FINDING GOLD

Yet, for all the ease with which such terms fall from our "silver tongues," gold is not easy to find. Some gold may lie in the open and relatively easy to find, but most is buried deep in the earth where it is hidden, difficult to find, and dangerous to mine. The metal was formed when the earth was very young in a manner that the alchemists of the Middle Ages would envy and sought to find in their experiments attempting to make gold from base metals.

According to scientific theory, the outer crust of the planet was thin and pockmarked with volcanoes out of which burst gases and r1iolten liquids from the boiling cauldron of the interior. As the surface cooled, the molten liquids solidified into fissures in what became rocks and mountains. Some of the liquids became veins of gold. Others became silver and other metals, while still others became gems.

Sometimes, they solidified near one another. Gold, one m the rarest metals, for example, is often found with or near quartz, the most common mineral. The ancient Egyptians noticed this neighborliness early, and when they saw quartz they looked for gold.

Gold Is also found with silver, and the famous Comstock mine in Nevada became a much bigger and richer source of silver than of gold. In addition, gold is found with a form of iron known as pyrites. Because iron pyrites are similar to gold in color and brightness, they are often mistaken for gold-hence the name "fool's gold."

All gold, nevertheless, was originally deposited deep within the earth. With the aging of the earth, however, gold from veins nearer the surface was eroded away from the rocks binding it. Streams and rivers, in addition, cut their way through the rocks. Perhaps earthquakes brought gold to the surface, too. At any rate, gold began to be visible even to the most unsophisticated eyes. The yellow glitter commanded-and commands-attention.