The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-03-21
GOLD REGION, WEST AUSTRALIA.

A.
hills and almost waterless desert of West
Australia. Owing to the flies and the heat
the thermometer often rising to 140 degrees
In the sun, our journey was made princi-
pally at night. The scene of our operations
is known as 1.-THE Murchison field" and the
whole landscape is so arid and unnviting
and the surroundings so depressing that
only the promise of sudden fortune could
induce men to come to Murchison or to
stay there after they had seen it.
| was familiar with the methods of
quartz mining, hydraulic work and wash
ing that prevail in the American gold
fields, but this did not prepare me for the
state of affairs | found in this colony. 1t
was not only the difficulties of transporta-
ton and the almost impossibility to get
tim Der for fuel, much more for cabins, but
the fact that the gold presented itself in
form such AS / had never seen before
The country, far us the eye could reach,
looked like a sea petrified while tempest
tossed, and along the crests or breakers the
gold was found. The mining laws of Austria
liza are much like those in the United States
500 feet along an outcrop are given the
prospector by right of discovery, and where
there are two or more men they can stake
out additional cla0l IS of half that extent
and have them recorded But in such
goldfield the first discoverer has no great
advantage. Indeed he may not have hit
upon the best location, and as to the area
it seems to be practically without limit.
There we've four men, including myself,
II our gang, aid instead of settling down
the vicinity of parties that were average
AZ ~ ounces of gold day to the hand
20 struck out Tor ourselves. The outcrop
uecomposed quartz, intermingled with
cams of glistening adamantine trap, being
practically unlimited, after two DAYS OF
Prospecting we settled down two miles far
ther from civilization than the nearest camp.
We were fortunate in finding little val
ley where there was an abundance of kan
garoc grass for our horses and spring of
water that looked as if the animals could
exhaust it mt IA drink, but it still holds out.
We had prepared ourselves for surface
operations with picks and heavy hammers
and were not long in getting to work. The
output of the first day was over six ounces
of free gold to the man, and this so elated
us that we could not sleep during the night,
but lay awake building air castles. We
had breakfast before daylight, and with the
first dawn we were at work again. We
were to take turns doing the cooking, but
as most of the stuff we brought with IL,
was canned or condensed the cooking COL
sisted of making a damper-a -four an,
water cake baked in the ashes-and strong
black tea, so that the cook was at worl
nearly as soon as the others.
At the end Of 80 days, when our supplies
had nearly given out and it was thought
we'll to send two men back for larger
quantity, our earnings averaged about Sc
100 to the man, from which should be de-
Quoted about 500 each for food and outfit
am here now for supplies, and after four
months, during which we have changed the
field Of our operations three times, as we are
only prepared for surface work, we have
kept up our average, and each man is to the
good about $1,000. We are entirely salts
fed, for while some have done far better
others have not done nearly so well.
One man found surface pocket last
month from which within four hours he
took out 5lS ounces of free gold, and cases
where men have mined from 80 to 100 ounces
day are not uncommon.
The abundance OF surface gold and the
want of water and proper mining appl
ances beget great carelessness in the work,
and 80 many rich finds have been abandon
ed, whom, without doubt, q little drilling