The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-10-26
AFRICAN GOLD.
One Profitable District Enterprises on
Foot.

Professor Seeley of geological
fame is at present on visit to South
Africa, and advantage was taken the
other day of his presence in Cape
Town to learn his views of the geo.
logical structure of this country.
He delivered a lecture on the drag
ons of the Drukensberg," meaning
thereby the fossil remains to be
found on these mountains. He
, wished his hearers to know that
there was much mineral wealth in
Africa, and that the areas in which
it is to be found can be defined by
tracing the fossil remains which he
described, and he urged them espe-
cially to seek for indications OF the
existence of coal, in which mineral
he said, the future wealth OF the
colony lay. There are indications
of this mineral in abundance in
many parts of this colony, as well
as in the Transvaal, and the visit of
such an authority as Professor See-
ley cannot but be an advantage, in
so far as it will stimulate the search
for the mineral, and also give en-
couragement to those who have been
trying to follow in a scientific
manner.
Of the gold discoveries in this
part of the world a great deal has
been written. AS yet there is only
one district where work is being
carried on Systematically and prof
itably, and yet it is not even carried
on at Witwatersrandt on the scale
that one would expect. The output
of gold for any one month has not
yet exceeded $4,000 ounces, al
though the name of the companies
that have been formed to work these
fields is legion. But it is the opin
ion of most men of experience that
the real gold fields Of South Africa
have not yet been explored, and that
ia the near future the gold fields
here will astound the world. The
district to which the discoveries of
the future point is that Matabele-
land and Mashonaland, lying to the
north of the Transvaal and between
it and the Zambesi. There have
been many obstacles in the way of
the development Of this country,
and many English explorers have
sought to prospect it, knowing that
it abounds in gold reefs. But King
Lobenguler has excluded the white
man from his territory.
Lately, however, a concession has
been granted to Messrs. Rhodes and
Rudd the men who have piloted the
diamond mines to their present sue
cessful and safe anchorage of ANAL
gamation. The concession covers
a territory of about 5000 miles, and
negotiations are in progress in Eng
land to form a gigantic company,
somewhat on the lines of the old
East India Company, to turn this
concession to profitable account.
Travellers who have visited the coun-
try tell US of the immense veins
Of quartz they have seen there, of
indications of old workings in every
direction, of the inability of some
of the reefs to hide their gold, of
reefs carrying visible gold running
right through the town where the
King resides and close beside his
residence, but of a people so jealous
that no man dared be seen exam
lining stones.
The future of this country will |
undoubtedly depend on the success
full carrying out Of the operations
Of this gigantic company. The men
who have started the idea are men
capable of carrying out big enter
prises. They will at once open the
richest portion Of the country to
the enterprising and pushing of the
world. They will rule the land and
deprive the Metabele, who have been
the curse of the country, of the
power of doing harm. It only re-
mains for Britain to assert herself
IN controlling this country, and
soon the same thing will happen
here as has happened in Australia
and America. Tens of thousands
of white men will pour into the
land, and will turn what has hith-
erto been an accused and barren
soil into land teeming with an in
dustrlous population in which large
towns and villages will spring up.
-kimberleY Corr. n. Y. Sun.