Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-09-30
THE sALrARAr GOLD FIELDS.
Miners Kicked the Sand About and Picked
Up Fortunes.

Up Fortunes.
The Alaska gold fields are not the
richest in the world for virgin gold:
nor are the finds" there more sensa-
tional than those In the famous Aus
tralian fields in Victoria. The fevered
excitement and mad rush to the Klon-
dixie gold fields recall the scenes and
human pictures of the Ballarat and
Bendigo (sandhurst) gold fields ofAus-
tralia. Ballarat and Bendigo proved
to be the richest finds, and the richest
auriferous bed the world has ever seen.
For more than three years after II:
first discovery Of gold on the fed,
'toe-plck" miners walked the valleys
and the ravlnes hunting for nuggets
on the surface; perhaps on no hundred
fields In the world were so many and
valuable nuggets ever found than on
those neighboring fields of Ballarat
and Bendigo, in the colony of Victoria.
'"roe-pick miners" were those with
out tool or pan, who simply walked
about the field and picked up the yell
low pebbles" as they could find them
among the sand and stones which they
scattered with the toes of their shoes.
They kicked for gold, strange to say;
they were highly rewarded for their
silly effort-silly from miners stand
poir,.., 4 singular eve-'nl" Of t., ''',ck
Of thssse "t6e-picks" Was d young 80.
who had heard the marvellous stories
of gold at Ballarat. He was "n.T
chum," but he had a sweetheart. Ono
morning he bade her fearful fecc go3d-
bye, picked UP big lemonade bottle
and left Geelong for the fields, sixty
miles up the Black Hills, promising
her that he would return and marry
her as soon as he had picked up the
lemonade bottle full of nuggets, which,
he assured her, wouldn't be much
longer than it would take him to walk
there and back
Reaching Ballarat, the young en-
thnsiast began kicking the stones and
dirt about in search of his treasure.
No more earnest or persistent miner
"dished" under the rod of Mount Bun
ingyong, where the rich find was first
made. He had no tent. SO he slept in
the open, with his bottle in his clutch.
Weeks passed in and out. On the sixth
Sunday he walked into the home of his
sweetheart and handed her yellow
lemonade bottle. The virgin nuggets
made it yellow. 1t was full of gold,
$4,000 worth. The couple married,
and upon this foundation built their
fortunes in Geelong, where they now
live, unless the old 'home yearning"
has driven them back to their native
heath in England. Facts like these set
the public mind mad.
In less than eighteen months from
the sensational find at Buningyong,
10000 people TENTED on the Ballarat
field, picking, dishinS or kicking for
gold. From that day, in 1854, until
now there have never been less than
40 900 miners on the field. There are
now nearly 100000 people in the city
of Ballarat living on the hundreds Of
miles of drives beneath it, the Band
and Albion claim alone having nearly
100 miles of drives, and shafts nearly
1000 feet deep. So mad was the rush
and so eager the crowd that no one
thought of taking time to build a
house. For years-until the alluvial
was UNNECESSARILY turned over
or pegged into fixed claims and the
rush" diverted the stream
the city of Ballarat was city of white
tents. The first brick chimney was d
1t still stands.
The gold escorts which brought the
famous treasure into Melbourne gave
that 100 miles of country the aspect OF
a military patrol. Every tongue told
Of the new Eldorado, but no one told
of the suffering and chagrin of the un
lucky ones, and no one found his head
cool enough to figure out the loss an |
alluvial field was to the country. Men |
'oolishly sold their farms, stock, stores, |
boats, jewels or whatever, and rushed |
pell-mell to this excited canvas city, |
half prepared, and either ate and
.rampled out their gold in search of
more gold OF had it mercilessly taken
rom them.