The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1893-09-21
SOUTH AFRICA
Highly Entertaining and In
structiye Letter.
MINES OF THE DARK CONTINENT
The Mails Correspondent Tells OF
Their Richness-A Good Country
But the People and Laws spoil
It-Othcr rPhilipsburkers- Etc.

Their RichneSs-A GOOu Country
But the People and Laws spoil
It-Othcr PhilipsburEers-E Etc.
SHEBA MILL, Transvaal. S. A., Aug. 3.
Editor MALI have been here ten
days; have been looking around the
camp so as to get an idea of the country
before writing. Spent three days in
Barberton and vicinity and then moved
camp to AL Wentworth's place, and If
walking was notso bad might pitch my
tent in Montana again. This is a good
country, but the people spoil it; the laws
and customs are so much different from
those Of America that one will never get
used to them. A white man is disgraced
forever if he does any kind Of labor, and
the Kaffirs won't even respect man if
he is seen carrying his blankets. The
Kaffirs are a degraded race, and are
treated as if they are slaves. They work
for from $3.50 to $3.50 per month, and
when one gets too lazy to whip them the
authorities do it for them.
Leprosy is very common among the
blacks, and all the whites have the fever.
I believe there is only one man at the
Sheba mill who did not have the fever
last summer, and a great many passed in
their checks. Horses, cattle and don
keys die with 1T just the same
Now, I will tell you about the pros
poets and mines around Barberton.
There are several small mines that are
very rich. Joe Carleton, Llge Bergeron
and myself went around to all of them
and met several Americana who told US
all they knew about the country. Ber-
geron went to work for one by the name
of John Charles He has a vein from
four to twenty feet wide. 1t runs about
two ounces per ton. He is building ten
stamp mill, but it is on concession and
he has to pay ten per cent, think, Of
what he takes out, besides SIS per month
for each claim (the claims are $50 by
3OW
At the Sheba mine they are working
on large scale. The vein is large-about
fifty feet-and as there is no timber in
the country the mine is being worked
without timber. They take the ore out
in chambers and leave pillars between.
There are ten white men and about 100
blacks in the mine. The wages for
whites is $50 per month, and it costs S35
for board ESQ you see it is a poor country
for wages). At the Sheba mill we saw
sight that made us feel good; it was the
American flag flying. The superinten-
dent and foreman are Americans. We
met Wentworth at the mill and he took
us up to his place. He has good pros
pect for any country; lots of water
power handy and vein from two to
eighteen feet wide. 1t runs about 500
I should think 1t is not on concession
so all they have to pay is the govern
ment license.
I believe there is plenty of gold here
and am going to stay and find some;
but prospecting is very uphill work.
Grub is very high, bacon being 65 cents
per pound, and corn meal cents Po-
tatoes are clear out of reach. They are
low when they sell at 12 cent, per
pound. There is plenty of game, but
one has to buy a license to kill it. For
birds it is $3.50 per season: small deer,
$780, and for large game, koodoo (about
the size of elk and giraffe, S250.O0 per
season, which includes the six winter
months; and there is a penalty in this
country if one breaks the law. I saw a
ton who was sentenced to be hanged for
just robbed HIM of, think, $40. But
changed his sentence from hanging to 81
years at hard labor. He has broken Jail
twice since then, and If he lives the 81
years he will then get about 100 more.
That is law for you.
Ac
ipsburg talking of trying their luck in
Sou b Africa when I left, [ will put in a
few words for their benefit. II is no
place to work for wages; Kafirs do all
the work. What few whites are needed
are imported from England. Companies
send there and hire them for certain
number of years. The men ign an
agreement before they leave England.
Clerks get $50 per month; miners get
tho highest, about 800. The cheapest
board is S35 and it is not very good.
There is no show for business men; ev-
erything is controlled by English COM
panies. The only show for an Ameri-
can is to prospect, and if he comes here
for that he wants plenty of money, for if
one don't strike it rich he will want to
leave and he should bring enough to
leaye on. One should start from Amer
lea about March, SO as to get her in the
healthy season. It IS mid-winter here
now-about like Montana summer; no
rain; the nights are cool; sometimes
slight frost. In October the rainy sea-
son sets in and continues six months.
In this part of the country we are pretty
sure to have the fever. People who are
in the United States can consider they
are IN luck, and they had better stay
there.
may like the country better after
awhile. Wentworth & Co. will put up a
mill soon, think: and if I want to I can
work for them, and if l don't find any
thing before the rainy season will go to
work. One can't prospect in the rainy
season. There is only one place in this
district that is not concession. There
is no gold in the gulches below the rich
quartz mines. It is a strange country