Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

larger than in the second, partly because Melbourne had certain commercial advantages. Victoria had the renown of bringing to light the largest mass of nearly-pure gold the world has ever seenso far as records afford the means of judging. It was discovered at the Ballarat diggings in 1858, and at once received the name of the 'Welcome Nugget.' The weight was 2166 oz., and the value £8376. This value shews, by its near approach to £4 per oz., that the purity must have been about equal to that of sterling or standard gold (£3, 17s. 9d. per oz.). New South Wales produced gold to the total weight of 3,281,000 oz., value £11,683,857, in the first ten years of her operations (1851-60). Victoria exceeded this quantity nine-fold: her produce in the same ten years reaching the enormous quantity (in round numbers) of 26,000,000 oz., value £104,000,000. We can well understand the pride and pleasure with which that colony sent the 'Gold Trophy' to the International Exhibition in 1862. It was an obelisk, 45 feet high, by 10 feet square at the base, representing in cubic content the bulk of all the gold raised in the colony in eleven years-1851 to 1861 inclusive. Down to the end of 1867, the sum-total was reckoned at £136,000,000 -besides the gold of New South Wales. Taking the two colonies in six years, the relative degrees of activity which they have presented, in the export of gold in the various forms of coin, bars, and dust,

[blocks in formation]

But these figures do not accurately denote the quantities of new gold raised year by year, seeing that the mints at Sydney and Melbourne coin for other colonies besides their own, and include large portions of such coinages among their exports. A recent Report states that there were 63,181 gold-miners at work in Victoria in 1868, earning an average of £105 per man in the year. The race between California and Victoria has been close: the one, £147,000,000 in nineteen years; the other, £136,000,000 in seventeen years. will serve to illustrate the great difference between finding pure gold in the forms of nuggets and grains in sand and mud, and extracting it by mechanical processes from quartz, to state that, out of 350,405 tons of quartz crushed in Victoria in one year, the ratio of gold only averaged 17 dwts. 2 grains per ton-not much more than I part of gold in 40,000 parts of quartz.

It

New Zealand, another among the gold-fields of the southern hemisphere, is late in date and small in richness compared with

those just named; yet it has been the means of giving to the Middle Island (as it is called) a great preponderance in wealth over the Northern Island-irrespective of the troubles pressing on the latter consequent on the warlike proclivities of the Maories. The first discovery was made in the province of Otago, in June 1861. The discoverer, Mr Gabriel Read, descried the precious metal at a spot since called Gabriel's Gully, on a small river about forty miles from Otago, the chief town in the province. He notified the fact to the provincial council, by whom he was rewarded with the very modest sum of £500. Within two months from the day of the discovery, 3000 persons were at work on the banks of the Tuapeka, getting gold to the extent of 6000 oz. per week. About a year afterwards, the place and the scene were described in the following words: 'The immediate effect of the discovery of gold was to attract immigrants from Australia and from the neighbouring New Zealand provinces. Since then, the population of Otago has doubled, being now estimated at 25,000. Gold to the value of more than a million sterling has been exported from Dunedin, and that small body of settlers have suddenly found themselves raised to circumstances of affluence.' That these discoveries must have been very advantageous to the province of Otago, and indirectly to the whole of the colony, is made manifest by the following figures, relating to the quantity of gold shipped from New Zealand down to the end of 1867: 194,234 oz. in 1861; 410,862 oz. in 1862; 628,646 oz. in 1863; 480,187 oz. in 1864; 574,574 oz. in 1865; 735,376 oz. in 1866; and 686,753 oz. in 1867-gold to the value of £14,508,749 in seven years. Recently, valuable gold-discoveries have been made in the North Island also.

Lastly (for it is hardly necessary to speak of isolated deposits dotted about in various parts of the world), we may say a few words concerning the four sections of the United Kingdom. The discoveries made by antiquaries shew that gold was well known both in Britain and in Ireland many centuries ago, in the form of ornaments; and it is probable that some at least of this gold was found in Scotland.

