone would hardly appeal to the sweater, for silver would hardly pay for the trouble. In countries where paper money in employed, sweating has taken no root. Also in countries like England, where the largest gold coin is a sovereign, the practice would hardly become epidemic.

On the Pacific slope at one time the nefarious business assumed such proportions that the government found it necessary to pass measures against coin sweating, but even then the manifest injustice of arresting a person for merely "passing" such a coin, such person being almost certainly quite innocent, appealed to legislators to such an extent that the law was made only to affect the actual manipulator of the unlawful process. The consequence of this has been that the authorities have had the greatest difficulty in securing convictions against the malefactors, who have debased no end of coins.

The process of robbing a coin of a part of its metal is simple. The goldpiece is merely immersed, or suspended, in aqua regia, a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids, which attacks the metal at once. The manipulator keeps the piece in the bottle only a short time, for a few minutes suffice for the mixture to absorb and hold in solution as much as a dollar's worth of the gold from a $20 piece. The coin is then washed in water and polished with whiting, as otherwise its surface would betray the ordeal through which it had been passed, showing "pockmarks" in great variety.

The process is continued with other coins until the acid is "saturated," when it will absorb no more of the metal. The coins are exchanged for silver or other currency, as only an expert could detect the small subtraction in weight, and the silver is then re-exchanged for more gold, upon which the operator performs his little game in due course. It is only necessary for the villain to boil down his acid to complete evaporation, when the residue in the kettle will be found in the shape of a gleaming button of pure gold, varying in size according to the amount of acid and the charge it carries in solution.

In San Francisco the government secret agents have waged a long and bitter war with sweaters. They have captured many who were guilty enough in all conscience, but against whom no conviction could be obtained for lack of evidence, and they have placed others beyond all worldly temptation for various terms of years.

One of the lone kings of this nefarious business, who finally was obliged to sojourn for a rest in the penitentiary at San Quentin, was named Goodrich. He was an exceedingly modest and retiring man. He occupied an ordinary dwelling and conducted his operations on the roof. After many long weeks of vigil on the part of government detectives he was taken into custody, not redhanded, but at least black fingered by the acid. His apparatus was found most cleverly concealed behind movable bricks in the chimney on top of his house. At the time of his capture a small bottle of greenish fluid was found, and this, upon being carefully reduced in fumes, yielded up a button worth fully $10. A few coins were discovered in the man's pockets and also in his residence. These, to all appearances, were honest coins. Under the microscope they were found to be fairly cross hatched with tiny lines, which had been produced by the process of polishing to remove the traces where the acid had eaten away the metal.

Insidious as this acid thieving may appear, it might be regarded as crude by those who are acquainted with the "tricks that are vain" exercised by the "heathen Chinee." John Chinaman is numerous in California. He gets his long hands on many a golden disk, and with great reluctance does he ever relinquish his grip, He has never learned the "art" of sweating the coins with acid, but he accomplishes his purpose in his characteristically patient manner. He simply places many coins together in a buckskin bag and then proceeds to shake and toss and otherwise agitate that receptacle by the hour or by the week until he has worn off by abrasion $10 or $20 worth of fine dust of gold. The coins wear one another. They present the appearance when at length they emerge from the sack of having been regularly abraded by pocket to pocket circulation, and therefore to all intents and purposes nothing illegal has been done. As a matter of fact, no Chinese has ever been apprehended or put on trial for this work. It is doubtful if the authorities have ever taken cognizance of the practice. Only a few people ever realized what the sly Celestials were at when witnessing the hourly agitation of the coins. It is of course unlawful to bore a hole through a gold coin or to perform any other mutilation, but Mr. Chinaman cannot be said to mutilate the money he wears out so artfully, and therefore he pursues his course serene and unmolested.

There have been clever rogues from time to time who employ a slender tool with which to "gut" a coin. Their method is to make a small incision in the edge of a coin and then patiently dig out the inside, after which they refill the hollow space with baser metal. "High art" like this has become almost obsolete, for the acid business has frequently proved safer and less difficult of performance. Laws will multiply and detectives will wax more and more like Sherlock Holmes, but the makers and administrators of penal regulations will be obliged to arise early in the morning to prevent for all time the effort of man to accumulate his "pile" for "nothing."

