ELECTRIC DEVICES
TAKE PLACE OF
DIVINING ROD
BUREAU OF MINES TESTS NEW
WAYS OF DISCOVERING
BODIES OF ORE IN DIRT
AIDS FINDING OIL FIELDS
Much Useless Expenditure Avoided
By Electrical Survey; Is
Valuable System.
Man’s long search for a magic
wand with which to find gold and
silver may soon be at an end. The
forked twig or witching-stick has
been thoroughly discredited, but in,
electricity the United States Bureau
of Mines believes an effective instru
ment for prospecting may (be devel
oped.
Electrical prospecting for meta’s is
comparatively new. The work is still
in the experimental! stage, but several
fr
systems have been developed which,
in th opinion of mining men, when
brought to a point of greater certain
ty will be valuable in the preliminary
serachdng for metallic ores.
One of these system® has been de
veloped by the Arizona Bureau of
Mine®. T,he instruments record the
difference of potential sei up by elec
trical static or dynamic waves that
are either induced or pre-existing in
bodies of metallic ores. After the va
rious differences of potential have
been observed at a number of points
in th einxmediate vicinity of the sup
posed ore body, a certain electrical
field is plotted, at thecente" of which
the ore body should be found.
Where these electrical methods are
used, the Federal Bureau of Mines
points out, th geological condition
must be taken into consideration,
along with the results obtained from
the electrical prospecting. The conclu
sions reached must then be confirmed
by actual discovery of the ore by
.means of diamond or churn drilling
or by underground prospecting meth
ods. The value of the system is that
by covering the area to be examin
ed with a rapid electrical sunvey, the
ft
Cal M. Brosius
Nails, fifty varieties, Automobile Glass,
Glass, Locks, Hinges,
Stockholm Tar, Roof Pitch,
BB1. Lime,
Hyd. Lime,
Plate Glass,
Colors,
Chimney Brick,
Varnish,
Corner Bead,
Mirrors,
Medusa,
White Atlas,
Keens,
Metal Lath,
Cedar, Oak, Maple,
Arch Brick,
Fire Clay,
Plaster Paris,
Hickory, Iron Bark
Beaver Board,
Gal. Cor. Iron,
Pulleys,
Flooring,
Fir, Spruce, Maple,
Ceiling,
Rustic,
Paints.
Glass Cutting,
Terps, Oils,
Fibered Plaster,
Stains, Putty,
Corner Lath,
Belting, Cement
Doors,
Windows,
Lumber,
Fir Lath,
Fire Brick,
Spruce Finish,
Mouldings,
Z-Lath,
Plaster Board.
Mahogany,
Roof Paper,
Building Paper,
Asbestos Paper,
Shingles,
Sash Rail,
Fir Finish,
LIBBY-OWENS WINDOW GLASS, Single and Double Strength,
Standard Oil Products, Rubber Matting, White Sand,
ASBESTOS STRIP SHINGLES, HYDRAULIC ELEVATORS,
METAL BASEMENT SASH AND FRAMES,
Sidewalk Coal Hole Covers Sidewalk Walk Lights, Etc.
CAL E BROSIUS
BUILDING SUPPLIES
4
new and different siglits^
in California
There’s a glorious welcome
awaiting you in California.
W arm, suns wept beaches,
fascinating cities, zestful
mountain resorts'—join
happy thousands at these
-delightful playgrounds.
And the trip is so easily
arranged. From Seattle,
through sleepers daily to
San Francisco and to Los
Angeles. Reduced round
trip fares, too.
Learn more about the
Shasta route journey south
ward. Read of the service
on any of the four popular
daily trains over this route.
—The comfortable accom
modations; the tempting
food in Southern Pacific
dining cars.
Qet this further information; write now for booklets,
fares, reservations, schedules, etc,, to
Southern Pacific Lines
B. C. TAYLOR, Gen. Agt.
314 Union Street • Seattle, Washington
favorable spots for drilling or pros,
peering may be localized and mucli
useless expenditure of money avoid
ed.
A portable field apparatus has also
(been developed by the Federal Bu.
reau of Minse. Tt may be used by
prospctors of geologists as an addi
tional aid in discovering new oil or
gas fields, if water of underground
origin traverses a gas or oil sand,
it will absorb a definite quantity
of hydrocarbon vapors, and will car
ry these vapors to the surface when
tapped by a well. The apparatus
makes it possible to determine wheth
er the vapors are mainly of natural
gas composition or are composed
mostly of heavier petroleum vapors.
The use of a forked twig, or so
called divining-rod, in finding miner
als and hidden treasure or detecting
criminals still has a strong hold on
the popular fancy, even in the Unit
ed States, as shown by the thous
ands of inquiries received by the
Government departments.
‘‘I want some information about a
needle or something that will locate
gold, as I have some traces of a gold
■mine and also some hidden treas
ure,” a contractor in West Virginia
recently wrote the Bureau of Mines.
