382 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



During the progress of the work of the Geological Survey, the 

 attention of its officials was frequently called to reports of the find- 

 ing of valuable mineral deposits hitherto unknown and unsuspected. 

 Investigations were made and in nearly every case, the reported dis- 

 coveries were found to be exaggerated and apparently with little 

 or nothing upon which to base such wild conclusions. It became 

 patent that some of our citizens were being deceived, either through 

 lack of technical training in themselves or by worthless advice and 

 schemes of men posing as geologists, mineralogists and chemists, 

 old miners, etc. Two solutions of the problem presented themselves. 

 In some instances, it was learned that inexperienced men, finding 

 black shales or slates, were led to believe that a coal deposit of value 

 was near by and that the presence of this black material was a sure 

 indication of it. 



Again, upon finding rocks with mjca scales of varying colors ad- 

 hering to them, they assumed that these occurrences were sure in- 

 dications of the presence of either gold, silver, or both. In pursuit 

 of these phantoms, they labored hard and long, employed men, and 

 spent money sometimes in large amounts and the only reward for 

 it all was the total failure to find these minerals, or if at all, in 

 such small quantities as to be worthless from a commercial stand- 

 point. On the other haiid, it was found that they had employed 

 ignorant or dishonest men. who were supposed to be or rather posed 

 as Mining Experts, Geologists, Mineralogists and Chemists, although 

 they are without either training or experience; or if possessing the 

 necessary professional training, were dishonest. One of two things 

 was certain: they were either ignorant or dishonest and to the latter 

 characterization, probably 90 per cent, of the cases could be at- 

 tributed. 



To convict these fakirs is a difficult matter, for several reasons: 



(1) The victims are sensitive, and like men or boys who have been 

 "done up" by shell game men at a country fair, they don't care to 

 hear anything more about it, much less to testify against them in 

 Court. In the words of the street, they know they have been 

 *'stung" and fear the ridicule of their neighbors, if it were generally 

 known. 



(2) Gold and silver in infinitely small quantities may be found 

 in many rocks, and if 1-10,000 part of a grain of either be found in 

 a specimen, the fakir would escape conviction. Fully cognizant of 

 this fact, the fakir runs but small risk of imprisonment. The only 

 safe way is to consult a competent man and especially an honest 

 one, Avho will not recommend an assay for gold or silver, at |4.00 

 each, of a specimen that shows no tangible evidence of containing 

 either, or if any, a quantity so small that it would cosf|100 or more 

 to get from it a dollar's wovtli of gold or silver. Several cases of 

 this sort have been quite recently brought to my attention. In each 

 case, assays were recommended by the fakirs, the cost of which 

 varied from |4.00 to PO.OO, but not one of the samples eontained 

 either gold, silver or other minerals of any value. 



Within a short time, some of the victims of these fakirs have 

 called upon me, bringing with them the alluring letters they have 

 received and the identical specimens u])on which these reports were 

 based. It seems almost incomprehensible that any one would resort 

 to such means to extort money. 



