White Cloud Kansas Chief

GREAT GOLD DISCOVERY.

The Richest Deposit Known in the History of the World--Tremendous Excitement in Consequence.

Col. Inslee, of St. Joseph, now in Montana Territory, in a letter to his family, incloses the following extract from the Virginia City (Montana) Post, of November 4th, relative to some newly discovered mines, which bid fair to surpass in richness anything heretofore known in the world. Colonel Inslee writes that he has seen some specimens of the quartz from these mines which seemed to be "nearly solid gold."

Here is the extract from the Post:

"Upon the arrival of the Helena stage, last Friday morning, the people of Virginia City were thrown into a gold excitement, before which all former excitements must pale. The facts, as we get them from apparently well authenticated sources, are briefly as follows:

"Mr. Brown, a German or Norwegian, and one of the original discoverers of the celebrated Gould & Curry lode, of Nevada, and afterwards of Brown lode in Nelson Gulch, in this Territory, was engaged in sinking a shaft on the "Uncle Sam" lode, about the head of Dry Gulch, some four miles from Helena. He had sunk near twenty feet, when, the indications not suiting him, he concluded to change his course by drifting up hill from the bottom of his shaft. He had advanced in this direction about ten feet, when he reached a gold deposit which, in richness, and extent, has, perhaps, no parallel in the history of gold mining. Gold, in almost solid masses, glittered before his bewildered vision. For two weeks longer, unknown to others, he tunnelled into the golden wall. Secreted about him, he had accumulated several gunny-sacks, literally filled with the precious metal, when longer secrecy became impracticable, from the very extent of his unexpected wealth, and Mr. Brown proceeded to record and secure his property, when the public were informed of the great discovery. It is said that he now keeps a strong guard, night and day, over his seemingly inexhaustible wealth, while he himself, unassisted, delves into the golden walls around him, and continues multiplying his sacks of precious ore. One person who was admitted into Mr. Brown's drift, states that it presented a scene of wealth more akin to a picture of the imagination than actuality. Gold! gold!! gold!!! met the view on every side--above, below, and all around--and reflecting back its rich hues in the glare of the candle, as if this subterranean vault had been hewn out of a solid ledge of the yellow metal.

"This gold is found in a well defined ledge, fully five feet in width. The gold vein is three feet wide--three-fourths of the entire substance therein being pure gold; the remainder mainly bismuth. On each side of this vein, there is a casing of one foot of quartz, which will assay from $400 to $2,000 to the ton. The very wall rock is rich. Specimens can be seen at the City Book Store.

"Whether this is, to use familiar mining terms, a 'blow-out' or a 'pocket,' we are not prepared to admit or deny. But be it either, millions are 'lying around loose.' We can scarcely realize that this is a distinct, continuous ledge, as, in that case, so vast an amount of gold would affect the standard of gold valuation throughout the commercial world. But our informant, whom we know to be a man of reliability, assures us that a distinct ledge has been traced fully seventy-five feet."