The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1893-11-23
SOUTH AFRICA
Our Regular Correspondents
Newsy Letter.
HB is WORKING ON HIS PROSPECT
He Glves Some Interesting Facts
About the Country and the Laws
that Govern It-JOhannesburS
a Model and Substantially
Built CITY Puff Adders.

|
4 THE PROSPECT, DeKaap, Transvaal,
s. A., September %, l893.-Havlng a
little spare time, I thought / would
write few lines which believe will be
OF interest to the people of Montana,
showing the peculiarities of this country
and the customs Of the people.
There was slight rainstorm here last
night; it only lasted about an hour, but
that was long enough. never saw such
lightning or heard such thunder; it was
something grand.
| Al Wentworth had been up here, but
was taken with the fever and Joe Garlic
ton went back with him, SO was alone,
and just as it got to raining right good
the tent went down, or up rather, for the
wind took it about one hundred yards.
soon caught 1t and set it up again.
The river raised ten feet in two hours
and I expect it was only small p1 ece
of storm such as they have in the
summer.
| Joe Carleton expects to go to Johan-
nesburg soon. l will stay and work the
prospect. There is no use Of two white
men working, as one can get a Kaffir who
will do more than white man for Ell los
per month, and it costs about G1 more to
feed him.
Joe is very much taken up with Johan-
nesburg. 1t is truly an inviting city, and
anywhere else where the population
took SO much trouble to establish them
selves in permanent houses. Good
houses surrounded by carefully laid out
and we'll kept grounds are the rule in
the residential quarter, and people 20 in
for social life with as much vim as they
do for money making. Shops and banks
all close at noon on Wednesdays and
Saturdays and the afternoon is given up
to tennis, polo and social pleasures.
There is racing association with capi-
tai ground, anGymkhana sporting society
and an athletic club, with an orchestra
worthy Of any city. Ladies We with
each other in entertainments, costumes
and carriages, and dress coats after 6
o'clock are the rule with the sterner sex.
In fact, people dress and live there as
much for effect as they do in London.
People are not allowed to work on
Sunday here. There has always been a
G5 fine for it, and now I hear that the
penalty is G500. It will be tough on the
companies in johannesburg, as they all
use steam.
have sunk two holes on the prospect,
both as deep as one can shovel, and in
both places it shows up good. Will
send some of the rock from these and
from some other places that are vacant.
There is some good looking copper ore
near here. If we can lind ANYTHING big
enough to bother with, it can be worked
cheaper, I think, than it could in Mon
tana. There is plenty Of good water
power handy and labor is SO cheap; but
it costs lots to hold ground, and timber
is not very plenty. [ have not located
much ground yet-only four claims.
The mining laws Of the Transvaal and
those Of Mashonaland are different.
The entire Transvaal has been divided
into FARMS" Many of these are occu-
pied by settlers and the rest still belong
to the government Any one may pro-
cure q license to prospect for gold or
other metals by paying one shilling
month. This, however. only admits him
to farms still owned by the government.
If he finds anything good on such land
and in district not yet recognized as
gold field he reports it to the govern
ment, which examines the land, and if
valuable s.proclaims" 1t. ANY one may
then locate on it, the finder having the
first choice.
In case discovery is made on an oc-
cupied farm no work can be done with
out the consent of the owner. But as
long as the owner refuses to allow his
farm, or a portion of it, to be proclaimed"
he is himself debarred from working it's
reefs. When proclaimed the finder has
the right of the first location and the
farmer of the second. The farmer must
also be paid at fixed rate by the other
locators.
The length Of claim is $50 feet and
the width 4OU feet. Each locator is en-
titled to a block OF CLAIMS, twelve in
number, making his real location 1900
feet in length. The only apparent
reason for calling 1t twelve claims instead
of one is to permit separate license OF
10 shillings a month to be charged on
each.
The Transvaal is a Dutch republic,
and It's people do not like foreigners, who
do nearly all their mining. Their idea is
that if the latter wish TO mine there they
must be made to pay for it. Accord
ingly everything used in mining is ire
mendously taxed at the frontier, while
farming implements used almost exclu-
sively by the Dutch are practically free
Some articles, dynamite for instance,
we're absolutely prohibited for a time,
aud a monopoly for its manufacture and
sale was sold to local firm. But the
product was SO bad and SO expensive
that the miners refused to use 1t, and
finally forced the government to break
up the monopoly. It the product of an
alluvlal or placer field sinks and its pop
ulation becomes less than one to the
square mile, the government will dis
possess the miners and restore the fields
TO the original farmers.
Well it is getting ready to rain again
and tent is little better than nothing
in these transforms. It did not rain