Gold Is Shaken From Coins

1910

New York Detectives Unearth a Clever Swindle In the Maiden Lane Jewelry District

New York. — Secret service agents who have been at work in the Maiden Lane jewelry district, have discovered coin stripping by which gold is obtained and sold, the coins being put back into circulation apparently as good as ever. The new process consists in placing the coins in a burlap bag, which is shaken vigorously.

Thus tiny flakes of metal are knocked off the coins and cling to the bag, which is then burned, the gold melting into wee ingots.

The treasury department at Washington has been getting back of late large quantities of gold coins, which seemed more scratched and battered than ordinary.

Under the microscope it became evident that these coins had been handled with strange violence. Special agents were sent here to investigate and soon uncovered the industry of shaking the coins in burlap bags.

How "All Men Are Born Equal"

1905

The woman born beautiful doesn't bother to educate her intelligence, is spoiled by flattery, is unable to hold the men she attracts; the woman born homely is driven to develop her character and her mind, and so more than overcomes her handicap as against her pretty sister.

The man born clever loses because he wins too easily and has no incentive to that sustained effort which alone achieves success; the man born "slow" develops patience, assiduity, balance and, best of all, tenacity.

It comes near to being a universal rule that strong points and weak ones just about offset each other in any human being at the start, and that the development is a matter for the man himself to determine. And there is no fatal handicap except the disposition to regard one's handicap as fatal. — Saturday Evening Post.


Use Pipes of Pure Gold

There is an endless variety of substances of which pipes are made. In China the stems are of bamboo. In India leather stems are used, in Persia sweet jasmine, in Asia Minor cherry wood. In the Philippine Islands a richer material is available, for the natives hollow out sold nuggets which they find in the torrent beds, and use them as pipe bowls.

Must Face His "Gold Brick"

1915

Also Victims Who Claim to Have Been Fleeced

PITTSBURGH, Pa., Dec. 16. — E. A. Starkloff, an alleged "gold brick" king, recently arrested in Altoona, is accused of defrauding wealthy French and English persons of considerable cash. Starkloff's alleged scheme was uncovered in 1910, when he was arrested, placed under a cash bond of $22,000 and, after securing his release, jumped the bond. He has now been returned to Philadelphia, where a big brick, apparently of gold, which figured in the indictment, has reposed in the safe in the postoffice building since 1910.

According to Inspector Calvert of Altoona, who made the arrest, Starkloff would address letters to English and French people who had visited this country, but who had since died. The letters, written as tho the writer was ignorant of the person's death, would fall into the hands of the heirs. The letters always referred to "Frank Thomas," a prospector who had staked out a claim in Wyoming gold fields, had struck it rich and advised the purchasing of an adjoining claim.

Student Designs Gold Ore Machines

1915

Big Saving in Ore Refinement May Be the Result

New equipment for use of the seniors of the University of Washington, which was designed and is being built under the direction of Fred Porter, a senior will soon be installed, and with it the men will perform a series of experiments of great practical and economic value.

Two complete sets of machinery have been designed by Porter for use in fine grinding and concentration of gold ore, some of the equipment being of the same style as has been used in the Alaska, Idaho and Montana gold fields in the last few years for the purpose of experimentation. The experiments to be performed may, besides being the work necessary to constitute the thesis required to gain a degree, result in a large saving in the refinement of ore.

One of the processes to be performed will be that of flotation concentration. the process discovered by Mrs. Everson, described in these columns last week.


Plan to Interest Mechanics

Use Inventor's Tools and Gain Equity in His Patents

William L. Bessola, an experienced mechanic known to practically every one connected with mechanical departments of mines in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and who holds patents for many mechanical devices, is endeavoring to interest capitalists and others in a proposition the success of which is assured.

As a forerunner to the manufacture and of the perfected tools on a large scale it is the plan of Mr. Bessola and his associates to secure the cooperation of every user of tools that they seek to replace with the new inventions, and to this end they have permitted a number of the leading plumbers, master mechanics and men generally connected with things mechanical, to purchase equities in the exploitation company, which not only entitles them to substantial interest in that direction, but also secures for each a proportionate right in the patents which Mr. Bessola has taken out.

—Saturday Blade, Chicago, Dec. 18, 1915, p. 9.

