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Show REPOUTaD tin ore and cad- I ?1 IU.1I DISCOVERIES IN UTAH. The public advantage ol'a little corner cor-ner in the general land office, known as the Geological museum, hitherto almost unnoticed, has lately been impressed im-pressed upon your correspondent as the result of some inquiries he has made concerning the truth of the re-j re-j ported discovery in Utah, of the valu-; valu-; able metal cadmium. These inquiries developed the following facts in regard re-gard to the late tin ore excitement, and tho way in which the truth about the allcBod discoveries was made manifest. man-ifest. On the 22d of September last, the commissioner of the land office, at the -Buggestion ol' Prof. Winter, (in charge of the geological department) wrote to surveyor-general Clements, of t Utah, asking for specimens of the newly discovered tin orc, and under ! date of October 10th, Mr. Clements replied re-plied that Dr. GrnfT would take numerous nu-merous specimens to Washington and give full particulars. Upon the arrival arri-val of theso specimens, Prof. Winter failed to discover any daces of tin in them, although they bore a striking resemblance to tin ore; but to make sure his assay was correct, sent portions por-tions of I he same specimens, together with others received from different partic?, to the distinguished chemist and metallurgist, Dr. K A. Zcnth, of Philadelphia, who, after a very careful analysis, stated that they did not contain con-tain a trace of tin, but consisted merely of hornblende, feld-spar, and free quartz, although very similar in appearance ap-pearance to tin oreas the crystals of : the oxide of tin differ only very minutely min-utely from those of hornblende. The widespread publication through the i press of the simple statement that no j traces of tin had been found at tho land office in the alleged tin ore immediately im-mediately had- the e licet of stopping several negotiations for the purchase of Utah ' tin mines," and not only disappointed disap-pointed those who were honestly self-deceived self-deceived in the belief that, they had struck fortune, but defeated the criminal crim-inal object of not a few persons who, already aware of the character of the deposits, were hastening to take advantage ad-vantage of the careless credulity of parties who stood ready to take the wonderfully rich discoveries oft their hands at really enormous valuation.0, very considerable sums having already been advanced in some instances to bind the bargains. The present asserlion which comes from Utah that the deposits turn out to be cadmium instead of "tin," Prof. Winter considers equally entitled to belief, as neither he nor Br. Zenth discovered dis-covered any traces of the metal in the specimens which they have so far seen, 11.11(1 inijat uaicfullv (.ciimlimJ, Ll Lo settle the matter beyond all question, the commissioner of tho land ollice has within a few days written to surveyor-general surveyor-general Clements at Salt Lake city as follows: "As all efforts to dispose of the so-called tin mines have been frustrated, frus-trated, and I have reason to believe that this new discovery has no better foundation, I would kindly request you to procure, if possible, some of this "cadmium" aud send it to this office at your earliest convenience." The result of the assay and analysis of these specimens when received, may with conlidence, be regarded by the public as conclusive. Washing Ion correspondent cor-respondent San Francisco Bulletin. |
