The herald., 1896-11-22

two years, and in order to obtain reliable
information on this subject and the
first discovery of gold in the district. the
writer interviewed Mr.. +. NJ. Mooers,
one of the founders OF Randsburg. and
the first one who found gold in that vi
cinity. In conversation with Mr.. Mooers
the following facts were elected: Be-
ing a desert country and not showing
surface indications of mineral wealth ac-
cordiHE to the ethics of experienced
California miners, and, moreover being
section of country entirely devoid of
water. prospectors never attempted to
find mineral treasures in so barren and
desolate a region.
The first attempt to discover gold or
silver in the district was made by Mr..
Mooers and associate, w. J. Langdon,
January 1st, 1894. They had been
placer mining at Summit, eight miles
east of the present camp, and We're led
to believe by their success at Summit
that they would strike a good find at
what is now Randsburg. Before they
had prospected the district to any ex-
tent their supply of water gave out and
they abandoned their efforts. On
April 22nd, 1895, Mr.. Mooers and his as
sociates, c. A. Burcham and John Sin
gleton (noW owners of the Rand
group of mines). made the first dis
covery Of gold bearing ore in a butte OH
the present Rand mine, six feet above
the surface. Mr.. Mooers looked at the
chunk of ore and remarked to the others
Boys, we need not look any further.
we have struck it rich The chunk"
proved to be worth $75, and was a
worthy emblem of the now famous
Rand group of mines from which it
was taken. AS an illustration of the
valuable character of the ore in this
group, Mr. Mooers stated that one
pound avoirdupois of ore from the yell
low Aster mine netted $3.50. disin-
terested expert remarked, after a care
full inspection of this group of mines:
There is 100000 tons of ore in sight
there" and Charles d. Lane the well
known gold mine owner of this state,
was so enthused over the splendid pros
poets of this property, after thorough
investigation of it, that he remarked:
Boys, you have a good thing-get
100 stamp mill and shovel in the entire
mountain, for it is all ore"
The names of Randsburg and Rand
mountain were given by Mr. Mooers and
his associates in honor of the celebrated
Boer of Johannesburg of that name,
The first building erected in the dis
trict was the present postoffice, by
Clyde Kuffel. postmaster in October,
1895. the next Starkeys saloon and the
third Mrs. Kern's Miners hotel in July,
1896 These are in the upper or old part.
The new town and business district was
started by ]. &s S. Montgomery, mer-
chants and wine and liquor dealers, who
built combination frame and canvas
building in April, 1896 The first sub
stantial frame building was erected by
C. A. Koehn in July, 1896, and occupied
by him as a general store and meat
market.
PRESENT CONDITION AND PROS
PECTS, PRICES OF SUPPLIES,
ETC.
That the early history of Randsburg is
easily written is obvious when the fact
is borne in mind that one year ago there
were only seventeen residents in the en-
tire district. Two months ago there
were only thirteen buildings and few
tents in the district. Since then to pres
ent writing (Nov 20th) there have been
erected fifty frame buildings and over
100 tents and combination tent and
frame buildings. To demonstrate that
Randsburg is typical American town,
permeated with the spirit of progress,
it is only necessary to state that the
house moving business is already estab-
lished there, as illustrated in the spec
tacle presented to the writer the other
day of seven men carrying a combina-
ton tent and frame building from one
part of the town to the other. The ele-
walton of the town. at the postoffice, is
present population of the camp is over
1000, but increasing at the rate of forty
to fifty per day. Conservative men pre-
dict that the population of the district
will reach 1000 at least within the next
six months; some believe it will be over
10000.
A telephone line will be completed
from Mojave, via Garlock, by Monday,
Nov. 23d, and bank is to be established
in short time. Nearly every line of bus
mess is we'll represented, as will be
found in the list of business firms else
where. Provisions and other supplies
are very cheap, considering the distance
from the railroad, for instance, meats
are from to 10 cents per pound grocer
les very little higher than in Mojave or
Barstow; alfalfa hay is $40 per tom
grain hay, $22.50; lumber, $S5 to $40 per
thousand feet; sawed shakes, 1923 to $2S
per thousand; split shakes, $25; good
coal, Sl4.50 per ton; hard wood, SIS to S14
per cord. Greasewood is free and plen-
tiful, and makes good fuel for campers
and others who do not require great heat.
Considerable fuel is required in winter.
however, as the weather is then fire.
quently cold, owing to the elevation
There is an occasional fall of snow dur
ing the winter months, ranging from half
an inch to three inches. Last March
eighteen inches fell in this district, but
1t was very rare occurrence. Board
and lodging are also very reasonable; !;
beds. so cents; meals, 25 and So cents, and
good meals are served at those prices
Taking its inaccessibility and distance
from farming and fruit growing sections
of country into consideration, all pro-
visions, vegetables and fruits are sold
in Randsburg at very moderate prices.
SOME OF THE PROMINENT MINES.
large number of mines were visited
by the writer with the intention of pre-
senting to readers of The Herald the ac-
tual development of mines in active op-
GRAFTON, but the report must unavoid-
ably be confined to q few of the leading
ones.
The Rand group (first discovered)
comprises the Rand, Single Ton, Olym-
pus, Trilby, Yellow Aster, Mariposa,
and Tennessee. The owners, are
Messrs. Mooers, Burcham, Singleton,
and Messrs. Reddy Campbell & Met
son, attorneys of San Francisco The
company has other smaller mines scat
tered around in the district. In the
Rand 20 feet of shaft has been sunk; the
vein is s feet; there are two good walls,
a tunnel in 80 feet, feet high and feet
wide. Two hundred tons of ore have
been taken out of the tunnel and is all
on the dump. The ore is free milling
gold, averaging $35 to the ton.
The Yellow Aster has a tunnel 265
feet with cars, which runs to within 20
feet of the Olympus lode, and will tap
the above at depth of 100 feet from the
surface. They have a shaft 80 feet from
the entrance sunk so feet on ore, and
have taken out about 100 tons, which
has been r1i1led aVera ping S75 to the