PLACER GOLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 147, 24 June 1933, Page 11 (Supplement)

PLACER GOLD.

A STUDENT VENTURE.

MINING IN ARIZONA. STORY OF A NUGGET. Roy Y\ iprwl, '31 electrical engineer at the University of Minnesota, lolled back in a davenport of the Kappa Eta Kappa fraternity house and elevated a pair of No. 0 brogans to a table. That, ordinarily, would have been a gesture to attract no great attention. But tho way Wiprud performed it, it was a movement to dwell upon. : The simple elevation of the feet carried a suggestion of leisure; the wave ot the hand, the sigh, denoted prosperity —even affluence. T\ iprud was no one to disappoint. "This gold," he yawned, "was just a nnte Louis and I sort of keep around • • • you know, memories and all that ■ • •_ °f our prospecting trip. \ou know," he condescended to his fraternity brothers, "that a lot of people are beating tho depression with placer mining. Of course, manv of them onlv make a few cento a day, but others . . *" Holding his little bottle of black sand to the light, Wiprud revolved it. "See the glitters 7 That, fellows, is colour— gold. Came with stuff in the Jae-er basin running 5000 dollars to the ton. And that, in case you don't know it is ' V" ICa ' i° ro ' was le mother ot j® of our placer Location. " -rZ i P f rud ' S . llanso impressive. Louts'" eXpenence ' P la «* mining, eh,

Qle " len > ' 34 electrical engineer, and W. lprud s -pardner" on an Arizona prospecting trip of a weeks a"o lit an imported cigarette. "To be sure' little 6 rn U [°'"l f H ° flippcd a CO!, P le of finir "n S between tllu and fore,7°'; , Tile . v sparkled in the lM,t that eand in the bottle," explained Tocl? d XV I C,e " lent - from these rocks. \\ e Juet ground it down with dollars" toT/tof T^. 5000 lit an imported cigamte. * iprud Viprud and Clements departed from STI' f, riZOna ' toward Aravaca, some miles to the south, where thev had been told they might obtain a lease on a certain placer mine.

Such rights to work the placers 50 per cent of gold recovered', with the prospectors paving their own expenses. It sounded fair enough to get half of

another fellow's wealth by washing it out of the sands.

They had their troubles at Aravaca. Tn the town of 200 only two men could talk English.

Their first try at panning came in a rugged little canyon to the south of Tucson, where they obtained permission to work on the 50-50 basis. And here they regretted—too late —that they had not thoroughly assimilated lesson No. 1 of "How to Mine Gold."

Their mining site was a out gnawed through the Santa Catalina ilountains by a river that rose during the occasional cloudbursts to torrential proportions. but at this season it was only a trickling little stream three or four feet wide, over the rocks and sands of the SUIt to 100 ft canyon, bottom. Along the side of the stream they set down their pans, got out their manual, and read: "Holding tlie pan about level and keeping it and its contents under water, give it a rotating motion, rapidly alternating the direction." It sounded easy. But by nightfall each had only blistered lingers and aching backs, a puny pile of sand by his side, and a yen for the Kappa Eta Kappa house, a warehouse of groceries and medical attention. For three days they worked the stream and banks, never seeing a trace of colour. But of evenings they did have a little fun. Once they "crashed"-three student dances in one night at the University of Arizona. And through the short-wave set rigged' up with a GOft aerial stretched out along the cactus tops;, they worked amateur stations, even raising the set at the 'Kappa Eta Kappa house a few ; times. But dug no gold, and funds were getting low. '•Rich Ore At Last." The Kappa Eta Kappa fraternity brothers still seemed impatient about Wiprud's story and about the little gold specimens he held in his hand. ! ""Of course, the gold. As I say, we ran into rich ore at last in the Jaegar basin. Of course, w'e'd had rotten luck so far. No colour' in the sands. Hard work. Aching bones. And blisters. But no gold. "In the Jaegar basin we went in on another 50-50 contract. Twenty-five or thirty others were trying the same thing, living in a city of tents. "Well, after a few days, we thought we'd take a little run down to San Diego. We still had enough for a side trip. It was a great drive. Great bituminous: highway, eh, Louis?" j Louis thought it was. ! "Yes, but Roy . . The fraternity brothers, it seems, were getting

restless. "How about that gold you got in the Jaegar basin?" Wiprud fingered tha bottla and the two little stones. "How much," someone broke out "did you spend on the whole trip?" '■Well, of course, our ready cash," said Wiprud, "was our 300 dollars." "And what," asked another, "is that gold worth ?" "Well, just this little," said Mr. Wiprud, "i's maybe seventy-five cents or so . : . . but . . ." "And where did youmine it?" "Well, we personally," said Wiprud, "didn't really mine this one little bunch, but ..." "That," admitted Mr. Clements, "is the gold we got in Arizona. A man gave it to us." Wiprud stifled a yawn. — (N.A.N.A.)