Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-01-28
A DESERTED MARBLE TOWN.
Gold Discovery That Built Bridge
water In a Canadian Wilderness.


water In Il Canadian Wilderness.
cup in Ontario, said J. w. Wheat
ley, civil engineer of Montreal, there
is deserted town called Bridgewater,
which is built entirely of marble. About
25 years agoa farmers wife was search
ing in the woods for pig that had
strayed from the family pen. In par
ticularly dense part of the woods she
found spring of crystal water. Being
thirsty, she stopped over to drink. AS
she did so she slipped on a round stone
which rolled from under her foot and
fell into the water Attracted by the
peculiar color of the stone, she fished it
out and took it home. 1t was found to
be 20 pound nugget of almost pure
gold.
"Bridgewater at that time was about
40 miles from the nearest railroad, and
the site of the town was bowling will
derness. But such was the effect Of the
accidental discovery of gold that within
six months the wilderness had blossom
ed into a bustling, substantial city of
5000 inhabitants and more a-coming.
They came from every quarter. There
were old forty-niners from the Pacific
slope, amateurs from England and the
United States, prospectors from every
field. Shafts and tunnels were driven
by hundreds.
Gin sinking shaft one mile south of
the town on the claim of B. Flint, a life
senator of Canada, vein of white mar
bic was found. At the suggestion Of
Senator Flint, who wanted little or
nothing for the material, the town of
Bridgewater was built solidly of mar
Bile. 1t has even to this day court
house, school, church, hotel, stores and
private dwellings constructed wholly of
white marble One mile north of the
town are an abandoned grist mill and an
ak factory whose foundations are built
of marble.
''While the town was booming the
entire country adjacent was prospected.
Some of the shafts and tunnels driven
were more than 100 feet in depth, but,
remarkable as it may seem, there was
never sufficient gold found by the pros
pectors collectively to pay the cost Of a
single mine in the district. Still, the
earlier disappointments only increased
the virulency of the gold fever, which
laid hold of the farmers around Bridge
water with a particularly tenacious
grasp. In fact so excited did they be-
come that many of them actually en-
ployed armed guards to prevent tres
passers from picking up the loose gold
which they imagined existed on their
places III vast quantities.
1.-THE place where the original nugget
was found by the woman in quest of u
pig was christened Aladdin's cave, and
land in its vicinity sold for fabulous
prices One farmer whose farm adjoined
the cave sold five acres to an English
syndicate for 500, 900 cash. The syndi-
cate spent another $500, 600 in develop
ing the claim, but never obtained a sin
gle ounce of free gold. In all it mined
about 100 tons of quartz. In return the
syndicate received bill for about 1915
smelling charges over and above the
value of the gold in the quartz. 1t was
the last shipment of quartz, for the cost
of hauling, shipping and smelling was
in the neighborhood of $3.50 ton more
than the rock produced.
Zone old Irishman at Bridgewater,
Patrick Kehough by name, received an
offer of 1925, 900 cash for his farm,
which consisted of 100 acres of rock
piled, barren land. He promptly refused
the offer, holding out for $3.50, 900,
which he never got. Today one could
buy the property for almost anything
over 81 an acre.
"Within a couple of years it became
patent to all that mining in Bridgewa-
ter would never pay. So silently, one
by one, the prospectors stole away from
their marble residences, to be followed
shortly by the owners of the marble
stores, leaving the once thrifty town to
settle down to a lonely, weed choked
and futureless desuetude. New York
Sun.