St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1898-08-13
sRIDaEwATER.s ONE NUGGET.
T'he Strange History of o CanadiaA
3 Tcyvn That Was Built OF Marble.


& Tcyvn That Was Built OF Marble.
"one salmon multiplies it's species q
million fold; the giants of the western
forest spring from a seed no larger than
peat; but for gold-the magic metal
humanity has leveled mountains and
bridged seas and oceans" said we'll
known local civil engineer.
Il was assistant engineer on the On.
tario & Quebec railroad, branch of the
Canadian Pacific railroad, and In rum
ming our preliminary lines one of them
touched Bridgewater, Ontario, de-
serted town, that was the personifc-
alton of Oliver Goldsmith's Deserted
Village Bridgewater was brought into
existence by one of the strangest gold
finds and crazes in the history of this
continent, and 1t goes to show what
great results sometimes follow small
and unimpoytant occurrences. I will
tell you the story of how stray COW
caused millions of money to be spent In
search of gold.
& Nearly 2S years ago farmers wife
was searching the woods surrounding
their farm for COW that had strayed.
and, becoming thirsty, stopped to get q
drink from spring. Slipping, she
fell against small, loose rock, which
rolled to her feet and which proved to
be 20-pound nugget of almost pure
gold. Bridgewater at that time was
nearly 40 miles from the nearest rail-
road, and the present site Of the town
was nothing but wilderness, but the
effect of that accidental find Of the
farmers wife was such that inside of
six months what had been burned
over, barren wilderness was converted
into substantial city Of nearly 5000
people.
In digging shaft about mile south
of the townsite, on the claim Of Hon.
Biilia Flint. life senator Of Canada.
an immense quarry Of the purest white
marble ever found onthis continent was
discovered, j and, at the suggestion of
the senator, the town Of Bird dgewater
was practically built of marble, for 1t
has to-day the only hotel, church, school,
courthouse and private dwellings con-
gtructed entirely of white marble in the
world, and mile north Of the town are
an abandoned ak factory and grist mill,
whose foundations are built of thesa
beautiful material.
During the building of the town
thousands of men prospected the entire
country. and shafts and tunnels were
drivensome Of them nearly 100 feet
deep; but, strange asst may seem, there
was never enough gold found to pay the
cost of a single shaft or tunnel sunk or
run In the entire distance. So excited
did the farmers around Bridgewater
become that some Of them actually
hired guards to keep men from going on
their land to pick up gold.
aPat Kehoe, an old Irishman, who
owned 100 acres of rock-strewn, barren
land, was offered s125, 900 for his hold
ing, but held out for s15O,ooo. To-day
you could buy the property for proba-
bly, $3.50.
"One rancher, whose farm adjoined
'Aladdin's Cave the place where the
original nugget was found, sold five
acres to an English syndicate for $780,
900, and 1t is an establish ed fact that the
syndicate spent as much more develop
Ing their claim, as everything was very
costly, all material having to be hauled
nearly so miles, over rough roads, and
they did not get single ounce Of free
gold out of their purchaser but they
mined some quartz-about 100 tons
shipped 1t to the states. and In return
got bill from the smelling company
for $36osmeltingc charges oyer and above
the gold in the quartz This was the
Arst, and I believe the last, shipment Of
quartz ever made, as cost of hauling.
shipping and smelling was $50 ton
more than the rock produced.
"For some reason the marble quarTies
of Bridgewater were never worked
other than for local building purposes,
Just why 7 do not know, for, though I
have seen many so-called marble pal
aces in different parts of Europe, I have
never seen anything like those to be
found in Bridgewater, probably the
only entire town built of white marble
In the world. ."-PortlandO Oregonian.