Word leaked out that “ther’ were gold in them ther’ hills”. The year 1876 proved to be a full blown gold rush to the Black Hills. At first gold was panned for in the streams, as that played out, mines were opened. One of the most famous mines was Homestake mine. This mine produced gold decade after decade.
Homestake Mine: the complexity of the gold ore was not fully understood until it was mapped out. The gold ore lay sandwiched between two very thick rock units. As Roadside Geology of South Dakota states,
“All the rocks are of sedimentary origin, deposited in an ancient, shallow sea (p.226)....”Repeated folding and shearing of the entire sequence left the outcrop of the thin Homestake formation (the gold ore is here) resembling a piece of old-fashioned ribbon candy. Folding left the rocks tightly wrinkled...(228)”
How do you fold rock? Would it not break and fracture? It only can be folded when still pliable. The layers were laid down during the Flood and folded. The miners referred to these sharply folded areas of the crests and valleys as ledges. They went on to number these ledges, the valleys with odd numbers and the crests with even numbers.
Gold can be formed in an instant...
Scientists have discovered that gold veins can be produced in an instant (a few tenths of a second) and not over deep time. Veins of gold are produced when hot fluids flowing through cracks deep in the earth’s crust depressurize rapidly causing the minerals and metals to fall out of the hot fluid solution. The “flash deposition” of gold is a result of earthquakes opening up cracks. Gold can be found in these fault jogs - the sideways zigzag cracks that are connected to main fault lines in rocks. Earthquakes can make gold veins in an instant as the pressure changes causing the precious metals to be flash deposited. Gold does not take millions of years. During the Flood of Noah’s day there would have been intense earthquake activity, which would have produced gold in an
flash. The world desires gold, yet gold pales in comparison to God’s Word which is
“more precious than gold, than much pure gold” (Psalm 19:10).
(“Gold Veins produced “in an instant”. 2013. Creation Magazine. 35(3)7.)
Surface Tour of a gold mine
Homestake Mine in Lead: Surface tours of a gold mine that yielded more gold than any other mine in America, about 250,000 ounces of pure gold annually.
Gold Mine tours
1. Big Thunder Gold Mine, Keystone
2. Broken Boot Gold Mine, Deadwood
Pan for Gold
You can learn to pan for gold today. Find gold panning lesson at Black Hills Mining Museum in Lead, Broken Boot Gold Mine in Deadwood, Big Thunder Gold Mine in Keystone or Custer State Park. A summer afternoon is the perfect time to pan for gold!
Museum of Geology at the South Dakota school of mines and technology: replicas of
famous of gold nuggets.
Devotional:
In Malachi 3:2b-3, it states,
“For he will be like a refiner’s fire... He will sit as a refiner.. and refine them like gold and silver.”
The Bible says that God will refine us like a goldsmith. Very few pieces of gold come out of the ground in a pure state; they have impurities running through and around it. In the past, refiners would refine gold with a very hot fire; this caused the gold to melt. Once melted, the impurities would rise to the top and the refiner would skim them off. The refiner continually monitored the heat for if the heat is just the slightest degree exceeded, the gold is injured. How would the refiner know when the gold was pure? He would see his face reflected in the molten gold. We are that piece of impure gold that needs to be refined under the refiner’s watchful eye. The heat from the fire is not too great yet it needs to be hot enough for the impurities to separate.
“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job 23:10
Old time hymn: “How firm a foundation”- one verse
"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
When going through trials, remember you are the gold being refined to remove impurities.