class="center">UNITED STATES GOLD PRODUCTION
(In Value)

GOLD PRODUCTION OF THE WORLD

V
THE FINDING OF MINES.

Mines are discovered in many ways. One hears much about prospecting, and since this is a practice which is rapidly changing from a mystical to a scientific basis, a few considerations will here be in order.

Persons who have lived in mining communities are familiar with two types of prospector, the roving and the settled. Somehow, when we think of the former, there comes to mind a bearded, roughly clad man, usually accompanied by a "jack" and both packing the outfit consisting of a few tools, a pan, some blankets, a gun, and a supply of "grub." If we have in mind the other type of prospector, we imagine him as living an isolated life in a log cabin up in the hills, spending his daytime in putting in a few, short drill-holes and blasting down a ton or two of usually worthless rock in a "tunnel" or shallow shaft, confident that each succeeding shot will disclose a treasure.

Both of these types represent the utmost in optimism. These men endure many hardships and privations, they can have little converse with other humans, often they can see no provisions for the next day; in fact, they receive few of the benefits of modern civilization—if we except the food-preserving features. Still, a typical, old-style prospector keeps on with absolute faith that fortune will smile tomorrow. We must reach the conclusion that these uneducated men are led on by subtle beliefs which, to a technically-trained man, seem like the rankest folly. They are diviners, dreamers. They are disappearing now and, a generation hence, there will be but memories of them. They are giving way to successors of a different type.

The newer kind of prospector is well educated, and, perchance, he is rather youthful. His chances of success are many times those of the man he supplants. Why? Because he is taking advantage of the work that has been done by all former prospectors. He is guided by theories deduced from