Connecticut western news., 1899-01-26
ApesERTEo MARBLE TOWN.
Cold Discovery That Built Bridge water In a Canadian wiId~rnemm.

Cold Discovery That Built Briaw.-
 water In n Canadian Wilderness.
 up in Ontario, said J. W. Wheat ley, civil engineer of Montreal. ''there is deserted town called Brideewater, which is built entirely of marble About 25 years ago farmer 's wife was search ing in the woods for pig that had strayed from the family pen. Tn par ticularly dense part of the woods she found spring of crystal water. Being thirsty, she stopped over to drink. As she did 90 she slipped on round stone which rolled from under her foot and fell into the water. Attracted by the peculiar color of the stone, she fshed it out and took it home. It was found to be a 30 pound nugget of almost pure gold.
 "Bridgewater at that time was about 70 nrtles from the nearest railroad, and the site of the town was howlng will derness. But such was the effect of the accidental discovery of gold that within
 six months the wilderness had blossom sd into a bustling, substantial city of 1000 inhabitants and more a-coming They came from every quarter There were old forty-niners from the Pacific dope. amateurs from England and the United States prospectors from every ield. Shafts and tunnels were driven by hundreds.
 "In sinking shaft one mile south of the town on the claim of R. Flint life senator of Canada. vein of white mar ble 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 ble It has even to this day a court house, school. church, hotel. stores and private dwellings constructed wholly of town are an abandoned grist mill and an sx 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 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 particularly tenacious grasp. In fact, 80 excited did they be- come that many of them actually em- ployed armed guards to prevent tres passers from picking up the loose gold which they imagined existed on their places in vast quantities.
 'The place where the original nugget was found by the woman in quest of a pig was christened Aladdin's cave. and lnnd in its vicinity sold for fabulous prices. One farmer whose farm adjoined the cave sold five acres to an English syndicate for 100, 900 cash. Tho syndi- cate spent another t100, 900 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 blu for about $876 smelting charges over and above the value of the gold in the quartz. It was the last shipment of quartz, for the cost of hauling, shipping and smelting was in the neighborhood of s150 a ton moro than the rock produced.
 ''one old Irishman at Bridgewater. Patrick Kehough by name. received an offer of $i25, 900 cash for his farm, which consisted of 100 acrcs of rock piled barren land. Hepromptly refused tho offer, holding out for st50, 900, which he pever got. Today one could buy the prope.ty for almost anything over ft an acre.
 within couple of years it became patent to all that mining in Bridgewa- ter would never pay. So silently, ono 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 n lonely. weed choked and futureless desuetude New York