MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 223 



the consequent gold companies throughout various portions of the 

 Piedmont area. Often these gold scares are without the slightest 

 reason beyond that of the cupidity of the promoters, but many of the 

 attempts to develop a successful industry in the mining of gold in the 

 East have been stimulated through ignorance and lack of appreciation 

 of the fact that there is no more profit in mining small quantities of 

 gold at large expense than in farming poor lands with large; amounts 

 of fertilizer for a small crop. 



Cecil county has not escaped the excitement and often harmful in- 

 fluences of the supposed discovery of gold in payable quantities within 

 its borders. A few years since it was supposed by some prospectors 

 that the serpentine " barrens " in the northwestern corner of the 

 county carried large pockets of gold and the Klondike Gold Company 

 was formed to control the mineral properties and operate the mines 

 of the tract. The promoters of this project were fortified in their 

 position by reports of analyses apparently showing that the rock was 

 really a well-paying ore. The promised return for the investment 

 in land and the unusual prices offered for property produced tem- 

 porary demoralization, and in a few instances when the disappointing 

 failure came, produced more or less suffering. 



It is very doubtful if gold will ever be found in paying quantities 

 within the confines of Cecil county although it is not at all im- 

 probable that excitement may be caused now and then by the finding 

 of minerals of yellow color and glistening surface, or even by the 

 finding of true gold. In order to warrant extensive development 

 or the investment of money it must first be shown that the material is 

 truly gold, and, second, that it occurs in sufficiently rich masses to 

 make the ore worth more per ton than it costs to secure the mineral 

 rights, install the machinery necessary and pay for getting out the 

 ore. 



Road Materials. 



Cecil county is well supplied with materials for making first-class 

 roads throughout its limits but up to the present time they have not 

 been used to any extent. Following the geological division between 



