King Solomon's Mines, An Expedition to go to Africa in Search of Them.
King Solomon's Mines,
An Expedition to go to Africa
in Search of Them.

King Solomon's Mines.
________

An Expedition to go to Africa in
Search of them.

    "The servants of Hiram" brought gold from Ophir, algum trees, precious stones." Little did the sacred writer who penned the above, realize that he was going to tantalize the world centuries distant with his elusive clew, says the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Much less did he grasp the realization that an inhabitant of a continent then undreamed of was destined to enter into a pursuit of the clue. Where is Ophir, anyhow! But what is more to the point with this commercial age, where are Solomon's mines, and what are they good for? It was left for the Aladdin of modern novelists, H. Rider Haggard, to fan the flame of the quest of the golden Ophir to a white heat. That weird wizard of the pen did not deign to charm his muse to the ear of prosy facts, but he succeeded in stirring a raging fever of thirst in the breasts of the matter-of-fact people of the face of the globe, the English. And it was but the outcropping of the law of natural selection that led a band of Ophir-hunting John Bulls to pick out as the helmsman of their quest Colorado's talented mining expert, William C. Wyncoop. In plain English, the editor of the Mining Industry of St. Louis, is under contract to pierce the heart of Africa on a hunt for the gold of Ophir with which King Solomon in his palmy days tickled the fancy of the Queen of Sheba. Having heard the rumor that Editor Haggard's wild romance was about to be instrumental in sending a Coloradoan to the supposed foundation of Solomon's ancient splendors, a reporter for the Globe-Democrat waited on Mr. Wyncoop for its confirmation.
    "Is it true, Mr. Wyncoop, that Haggard's mythical tale is to be the means of your making a trip to Africa?"
    "Yes, in a measure," laughingly replied the connoisseur in mines and ores. "I am going to Africa all right, and to the spot where the lost Solomon's mines are fabled to have been buried. It is on the eastern coast of Africa, well down and considerably inland. A syndicate of Englishmen, for whom I have done expert duty in Colorado and Idaho, have engaged me to make a search in the supposed locality of Ophir."
    "Are there any data for locating Ophir and Solomon's mines at that spot?"
    "None at all as far as I know. There is only what the politicians would call a side issue. Doubtless the discovery of the ruins of a large and ancient city has given zest to the mining operations there, and led to tangible hopes of an unearthing of Solmon's [sic] mines. To make it pay, however, they will have to strike a richer field than Solomon possessed. The contemporaries of that much-marred sage and monarch were dazzled no doubt, but let their wildest picture stand and it would not be a tin-type in Colorado. As I understand it, the temple so famous in history was covered with gold leaf, which would not rate at much higher value than some of our building material. Still, the English captalists [sic] who seem to be whetting their mining tools with a vengeance have staked large sums of money in African mining ventures, more, I believe, than the entire outlay in American mining. A large amount of the African investment has been sunk out of sight. If you can tell by the papers, the strike in the Ophir regions has been uncovered and valuable rock brought to the surface. Mind, it is wise to take the published accounts with a grain of salt."


Source:

Unknown, "King Solomon's Mines, An Expedition to go to Africa in Search of Them," Plattsburgh Sentinel, Plattsburgh, New York, Friday, 20 November, 1891, Page 5.

Created March 13, 2006; Revised March 13, 2006
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