The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-01-11

ana uhen by hundreds, the Beers put up
their prices, and speedily realized for
their holdings ten and twenty times what
they would have thought fabulous year
or two previously And it was on one Of
these farms that the City of Johannes
burg was destined to raise as if under q
magiolan's wand, from collection Of
nuts, IN eight years, to city covering
al area three miles by one and half,
with suburbs stretching many miles be-
yond luxurious houses in the very heart
of the desert.
1t was one Sunday evening in 1886 that
the great find" was made which laid
the base of the prosperity of the Johannes
with handsome streets and
burg to"be. farm servant of the broth
ers Struben went over to visit friend at
n neighboring farm, and as he treked
homeward in the evening knocked off
ols OF rock, the appearance of which led
MN to take it home to his employer 1t
correspondent with what Struben had
himself found in another part, and fol-
lowing up both leads, revealed what be ,
came famous as the Main Roef, which
was traced for miles east and west.
A lot of the 'conglomeratc'' was sent
on to Kimberley to be analysed, and a
thoughtful observer of the analysis there
came to the conclusion that there m ust
be more good stuff where that came from.
80 he mounted his horse and rode over
to Barberton. where he caught "eoach''
which dropped him on the Rand, as it ia
now called. There he quietly acquired
the langaagte farm for few thousands,
which the people on the spot thought was
sheer madness on his part. But his name
was j. B. Robinson, and he is now known
in the "Kaffir Circus" and elsewhere as
one OF the 'gold kings" of Africa He
gradually purchased other farms, and in
year or two fioated the we'll known
Langlaagte company with capital of
400, 600 pounds to acquire what had cost
him IN all about 200 pounds. Tn five
years this company turned out gold to
the value of 100000 pounds and paid
dividends to the amount of $780, 600
pounds The Robinson company. formed
little later to acquire and work some
other lots, in five years produced gold to
the value of l, 500, 900 pounds, and paid to
its shareholders some $40, 600 pounds in
divide ads. With these discoveries and
successful enterprises the name and fame
OF 1.-THE Randi WAS established, and for
years the district became the happy hunt
ing ground Of the fiDanciers and com PAW
promoters. The Rand, or Witwatersrandt,
is the topmost plateau of the High Veldt
of the Transvaa at the watershed of the
nit OF the plateau is the gold city of
Johannesburg, some 81, COO feet above the
sea.
In the later sos and earlier COS the
principal feature in Johannesburg was
the Stock Exchange, and the main oc-
cupation Of the inhabitants was the buy
ing and selling of shares in mining COM
panies, many of them bogus. at fabulous
prices. The inevitable reaction came, un-
til onca-resplendent brokers' could
hardly raise the price of 'sdrink";
though, to be sure, drinks and everything
else cost small fortune. Today the city
is the center of a greau mining industry,
and the roar Of the g stamps" is head all
rouna it, night and day. From haunt
of gamblers and "wildcatters, y it has
grown into comparatively sedate town
of industry, commerce and finance and
the gold fever, which maddened its popl-
lace, has been transferred (not wholly,
perhaps, to London and Paris. In fact
all Europe has been inoculated with the
disease which at one time made J Johannes
burg a waryeI and q reproach.
That disease is a craving for speculation
Ia the shares Of gold mining companies
and the mari ct in which dealings in thesss
shares ara conferred is now called the
"Kaffir Circus The fact that South
Africa is now producing 1850, oQo ounces
of gold per annum, at gross profit of
about 5000, 600 pounds, has fired the
Imagination and stirred the cupidity Of
hundreds of thousands of people, who nave
not taken the trouble to inquire what it
all means. 1t took the British public
some time to realize that there is gold in
South Africa, and for long time the
speculative inyestossr' of the stock mar
kets fought shy of African ventures; but
when he did go i'll heswent in with rush
which has become madden and madder
The climax of madness was reached in
the present year.