The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-31
GOLD FIELDS OF IRELAND.
Their Antiquity and Early Work ers
Lost Miners in wicklow.
LON Chambers' JournaL

From Chambers Journal.
Gold appears 90 have been found in Ire.
land at very remote period. 1t is recorded
that Ternmss one of the apocryphal kings
Of Ireland, worked gold mines in the forests
Of the Dublin and Wicklow mountains,
refining the metal there and manufactur-
ing it into cups, brooches and various
articles.
The great number of gold ornaments
found in various parts OF Ireland their
exquisite workmanship and i Irritable ele-
gance Of design, testify to the high degree
Of artistic excellence attained by those
early artiiicers. 1t appears to have been
the practice in those times for the gold
smith to reside close to the mine, digging
up and preparing on the spot small quanti-
ties of the precious metal, which he then
fashioned and finished at his own homo
into those interesting articles which to-day
adorn the various museums.
At place called Cullen, on the borders
Of the counties Limerick and Tipperary, is
an extensive bog, in whlcu great numbers
Of valuable gold ornaments have been
found, accompanied by cruicibes, caldrons,
ladies and other smelling implements
clearly indicating that the district was at
some remote period inhabited by a race of
professional goldsmiths, whose existence
formation of the bog. In many OF er parts
of ireland besides similar, evidences Of an
Gent gold-mining have been discovered, the
mine in most cases having been exhausted.
The wealth of Ireland in the precious
metals seems at a later period to have CON-
Stituted one of the chief attractions to the
Danes in invading the country, and the
tribute they eXacted from the inhabitants
of the conquered districts was largely paid
j i ~.1.s IL, HI i
chieftains adopted the native fashion of
| wearing massive ornaments Of Irish gold.
The ancient goldsmlths held high social
rank in early Irish civilization, and were
| even regarded with supershtious veneration
| by their ignorant neighborS, who believed
| them to be endowed with magic powers as
exorcists and charmers.
Tho tradition Of tile gold mines in Wick
| low never was completely lost; but the
secret remained for hundreds of years at a
time closely kept among a few families in
I,that remote neighborhood.
| About 1850 schoOlmaster in the neigh
| borhood of ATklow discovered the existence
| of alluvial gold in the Ballinvalley stream,
now the Goldmine river, rising in the
! Croghan Kinsheila. and flowing into the
| Auxhrim river at the beautiful and c9le-
brated vale of AvOca- He kept the secret
| we'll and gradually enriched himself, much
| TO the anna cement of his neighbors, who
| firmly believed that be had sold himself to
the power of darkness; but in 1796, when a
| man crossing the stream found nugget
| % ounces in weight and disposed of it for
| 50 guineas, inquiries were set on foot, aid
tue secret leaked out. The report spread
| like wild fire, aud operated so powerfully
upon the minds of the untutored peasantry
| that they forsook every other empl yment
and focked in thousands to the newly dis
covered Eldorado. All hoped to realize the
fortunes of Ali Bahia or Aladdin. Steady,
sensible mon who had never welded a pick
or handled spade laid down their pens on
their desks and thronged to the slopes of
| Crogban Kinshella. From Aug. "a,
when the news became publicly KIN 'wn, till
Oct. Is, when the governmsnt took posses
sion of the diggings, over 1850 ounces Of
gold were found by these inexperienced
miners. and sold by them for about $1,000
The process of mining was extremely sim
Die. They dug up the sand from the river
| he'd. washed it, and then picked out the
granules Of gold, which they preserved III
9uills to bring to the goldsmiths.