THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JUNE 6 1 POO.
1
Mines and
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GOLD MINE AND
(Copyright. 1SK, by Frunk Q. Carpenter.)
KOUL, 1303. (Special CorreRpond-
S ence of The lice.) There u a
I bljf nilnlng movement going on
I In VnrH Prnunnrlr.).. a pa flrwt-
liifr minerals In every part of
the ppninnula, and cuncemtions
fur gold, copper, graphite and Iron are oe
lnn granted by the government under the
' hew mining law. The long euit of the
Collhran liostwlck levelupmerit company
regarding lis conceHHion fur the Kapnan
copper mine, which was settled last year,
has ao changed the mining regulations that
foreigner can now get clear titles ind
they are rapidly taking advantage of this.
A number of the new mines are now
working and the prospects for a broad
mineral development are bright.
Korea's IHg Gold Deposits.
Indeed. Korea may develop Into a second
California. There Is no doubt but that
there Is gold In many parts of the penln-
sula. The people hase been mining it In a
ruue way lor many generations. iney
have been washing It out of the streams.
IUirlng my vlKlt to the country twenty
years ago
the merchants showed me
goose quills filled with gold dust and dur-
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1MB 111 niajr ill Drum III io. x iiuiuun v .
Power, the electrician from Washington,
who put up the first light plant In SeouV
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xiutru wiin over i.v.a woilii ui giuiu uupi
and nuggets in payment of one installment
due for his work.
The way it happened was this: Mr.
Power contracted with the emperor, but
all payments were made through the offi
cials, who were very corrupt and who
thought they should have a rakeoft
from all moneys which went out of tne
rojal treasury. Mr. Power had gotten his
electric light plant running and the Kore- which Morse turned the mine down. Its the opposite side of the globe. abVve menUoned company
ann were operating It. They thought they average value is not much more than $o a In addition to the quarts mines this com- T h 4
had all they could get and concluded, to let ton. although In some places 50-dollar ore P has large placer deposits, which have , . ,0n tttlk wltn Mr' A
this young American whistle for his money has been found. The Koreans, however, been worked for centuries, but which will , - fju '. , known mining engineer
until he gave a big bribe. The young have proved far less costly as miners than probably pay well under dredging. There J? , mply of the Collbran & Bostwlck
American, however, realised that his ma- was supposed and the work of two of them r altogether about thirty-two square ueveloPment company. Mr. Welgall is a
jesty was in deadly fear of assassination Is equal to that of one of our men. At the miles of such ground. The company is Tauate or tne Sydney (Australia) Mining,
and that he would go crasy If he had to same time they receive only 28 cents a day uln American machinery and it gets tho jnlvety and during the last nine years
spend all night in the dark. In order to of ten hours, which would equal a 50-cent wost of Its supplies from the United States. naa b"'n Pertlng throughout the far
bring matters to a crisis Mr. Power went day for the American miner, according to It pays out more than $100,000 a year to ea,t- "e ,eft tne famous Mount Morgan
back to the plant and by the disconnection his work if the same rates were employed. Americans in salaries, and its Importations mlne" in Queensland to prospect in the
ef a screw arranged it so that it would The Japanese workmen are paid $1 a day 'or the mines amount to $250,000 every Dutch Eat Indies, and later on was em
run perfectly without giving light. About and the 600 Chinese receive SO cents. The twelve months. It is now spending upward P'yed in Siam, Siberia, Japan and Korea,
dusk that evening there was a great ex- seventy-five Americans are paid about $5 of $10,000 for candles used by he miners He h" b'en aM over Korea, and he tells
cltement at the palace. The buttons wero day each, with house rent and board, and $30,000 per annum for dynamite. me this country Is well mineralized. I
turned, but the globes would not burn. As The company now has five large mines on asked Mr- Wela aout the gold mines.
t grew darker the emperor sent his mes- ,ts concession and over 200 stamps. It has New io,d Mines. Bald he:
sengers to Mr. Power to ask what was a cyanide plant, and it Is treating alto- There Is a great dea lof placer mining "Nearly every stream shows more or
the matter, lie replied that he had not Bether, on the average, about 1.000 tons of done by the Korean natives. They are less color and we have reason to believe
had his money, and that the spirits who ore da"y. The net profit Is $1.85 a ton, so satisfied with small profits and a man that there Is gold In every province. There
ran the light plant would not work until that th mines are making from their work at such mining when It nets are several large concessions in the same
he was paid His majesty thereupon asked Wriz works alone $1,850 of clear money a him 10 cents a day, where he would not region as the Oriental Consolidated, which
why the money had not been sent and told day- Thla means almost $S0 an hour all labor steadily in the quaru mines at 25 have been more or less worked. One of
the corrupt officials that if It was not dy and nU n'Kht tlle 'ear through. Think cents a day. Altogether the total export them belongs to the English, another to
delivered at once their heads would go off. of a P"perty which brings In more than of gold from this country Is about $2,250,- the Germans and a third to the French.
