The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-01-30 00:00:00

THE DIGGINGS" IN SUTHERLAND-

SHIRE.

(From the Special Correspondent of The Timer.)
"Are you going to the dig& dt? " This is the
question now put to any one who sets foot in the
county of Sutherland. If you come so far into Suther-
landshire as Golispie, the northernmost point of rail-
way communication in Great Britain, it is assumed
that you most be bound for the goldfields ; and the
only question is an to whether you are a buyer or a
digger. Here in Helm-dale, a village seventeen
miles north of Golspie, there is a small colony of
diggers, who travel ten miles every morning to the
scene of their gold-seeking, and return the same dis-
tance each night, both journeys being performed on
twit. In the small inn from which I write I last night
saw the find regular transactions in the way of buying
and selling the precious metal which has been raised
in the Strath of Kildonan, the newly discovered gold-
field on the vast estate of the Duke of Sutherland.
The public him already been informed that about
two months ago Mr. Gilchrist, • native of Helmsdale,
who had been some eighteen years at the diggings of
Australia, returned here full of the ideathat gold was
to be found not far flOlll the place of his birth. He
had been struck with the similarity between the con-
figuration of certain of the creeks in Australia and the
Kildonan Strath. Immediately on his return home lie
proceeded to "prospect," and the first day of his
making the trial found some gold in the alluvial de-
posit of the burn, or tributary imomm, which, descend-
ing from a mountaiii, flows domn through the stratb,
and into the Helwitdale River. The quantity found by
Mr. Gilchrist was by no nieans considerable; but the
news of his discovery has spread abroad with consider-
able exaggeration, and the tesult has been that each
day during the last week large numbers if diggers have
collected in a wild and bleak country, where from NMl-
rise to sunset, and in the case of some of them even
throughout the night, they have endured intense hard-
ship in the hone of finding nuggets which would make
them independent for the rest of their slays. As yet
there has been no stroke of good fortune such as most
of the diggers have looked forward to, but though the
beginning has been a small one, I may at once say
that experienced di6gers from Australia and New
Zealand, who have been here, and whom I have ion-
versed with, are of opinion flint the Strath of Kil
donan is highly autiferous, and that under certain eon-
ditions it will lie worth their while to make more ex-
tensive experdneuts with the view of finding nugget
gold
The winters in this high latitude are usually severe,
and though the present season has ci, far been rather
exceptional, the frost for the last few nights has been
intense. The sari sacra fames is a universal passion;
but men who have gobe through years of "roughing
it" in Australia declare that nothing but Scotch per-
severance, combined with the love of gold, could have
proved sufficiently powerful to induce the native dig-
gers to endure what they hove borne in the
Kildonan Strath during the pant week. There
have been as many as 300 of them there some days.
On or ne ir the goldfield there is 110 village. This is
the nearest one to it. There is an old church dose to
the "diggings," and there are one or two shepherds'
huts close by. In the church and the huts numbers
of people have rested at night, while others have slept
out in the open air, under a canopy formed of a
blanket suspended from a pole, resting at either end
on a pile of atones. One party encamped in this
manlier found their boots frozen up the other morn-
ing like Baron Mulchausen's horse, and they were
obliged to light a fire and melt the icicles out be-
fore they could get them on. From morning till
night all the diggers are wet to the knees. Little
boys and women are undergoing this hardship; but
such is their eagerness i•-• " ,earching that they
seem to be insensible to . , and even hunger.
Up to this there has been no boring, blasting, or
shaft sinking. The operations have been confined to
mere surface digging on the banks of the burn. All
the gold brought to light has been found in the
alluvial deposits washed by the stream into the
crevices of the rocks. The diggers break up the de-
posit with pickaxes and crowbars, and throw it into
basins, dish-covers, frying-pans, shallow tubs, or any
other such article as they may have been able to
procure. They carry the filled vessels into the river,
and holding them against the stream "dodge" them
in such a manner that the earth and sand are gra-
dually washed out, while the gold, if there be any
in the "stuff," is supposed to remain behind. All
the gold that has yet been brought to the local
market has been obtained in thin way; but as most
of this is in minute flakes, resembling nothing more
than broken spangles, there can be no doubt that
much of what is dug up is lost in the rude process
of washing the alluvial deposit. But few nuggets
have been slug up, and the largest if these weighs only
five pennyweights. It has been purchased by Mr.
Peacock, the Duke of Sutherland's factor, and sent to
the Duchess. Very exaggerated accounts nre in circu-
lation an to the gains of the diggers, and these rumours
have had the mischievous effect of bringing poor
people from great distances to join in the search. For
instance, it was stated in print that the Helmsdale
branch bank of the British Linen Company had bur-
chased gold from the diggers to the amount of .£3OO.
On my arrival here 1 daunt that this bank had not
purchased one grain. Again, it was reported that
the value of all the gold found up to Thurs-
day last was not short of £BOO. From all
I can learn I believe that not more than £lOO
worth, if so much, has been discovered. The fact
is that up to Friday butt the finder; generally
had nothing approaching to a correct notion of what
they were doing or of the value of their findings. They
had no idea of the weight of the particles of gold
they had collected. In nearly every case but that of
the experienced diggers they had, as may readily be
supposed, immensely over-estimated it. On that day
Mr. Wilson, the Court goldsmith aid jeweller at In-
verness, arrived among thou. He offered £4 an
ounce for all the guild any one could bring him, the
present market price being £3 17a td. Some of the
gold had previously left the I. sutlity, but lie believes
that most of what was in Plot ;wide if the diggers
then and up to last night tins lon brought to him. I
have seen it all just as it wss brootht in, and the
account of the sums paid by idol Pi the various vendors.
The largest of the nuggets it • .. ied only from two to
three peneyweights. Several p i; opts cattle to Mtn
stating that they had half ;di •u or or nt ;re ; when he
weighed it before them great wa• jr-or; wise to find
t hey had perhaps one pennywei z h.. Others thought they
had a couple ot ounces while, as the weiglms and scales
proved, they had lessthan an ounce. I Melanin brought
Mr. Wilson gold to the amount of £5, at £4 an
ounce; but in thin case then, ller was not a digger; he
had bought the gold frent others. The highest
amount paid by Mr. Wilson to any one digger or
party of diggers was £3 4s. This payment was made
to a party of three diggers. They had spent 11 cays
at the digging. but they stated that they had dug up
the £3 4s. worth of guild in four or five days. The
sums paid by Mr. Wilson ranged from Sd. up to the
highest sum I have named. In one instance a trades.
man, who when at his ordinary work earns about 30s,
a week, succeeded in making do. 4,1. in a week at the
disgins. He dug for sex end hours, and walked 20
miles each day in going ti i end returning from the
scene of his gold-seeking. All the gold that Mr.
Wilson could get up to Tuesday, even at the fancy