The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-09-19

he went up TO the lumber camps last
spring:
we had got down &c the pipe-clay
bottom. which marked the bed of an
extinct river, and was the chief char
acteristie of all alluvial diggings in
Australia, when my pick struck some
thing hard. l knew al once that it was
not q bowlder. There was not the same
ring 10 II. II struck dead. Scraping
the dirt away, / caught sight of the
bright yellow color OF pure gold.
knew at once that IL was a nugget, but
its size I could not estimate This hap
pened about 10 o'clock in the morning. %
Were you excited?"
Excited? ] cannot describe 10 you
how excited / was. especially when the
nugget was at last got free. II was all
! could do 10 lift 1t. and l saw that il
was solid. pure gold. IL was two feet
four inches long. by ten inches wide
and one and half TO three and three
quarters thick. II weighed exactly l46
pounds 1 ounces pennyweights, and
was actually the largest and finest mug
get OF pure gold ever found anywhere
IN the world. One or two others were
discovered that weighed as much, but
they We're not solid or pure gold.
"At dusk we secretly transferred the
precious lump 20 our tent. and at mid
night, when all was quiet. we made a
hole six feet deep in the middle of the
tent. Into this we laid the nugget and
filed In the earth with great care. so as
not 10 leave trace of our work. Then
only did we feel safe. No one had seen
the nugget save Ourselyes-rny brother
and land il was now buried securely
from discovery. We went To work as
usual every day. and left the tent open
TO avoid exciting suspicion In the camp.
For three months IL lay thus buried
and at the end of that time we washed
out our claim We found a number OF
other nuggets In the same hole. one OF
which weighed eight pounds. Then we
quit the diggings and soon landed our
prize In the bank at Melbourne. and
all anxiety was at an end. The news
then spread like wildfire, and thousands
rushed 10 the Kingowar gold fields. We
named the famous nugget the Blanche
Barclay" in honor OF the beautiful
daughter OF the governor, and by that
name is the model. now in the British
museum. known. The bank gave us an
insurance of $50 900 for the safe deliV-
cry of the nugget In London. and we
set sail for England.
ION our arrival we were made lions
OF In London. The queen sent for us
and we dined at Buckingham palace
Her majesty and the prince consort
received us most graciously, and the
Prince of Wales. now the king then a
lad OF IS. showed a very deep interest
In the big mass of gold. and no won
der, for IL was one of the prettiest
sights one could wish TO see 1t was
1871 earats fine. or as near absolutely
pure gold as ii Is possible TO get H.
Then it was put on exhibition at the
Crystal palace. for which privilege we
were paid $3.50 a week. This lasted for
some three months. during which time
Sir Roderick Murchison had cast
made OF the nugget for the British
museum. The work was so perfectly
done by an Italian that you could not
tell one from the other until Won lifted
them. Finally, We sold the nugget for
$4,000. 1t was. however, not worth
more than $50, 900 intrinsicaIIy. but, be-
ing the largest and finest gold nugget
ever found. We got $4,000 more for II
than its real value. After a time II
passed into the hands OF the Bank OF
England. the intention being TO keep
IL for the British museum. But after
that time new general manager or di-
rectorate came in, and TO the surprise
and regret OF every one, the nugget
was melted down and turned into
money. II yielded 10000 sovereigTr5
and that was the last of the famous
nugget"