Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-11-08
IMMENSE GOLD FINDS.
Interesting Accounts of Some of
tho Larger Nuggets.
Lucky Australian Miners = UnearthIng
Great Masses of the Yellow Metal
Rich Discoveries Where Least
Expected.

Inere was recently on exnlDltlOn IN
the city OF London the largest aug
net, or, to use a phrase that will per-
haps be more readily understood by
the majority of son-colonial readers,
lump OF gold, that has been found of
recent years in the Australian colonies
Its weight was 617 ounces, and its value
In cnrrent coin e.. 400. But though
this Lady Loeb nugget (for so it was
named, after the wife of Sir Henry
Brougham Loeb, the present Viceroy
of the colony of Victoria, in which it
was found) attracted large amount
OF attention at the antipodes, and was
also an object of considerable curios.
lty in London, it would have been
thought little Of some twenty or thirty
years ago, when monster nuggets were
no novelties in the colonial gold-felds.
But these large masses of gold were
mostly found on or near the surface,
and ever since the era of deep-sinking
began they have been but rarely met
with. AS most people are aware, gold
mining in Australia is now chiefly car
ried on by the systematic crushing of
the auriferous quartz, which is brought
to the surface from depths exceeding
two thousand feet in some instances.
in the early digging days the work.
ings were almost entirely of super
fetal character, and it was in the allu-
vial soil thus opened up that most of
the monster nuggets were discovered
from time to time.
1t is noteworthy fact that one col
ony- Victoria--has not only produced
the largest nugget the world has ever
seen, but has outdistanced all compet-
itors in the quantity and variety of its
lesser golden glories. The famous
nugget answering to the above de-
scription is known to history as the
Welcome Stranger" 1t was dis
covered under singular circumstances
in the Dunolly District of Victoria,
which is one hundred and ten miles
northwest of the capital, Melbourne,
by two Cornish miners named Deeson
and Oates. Their career is remark
able as showing how fortune, after
frowning for years, will suddenly
smile on the objects Of her apparent
aversion. These two Cornishmen emf
grated from England to Australia by
the same vessel in 1854. They betook
themselves to the far-famed Sand
hurst goldfield in Victoria; they
worked together industriously for
years, and yet only contrived to make
bare livelihood by their exertions.
Thinking that change of place might
possibly mean change of luck, they
moved to the Dunolly goldfeld and
their spirits were considerably raised
by the discovery OF some small mug
gets. But this was only momentary
CLEAN of sunshine, for their former
ill-luck pursued them again and pur-
sued them even more relentlessly than
before.
The time at last came, on the morn
ing of Friday, February 5, 1869, when
the storekeeper with whom they were
accustomed to deal refused to supply
them any longer with the necessities
OF life until they liquidated the debt
they had already incurred. For the
first time in their lives they went
hungry to work, and the spectacle of
these two brave fellows fighting on
an empty stomach against continued
ill-luck must have moved the tickle
goddess to pity and repentance.
Gloomy and depressed as they nat
urally were, they piled their picks
with indomitable perseverance, and
while Deeson was breaking up the
earth around the roots of tree his
pick suddenly and sharply rebounded
by reason of its having struck some
very hard substance. Come and see
what. this is" he called out to his
mate. To their establishment this
turned out to be the Welcome
Stranger nugget; and thus two
poverty-stricken Cornish miners be
came In a moment the possessors OF
the largest mass of gold that mortal
ewes ever saw or are likely to see again.
Such revolution of fortune is prob
ably unique in the annals of the human
race. Almost bewildered by the unex.
pected treasure they had found at theii
feet. Deeson and Oates removed the
superincumbent clay, and there re
veaied to their wondering eyes lumT
of gold a foot long and foot broad
and so heavy that their joint strength
could scarcely move it. A dray hav
inc been procured. the monster mug