Ancient Gold Mining in Tubal-Cain

1915

From Their Method Originated the Legend of the Golden Fleece

Country Still Rich in Most Valuable Ores

In the legend of the Golden Fleece lies hidden the record of an ancient method of the Tibareni, the sons of Tubal, for the collection of gold.

The north coast of Asia Minor produced large quantities of the precious metals, as well as copper and iron. Gold was found in the gravel, as often happens still in streams draining from copper regions. The gold in copper ores, originally containing insignificant amounts of the precious metals, accumulates in the course of ages, and sometimes forms placers of astonishing richness.

The ancient Tibareni washed the gold-bearing gravel, first by booming, which concentrated the gold into relatively small amounts of sand. This was then collected and washed through sluices having the bottoms lined with sheepskins. The gold would sink into the wool, while the sand would be washed away in the swift current, writes Courtenay de Kalk in the Mining Age. The skins were removed from the sluices, the coarser gold shaken out, and the fleeces, still glittering with the yellow metal, were hung upon boughs to dry so that the rest of the gold might be beaten from them and saved.

The early Greek mariners, witnessing this process, carried home tales of the wonderful riches of a land where a warlike race of miners hung golden fleeces upon the trees in the grove of Ares. After so many millenniums the metalliferous country of Tubal-Cain is once more coming into prominence. The natives still cull the high-grade copper ore, and break it into smalls, which they cover with wood and roast to matte; they still work the matte in forge-like furnaces to black copper, which they ship to Alexandretta and to Euxine ports. They still make the famous carbonized iron that was celebrated as Damascus steel because it was distributed through this mart to the rest of the world after receiving a finish by local Damascene workmen.

These decadent methods, that give a hint of the approved practice of the father of metallurgy, will soon became wholly extinct, for the modern miner is studying the disseminated copper ores of the Black sea coast, and threatening to rekindle on a magnificent scale the smoldering fires of Tubal-Cain.

Marvelous Find of Gold

1906

Rock So Rich in Ore That It is Guarded Day and Night by Sentries

Manhattan, Nev. — Gold bearing rock, so rich that it is guarded day and night by two sentries and is mined under the watchful eye of the owners, has been opened up at the 86-foot level in the main working shaft of the Jumping Jack claim.

Six inches of this marvelous find is so rich that no assay has been made, as it is more than half gold. From eight o'clock at night, when a row of shots revealed the richest of the many sensational discoveries of the new camp, until ten o'clock the next morning $10,000 worth of ore was sacked.

When the miners below hoisted samples of a six inch vein which was uncovered as it dipped into the shaft, the superintendent immediately ordered the men to the surface and suspended operations until the superintendent of the Jumping Jack could be notified. Upon his arrival two trusted men were put to work stoping out the ore and two others guarding the entrance to the workings.

The news fairly electrified the camp, despite the fact that sensational finds are becoming everyday occurrences. Several samples were exhibited by officers of the company, who were besieged by a crowd which gathered soon after the news of the strike became public property.

These samples for size and richness surpass anything that the ground at Manhattan has yielded up to date, and will rank among the largest specimens of gold ever mined in this country. One specimen weighing 23 ounces, six inches long, representing the width of the vein, is almost solid gold. The many seasoned miners and mining experts who examined this specimen today unite in saying that it is the handsomest and consequently the richest deposit from the mother lode they have ever seen. It is streaked with a fine grained marble-like quartz, which hugs close to the crevices of its irregular outlines. The entire specimen is a bright yellow mass, except where it is relieved by the impregnated quartz. One side is worn smooth, as if by the force of a slide in the contact, and the other side is molded just in the shape it was deposited by the molten mass.

A Big Refusal — So the Gold Sunk to the Bottom of the Sea

1895

A Case in Which a Good Bargain Might Have Been a Burden

James Clark, of Old Town, Wash., knows a good story in connection with the sinking of the steamship Pacific in the Straits of Juan de Fuca, in 1875, of which the only survivor was Neil Henley, now of Tacoma.

Mr. Henley floated around for hours on a raft after the Pacific was struck by the bark Orpheus. With him on the raft was a man named William Sampson, who became exhausted and sank, Mr. Clark says, with between $10,000 and $12,000 in a belt around his body. The fact that Sampson had the gold on his person was known to Mr. Clark and a few others only, and it has never been published.

