The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-10-25
SOME MON sTER NUGGETS.

err a GOIOou Lump, "oAeh SoO'-
900.
From, the Ne,o York Press.
rh.ra was recently on exhibition in the
,,+v If London the largest nugget" or, to
80. nhrase that will perhaps be more
.aadilv understood by the majority of non
colonial readers, lump of gold, that has been
found of recent years in the Australian
aoIories Its weight was GIT ounces. and its
10 IN current coin co, 400 But, though
tb;s ~, adv Loeb" nugget for so it was
vn, after the wife of Sir Henry
prongham Loeb, the present viceroy of the
alony of Victoria, in which 1t was found,
o.tuacted a large amount of attention at the
antinodes, and was also an object of con-
Siderable curiosity in London, it would
beve been thought little OF some twenty or
thirtv wears ago, when monster nuggets
.n no novelties in the colonial gold fields.
BIT these large masses of gold were mostly
IND on or near the surface, and ever since
tbe ara of deep sinking began. they. have been
~ rarely met with. As most people are
aTsre gold mining in Australia is now
as;aav carried on by the systematic crush
INC Of the auriferous quartz, which is
hr9ought to the surface from depths exceed
mo 1000 feet in some instances. In the
LIZ nns digging days the workings were al
anJ If was in the alluvial soil thus opened
IN that most of the monster nuggets were
S.covered from time to time. A lengthy
oficial list of these interesting Jumps of
ToId is given in the chapter commencing at
1sge S55 of Mr.. Brough Smyth's ''Goldfields
md Mineral Districts of Victoria" CTrubner,
yondon, 1869 and further information on
the subject will be found in Mr.. George
sntherland's interesting "Tales of the
An fIaarera Rnharfcnp sMa1ho,rpa
lSSM. and in a scientific treatise entitled
Notes on the Physical Geography, Geology
md Mineralogy of Victoria" George
Pobertson, Melbourne, 1866, by Alfred K.
e Selwvn and George Ulrich.
It is noteworthy fact that one colony,
Victoria, has not only produced the largest
nugget the world has ever seen, but has out
distanced all competitors in the quantity
and variety of its lesser golden glories. The
famous nugget answering to the above de-
sription is known in history as the "Wel-
come Stranger 1t was discovered under
Singular circumstances in the Dunolly dis
trict of Victoria, which is 10 miles north
west of the capital, Melbourne, by two
Cornish miners named Deeson and Oates.
Their career is remarkable, as showing how
fortune, after browning for years, will sud-
denly smile on the objects of her apparent
aversion. These two Cornishmen emil
same vessel in 1854. They betook them
selves to the far-famed Sandhurst gold
field in Victoria; they worked together in
dustriously for years, and yet only con-
trived to make a bare livelihood by their
sxertions. Thinking change of place might
possibly mean change of luck, they moved
to the Dunolly gold field. and their spirits
we're considerably raised by the discovery of
some small nuggets. But this was only a
Of fnr fi,Af,.
former ill-luck pursued them again, and
pursued them even more relentlessly than
before.
The time at last came, on the morning of
Friday, Feb. 5. 1869, when the storekeeper
with whom they were accustomed to deal
refused to supply them any longer with the
necessaries oil 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 naturally were
they piled their picks with indomitable per-
severance and while Deeson was breaking I'D
the earth around the roots of a tree, his
pick suddenly ana sharply rebounded by
reason of its having struck some very hard
substance Come and see what this is" he
ment, ''thisn turned out to be the "Wel-
come Stranger" nugget; and thus two pow
ertv-stricken Cornish miners became in a
moment the possessors of the largest mass
of gold that mortal eyes ever saw, or are
likely to see again. Such a revolution of
fortune is probably unequaled in the annals
of the human race. Almost bewildered by the
unexpected treasure they had found at their
feet, Deeson and Oates removed the super
h., lad 20 l.as,-
wandering eyes was lump of gold foot
long and foot broad and SO heavy that their
JOINT strength could scarcely move it. A dray
having been procured, the monster nugget
was escorted by an admiring procession into
the town of Dunolly and carried into
the local branch of the London Chartered
bank, where it was weigh ed and found to
contain 2,26S15 ounces Of gold. The bank
purchased the nugget for 80, 534, which the
erstwhile SO unlucky but now SO fortunate
pair of Cornish miners divided equally be-
tween them. Whether the s,orekeeper who
refused them the materials fvr a breakfast
that morning apologized for his harsh be-
havior, history relates not, but the prob
ability is that he was paid the precise
amount of his debt and no more; whereas,
had he acted in more generous spirit
toward the two brothers in distress he
might have come in for a handsome pres
CHuOul VI Guo pIOCSSuS VI Guc w clCOlllo
Stranger"
The welcome" nugget, found at Bakery
NIL, Ballarat, in Victoria, on June l5 1888,
was nearly as large as the one just de-
scribed, its weight being 2,217 ounces 16
penny weights 1t was found at the depth
OF $50 feet in claim belonging to party
OF twenty-four men, who disposed of it for
&lO5O0. A smaller nugget, weighing 571
ounces, was found in close proximity to it,
After being exhibited in Melbourne, the
Welcome" nugget was brought to London
and smelted in November, 1859. The assay
showed that it contained 1920 per cent. of
gold.
Another valuable nugget, which was
brought to London and exhibited at the
Crystal Palace, Sydenham, was the
Blanche Barkly," found by party of four
ddllggers on Aug. 81, 1857, at Kingower,
Victoria, just - feet beneath the surface.
IL was % inches long, 10 inches broad in its
widest part, and weighed 1,743 ounces Ii
owls. 1t realized &c., 12s. I'd. A pecu-
harlty about this nugget was the manner in
which it had eluded the efforts of previous
parties to capture it. Three years before
It's discovery a number Of miners, Judging
The place to be "likely" locality, had sunk
holes within few feet of the spot where
thls golden mass was reposing, and yet they
we're not lucky enough to strike it, What
tantalzing thought it must have been in
aiter years, when they reflected on the fact
mat they were once within an arms length
OF u 1000 without being fortunate enough
10 grasp the golden treasure. kingower,
IKE Dunolly, from which 1t is only few
miles distant is a locality famous for its