The Washington herald., 1907-10-06
MILLIONS REVEALED.
Remarkable Stories of Miners Luck
in AmericR and Australia.

Remarkable Stories of Miners Luck
In America and Australia.
The recent sensational discovery Of
rich gold field through the accident Of
digging grave in an old cemetery near
Ballarat adds another chapter to the ro-
nance OF mining. which never loses its
freshness and allurements, says Tit-Bits.
II is remarkable fact that there is
scarcely gold field in the world whose
treasures were not first revealed by a
seemingly trivial accident; and the same
may almost be said Of all the richest
mines Of silver, copper, and coal And
.of all these romantic stories one Of the
most singular Is that Of the accident
which unlocked the great treasure house
of California gold
NJ. Marshall. as the story Is told
by DT J. T. Brooks. was engaged in
widening the tlil race Of his sawmill
on tho Americanos River. and was walk
ing one day on its banks. when his at
tention was arrested by a few glittering
specks in the freshly exposed earth. i
positively debated with myself two or
three times he said later whether I
should take the trouble 70 bend my back
70 pick up one Of the pieces. and had
decided not TO DO so, when, further on,
another glittering morssI caught my eye
condesce1ded % pick it up. and to my
astonishment found 1t was thin scale
Of what appeared to be pure gold" As
a matter Of fact il was almost pure gold,
the herald Of the vast riches which Cali
fornia has since yielded.
Among the tens OF thousands Of gold
seekers whom this discovery lured TO
California were two miners. Martin and
Flower. OF whom the following story is
told. For months these TWO men had
prospected for gold without seeing a sin
gle trace OF the precious metal. until
worn out by terrible hardships and
fatigue, Flower succumued. To bury his
fallen comrade was a pious duty which
Martin, although himself reduced to the
last extremity Of weakness. could not
omit; 50 he proceeded 20 dig his grave
At the foot Of an adjacent tree. He had
not proceeded far IN his task when his
pick struck something hard, which proved
to be an enormous nugget. weighing
nearly one and one-half hundredweight
which he sold for e725i
II was an equally trivial accident
which opened TO the world the rich Pill
barra field IN West Australia. 4 boy
IN an idle moment picked up a stone 20
throw ar crow. Finding the stone Un-
accountahly heavy for its size. the lad.
instead ~ throwing IL ~ the blrT ev-
amined IL closely and found that IL was
full Of glittering yellow specks, which.
even 10 his unframed eve, suggested gold.
he put the missile IN his pocket and
eventually it passed into the hands Of az
expert. who pronounced IL 70 be a par
ticui0rly rich specimen OF gold bearing
quartz.
just fifteen years ago TWO miners.
Messrs. Ford and Baylev. started from
Southern Cross on what seemed 10 be
hopeless quest for gold IA the barren
Australian husband. Weeks and months
Of weary wandering passed, and stili the
precious metal seemed more distant and
eiusJive than ever, until IA despair they
turned their horses heads toward Perth,
determined 20 return home.
One dark night Bayley was aroused
by the restlcssness Of his horse, which
was picketed outside his tent, and. going
out 90 see what was the matter. he
tripped iu the darkness over "a bcwldeI
which. on examination. proved 20 be al
most entirely gold. The next day a claim
was pegRcd out. within a month the pros
perturs had uIeaTtlcd $1,000 worth Of
gold. and on the site of this lucky
stumble there Spreng uU the world
famous town or CooiEarlle.