Clark and Sampson were miners together on the Yukon river, in Alaska. The mining claim was a rich one, and was known in the Yukon district as the "Three-to-One." It was so called because the party that mined and owned it, was composed of three white men and a Chinese. They returned to Victoria to spend the first winter, after taking out about $5,000 apiece in gold, and the next spring when they went to back to open up the mine again, they found that the flood had swept away all their machinery and they would have to spend a considerable part of the season in making and putting in new machinery to handle the placer deposits. Sampson became discouraged and he sold his share in the diggings to his partners for about $5,000 and returned to Victoria. The "Three-to-One" made money that season the same as the season before.

Shortly after Sampson returned to Victoria he shipped on the steamer Pacific, intending to go to San Francisco He put the gold in a belt around his body, as was the custom in those days. The raft on which he and Henley floated was in reality a chicken coop. Sampson felt he could not last much longer in the heavy sea, which rolled the coop fearfully, and he begged Henley to take the gold. The latter, feeling that he would never set foot on shore again, refused to take the belt, and it went down with poor Sampson to the bottom of the sea. Henley was soon picked up. The next day, though, he regretted the loss of his companion on the chicken coop, he also deplored that he had not taken the proffered belt with its burden of gold.

Pity the Gold Miner!

1920

One might imagine that if he could discover a gold mine he would have a fortune. But time has brought changes. Among them has come a depreciation in the purchasing value of gold, due largely to the cheap American dollar and to the large flow of gold from abroad during the war.

When prospectors first rushed to Alaska, says the Cleveland Plain Dealer, little trouble or expense was entailed in procuring the yellow metal. Nuggets could be found on or near the surface, and the dust was easily washed out of sand taken from the beds of mountain streams. Now expensive machinery must be employed and "pay dirt" is usually found only after much labor. The results are indicated by the unprofitable business reported by one Alaska gold mining company for 1919.

During the year it cost this company $1,744,869 to produce $1,467,389 worth of gold, leaving a deficit of $277,480, as against a loss from operations the previous year of $96,945.

Those who find cause to complain because of their hard lot since the war, would do well to consider the unfortunate position of the gold miners. They comprise one group which cannot profiteer.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 20, 1920, p. 6.

Once in India, The Most Famous of Thrones

1914

That of Indian Moguls in the Ancient City of Delhi a Marvel of Richness

Among bare and ugly British barracks in the ancient capital of the Mogul empire in India known as Delhi are remnants of two famous gems of Oriental architecture. They are the Diwan-i-Am, or hall of public audience, and the Diwan-i-Khas, or hall of private audience.

The Diwan-i-Am is still a splendid building 100 feet by 60, formerly plastered with chunam and overlaid with gold. It was in a recess in the back wall of this building that the famous Peacock throne used to stand. It was six feet long by four feet wide, and was supported by feet of solid gold encrusted with gems. The throne was also of gold, inlaid with diamonds, emeralds and rubies and surmounted by a canopy supported by 12 gold columns decorated with rows of splendid pearls.

The throne was given its name from the figures standing behind it of two peacocks with outspread wings blazing with precious stones, their tails expanded and the whole so inlaid with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, pearls and other gems of appropriate colors as to represent life.

The throne was valued at $30,000,000 and was carried off by the Persian invader, Nadir Shah, in 1739. Presumably it was constructed in the days of Shah Jahan, a decade less than three hundred years ago.

Why Sixty Minutes Made an Hour

1910

The hour is divided into 60 minutes simply because in old Babylon there existed, by the side of the decimal system of notation, another system, the sexagesimal, which counted by sixties. There is no number which has so many divisors as 60. The Babylonians divided the sun's daily journey into 24 parasangs, each parasang, or hour, being divided into 60 minutes. The parasang is about equal to a German mile, and the Babylonians compared the progress made by the sun during one hour to the progress made by a good walker during the same time.


Discouraging

On arriving at San Bernardino after a five months' prospecting trip in the desert two California prospector found that one of their packmules had developed a limp. An examination of the mule's hoof revealed a gold nugget, worth probably $50. The prospectors have no idea in what part of the desert the nugget was picked up.


Olive Industry Safe

There is little prospect of the olive industry of this country being overdone, for there are only three localities in this country where the olives will thrive.