The result was the soap box of fold dust. dollar a m.nule all the year round and 000 a year, and about $1.000,000, or more of The English ran a twenty-stamp mill for
Mr. Tower told metha't the gold was In
grains and In nuggets and he described
how General Clarence Oreathouse, tho
American adviser to the king, who had had
some mining experience In California, went
almost craiy as he bent down and laved
his hands In It Pome of the. nuggets were
flat, showing that they had not gone far
from the mother lode and one was as big
as the palm of your hand. The gold was
sent to the mint at Osaka. It netted In
the neighborhood of $50,000, and Power
handed back the balance after he had
taken out tha $47,000 due him. I neglected
to say that as soon as he got the gold, the
spirits of electricity began to work and
that they are still laboring for his majesty
today.
America's Dla Uold Mines.
I have an Idea that It was General Great
house who carried this live evidence of the
actual existence of gold in great quantities
to the United States. At any rate, the
fact became nolped abroad, and for the
last fifteen years Americans have been
after concessions for mines In this coun
try. Among these was James H. Morse,
who got the original grant from the Korean
government for the district which is now
known as that of the Oriental Consolidated
Mining company. This company has by
far the biggest gold mines of Korea. It
has already taken out $10,000,000 In bullion
and Its output last year was more than
$1,000,000 in Hi'ld. It is crushing 3U0 ,000 tons
every year, and It has over 1,000,000 tons
,ln reserve. The company Is now working
6,000 Koreans, 600 Chlnvse and more than
100 Japanese, together with seventy-five or
more Americans, and It can continue to
operate on Its present basis for years to
come. This company has a plant which
cost $1,250,000, and It produces more than
half of all the gold that la exported from
Korea today.
llnnt A Co. -Made Millions.
The men who got the concession for this
mine made practically nothing out of It.
I believe It was first taken up by James
R, Morse, and that Leigh Hunt was made
a member of the company. The region in
which It lies had been worked in a rude
way by the Koreans for centuries. Their
method of mining was to build a fire on a
ledge and heat the rock. They would then
throw on water and thus crack ths quarts,
digging it out with rude picks. After that
they crushed ore by laying It on flat stonos
beneath heavy, round granite boulders
which they rocked back and forth by
handles tied to the boulders. Thry also
acquired a great deal of gold by placer
mining.
When Morse and Hunt sent their engi
neers to examine the property ' tliey re
ported that It contained gold, but that it
would not run more than $7 or W pur Ijii
They also said that It would take ten
Korean miners to do as muoh ' work a
one average American, and that they
weu!4 have to pay M oenU per day at
Mining in Korea Promise Millions When Properly Worked
STAMP MILL.
the start with a probable rise of BO cents
In the near future; and that on the whole
the vork would not pay. Upon this re
port, I am told, Morse refused to spend
more money on the concession and that
Leigh Hunt, upon a buy or sell propo
sition, secured a full title and right to tha
mine for less than 110,000. At that tlmt
Leigh Hunt had no money to speak of.
but he went to America to make th.6 ar
rangements. He persuaded tho Union
Iron works of San Francisco to sell him
a twenty-stamp mill on tick, and Interest
ed J. Sloat Fussett of New York and the
Crockers of San Francisco In the under
taking. He got enough money to pay
for the concession and to start work In a
moderate way. He brought his little mill
out here and carried It Into the country
upon tho back of bulls and porters and
by means of bull carts. He set it up at
Chlttabalble on one part of his conces
sion and began to work. Rich ore was
RlmnRt tmmerltntel V rilAlnnori anH In
,hort tm en0URh goM hgd bpen tken
out to pay all expenses and put the com
pany on easy street. As
result, all of
the rifirtnera fn the hnulnoaa havi mA
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TTllfllnnn ann tliOV Qtfll rtnn nnnAu.l:in
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of vcry rlen territory, covering an area
which is twenty-five miles wide and upon
Which thPV hSV tha Avnlnalira lirlia frn
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all minerals until 19..4. After opening the
mine, Mr. I
Iunt stayed some time In Korea
to operate It, but it Is now many years
since he left here for Egypt, where he
owns areat plantation on the Nile not
far from Khartoum and Is raising Ameri
can cotton.
