The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-04-23
LIVED ON GOLD MINE.
Moral: Never Farm Unless You
Know Ore.


dew York Tri6une)
The Rev. James Murray, Roman
Catholic bishop OF northern Queens
land. Australia. who is just now on
visit TO this country. is. extremely in
teresting in his "reminiscences of Aus
tralian life, and in talking on this sub
iect recently to some friends at the
Waldorf Astoria, he said: Australia
possesses one of the wonders of the
world in the marvellous Mount Morgan
mine. No parallel to it has ever been
discovered either in this or in any other
country, for up TO date it has produced
no less a sum than $250000, 000 in. gold
and is still producing. a record for a
single mine. which, 1 believe, is I'm
equaled., When the final and total out
put of the Mount Morgan mine is regis
tered it will be likely to stand uneX-
celed Tor all time 10 come. The story
of its discovery makes a strange and
rare tale. A full generation ago an
adventurous and hardy Irishman
named Conner pushed his way across
Quee lands coast range mountains,
and building a log cabin started
in to CO, We a farm for himself out of
the Sun rounding wilderness. YearaI
went by and the clearing Of farmland
grew The center of the homestead
that Conner had located was occupied
by a cOnical shaped hilk This hill. was
covered with what miners technically
eail float. 1 do not kaow myself what
il is exactly but I believe its physical
appearances resembles that of the clink-
ers found in furnaces. The hill itself,
under certain conditions, Conner no
ticed, frequently took on all the colors
of Joseph's historical coat, but to his
uninstructed mind this phenomenon.
meant nothing more than an agreeable
physical addition to the view. So Con
nor led his peaceful, if hard, existence
and eked out a modest livelihood. and
had no thought beyond his Farm and its
products. His wealth lay in a few corn
patches and in sundry and divers cattle
and sheep. one evening after sun
down two Welsh prOspectors named
Morgan arrived a COnnor's farm and
sought shelter for the night Conner
gave them a share of his scanty fare
and a shakedown on the veranda-
g g p go tt
THE following morning the Morgans
Were about to start on their way, when
one of the brothers CHANGED on a piece
of aoat which enthusiastically betrayed
the presence of gold The MorganS
about the country Whereabouts, and
asked him if he had ever noticed any
thing queer in the appearance of the
earth. That I have replied Connor.
Shure. it's meself that owns an entire
hill that eNel,y now and again shows all
I the colors Of the rainbow he willing
4 " showed the Morgans the mount, and
gave them full permission to work as
( they would upon it. The Morgans
We're soon convinced that they had
CHANGED on "a great discovery, and at
once made their way back to the coast
with the float they had gathered from
the hillside. The assay showed their
surmise to- be correct, for the float was
! rich in gold They then returned to
the lonely ranch and offered Connor
T $500 spot cash for his farm. Connor
: had had seven years of desOlate life.
and the sum mentioned to a man in his
4 -
/ he eagerly closed with the offer He
i did not dream when he packed up and
I started eastward with his precious
/ $500 strapped carefully round his waist
that he had parted with the richest
treasure Dame Nature had deposited in
I the mountains of Australia or those Of
I any other country. The rest of the
story is simple The MOrganS managed
4 to get together a sufficient sum to pul.-
chase a rude stamp mkt Which it took
1 them six months to transport and erect
/ Within thirty days from the time it
( started working it had paid for itself
and an order for improved machinery
! was on its way to the coast That was
twenty five years ago. Since then
! S25O 0eG. 900 has been taken from that
I cone-shaped hill. and it is yielding gold
/ as plentifully today as ever. The cone
! is gone forever though, and two years
! since, when l stood on the rim of a
I SauCer-Sha ped excavation and looked
down at q busy shift of miners below,
! j was standing where the base Of the
4 cone had rested a quarter of a century
] before. The mountain was probably Of
! volcanic origin. and the gold inprec-
mated the soft rock which formed the
| center of the cone. Mount Morgan is
today a busy, hive of industry-an in
dustry which, by the way has made
1 the Morgan brothers take first rank
among the worlds richest men. To
/ their great credit be it known that aftsr
| their own success was assured they
| sought out Conner, and 50 richly re-
/ warded him for his kindly hospitality
on the night preceding the great diseov-
cry OF the Mount Morgan mine that he
I was made independent for life"