Caterpillars Ravage Trees

Washington. — Shade trees of Washington, famed for their number and beauty, are undergoing an attack from a horde of caterpillars. The trees are being stripped of their foliage rapidly. So numerous are the pests that they have baffled the caretakers' efforts to cope with them. Property owners have joined in the attempt to repel the invaders, but it seems that there is little chance to prevail against them. Some fear for the lives of the trees is expressed.

Riches From The Skies — Giant Mass, Precious Metals Fell From Sky

1877

Riches From The Skies

THE GIGANTIC MASS THAT FELL IN DIAMOND VALLEY, NEV. — A QUEER STORY

[Eureka, (Nev.) Sentinel.]

About four o'clock on the morning of the 7th of January, an immense body, glowing with intense brilliancy, came rushing across the face of heaven illuminating the earth with the light of day. It traveled in an oblique direction, from the southwest to the northwest, and instantaneously a shock was felt that almost threw the few spectators at that early hour from their feet.

About ten days ago Mr. Wheeler, who cultivates a ranch in Diamond Valley, and who is also in the stock business, came into town and left a most remarkable substance with an assayer. Mr. Wheeler had a smattering of metallurgical knowledge and, it seems, had tested the compound with a blow-pipe and other means within his reach, and detected the presence of the precious metals, but was unable to determine the value.

The piece submitted to the assayer was about as large as a hen's egg, and immediately attracted his attention by its unusual weight and peculiar color, it being of a purplish-black shade, and where it had been broken off the main body presenting a luminated stratification that he failed to recognize. Mr. Wacke expended the whole night in a series of experiments, applying every known test to the article, and detecting the presence of iron, nickel, cadmium, lead, silver, gold, zinc, cobalt, silica and phosphorus. There was also a residuum to each assay, of which Prof. Wacke was unable to determine the properties, but he hopes by the use of the spectroscope to classify it.

A surprising feature of the ore is excessive malleability aud ductility, a small portion of it being reduced by hammering to a fllm not exceeding one-hundredth of an inch in thickness. He has sent a portion of it to the San Francisco Academy of Science, and also to Prof. Silliman of New Haven, and in the meantime is prosecuting his researches. Prof. Wacke has found that the substance will reach $887 in silver and $42 in sold per ton.

The strangest part of the story remains to be told; and, now that Mr. Wheeler has duly recorded his claim and perfected the title, we feel at liberty to disclose the facts. On the morning of the 7th of January, Mr. Wheeler was almost thrown from his bed by a violent shock. Getting up and looking out of the window, he observed at the foot of the mountain an immense mass glowing at a white heat and of intense brightness. Hastily dressing he approached as near as possible, and found that the object lay just at the foot of the Diamond mountain range, but the heat was so great that he could not go within 1,000 yards of the spot.

He kept his own council, and made repeated attempts to reach it, but did not succeed until the 14th instant, when it had cooled sufficiently to allow him to break off the portion brought to town. The main body will measure about sixty feet in height, eighty-seven feet in width, and is 313 feet in length. These are the proportions of the body visible, and it is probable that as much more is imbedded in the earth. Mr. Wheeler calculates that there are at least 2,000,000 tons in sight, and if it will work anywhere near the assay he will extract an immense sum from the mass.

Bird Flies in Mouth of Sleeping Husband

1920

Canary Loses Life, Man Loses Life's Good Regards

BLOUNT CORNERS, N. Y. - Mrs. Martha Joslin says he is through trying to keep a canary. Mrs. Joslin states that if her husband would keep his mouth shut when he takes his after-dinner nap she could keep a bird, but that he won't do it and that she has bought her last canary.

A few weeks ago Mrs. Joslin bought a young canary. She brought it home and placed it in a cage. According to Mrs. Joslin she opened the bird's cage to feed her pet and before she could close the door the bird flew out.

Joslin was asleep in a chair in the kitchen. The bird flew to him, circled over his head several times and flew into his wide-open mouth. Mr. Joslin brought his jaws together and killed the bird.

Mrs. Joslin expresses the opinion that her husband's gold tooth attracted the bird. Mrs. Joslin says she has lost six canaries within four months by the same means and that she is through trying to keep a bird.

Mr. Joslin says he is innocent of bird slaughter and would not have killed the bird for ten dollars if he had known it was in his mouth.