In more than half the counties of England, gold has been discovered in small quantities; and there is evidence that, not only in medieval times, but as far back as the Roman occupation, the deposits were worked in a rude sort of way. About the year 1853, much excitement sprang up in Devon and Cornwall, due to the introduction of an ore-crushing machine of great efficiency. It has been long known that gossan and mundic, two mineral substances found in tin and copper mines, contain a little gold; but the expense of extracting the precious metal was more than the value of the extract. Professor Ansted stated, as the result of experiments, that if ore contains so little as half an ounce of gold to the ton, Berdan's ore-crushing machine would separate it at a profit. The question thence arose, What is the percentage of gold in the various mineral

substances found in copper and tin mines? The entire quieting down of gold-mining speculation in our counties supplies the answer; the percentage is too small to attract much notice from commercial men.

There is more chance in Wales than in England; the surface is more mountainous, and the mountains contain a good deal of metallic wealth. Almost all the twelve Welsh counties have yielded gold, in the copper, lead, and tin mines. In 1861 and 1862, much attention was bestowed on the Vigra gold mines, as they were called, about midway between Dolgelly and Barmouth. The gold was found in small veins in slaty beds, interlaid between coarse, greenish-gray gritstones. A water-wheel was erected on the spot, sixty feet in diameter, employed in working a powerful Cornish crushingmachine. The machine was capable of crushing forty tons of ore daily. In 1860, the whole Welsh produce was set down at 740 oz. Some of the ore yielded only from 3 to 19 dwts. per ton; but the produce of the Dolgelly district was found in 1862 to yield 353 oz. per ton. The works are still being carried on at a fair profit; but the really rich spots are few in number, and do not attract any large amount of capital or enterprise.

Ireland had a noticeable gold-fever in the last century. In 1796, a little nugget of gold, weighing somewhat under half an ounce, was found among the Wicklow Mountains. The news spread like wildfire. Male and female, young and old, rushed to Croghan Kinshela; and gold to the value of £10,000 was found before the government took any steps in the matter. Probably the storms of ages had washed out numerous small bits of gold from the crevices of the rocks; but when this surface-store was exhausted, and arrangements made for a deeper and more scientific exploration, it was found that the expenses overbalanced the returns. And so died away the credit of the Wicklow gold mines.'

Scotland has also had its periods of excitement arising from discoveries of the precious metal; and as the recent Sutherland adventures illustrate very well the forms which this excitement assumes, a brief notice of the doings at Helmsdale will be welcome. Mr Gilchrist, a native of Sutherland, while engaged at gold-digging in Australia, was struck with a similarity in appearance between some of the creeks in the colony and those in Kildonan strath; and on his return home, he resolved to search for gold at the last-named place. The most northern railway station in Great Britain is (1869) at Golspie, near Dunrobin Castle; 17 miles beyond this is the town (or village) of Helmsdale; and 10 miles west of Helmsdale he found gold in the strath. The precious metal, in very small quantity, was obtained from the mud or alluvial deposit of a burn which flowed down from the hills. No sooner was this discovery noised abroad, than adventurers flocked in from the neighbouring districts. There being no town or village near the spot, the men took with them

blankets and poles to form tents, and a few implements and cooking vessels of the simplest kind. During the winter of 1868-9, great hardships were endured; some of the men sleeping under canvas in piercing cold, some trudging to and from Helmsdale every day. The operations were of a very simple kind, involving no boring or blasting. The diggers, with pickaxes and crowbars, broke up the alluvial deposits which had been washed by the stream into the crevices of the rocks. Basins, frying-pans, &c. were filled with this earth, and washed in the stream until everything was washed away but small spangles of gold. These spangles were so few as greatly to dishearten most of the diggers. When washing apparatus of a little better kind was used, the produce was somewhat increased. In the month of August 1869, about 300 persons were employed at Kildonan in gold-digging; and as bakers, butchers, and storedealers had followed in their wake, the semblance of a small colony was making itself apparent. Indeed, two clusters of this singularly located community invented Gaelic names for their settlements, equivalent to 'Gold City' and 'Tent Town.' Not so much for the sake of profit, as to avoid occasions for dispute, the Duke of Sutherland granted licenses to the diggers, each for a certain area of ground. Many experienced miners from Australia have expressed a belief that the alluvial gold met with in Kildonan strath will be small in quantity (the largest nugget recorded weighed only 2 oz. 20 grains); and that, if the precious metal exists in quartz rock near at hand, it must be worked by better combinations of labour and machinery than have hitherto reached that spot. The Sutherland diggings have suggested the probability of gold deposits being met with in many other parts of Scotland, especially in the districts of Breadalbane, Braemar, Galloway, Lammermuir, Tweedmuir, and the hilly parts of Argyle, Ross, and Inverness. The Caledonian, the Deeside, and the Highland Railways give easy access to many of these spots.

