CHAPTER XVIII
The German mines—Mineralogy and methods of mining—A bear hunt—With gun and rifle
Nature has been active in these regions. There is much limestone and slate formation, some basaltic upheavals, lava boulders, and chain upon chain of granite peaks. To the west of Tong-ko-kai there is the crater of an extinct volcano, but the lava strata in the vicinity of the concession are almost completely eroded. The basin of the concession is well watered, cultivated, and populous in places. It is surrounded by ranges three, four and five thousand feet in height. Korea is very mountainous in the north and hilly in the south. The watershed between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea extends north and south, nearly parallel to the east coast. In a sense this line of mountain ranges is the backbone of the peninsula; the eastern side of the main watershed is narrow and abrupt, while the western is more extended and contains low plains, favourable to agriculture. The general altitude of the peaks varies between five and six thousand feet. A few isolated points in the extreme north are believed to be higher.
The principal mining districts are situated along the courses of the main and the minor watersheds. The famous mining districts of Kang-kyöi, Kap-san, and Teh-chang-chin, at present in the occupation of native workmen, occur upon the plateau formed by the junction of the range, which constitutes the northern frontier of the province of Pyöng-an, with the main watershed of the country. The British mines at Eun-san are situated in country pierced by the north-western antilles of the main watershed. The position of the German mines bears a similar relation to the great natural division of the country, upon its eastern side. Many useful minerals are distributed over Korea—gold, silver, lead, copper, iron, coal—but that which yields the richest harvest is gold. The value of the gold exported from Korea during 1901 increased from £363,305 in 1900 to £509,738. A further increase marks 1902, the value of the gold exported being £516,961. These figures give only the value declared at the Customs. Large amounts are annually smuggled out of the country.
The presence of gold has been known from the earliest times. Knochenhauer, a German geologist, has declared it to exist in every river in the kingdom. Hitherto, alluvial gold has been the principal yield to native workers. The miners followed the object of their search up the mountain side until they struck veins and lodes, whence much of the alluvial gold was derived. The chief auriferous districts are in the northern half of the country; in which sphere lie the American mine at Un-san, the British mine at Eun-san, and the German mine at Tong-ko-kai.
The original source of Korean gold may be found in the quartz veins, which, in the case of the American mines, is alleged to give exceptionally rich returns. The alluvial deposits, brought down from the veins in the mountain-ridges, have been freely worked by Koreans; and when more scientifically treated the yield is satisfactory. The schotter sediments, in the case of the Tong-ko-kai mines, attained a maximum of seventy-five feet in depth, a thickness of sedimentary matter some fifty feet in excess of the usual formation. The concession was granted in 1898. Under it powers were given to a German company to select a place twenty miles long and thirteen miles wide, within two years from the date of signing the contract, for the purpose of working all minerals during a space of twenty-five years, with an annual payment to the Korean Government of twenty-five per cent. on the net profits. The revenues received from these contracts belong to the Imperial Household, passing directly into the private purse of the Sovereign. In the case of the English syndicate, the percentage was compounded for a sum of £20,000 and an annual payment of a further £2000.
The site, which the Germans selected for their concession, was, at the moment when they assumed control over the areas, the centre of extensive alluvial workings. The native miners strongly objected to the innovation, and prepared to resist the rights of the German company by force. In the end, however, their hostility was overcome by granting them twelve months’ additional occupation of their works, and, when Herr Bauer assumed charge as administrative engineer, opposition was already at an end. The district is covered with the remains of old workings in the schotter of the river-bed; they are also to be found in a few places in the quartz upon the mountain side. In the absence of the requisite machinery, work upon the concession was necessarily disorganised. Eventually the concession was abandoned, close investigation failing to disclose its possession of any very remunerative qualities. At the time of its withdrawal, the company employed nine Europeans, thirteen Japanese and Chinese, and some three hundred Koreans.
Korean mining is very elementary. The usual methods are “placer” and “crushing” and a process of treatment by fire. A vertical shaft is sunk, with narrow steps cut into its sides, to the level of the reef; the bottom of the shaft is then packed with wood, which is ignited and kept burning for several days. The heated rock becomes very friable and yields readily to the crude implements of the miners. There is great competition to secure the bottom pitch in these shafts; the more intrepid rarely delay their descent until the working has cooled. The quartz is sometimes rubbed to powder and the gold washed out, or it is crushed between huge boulders, washed, re-crushed and panned again. The gold is then picked out. Until lately there were no places where the gold was tested by other than the most antiquated methods.
Such sanguine hopes have been raised as to the results of the mining in Korea, that it would be as well if the public accepted all statements in regard to these investments with great caution. The results of the development of the various mining concessions, now in progress, will be awaited with much interest, and will, it is to be hoped, form a reliable test of the mining possibilities of the country. The returns from the American mines encourage the belief that these possibilities have not been over-estimated; but it has yet to be proved that mining operations can be profitably carried on with Western methods and appliances. The deposits in which gold is found in Korea are irregular, and by no means continuous. To a Korean miner this is of small importance. His outfit costs at the most a few shillings, and his belongings are easily transported to any distance as circumstances demand. A different order of things is essential to a successful installation of Western machinery, and the public require some proof that there is, within workable distance, a sufficient quantity of ore to yield a fair profit on their investments. This has yet to be proved in the case of the British mine; in respect of the German concession, the business resulted in a fiasco. That these mining enterprises should be successful is desirable in the interests of both natives and foreigners. They afford steady employment at a fair wage to thousands of Koreans, at least, part of whose earnings is expended in the purchase of foreign goods. It is perhaps, however, not altogether unfortunate that the Korean Government is averse, at present, to grant further concessions.
During our halt at Tong-ko-kai, one day was spent in climbing the mighty peaks to lofty spots where, at a height of some thousands of feet, native prospectors were driving into the granite facing of the mountain in an effort to strike the main reef. Another day was passed in a hunt across the crests of the ranges after bear and deer. At daybreak, a little after 4 A.M. upon the morning of this excursion, Herr Bauer escorted us to a prospector’s hut in the damp recesses of a distant valley, where our beaters, gun-carriers, and hunter-guides had been ordered to rendezvous for a bear hunt. Alas! the Korean cannot bestir himself! His late rising on this occasion delayed our departure from the hut two hours. The sun had risen when the expedition moved off, a motley retinue of professional hunters and beaters accompanying us to the gorge, wherein lay the bear. Hunters and beaters attached themselves to each of us, and we proceeded across the mountain, pursuing a narrow and broken rack, which cleft the bare summit of the highest ridges. We climbed and scrambled up and down and in and out of many sheltered and well-timbered gorges, until the hunters warned us that we were approaching our stations.