Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1888-11-01

claim belonging 10 n party Of twenty.
four men, who disposed Of Il for fl0..
900. A smaller nugget. weighing 57l
ounces, was found in proximity to II.
After being exhibited in Melbourne,
the "Welcome nugget was brought
TO London and smelted in November,
1859. The assay showed that It con.
tanned 1920 per cent OF gold.
Another valuable nugget. which was
brought 20 London and exhibited al
the Crystal Palace, Sydepham, was the
Blanche Barkly," found by party
Of four diggers on August "a, 1857, at
Kingower, Victoria. just thirteen feet
beneath the surface 1t was twenty
eight inches long. ton inches broad in
It's widest part, and weighed LAS
ounces, IS pcnnyweights. II realized
&C. 905 i2s Cd. A peculiarity about
this nugget was the manner in which
II had eluded the efforts OF previous
parties 70 capture IT, Three years be-
fore It's discovery n number OF miners,
| judging the place TO be a "likely" To-
cality, had sunk holes within few feet
Of the spot whore this golden mass
was reposing, and yet they were not
lucky enough TO strike IL. What a
tantalizlng thought 1t must have been
in after years, when they reflected on
the fact that they were once within an
arms length of f7,000 without being
fortunate enough to grasp the hidden
TREASURED Kingower like Dunolly,
from which IL is only few miles dis
tant, is locality fumous for It's mug
gets. One weighing 230 ounces was
actually found on the surface covered
with green moss, and pieces OF gold
have frequently been picked up there
after heavy rains, the water washing
away the thin coating of earth that
had previously concealed them. Two
men working in the Kingower district
in 1860 found very fine nugget,
Weighing sos ounces, within foot
Of the surface, and one Of 7l5 ounces
was unearthed at Daisy Hill at depth
Of only three and a half feet
A notable instance OF rapid fortune
was that OF "a party Of four who, hav-
ing been but a flw months in the col
ony OF Victoria, were lucky enough 10
alight on nugget weighing 1,6l5
ounces. They Immediately returned
to England with their prize and sold IL
for G5,5S2 as. 4d. The place where
they thus quickly made their "pile,"
TO use an expressive colonialism, was
Canadian Gully at Ballarat. n very
prolific nugget ground. There was
also found the Lady Hotham mug
get, called after the wife OF Charles
Hotham, one Of the early Governors Of
Victoria. II was d'scovered on Sep
tember 8, 1854, ut a depth OF 1856 feet.
Its weight was LIZ ounces, and near
ii was found a number OF smaller mug
gets OF the aggregate weight OF 1900
ounces, so that the total value Of the
gold extracted from this one claim
was no less than fl3,O0O. As showing
the phenomenal richness OF this lo-
cality, it may be added that on Jan
uary 90 1858. "A party of three brought
TO the surface solid mass of gold
Weighing LILY ounces; and two days
afterward. in the same tunnel, a splen-
did pyramidal-shapcd nugget weighing
1,0ll ounces was discovered. the con-
joint value of the two being E7,5O0.
A case somewhat similar to one al
ready described was that Of the
Heron" nugget, a solid mass Of gold
TO the amount OF 1,OOs ounces. which
was found at Fryer's Creek, Victoria,
by two young men who had been only
three months in the colony. They
were offered $4,000 for it in Victoria.
but they preferred TO bring it to En-
gland as a trophy, and there they sold
1t for f4.0SO.
The Victoria" nugget, as its name
suggests, was purchased by the Vic
torian Government for presentation TO
Her Majesty. 1t was very pretty
specimen Of $40 ounces. worth 81 $50,
and was discovered at White Horse
Gully, Sandhurst Quite close to It,
and within foot OF the surface, was
found the "Descombe" nugget weigh
ing $50 ounces, which was also brought
10 London and sold for f1,5O0.
just as book should never be
judged by its cover, SO mineral sub
stances should not be estimated by su-
perfcial indications. A neglect OF this
salutary precept was once very nearly
resulting in the loss Of a valuable Vic
torian nugget. A big lump of quartz
was brought 10 the surface, and, as its
exterior aspect presented only slight
Ind aaN rF haa - .F Il
was at first believed 20 be valueless;
but as soon as the mass was broken up,
there, imbedded in the quartz, was
beautiful nugget II an oval shape. -
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