Within the Yakut Territory, as well as in any other goldfields, gold is found in fundamental bayers, as gold-yoing, or ax auriferous. sand. The third form of wold, fey that in the form of ore in layers of quartz, is mop with very rarely.
The fundamental layer which is typical in the Yakut gold-territory, Nasa firm ground composed of more less decayed gneiss, granite, chlorite, slate and talk-schists, with an additional vein or kayer of quartz, Such a gold-formation is called Alluvial, i, formed in the post plyocene period. The depth of the Dot is different in every place and cannot be standardized, The rocks of the mountains usual ly rimming the valleys where gold 58 found, are composed of. sionite, fenite-granite, neis and other hard species. "The fundamental layer is usually found together with veins of quartz and. sionite-granite "The quartz-vein is of varying thick: hess, ranging from a_minimal 24 inches. The quartz contains Various percentage of gold, and a igh percentage invariably indicates fundamental layer.
The most interesting and easiest to work are the fields where gold vin found in the form of auriferous sind, These are the fields that are first discovered all over the World, because in this form gold an be reached by primitive means. The precious moral is embedded in fa layer of sticky clay, which has. a Considerable percentage of sienitegranite, gueist and quartz, and. usually found in the form of grains different sizes, or in small layers. Bometimes it will be met with in the form of fairly large lumps of considerable weight, invariably accompanied by quartz, with which it: forms the most artistic, delightful patterns, often seen in' geological collections oF in museums, Donau (Copyright: All rights strictly reserved)
Equally variable is the width of {the auriferous layers, ranging from the minimum to 100-150 yards, or mare.
In the case of the gold found in the Yakuy Territory, it is necessary to say that if it.is lying deeper than 6-7 yds. from the surface, the Jcarth there will always be frozen, 'a circumstance. which causes considerable trouble, and has been noticed in the Alaskan fields.
Metallurgical Notes Each and every one of the fields in the Yakut Territory has its gold of characteristic peculiarity. Two neighbouring fields, divided by an insignificant rock-wall, will contain gold having nothing in common as regards outward - appearance, or: analytical quality. One field would yield gold of a charming, light, "golden" colour. This is the low-quality (or base-alloy) gold, the fight colour being caused by a large percentage of silver and other alloy. The gold of another field has a dark colour, is covered by a black which spoils its brilliancy, Lut signifies high quality, for, whil the former was usually sold for G.R. 4 per zolotnik (the 1/96th part of a Russian Ib.), the latter commanded at least GR. 5 for the same quantity.
We are, of course, speaking of raw-gold, cleaned only by mechani-cul means (warming, blowing, ete.), because the gold cleaned by the chemical process in a laboratory, Hie. molten into ingots and bars, commands the usual, and much higher, market-price prevailing.
But the miner, working somewhere in the depth of the taiga has nothing to do with laboratory that is a matter for the traders ai monopolists; so he will trade his gold usually as soon as the earth hes been cleaned away from it, The Yakut Territory has a third Kind of gold, found in powder of the most fascinating golden colour, which is usually found in the beds of the larger mountain-rivers, for stance the Aldan, Olekma, Tsch and the Zhuy. This gold, however, is very rarely seen in trade.
The analytical difference of the different kinds of gold is shown by. the followin The Question of Labour The former gold-industry of the! Yakut Territory was vitally interested in the question of regular and sufficient supply of labour. The Lena fields, situated at a distance of 1,500 kins. from the railway, were especially difficult of approach, and, therefore, gravely concerned over the possibility of transporting the. necessary number of workers during the summer navigation: otherwise they would be faced by the necessity of reduced production for the subsequent operative season. There [wes no possibility of" procuring labour in winter time. The company held its workers well guarded, being within its rights granted by the mining regulations, and a worker had no way to leave work, unless he deserted. The industry felt the same acute need of qualified miners as the navies of the world feel of good mariners. The miners signed agreements, much in the as sailors do when entering service on the ship. Superfiuous labour was a thing unknown in the gold-industry, even at the time when thousands of workers flocked to the fields. This is easily explain el by the manifold nature of work, and the very large amount of hands. needed in a goldfield. Alongside the demand for the qualified workfr, there is a still more extensive comand for common labour, especially if we keep in mind that the goldfields in question were without exception situated in the taiga, where the work of minig was closely and inseparably connected with other tasks, as cutting of the forest, road-making, timber-felling for building and heating purposes (there is no coal there), and many er pursuits forming a part of the complicated structure, summar rily called goldfeld.
New workers were not usually employed in the shafts, but for outside work. Many a worker, quite content with the regular and liberal wage that could be earned outside the shaft, would work on a field for a number of years without hay-been inside the mysterious gold-pits." Of such were reerui led the "'surface" contingents having no direct business with gold. There were no needy worker and unemployment existed only i dictionaries. Every owner of two High Quality (Yakut slick), Gold: nealthy arms had nothing to worry Sliver sbout finding work, but only about Alloy finding the most remunerative kind
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.