“I have the county located which
it is in but am unable to loate the
exact spot. If you can give me any
information along this line or can
tell me whore I can get a needle or
machine or instrument which gold
will attract, I certainly will appre
ciate it and will keep you posted
as to my success.”
Many of the correspondents seek to
swear the Government to secrecy in
their proposed search for precious
metals, and in return for ‘‘a mach
ine with a gold needle, a silver nee
dle, a copper needle and a metal
needle” offer to split their find with
Uncle Sam. One correspondent wrote
that he knew where there was 2,300
pounds of gold in the Blanchard Riv
er. Would the Government get it
for him? He would pay handsome
ly.
The Bureau of Mines informs such
cor respend ents that “the extravagant
claims put forth by people who sel
contrivances such as divining rods,
mineral rods and the like have nev
er been substantiated. Special in
struments, such as the dip needle,
the magnetometer and the dial com
pass, have been successfully used
in prospecting for magnetic iron
ores in thsi and other countries, but
•such instruments are not useful in
prospecting for precious metals or
ares that have no magnetic effect.
The question of locating buried trea
sure is one on which it is impossi
ble to give helpful advice of any
kind.”
The origin of the divining rod is
lost in antiquity. Students of the
subject have discovered in ancient
literature many more or less vague
references to it. The “rod” is men
tioned many times in the Bible in
connection with miraculous perform
ances. In the seventeenth century,
use of divining rods had spread thru
the countries of Europe and aroused
controversy. Its champions, among
whom were some of the most learned
men of the time, explained its oper
ation on the principle of “sympathy”
or “attraction and repulsion.” Its
adversaries condemned its use as a
superstitious and vain practice. An
other view suggested a demoniac in
fluence. In Cornwall, England, the
belief is still common among the
miners that the rod is guided to the
ore deposits by the pixies, the fairy
custodians of the mineral treasures
of the earth.
Scientific controversies over the
divining rod have Continued to the
present day. ■
CHOP SUEY, NOODLES,
OYSTERS AND SHELL
FISH—
Open Day and Night
Private Dining Rooms
SEWARD GRILL
Alaska Airship Co.
SEWARD OFFICE
Box 1486 - • Seward, Alaska
SITKA’S LADY EDITOR i
LEAVES, PETERSBURG
Miss Eileen Charles, daughter of
Sidney D. Charles, publisher of the
Sitka Tribune, Petersburg Herald and
The First City News has abandoned
her post as editor of the Sitka Trib
une and will exert her gifted talents
on the Petersburg Herald, a larger
paper. Mr. Charles is editor of the
Ketchikan paper, and Herald LeMas
ter, a youth who has entered re
cently into the newspaper game in
Alaska takes over the editorship of
the Sitka paper. His first issue came
out last week.
JUST RECEIVED
another shipment of High-Grade suits
which is far superior to any that I
ever had in stock. You must see
them in order to appreciate their real
value.
I am offering these suits in prices
fair to all.
JORDAN'S VALET SERVICE.
A wild goose was caught when It
fllew on the deck of a North Sea
steamer, but it was allowed to fly
away again.
I
Superintendent of Willow
Creek Mine Goes States
J. L. McAllen, supt. of the Willow
Creek Mines Company, in the Willow
Creek district, was among the south
bound passengers Saturday on the
steamer Alaska. Mr. McAllen has
been associated with the Willow Ck.
mine for the past two years having
been transferred to Alaska from the
companies office in the States. The
past season Mrs. McAllen and child
ren resided at the mine with him. He
expects to return from the south with
in the next two months.
F. B. MOORE
Gore Bldg. Adartia 145
WALL PAPER PAPER-HANG
ING, and PAINTING
TINTING
*
Piping ‘and Fittings for
Power Plant Construction
5000 feet 2 1-2 double extra strong steel pipe, in random
lengths, 12 to 30 feet each; each length fitted with
square machined, four-bolt flanges. One end of run
grooved, opposite end and outlet tongued with steel
machined bolts, hexigon heads and nuts. *
3000 feet 1 1-2 double extra strong steel pipe in lengths
12 to 30 feet each; each length fitted with square ma
chined four bolt flanges. One end of run groved, op
posite end and outlet tongued, with steel machined
bolts, hexagon heads and nuts.
500 assorted 1 1-2 and 2 1-2 steel four bolt flanges, elbows,
tees, crosses, return bends, divided return bends, re
ducing companion flanges, flange unions, globe and
angle valves, etc.
The piping and* fittings are in first class conditionTready
for immediate delivery F. O. B. mail steamer Starr,
at Portlock, Port Chatham, Alaska.
Our price will be based up Walworth Manufacturing Com
pany's factory catalog price F. O. B. Boston, Mass.,
thereby allowing the purchaser the cost of the freight
from t)ie Aatlantic Coast to Alaska.
Will sell all or part of above piping and fittings and fur
nish list of quantity of different sizes on hand, upon
request.
Alaska Consolidated Fisheries, Inc.
PORTLOCK, ALASKA