METHODS OF GOLD-MINING.

The foregoing pages convey some information concerning the processes by which the precious metal is obtained from the soil. But it may be desirable to give fuller particulars. The best way, perhaps, will be to suppose a party of men going out to a new gold-district, or to new diggings in a district already partially occupied-to begin at the beginning, and thus trace the manner in which the operations develop themselves.

It has been found by experience that a gold-digging party should consist of not fewer than four people. To pursue the occupation to the best advantage of health and comfort, and therefore permanent profit, they should be provided with a small tent, with a stock of blankets, and a sufficiency of coarse clothing to afford a

change from wet to dry, with a cradle, and a stock of pickaxes, crowbars, and shovels. A wheel-barrow, a sieve or two, and one or two flat tin dishes, like milk-pans, are also necessary. For food, a stock of flour, of tea and sugar, and perhaps of salt pork, is necessary. A strong, light one-horse dray or cart is about the best conveyance on which to pack and carry these articles, the party proceeding for the most part on foot. If they are going to explore new ground, they should have some previous knowledge or experience to guide them in the search, it being absolutely necessary that they should know what kind of rock, or what kind of ground, will not produce gold, in order that they may avoid wasting their time on it. We will suppose them to have reached a probably auriferous region, through which it is possible somehow to get their dray. They arrive at the bed of a water-course or river, and they succeed in finding a water-hole. The dray is stopped in the most convenient spot, and set up for the night without unpacking. The horse is taken out and watered, and then tethered in the best spot of grass that can be found; meanwhile a fire is lighted, and the kettle set on to boil. If the 'damper' has been all exhausted at the last meal, one of the party proceeds to make another after the following fashion: He selects some smooth flat stone, or slab of rock, on which he lights a fire, and accumulates a mass of glowing embers. He then takes one of the tin dishes, half fills it with flour, which he mixes with water into a stiff paste; and when the slab of stone is sufficiently heated, he brushes aside the embers, spreads the paste upon it, and then piles the embers over it again, till it is baked into a roundish flat cake, about a foot in diameter, and an inch in thickness. But whether a damper or a loaf, a rasher or a steak, tea or coffee, beer or spirits, our party take their meal according to the exigencies of the situation. The horse is re-watered and re-tethered in a fresh locality, if necessary, and then wrapping himself in a blanket, each man lies and sleeps where he finished his supper. If it were in a very remote district, it would be wise if each one kept watch in turn through the night, with a gun loaded in his hand, to guard against possible mischief.

At earliest dawn, or before it, all hands would be astir, and while one prepared the breakfast, and another attended to the horse, the two others would probably be searching the bed of the river, or prospecting for gold. Digging down at some sandy spot, spadeful after spadeful of the earth would be carried in the tin pan to the water, half immersed, and then gently agitated, and shaken round and round till any particle of gold would have time to sink to the bottom of the mass. The coarse stuff is frequently skimmed off and thrown away, care being taken, of course, to throw away no visible pebble or nugget of gold; and the washing and sifting continued until nothing but a little sand, perhaps, is left, and this is carefully examined to see if it contain gold. When gold occurs, and probably

« ForrigeFortsæt »