The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-12

/
sos. sailed four voyages from Liver
| pool to Melbourne, chiefly as purser
and second mate, before l caught the
| mining fever. In 1857 / started for the
dlgglngs and remained there a year and
half. went to Bendigo first and then
staked claim at Hangover about 40
miles from the Bendigo diggings, on
an arm of the Murmbergic called the
Lodden. l had been at Kingower about
six months when / found the celebrated
| Napier or Blanche Barley nugget. My
| brother, Charles Fl. Napier was in
| partnership with me, and our cook and
general handy man about camp was
an Englishman, rs years of age, Robert
| Ambrose. He is dead now, or If he
isn't it's plenty time he was.
1.-The Hangover diggings was a small
one compared with the Bendigo, and
didn't pan out much at first. 1t was On
Aug. IA, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon,
that we made the big strike. We mad
dug down about IA feet to the pipe
clay stratum and were shutting
around in the bottom of the shaft more
dead than alive from the heat Old
Ambrose lit his pipe and leaned against
the side of the hole for a rest. Just
/ then I struck something with my pick.
l turned it up so the light could strike
it land by jimminy frost! it was hunk
of gold as big as a Hubbard squash!
well, that minute l knew our for
tune was made. Old Ambrose got ex-
cited. and jumped around till thought
he'd have the whole dggngs down
upon us. Charley and l kept cool and
covered the nugget up in the earth and
didn't go nigh it for the rest of the
day. After night we lugged the beauty
to our tent and covered it up in the
bedding. That evening was mighty
anxious one, for the boys were liable
I1& i - Il,
minute they'd come in and turn our
whole caboose upside down. About
midnight we set to work as quiet as
possible with our picks and sunk a
shaft down about six feet underneath
the table in the tent and buried the
nugget out of sight. For three long
months it stayed there, with us eating
over it, walking over it, sleeping on it
and dreaming on it, and not soul at
the dggings any the wiser. Ambrose
used to talk in his sleep, but we found
that a good dose of gin would settle
that, and he generally got all he could
cleverly stow away. Sometimes we lay
awake all night with our guns handy
in case we were molested, for there
were plenty of tough subjects at the
diggings that would have made short
work of us if they had guessed our
secret.
well, about the middle of November
we bought horse and cart and lit out
for Melbourne. having in the mean
time dug out our claim and piled up
enough of the yellow stuff to carry US
to London. 1t took lis four days and
four nights to reach Melbourne, and I
hardly slept a wink on the way. The
nugget was packed up in a rough box
with some old clothes, and we told
every one we met that we were going
to New Zealand. We carried no arms
with us for fear of being suspected.
When we reached Melbourne we took
private lodgings, and the next morning
logged her ladyship down to the Bank
of Victoria and made all the necessary
arrangements for shipping her, and we
never saw her again until 1 produced
the necessary documents at the Bank
of England in London. OF course by
this time the thing had leaked out, and
in no time the city of Melbourne was
crazy with excitement.
I'VE sailed for England in a vessel
called the Shaftsborough, paying 1,746
half crowns export duty on the nugget
and $50 insurance. When we reached
London we found the news had got
there before us, and we thought moth
ing of having half a dozen lords and
dukes fer breakfast while the craze
lasted. The Crystal Palace was BOOM
ing then. but it wasn't a flyspeck on
the map Oh tie "Oi1u W us LOT more
than a week. We sold our beauty to
the Bank of England for 10000 sterl-
ing. my brother and | dividing the
profits equally and pooling in hand
somely for old Ambrose. How much
did it weigh? The heft of that nugget
was just 146 pounds ounces and 3 pen
nyweights. and when it was smelted it
was found to be 237s karats fine, con-
tanning only 10 ounces of dross For
some time it was exhibited in the Brit
ish museum by permission of the
banS, and there is a cast of it there
now as we'll as one at Kingston col
1ege, Ontario.
while in London we were presented
to the queen. She sent the carryall and
a battalion of mounted police to take
the nugget and us to the palace. We
stopped with her for lunch, and I must
say she made herself generally agree
able. I teetered the Prince of Wales
on my knee, for he was only kid then.
and he promised to come to Canada to
see me, which he did about eight years
afterWard Then I went to Liverpool
and got married and went into the ship
chandlery and sailmaking business, and
pretty soon every ounce of that nugget
was gone to kingdom come. Mind you,
I got no fault to find with marriage in
general, but I didn't seem to strike a
paystreak. So then / came back to my
old home. and when got here the boys
took hold in earnest and elected me at
the head of the poll by 40 majority
But the nugget was my ruina ton after
all, for I've done nothing ever since
but hunt for gold on the Nashwaak,
the Nepisiguit and the Nappadoggan.
7 found lots of signs, but nothing to
pan out.
IT heard about this Klondike nugget
the other day. Maybe it will beat mine
and maybe it won't The Weltham
nugget weighed 1870 pounds. but it had
80 pounds of stone in it. 1t was found
at a place called the Ovens, about 100
miles from Ballarat in the year 1859.
and it grew within a foot of the ground
Then there was the Holtham nugget.
found in Australia by Mike Patched, I
think in 1854. II weighed 40 mounds