688 R. A. F. PENROSE, JR. 



only in certain localities has it been profitably worked. Most of the 

 important localities yet discovered are in the archipelago of Tierra 

 del Fuego, though a few, such as on the beaches at Cape Virgins and 

 Point Dungeness, are in Patagonia, on the north shore of the Strait 

 of Magellan; and gold is also found in places along the southern 

 coast of Chile, for some distance north of the Strait of Magellan. 



About the year 1904 the preparations to use steam dredges in 

 handling the gold-bearing gravel started afresh the boom that had 



Fig. 3. — The town of Porvenir, Tierra del Fuego. 



for a time been more or less quiescent. The old method of working 

 the mines had been by hand, gathering the gold in pans, sluice- 

 boxes, or other similar appliances. With the introduction of steam 

 dredges, however, it became possible to handle the gravel much more 

 cheaply and in much larger quantities. From ail over Chile and 

 Argentine again came the gold-seekers, with some from a still greater 

 distance, and the usually almost deserted Strait of Magellan became 

 animated with small craft. Since that time, though the excitement 

 has subsided, work on the gold deposits has steadily progressed, and 

 in a much more systematic manner than formerly. There were in 



