638 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



from those of the Director of the Mint, and from the final compila- 

 tions, they are believed to be not very far from truth. 



It will be seen that the principal countries contributing to the 

 grand total in both years were Africa, the United States of America, 

 Australasia, Russia, Canada, Mexico, and India, the names being 

 given in the order of the respective importance of these countries as 

 gold producers in 1898. 



It may surprise many readers to observe that India is placed at 

 the foot of the list, for we are accustomed to associate India with gold, 

 Mexico with silver, and Russia with platinum; and it may also 

 prove a surprise to find that the contribution of the Klondike region, 

 which has created such a great sensation, is so trifling as compared to 

 the grand total. In 1897 the Klondike was credited with an output 

 of less than $3,000,000, and in 1898 of a little over $10,000,000. 



It will be observed in the estimates of the Government's agents 

 (January 1, 1899) of the production of gold in the United States for 

 1898 (see the letter of the Director of the Mint, appended hereto) that 

 the gold production of the State of Colorado was more than twice that 

 of the Klondike region, and the production of California was nearly 

 fifty per cent greater than that of the Klondike. 



Other surprising facts crop out in studying in detail the increasing 

 production of gold, more especially in the United States. For ex- 

 ample, California has always been regarded as pre-eminently the gold- 

 giving State, and until 1897 she led all the other States in the value 

 of gold annually produced. Colorado, on the other hand, was equally 

 famous as a silver-producing State, and while still holding this leading 

 position she has actually passed California in the production of gold. 

 Colorado has thus taken the lead over all the States in the production 

 of gold and silver. 



The output of gold in the United States in 1898 was more than 

 twice that of 1890; and the production of gold in the world in 1898, at 

 the lowest estimate, was much more than twice the estimated produc- 

 tion in 1S90. In the decade just prior to the California gold dis- 

 coveries, in 1849, the average annual production in the world is esti- 

 mated to have been less than $13,500,000. In the previous decade it 

 was less than $10,000,000. Assuming these figures of Dr. Adolph 

 Soetbeer (which are accepted by the nations of the world, and incor- 

 porated in many official documents) to be approximately correct, it 

 appears that the estimated production of gold in the world in the first 

 third of the present century was but little more than the production 

 in the single year 1898 ! 



It is, indeed, difficult to comprehend the full significance of these 

 figures at a glance : the production of gold in the past five years has 

 amounted to more than $1,100,000,000; and if production should 



