The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1896-04-28
JOHANNESBURG.
MORE ABOUT THE METROPOLIS
OF THE TRANSVAAL.
a Cosmopolitan Town OF Strange and
Startling Contrasts-Hisu
living Regardless
of Expense.

| Emigration there from all enterpris-
| ing civilized Nations is still on the in
crease. Let us see what the country
with it's capital is like-its people,
life, Commerce and advantages fer
| settlers.
Johannesburg, the London OF South
Africa, which was nine years ago bar
rem veldt, eight years ago a miners
camp, is now the center of some one
hundred thousand inhabitants, and
increasing about as fast as bricks and
mortar can be obtained. 1t is situat.
| ed directly on top of the gold, and,
on looking down from the high
| ground above, it looks like huge,
long -drawn out mass of tin sheds, with
its painted iron mine chimueys run
ming in q straight line all along the
quartz gold reef as far as you can see
! In either direction. The largest or
main reef runs for thirty miles unin
terruptedly, gold-bearing aud honey
combed with mines throughout.
This, even were it alone, could speak
for the stability and continued pros
perity of the Transvaal gold trade.
AS we enter the town we find fine
and well-p'snned streets, crossed at
places with deep gutters-gullies
rather-to carry off the water, which
Is often, IN the heavy summer rains,
deeper than your knees. Crossing
these at a fast trot, the driver never
| drawing rein, the novice is shot about
| In his VIII recovered two-wheeled cab,
with its large springs, like pea in q
] N o. l,,
daintl addressed habitue of the place
being swung through similarly, quite
unconcerned, without rumpling q trill.
We pass fine public building, very
! high houses aud shops-somewha
| jerry-built, it is true, and goodness
help them in the event OF large
street fre-but now being added to
or replaced by larger or more solid
buildings. Indeed, bricks cannot be
made fast enough for the demand,
both there and in some OF the outlying
! 1rausyaal towns, where the gold
boom" is on. There are lofty and
handsome shops, with most costly CON
tents, which can vie with London .or
! Paris.
Let us watch from the high raised
stoop outside the postofIice. looking
down over the huge market square.
What strikes us first are the two
wheeled two.horse cabs, with white
| hoods, recklessly driven by Malays in
the inseparable red fez; these, with
! the fast-trottiDg mule or horse wagons,
show the pace at which business. or
| pleasure is followed. AS p contrast
comes the numbering OK wagon, with
! ten or twelve span OF oxen, little
hsffir boy dragging and directing the
leading couple by a thong round the
horns, and the unamiable Dutch
farmer revolving around, swearing
and using his tifteen-foot whip to keep
the concern in motion. Then passes
body of some 900 prisoners. Kaflirs
and few whites lea ling, marched in
fours by some dozen white-helmeted
/ police and four or five mounted men,
! NIL paraded through the main streets,
innocent aud guilty alike, to the
Court House, and many escaping en-
| route as occasion offers.
Long before daylight the square is
full of OK wagons, some from distances
occupying days to traverse and the
buyers of forage, oats, corr, MALE
meal, firewood, poultry, eggs, etc.,
are busy as soon as they can see. Here
the middleman makes a good profit,
often riding far out on the roads to
| get at the illiterate Dutch farmer be.
| fore the latter reaches the market.
No expense is spared in high living.
| special fruit train is run daily from
/ E-1, =
distances. All South African fish,
however, are either tssteless or o. q
milk.snd.wAter or insipid flavor The
vegetable market opens each morning
a. dawn; at 8 the lots are all sold by
auction, and Malsys pile mp their
carts aud psnnier baskets to sell their
\ stuff from house to house before the
midday heat. In England meas ia
dear and bread and vegetables cheap (;
in the Transvaal bresl aud vegetables
are dear Ia small roll, not large enough
to DE digniied with the name OF loaf,
| costing sixpence), and meat is cheap.
Wages are paid monthly. Miners
/ make their twenty .fiye or thirty
pounds p month, If first rate, aud the
| blacks drill their hoes for blasting
/ where and as they order them. Car
/ penters, blacSsmiths, mssOns can get
/ abont the same and, whenever a bill
\ LEI is lost or cannot be obtained. r
snort tramp along the mines general
/ ly brings success. Vacancies are con.
stautly occurring, for miners, especial.
| ~ when full OF money. are inclined to
"g) on the burst" and their places
are ruthlessly filed mp by newcomers,
in order to keep the work going ut
fever heat and the output up to the
I mark
Toe miners, except when close TO
4 johannesburg or a town, live in white
mems quarters, built OF wood and
| corrugated iron, and the mines sue
| coed one another some few miles apart
I along the open veldt or plain, without
tree 20 break its bsrrenuess so the
| surroundings are grim aud uninyitiog
enough Many miners have horses,
many bicycles, the latter Just the
thing for the long, dry, sandy roads.
/ They feed at common boarding
house for i've OF six pounds a month,
and sleep two. often four or more IN p
/ small bed. No class ever cared less
for personal comforts. They pay
I highly, as money comes IN 80
/ peeiiv and without Oruo, nIin~ Thot,.