FARMERS' REGrSTER— MINERALS OF VIRGINIA. 



623 



examining and comparing it with specimens of (lie 

 vein from whence it was derived, and wliich they 

 have also had tlie good fortune to discover contigu- 

 ous to the deposite. The rock is a pale porous 

 quartz, thickly studded with knobs and lamina oi 

 gold, which correspond exactly in form with the 

 particles found in the bed of gravel. The same cor- 

 respondence I have often observed in other locali- 

 ties, and especially at Greenwood in Orange coun- 

 ty- 



But it is not such rich specimens of rock alone 

 which (brm the temptation to enter upon systema-' 

 tic mining; for, I have seen many veins in Fau- 

 quier,. Stafford and other counties, where gold is 

 invisibly combined with the sulphurets of iron and 

 copper, and very extensively with pure quartz, so 

 as to yield, when treated by proper processes, from 

 one to six pennyweights for every bushel of ninety 

 six pounds weight. The minimum of these rales 

 would be considered a profitable ore. Tiiere have 

 been various attempts to extract the gold from ore 

 of this kind, upon a somewhat large scale, but the 

 want of practical knowledge in metallurgy, the 

 defectiveness of the processes applied, and the no- 

 velty of the undertaking, conducted in most in- 

 stances by persons unacquainted with the art of re- 

 ducing metals, have hitherto produced a few fail- 

 ures in the experiments attempted ; these, being 

 greatly exaggerated and much misrej)resented, 

 have had the effect of checking the disposition 

 which had arisen amongst capitalists, to come for- 

 ward in aid of this branch of industry, by estab- 

 lishing the most promising of these mines upon re- 

 gular systematic principles. 



A gold mine, projected with judgment and con- 

 ducted with skill and economy, is but a manufac- 

 tory of a particular kind, which gives employment 

 to laborers, who are fed and clothed by other 

 branches of industry. Whatever gives honest and 

 constant employment to the laboring classes, is 

 a blessing, enabling the laborer to support his fami- 

 ly, whilst his employer draws a profit from his in- 

 dustry ; but in Virginia, where labor and ibod are 

 comparatively so cheap, and where the main 

 strength of mining labor would soon be as advan- 

 tageously drawn from colored men — and this I have 

 had evidence of — as from the lower class of whites, 

 mining would be a new and invaluable direction to 

 turn her surplus labor into. But the great lever, 

 capital, still is wanting; and without it, nothing 

 can be done. 



The auriferous veins appear to maintain a stea- 

 dy continuity towards the centre of the earth ; and 

 to sink a shaft of sixty feet, and construct a tun- 

 nel to intersect it, is a mere superficial operation, 

 to which, for the want of capital, the operations 

 now in progress, are necessarily limited. If the 

 vein is to be tried at lower depths, a steam engine 

 must be employed to keep the works dry ; and if 

 favorable indications encourage the proprietor to 

 construct galleries parallel to his veins, he soon 

 finds that his unaided efforts are insufficient ; that 

 he is doing nothing for his country, and is embar- 

 rassing himself; that to carry his mine on upon 

 well-approved principles, he must liavetheaid of a 

 capital which will enlarge his business to the re- 

 quired scale, and bring experience and practical 

 science to the management of it. Private part- 

 nerships are subject to so much inconvenience in 

 similar undertakings ; it is so difficult to withdraw 

 from them when great interests are embarked ; 



and death so often enhances the difficulty, by mak- 

 ing it inqwssible for the survivor to separate his 

 interest from that of inheriting minors, that it is 

 seldom one or two individuals can be found willing 

 to risk the required amount. 



It is by incorporated companies alone such un- 

 dertakings can be profitably established. A hun- 

 dred individuals will cheerfully divide a risk, that 

 may ajjpear formidable to a few ; if the undertak- 

 ing succeeds, a hundred are gratified; if it fails, no 

 one is seriously injured ; whilst in both cases the 

 public industry is encouraged. And this, in my 

 opinion, is the true policy to be adopted by the 

 State, viz. to encourage capital to come from a dis- 

 tance, to develope her dormant resources. I speak 

 guardedly when I aver, that if the capitalists of 

 England had entertained as favorable an opinion 

 of the gold and copper lodes of Virginia, as they 

 deserve to inspire, that in 1824 and 1825, when 

 from twelve to fifteen millions sterling went to 

 South America to re-establish the mines, at least 

 two millions of that amount might have been 

 placed in Virginia, if her gold veins had been dis- 

 covered. 



Some philosophers are feelingly alive to the 

 danger of encouraging foreign money to come into 

 the country ; foreign labor in the disguise of cloth, 

 cotton, cutlery, pottery, may come, although a 

 substitute for native labor ; but foreign money, to 

 pay American labor, that may not come. I ven- 

 ture, however, to predict, if ten millions of dollars 

 are ever j)laced in Virginia, for the purpose of 

 bringing her gold and silver, her copper and other 

 valuable minerals and metals to light, that the 

 prosperity will be so universally enjoyed, as to 

 leave the alarmists in a very feeble minority. 



And indeed, although little more than two years 

 have elapsed since gold has been much talked of, 

 as a product of Virginia, she has been already be- 

 nefitted by the exertions that have been made. I 

 have been informed by authority I know to be 

 undoubted, that northern capital to the amount 

 of more than one hundred and fifty thousand dol- 

 lars, has lieen expended in two or three counties 

 in the mining interest; and that seventy thousand 

 dollars in bullion, cast from gold found in Orange, 

 Louisa, Spottsylvania and Culpeper, within the 

 present year, have passed through one Bank in 

 Fredericksburg, exclusively belonging to native 

 citizens of Virginia. It is then, an incontrovei-ti- 

 ble truth, that the employment of capital on a 

 larger scale, may greatly benefit the state, and 

 that by adopting a wise policy, she may become to 

 this country, what Cornwall is to England, the 

 seat of prodigious industry, and the source of much 

 individual and national weallh. Let but one in- 

 corporated company succeed, and confidence will 

 immediately spring up. Capital will flow in — 

 real estate will rise to its value — surplus labor will 

 be in demand, and the Ancient Dominion will be- 

 come what she ought now to be — a prosperous mi- 

 ning country. 



Permit me now, my dear sir, to add my most 

 cordial wishes for your uninterrupted health and 

 comfort, with the assurances of my being, 

 Most respectfully. 

 Your devoted and faithful servant, 



G. w. fi:;atiieiistonhaugh. 



