Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-01-27
A DESERTED MARBLE TOWN.
u'~covery That Built Bridge
,a canadian Wilderness.

Il (11HutHn W iiNtFhSHS'
..ty,n Ontario. said J. W. Wheat
lev 3 civil engineer Of Montreal. "theTs
- A deserted town called Bridgewater'
which Is built entirely Of marble. About
rs years ago 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 a 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
macmillan color of the stone, she fished II
ont and took it home. 1t was found TO
be a 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 a bowling viii
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
r. 600 inhabitants and more a-comlng
They came from every quarter. There
were old forty miners from the Pacific
slOpe. amateurs from England and the
United States, prospectors from every
field. Shafts and tunnels were driven
by hundreds
I'm sinking a shaft one mile south OF
the town on the claim of B. Flint, life
senator of Canada, a vein of white mar
BILE 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
bouse. 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
..Wbile 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 virulencv Of the gold fever which
laid hold Of the farmers around Bridge
water with 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 in vast quantities.
1.-THE place where the original nugget
was found by the woman in quest OF a
mig was christened Aladdin's cave, and
land in its vicinity sold for fabulous
prices One farmer whose farm adJolned
the cave sold FIVE acres to an English
syndicate for 800, 000 cash. The syndl-
cate spent another 500. 900 in develop
ing the claim, but never obtained sin
gle ounce Of free gold In all it mined
about 100 tons Of quartz In return the
syndicate received a bill for about 1915
smelling charges over and above the
value Of the gold in the quartz. 1t was
tie last shipment Of quartz. for the COST
of hauling shipping and smelling was
in the neighborhood of $3.50 a ton more
than the rock produced
lone old IriShman at Bridgewater'
Patrick Kehough by name, received al
offer Of 1925, 600 cash for his farm
which consisted Of 100 acres Of rocl
piled. barren land. He promptly refused
the offer, holding out for $3.50, OOO
which he never got. Today one coulC
buy the property for almost anything
over 81 an acre
within = coucle Of years y became