Pays a Dollar si M In ate.
As to the grade of tha ore of Ihnui mln
a low. It does not come un on the
orage to the estimate of the engineer, mmn
It
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UPPER RIGHT-HANI) CORNER, GEORGH CROOK POST. GRAND ARMY OF
HAND COKNli.lt. CROOK POof; UPPKR LECT-11AND CORNER, UiUU
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you have some Idea of the rjrf.flts of this
big American Drooertv awav out here on
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Organizations that Took Part in Memorial
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KOREAN NATIVES IRON SMELTING FURNACB.
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NATIVE WORKMEN AT KAYRSON COPPER
this comes from mines and placers out
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THE REPlTT.irV CENTER, UEOKUfi
8CUOOL CAJjliTS.
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MINES.
ome years on high grade ore, but they
shut down about two years ago and have
left. The Germans are still mining, and
they are said to be making money. They
have rich ore, but will give no Informa
tion as to their profits. The French are
also operating near Choaan in the same
district.
l 9 nan Gold Mines.
'In addition to these mines In north
eastern Korea are the Suan gold mines,
belonging to Collbran and Bostwlck. They
He about fifty-six miles from Pyeng-yang
and can be reached In eight hours by train
and two days across country. These mines
promise to pay very well. They have been
worked about a year, and they have taken
out about 40,000 tons of ore, which will
yield $12 per ton. In addition there Is S
per cent of copper In the ore. The com
pany is putting up a plant and by next
October it will be reducing about 150 tons
dally. This mine was discovered by an
Englishman, who took Mr. Collbran In as
a partner. He got up a combination, In
cluding the Mltsuis of Jupan. They sent
Day Parade in Omaha
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CUSVEtt POST, LOaVER RIGHT-HAND CORNER. GRANT I'O.ST; LOWER LEFT -
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HOI8TINO
ensineers to Investigate It, who reported
against it, and ao the Mltsuis dropped out.
Then the Englishman gave up and Coil
bran and Bostwlck organized a new com
pany in Seoul on a capitalisation of $500,
000. It will not take more than (300,000 to
develop tha property, and it promises to
be one
Korea."
of the most valuable mines in
Chlckaaa Oold Mines.
"Are there any other gold mines now
being worked 7"
"Yes," replied Mr. Welgall, "and there
are several which promise to pay much
more In the future. One of these Is the
Cbloksan mine, which lies forty-five miles
south of Seoul, not far from the sea. That
mine has large quantities of low-grade ore
and It can be worked at a profit, if on a
large scale, at as low as 12 per ton. The
ore contain 7 or $8 per ton, and It is bet
ter on the average than the ore of tha
Oriental Consolidated. The country is
granite and the lodes are of quarts and
of great alse. This mine was originally
granted to tha Japanese, but they gave It
over to a young American named Deshler,
a stepson of tho late Governor Nash. He
came out here from Columbus, O. After
he got hold of the mine he interested
Columbus capital In It and also the well
known millionaire of Japan, Baron Shi-
busawa. The company began work, but In
some way or other It has gotten tangled
up, and Is now In bad shape. It Is said
that Jardine, Matthieson A Co., a well
known English firm, which is operating
in the far east, is about to get hold of tha
property and that they will develop It"
7' U,cn8ldere1 valuabler
xne inaicuoim are cjccoeamgiy kowj,
said the mining engineer. 'The conces
sion Is twenty miles long and fourteen
miles wide, and the Seoul-Fusan railway
ninf ihrntiph It. Thn natives havi hMn
mining gold there for years, and there Is
one lode five miles In length, which has
Korean workings alt over It The engi
neers have also reported valuable placers,
and it ts believed that they can be Aredged
at a profit"
Fortune la Copper.
The Koreans have been producing copper
for many generations. Nearly all their
kitchen furniture is made of this material.
They wash in brass basins and eat from
brass bowls, and their finest furniture has
hinges of brass. There are scores of brass
stores In the city of Seoul, and copper
has been more or less exported for year?.
