The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-31
BRITISH GOLD MINES.
Various Discoveries Made From An
Client Times Down to Present.

Various Discoveries Made From An
Client Times Down to Present.
From the London Evening STANDARD.
Every six months or so the British pub
lie is startled by a report that gold in
workable quantities has been found in
some part or other OF Great Britain. There
was a rumor of this kind respecting a gold
and silver mine in the Isle of Man some
time back and at the date of writing there
is another rumor of this variety due. But
in the matter of results those of the Isle
of Man mine do not appear to have been
very great for the public has heard little
or nothing of it since. The rumor viii
probably, like the one before it, which
related to a new mine in Wales, die nat
ural death, and there is every likelihood
that the next wall be like unto it, and also
the next after that. in fact, every rumor
of the kind this century. with only one
solitary exception. has demised in the
same way.
The exception was the Welsh gold mine,
the discovery of which was, we believe,
due to Pntchsrd Morgan, NJ p. This,
from all accounts was a really valuable
find and one which would have returned
very handsome profits indeed had 1t not
been for the government exercising its
rights and claiming royalty on the out
put. Wales, however, abopnds in gold,
though in so scattered a state as to be
unworkable But at one time there was
plenty of the precious metal in a sufli-
GENTLY concentrated form to attract the
Phoenicians, who did not come 10 England
only for tin, copper and lead, but for gold
also, and for anything else they could
ind. Nor did this race conflne their ef-
forts to such mines as the Poltimore and
the Oogafen in Characteristic, with the
silver-producing lead ores of Cornwall.
They were very probaly the original work.
ers of the mines at Lanark, which were
afterward worked by the Romans in the
time of Commodus. These mines were
very extensively worked, and one can
even trace more or less the method of
working from the galleries cut in the
rock. They were so shaped that one man
could walk along them carrying a basket
of ore on his head, but we do not know
what method of extraction was used. The
whole mine Is surrounded by a Roman
camp, and is intersected by a Roman
road.
The Roman Records.
But the Romans knew long before the
time of Commodus that gold in fairly
plentiful quantities was to be found III
Britain. In Tacltus' Life of Agricola"
we read: "Fert Britannia aurum ct ar
gentum ct ALA metalla, pretium victoriae
gignit at oceanus margarita, sed obfusca
81 liyentia,'' etc. There was once plenty
of gold, comparatively speaking, in Es-
sex for at Camelodunum gold coins were
once struck made from metal found in the
district. All over England and Wales, too.
the British barrows which have been open
ed have usually contained articles of gold,
such as breastplates, handles of swords,
and so forth; while in Ireland there was
found in 1854, large collection of solid
golden breastplates, brides, gorgets, etc,
the intrinsic value of which amounted 70
over 10000, these being probably the spoils
! OF some battle hidden until a more con-
venient time should arise to remove them,
and left there through the death of the
| hider and his secret at the same time.
The coUsty of Westmoreland has for a
| long time PAST been known as gold-bear-
! ing district According to Mr. Calvert
! who is an authority upon auriferous Bri-
tain. the chief localities are Goldscroop
! Porrowdale, Bullermere, High lreley, B6s-
! senthwate, Keswick and Coldbuckfells
J but the metal may be found in small
! grains in almost every part of the coun-
| ty. This being so, il is not at all impossl-
/ bic that there is rich deposit somewhere
| which has not yet been discovered, aud
! that an expert pocket miner might per-
hans reap rich harvest by a little ju-
dlcious prospecting. Scotland has plenty
| OF gold in it, and 1t has been worked in
! FITS and starts for over 1900 years. The
! Duke of Sutherland recently made an at
tempt 20 work the Kildonan mines, and,
though the amount of success attending
his efforts has not been made public II
was probably not very great or 1t would
! have been heard about. SIN, the district
/ was at one time exceedingly rich In gold
| In the Clydesdale district alone there were
recovered in the reign of James V of
| Scotland no less than 100000 ounces, the
| value of which amounted TO nearly $500 O00.
This being all obtained In small grains by
"washing" the Clyde and its tributaries.
The bulk of Scottish gold IS I'm this form,
the largest nugget found weighing only
! twentv-seven ounces, and being at present
In the Hopetown collection.
An Early Gold Craze.
In 1862 there happened 20 be a great
gold craze and a German company obs
tanned a lease of the district for a period
OF forty years. its object being to find gold
and other precious metals. This company
found that 100 ounces, which were coined,
and that was about as much as il OBJ
tanned Some years later, after the ac-
| ceSson Oh JdhlcS w. tHSte was dnotnef
craze the result of which was that the
"wsest fool in Christendom" spent sum
! Of $4,000 in looking for "a fabulous deposit
! of gold, which, according 10 a book writ
ten by a man named Atkinson was TO be
found on Crawford Morr. He found about
three ounces, and those were probably
planted" by an enterprsing servant who
wished TO obtain the reward for "hrst
| blood" After this gold finding was at a
discount, until a small find Of couple
of hundred ounces in the Lanarkshife dis
! trict revived matters. and the coronation
medals Of Charles l were struck from,