A HILL OF SILVER

Manawatu Times, Volume V, Issue 147, 29 June 1881, Page 4

A HILL OF SILVER

While a whalei' during fhe last fißliing season wa.s lying m a small "bity at the .-rn.outivof one of the rivers which empty into the ocean on the coasb of Alaska, a great many of ihe nati\«ai-ame on board for sea biscuiti of wliich they are very fond, and finally induced' the captain to go np tlie viver and fish for salmon,, with ■winch 'the rival* was said to bo alive. A bost was fitted out, manned by four men a nd the captain, and they went up the river 15 miles, where they went ashore at the base of a hill about 500 feet high, up which the captain and chief of the natives climbed, while the crew aud natives ■fished. The tsummit of the hill was DothfiViv bat an extinct crater, m which the captain noticed that the rcclcs resembled iron after it had been melted. He undertook to break off a piece but could not do it, as it Beembd to bend, not break, under repeaeted blows with the head of a boataxe. He then struck it *ith the Wade of the axe, and chopped it off and took it m his hand. The surf ace ■where the axe had cleaved its way through the rock,' he saw was so soft nearly as read although, it did not shine. He thought then it was a metal of some kind, aud kept it. Specimens of a similar character were were picked up by others of the crevr, lrss'talteju'-fto |b«-i^fy.^.S^; Plfe®. TvhieV tne captain -.chopped off the top '.o,f the -hill :wihvJblie..axs r . : ha* as-. •ay ed 6^ooo dbls per "ion m eil v er, and the loose rocks picked up went as high/as 275 dols. silver per ton. A comi?an^Jol '©aiki'andersZ.io j&hovi the rocks were submited, hare chartered the whaler and the crew to make atrip m the Bpv^gjtflv/the scene of this reinarksble cliscovery, and a *orkbi»^pi#y*^iU 4 «-J^.:I4I?M«J» tne Jocatiotiio digrdut aica!i'go.it;y