No. 7. Department of agriculture. 491 



these fakirs is obvious from the fact that magnetic or red hematite 

 iron ore, or other mineral claimed as stated, has very rarely or never 

 been found in the rocks which are represented where these men pro- 

 fess to have located the said minerals, and the samples are too pure 

 and rich for outcrop ore. f^pecimeus of nL'arlj every conceivable kind 

 of rock or mineral, so called, have been sent to me for inspection and 

 opinion, and, in nine instances out of ten, they are worthless. I have 

 very frequently been asked to examine a certain tract or property 

 where, as tradition has it, the Indians were wont to find lead or 

 silver, or both, and assurances are offered me, orally, that other 

 minerals are nearby, and there is such a medley of these things in 

 my experience, that the vagaries attending the notions seem, oftimes, 

 to indicate a species of dementia, even beyond the incidental delusions 

 that may, for a time, possess the minds of others who are misled in 

 these matters. 



Now, while the minerals are not absolutely excluded in all in- 

 stances by our geological experience and knowledge, from the strata 

 named as containing the ''fine prospects" affirmed, yet the matter of 

 discovery, as described, and the vagueness that attends the informa- 

 tion relating thereto, constrain me to yield very little credence to 

 any of these fables or reports, unless some additional or more 

 definite evidence is afforded of their truth. 



Good samples of magnetite or hematite may be found on the 

 cars, passing through the town or village, and the same will serve 

 the purpose of "truthful James" in his efforts to mislead and in his 

 geological researches, and he carries his specimens with so much 

 assurance, for the inspection of "gullible" people, that one can hardly 

 question his honesty or sincerity, unless possessed of a fair knowl- 

 edge of the geological conditions at the place of supposed discovery. 

 Some fine gold or silver, or perchance, copper ore, received furtively 

 from friends in the West, may afford the basis for a fortuitous or 

 anamalous discovery of kindred quartz or ore not far from the city, 

 town or village where these cranks have their abode. So it is, also, 

 with lead, zinc, marble, etc., and the finding of a lump of iron pyrites, 

 as bright and beautiful as gold itself, is sufficient to make a fool of 

 the finder and perchance, many fools among his neighbors; for iron 

 pyrites has deservedly the name of ''fool's gold." 



Of geological cranks there seems to be quite as many as there are 

 of the typical religious cranks and both perad venture, of equal bless- 

 ing and advantage (?) to the communities wherein they may dwell. 

 Such there are, many of them, who can discover imaginary values in 

 nearly every stratum or layer of rock, or even stone and in the hill, 

 valley or mountain ; and many times their geological supersition, 

 for such it may be called, leads them hither and thither in search of 

 undiscovered mineral wealth of which they dream, in wild and 

 fanciful error and delusion through a lifetime of penury or in- 

 dolence. Many people intelligent and successful in business, farming, 

 mercantile, professions, have been persuaded by such "big prospectors" 

 to believe in the probable presence of valuable coal, ore or other 

 mineral in places where such deposits have never been found by sub- 

 sequent investigation. It is for this reason that I have adverted to 

 the hallucinations, fallacies and absurdities of some prospectors and 

 pretenders, who seek, either blindly or ignorantly, for mineral values 

 and wilfully mislead people who have given the subject very meagre 



