2 SUESS, The New Gold Discoveries. 



frontiers of civilisation, and Humboldt emphasized the 

 fact that all subsequent centuries have proved the truth 

 of this observation. The same experience has occurred, 

 since Humboldt's time, in Eastern Siberia, in the Rand, in 

 Western Australia and on the Yukon, up to the present day. 

 The rich discoveries have always been dependent on 

 geographical expansion. Each such discovery has yielded 

 gold to mankind through a certain time, according to the 

 richness of the deposit and the energy of working, and 

 has then ceased. Now, as the extent of unexplored 

 country is limited, and the distribution of gold-bearing 

 rocks within these districts is also limited, it must never 

 be forgotten that the entire sum of gold still attainable 

 by man is also a limited figure. 



This constant displacement of mining operations 

 forces them beyond the regions of congenial climate. 

 The consequences are well shown in Mr. Goodrich's de- 

 scription of gold-mining on the Yukon, contained in 

 Spurr's excellent Alaskan Report to the U. S. Geological 

 Survey. Firstly, we must remember that all gold from 

 the Yukon comes from placers, and consequently cannot 

 be compared to the gold won at the Treadwell Mine, 

 Alaska, which is mined under wholly different and 

 exceptionally happy circumstances on Douglas Island, near 

 the entrance to Lynn channel. The Cassiar district, near 

 Dease Lake, British Columbia, is of the same type as the 

 Yukon placers. This district gave 1,000,000 dollars in 

 1874, then receded gradually to 22,000 dollars in 1895, 

 and is now exhausted. Cassiar has given experienced 

 prospectors and miners to the Yukon district. But here, 

 on the banks of the Yukon, frost reigns through eight 

 months of the year. 



The prolonged and intense cold is a serious impedi- 

 ment to placer work and only the richest deposits can pay. 

 Gold of coarse grain is, by the high specific gravity of the 



