The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-11-23
INcALcULABLE EALTu.

lNCAUCUbABLE W EALTl.
johannesburg is built upon "Tom
Tiddler's Ground" Beneath it is
buried perhaps more of the precious
metal than the whole world ever saw.
From the mines within radius of
twenty miles from johannesburg
Market Square was taken last year
more gold than the whole continent of
North America produced, more than
was won from the entire continent of
Australia, and hundreds of times as
much as the Klondike has yielded up
to date. The record of the Wit
watersrand reef, over which johann
nesburg is built, is already more
than forty million ounces of gold,
worth over $500, 900, 900, and it is
known that ut least $4,000, 900, 900
worth remains to be extracted.
On the spot where now stands
johannesburg, in the summer of 1855
was one solitary hut, inhabited by
Boer named Johannes Bezuidenhut.
1t is from this phlegmatic and ilit.
crate Dutch farmer that tue town
takes its name.
\ The nearest habitation to Johannes
hovel was probably ten miles away,
for the Beers are an unsociable race,
aud should neighbor crowd on them,
establishing home within mile, the
first occupant will merely grunt,
gather together his belongings, and
''treck," or move away. At this time
there was a rush on the newly dis
covered De Kaap gold fields, and hun
dreds of eager prospectors passed over
the Witwatersrand, or White Water
Ridge, on their way to Barberton and
Komati, little dreaming of its marvel
GUS riches. Bezuidenhut sat outside
his shanty, sullenly refusing informa-
tion or shelter, after the manner of
the Beers, to the swarm of gold seek
ers who focked by. But one of them,
an Englishman named Fred Struben,
had observed indications on a farm
called Sterkfontein as early as Janu-
ary, 1884, which made him linger at
"the Rand"
Long previous to this Dutchman,
one JanSMarais, had hunted for gold
in the Witwatersrand in spots where
the soil resembled that of the Austral-
ian diggings, and upon his announc.
ing the presence of the precious metal
the Boer Government, in 1854, gave
him five hundred pounds to keep lis
secret and sent him back to Holland.
They did not want to he overrun by an
invasion of foreigners, OF "'Uit-
landers," as all strangers are termed.
Fred Struben, now one OF the richest
men in the world, told the wrilor of
the story OF his discovery of the worlds
richest gold fields in these words:
son the second day of my prospect.
ing on the Sterkfontein farm, to the
west of the range, found reef show
ing gold which assayed on the surface
six pennyweights, aud at fifty feet had
improved 30 much that some OF il
showed two ounces.
early in April, 1881, first came
across some water-worn pebbles on
the very highest parts of the range,
and felt sure that the whole country
must have been at one time sub
merged. This naturally led me to
think that there must be conglomerate
beds or drifts in the neighborhood
which might carry gold, as in other
parts of the world had been the case.
1t was not until March, 1885, that ]
struck beds OF the blanket formation,
OF nature which hitherto had not
been known in Africa. / showed
these conglomerate beds TO several
people, among them a well-known ex-
pert, who only laughed. My brother
and l crushed fifty tons. however. and