A large part of the native ore of this kind
has come from the mines of the emperor,
and the most from the Korean mines,
which are situated in northern Korea, and
which have been fought over in the courts
for the last four years, and settled only
last June, In favor of the American claim-
.... 3" .LiK
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THE ORB.
nts These mines now belong lo Coil
bran and Bostwlck, and they promise to
produce a great amount of valuable ci
I talked with Mr. Welgall about then
Said he:
There Is copper In many part." nf i i.t h
ern Korea. The country Is
ever, with great fields of lava, wli.c,
vents mining under It. The chlr i
mines are now around the eli;eii. v .,
the lava has eroded, and this ix the u..a.
acter of the KupHan property. Th nilru..
are situated about a inilo above the na
and 1:0 miles from the coust. They are in
the northeastern part of the peninsula,
where the winter climate Is very sevtre.
We have to go over two ranges of moun
tains to reach them, and we shall have to
take our machinery in on pack ponies. We
shall put up a small smelter right away,
beginning our work in the spring, and
shall increase our plant right along."
"Are these mines extensive?"
"Yes, and the copper Is rich. They have
been worked as far back as a thousand
years ago, and with rude native method
have produced something like 300.000 tons
of smelted copper per annum. The ore
runs, on the average, about 10 per cent
copper, which Is far higher than that of
other copper mines. The concession Is
twenty miles long and thirteen miles wide,
and there is copper all over It."
"How did the Americans get this mine,
yr, Welgall?"
..It originally belonged to the king, and
,t wa, on, of h, prlncIpmI properties. Mr.
Coiibran secured a concession from his
mitmty t0 take up a mining property any-
whe , thfl count o( th, dlr0(.n8ionB j
have mentioned, and this concession was
to Include any mines belonging to the king.
Mr. Collbran Investigated the Kapnan
region and selected this property. He
that he wou,d have difficulty hold-
ing it, and when the papers were drawn
up he had them signed by tha emperor in
the presence of his ministers at the palace.
He then had them certified to before the
United States minister to Seoul, Dr. Allen.
They were then taken to London and certi
fied to by the Korean minister there, and
then to Washington, where tho Kerean
minister to America affixed his endorse
ment. Then the war with Russia came on,
and the Japanese, having prospected that
region, declared that the property was
theirs, and tried to set Mr. Collbtan's con-
cession aside. The matter was fought over
In the courts, and, to make a long story
short, it has now been settled In Mr. Coll
bltan's favor."
"What other copper mines has Korea?"
"There are .three great belts here In
which copper is found. The Japanese have
some mines In the southern part of the
country, and the Italians are developing
the Kang-ge mines. They have five-foot
bandB of 7 per cent copper In dlorlte lime
stone, or about the same type of forma
tion as the gold of Suan. Bo far, how-
vcr, the only really great mine of well
..nown value is the Kapsan."
afiraphlte and Iron.
"What other Important minerals has
Korea?"
"One which promises to be very valuable
Is graphite. This is of a high grade, and
samples which have been sent to London
have assayed values of $100 a ton. An en
gineer sent here by one of the big lead
pencil companies, which use se much of
that metal, speaks highly of the prospects.
Already mines are being opened, the larg
est of those now in operation being worked
by Morris & Co., an American syndicate.
Tha Japanese have a graphite mjne near
Pusan, from which they are now exporting
500 tons a month. The must of It goes to
Nagasaki and thence to New York or Lon
don. "In addition to the minerals we have
talked of," continued Mr. WeHtftll. "thlx
country has large bodies of iron to the
northeast of Pyeng-yang, and considerable
coal. All of these are In the hands of the
Japanese, and they will probably be de
veloped at an early date."
FRANC (i. CARPUNTEfl.
Prattle of the Young3ters
"Tommy," said his mother, "go Into that
front room and see If grandpa is anleep ' 1
Tommy found the old gentleman snorim,-.
"Yes, mamma," he reported, "he's anieeii
all but his nou."
Teacher Why, Willie, what are jou
drawing?
Willie I'm drawing a picture of Gnfl.
Teacher But, Willie, you niun't do
tht; nobody knows how God looks.
WillieWell, they will when I get this
done.
Mabel (aged 6 years) Mamma, you told
Mrs. Smif desa spoons were handed down,
to ua by drandma.
Mother Yes, dear, by grandma, who Is'
np In heaven.
Mabel Did she fordet and took 'em wif
her?
"Mamma." questioned S-year-old Nettle,
"am I as tall as you are?"
"No. dear," was the reply, "Your head
nly comes to my waist."
"Well," continued Nettle, "I'm Just as
short, anyway. My feet are as far down
as yours."
Harold, aged years, had been sent to
purchase a pair of shoestrings for his
mother. '
"How long doea she want them?" asked
the proprietor.
"Oh, a ion time," answered Ha. old.
"Till they wear out, I guc.s."