, 1896-03-06
NEW Ell DORADO.
The Coolgardie Gold Fields and Some
of Their Successful Prospectors.

NOOlSdIult, III est AuSlTdild, Iuc
scene of the latest gold finds, is a new
township, 354 miles almost due east of
Perth, with which it will soon be con-
nected by 4 railroad; but by the Cool
gardie gold fields is really meant an
immense tract of land, nearly 100, 900
square miles in area. Much of 1t is
still UNEMPLOYED, but in many parts
gold in quantity has been discovered.
1t is the collective name for many gold
fields, some of which will soon be ex-
hausted, while others give every prom
Use of being permanent, and most of
which are situated within a radius of
80 miles of Coolgardie itself. The
whole district is an %uninhabited des-
ert ave for the gold mines, and most
of the names are not to be found even
on recent maps. The limits are Mount
Margaret and Ullaring on the north,
and Lake Lefray and the Dundas hills
in the south. An elaborate account of
the recent discoveries is given by the
London Times.
~Prospectors from Southern Cross,
the late settlement on the edge of the
desert, found gold-bearing quartz reefs
in the Ullaring and Mount Jackson dis
trict in 1891, but no alluvial gold, and
the value of their discovery was not
believed in. The following veal was
extraordinarily wet, making possible
for men to go far into the desert and
stay there for an unusually long time.
Two men, named Bailey and Ford, fol-
lowed a TRACK made many years & by
a gang of convicts, and pushed their
way to Bailey's hill, near Coolgardie,
where they collected between 600 and
700 ounces of gold. Within "a hours
of their return to Southern Cross the
town was deserted, every man having
rushed off to the new Ell Dorado.
This was in September, 1892. That
year there were running creeks where
no trace of water had ever been seen;
horses and carts were begged and the
gold seekers were disappointed, as the
moisture made it difficult to get at the
gold. Many returned home thinking
that they had been swindled. In a few
weeks. however, the soil dried up, and
gold in plenty was obtained
by those who remained by the
simple process of dry blowing-throw-
ing the contents of IA pan into the air
and letting the wind blow away the
dust and sand, leaving the gold to fall
back into the pan. Water to drink
soon became so scarce that the miners
were all driven away. till measures
could be taken for procuring a regular
supply.
Reef after reef of gold was discover
ed. The first miners neglected them.
as they had neither the machinery,
the capital, nor the time to crush the
quartz, and hunted for alluvial gold.
Humans reef was discovered in June,
1898, by the man whose name 1t bears.
He lost his pack horses in the scrub
and while hunting for them stumbled
upon the gold, and specked of a two
ounce nugget. In the needless rush in
to the waterless bush, on the an
nouncement of new ~alluviaI finds,
many men persisted of thirst, and
many more were rescued at the last
extremity by the securing parties on
camels which the government sent aft
er s%tragglers.
At Kurnalpi the finder managed t
work for SOM weeks in secret, helped
by Australian natives, and to secure
1900 ounces of alluvial gold. He had
to go for water to a hole 10 or IL miles
away, and had made a ~well-beaten
track before he left. This was discov-
cred by WI other prospectors, who
followed his trail 10 the gold and were
themselves tracked by the hoof marks
of their horses by three other white
men. These nve gathered 800 ounces
before they were driven off by lack of
water. Their appearance at Coolgar-
die was the cause of a great rush to
the new fields, where gold was so
piNhss 'ia ~ WI 5luc ny SIuc
without stalking claims, and the place
was named Social Flat. The London
derry mine was discovered by six men
who were returning disappointed from
Lake Lefray. Dunn's Wealth OF Ma
lions, from which 1000 ounces OF spe-
cimen gold have been taken from pock-
cts. was found by a native boy. And
every week new discoveries in the I'M
explored parts are announced.
The mining has so far been largely
poor mans mining. There is a phe-
nomenally rich surface show. with
pockets and shoots Of gold often as
tonishingly rich. but the surface indi-
cations do o seem to go deep. In
many places the gold bearing stone is
soft and rotten, SO that 1t can be work
ed without machinery. But there are
also many true assure lodes, well de-
fined, running across the country for
many miles. While the mount Of
gold in these is not sensational, the
metal is well disseminated through the
quartz. and so far these reefs have Inn
proved with depth. It is from them
that a permanent supply is to be az
pected. frequently there are from
four to six parallel lodes close toEeth-
er. five. seven. 10 miles long. There
Is stone enough yielding from one to
W ounces a ton to keep Coolsardis