A GOLD MINE. 



" SORELY there is a vein for silver and a place for gold where they 

 fine it." JOB xxviii. 



AFTER loitering so long on a road that 

 leads to a gold mining district it might 

 seem in order to devote a chapter to this natu- 

 ral feature of the country. Falling in with 

 that view I will proceed to put down what 

 strikes me to be the most interesting features. 

 If I do not succeed in making a readable 

 chapter for those who like this kind of literat- 

 ure, it will not be for lack of experience or 

 want of interest on my part. I do not know 

 of any branch of human industry where there 

 are such misconceptions, delusions and utter 

 ignorance as there is in the matter of gold min- 

 ing, and how gold exists in its natural condi- 

 tions and locations. In the first place, gold is 

 not a rare metal. Chemically combined with 

 the element chlorine it exists in all ocean water 

 to the value of about three cents to a ton of 

 water. Gold in minute quantities to the cubic 



