The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-12-29
WORLDS GOLD YIELD
South Africa Ranks First in
Annual Production
TOTAL VALUE IS $4oO,Ooo,O0O
OF This Vast Amount, the Ozark
ContiU ent" Gives sI50,OOO, 900.
while the United States Comes
second, with So, OO.OOO-Austra-
lin IL Third with sS5,OOO,OOo.

1t is mainly from Africa. America. and
Australia that the world draws its stand
ard OF Wholesome $500 200 900 worth of
gold, won regularly every year.
( Africa leads with about Sl5O, O00, 600; next
comes the United States with about $685.
100000 Australia ranks third with some
SS5, 100000, while Russia, both in Europe
and Asia, Me,ico, Canada, and several
other countries make up the balance.
New Zealands contribution. according TO
the Van Norden Magazine. is now nearly
Sl00O0OoO a year. largely won by hydraI-
licking on the great alluviaI flats Of the
South Island.
To understand the marvellous regularity
Of the worlds gold supply. you must 20
TO that wonderful mushroom city Of the
| high African Merchandising. II
seems to leap roaring out of the desolate
red karoo after the dreary northward
| journey of a thousand miles
In the midst OF its loom the palatial
skyscrapers OF Elor street. the princely
Office building Of Market square with their
lights. and all the pomp and circumstance
Of Wall street.
City Fit for Kings.
Here is a clubhouse worth half a mil
lion. An opera house. too, calling for
Media, Paderewski. and KubeHk. A
Carlton Hotel rivaling New York, Paris.
or London in luxury and catering for the
princes Of geld in roaring oasis Of in
dustry. with a ratable value Of $500 000. 600
vic
desert.
In this magic city Of the Rand thou
sands Of pounding stamps thunder their
golden hymns night and day. and grind
out over Sl25 900 worth OF gold every
year. with as much sureness and regular
ity ms though II were so much coal.
Beloch. the great mining expert in
South Africa. declares the Johannesburg
reef good for another Sl5,c0o 100000 worth
at least. And yet II seems but the other
day that the site 81 Johannesburg was a
mere handful OF tin-rOOfed shanties on
the v-Indswept veldt, raw and ugly. dusty
and foriorn
You viii meet men who trampled heed
lessly on the $500 000 600 worth OF gold
which John HAYES Hammond estimated
years age lay in that hundred and thirty
mile reef. And yet the ore seemed miser-
ably poor.
Fortune I'm Poor Ore.
Poor ii IS. yet so regular and stable in
quality that all one need do is TO put
down machinery on a big enough scale
and grind the stuff out-sure and certain
Of the profit on every ton. When the
secret OF the sloping reef leaked out there
came one OF the most sensational gold
rushes Of modern times. One man found
that part Of his came inside an old Dutch
church But that was no reason for
reverence; he rushed in Ike a mailman
and drove his peg under the altar,
To-day, beside the surface companies.
there are the rows OF deep. level mines.
After these come the deep deeps. and
deeper deeps are driven beyond these
again 70 spear the fast-sagging reef. No
wonder $4,000 Will sometimes be sunk
IN shafts. machinery, and labor and A
walt OF ten years patiently endured be
fore the gold can even be touched
II IS tragic fact that the golden city
Is also a land Of disappointment The
truth is. South Africa produces gold and
oiamOnds-and nothing else. There is not
another single industry 10 support the
country.
After the war there was a great rush
to Johannesburg. Business houses trebIed
In number. Structures worth $4,000. 900
We're put up with feverish haste Then
came the reaction, and an amazing exc
cus OF White men from the city Of gold
In the last three years the mines have
spent over $1,000 600 recruiting laborers
in Central Africa with the poorest re-
suits. Only 17.009 shivering negroes were
secured. ana as these came from a tropic
climate they could not stand the cold
winter
For this reason an army OF Chinese.
nearly 6oeo0 strong, was imported and
this raised a grave political question in
the British House OF Commons. Yet. not
outstanding all drawbacks. il is certain
that the Rand's output will be maintain
ed. and the worlds gold supply viii
surely increase instead OF falling off.
New Fields Every Year.
Every year sees new fields tapped.
Those OF Australia are as Yet barely
scratched, because Of the difficulty OF
travel in the waterless interior. The i'm
portation of thousands Of Indian camels.
however. has made a big difference in
this respect.
New South Wales alone has 10000
square miles Of gold country which in
great part has never known a miners
pick
What country" asked the premier IN
Sydney, can show a mountain OF gold
like Mount Morgan. that has ground out
Z.fd.3t3 ounces OF virgin metal worth 500
an ounce? OR a mountain OF silver like
Broken HIP or a Golden Mile OF marvel
ously rich reefs like Kalgurli? And where
else can a man dig up a nugget like the
great mass Of pure gold we called the
Welcome Stranger-that monstrous lump
that weighed ISIS ounces and fetched
So. 000?'
The stamps OF Kalgurlrs Golden Mile
have already pounded out $3.50. OOo 600. The
great problems here are fuel and water.
II costs SIS 20 haul cord Of miserable
sage brush over the seas Of sand TO the
batteries And there are savage natives
TO be reckoned with. too.
Stranger Thnn Fiction.
Not a season passes in Australia with
out some gold mining episode being re-
corded stranger than any fiction. Take
the incident of John Mills and his Golden
Hole.
Mills and his party were led By savages
through n murderOus country OF spinifex,
or spear grass. whose blades cut like
knives. The men We're almost dying Of
thirst when Mills accidentally broke
'''iiV ~ VA ~ cap VI Il iSVi ana iOund
II was fairly held together with virgin
gold
The Hidden Secret Mine, as II was
called, yielded 100000 of gold in a few
days. and was then bought by the Earl
OF Fingall for S2.50G000 The mines name
was then changed to that of the Golden
Hole, and Lord Fingall at once loated
company in London and Paris with
capital Of S3,750000
The magic hole was solemnly sealed.
and in due time all the worlds eyes were
upon II. Men said it would send out
Gold b1v bo ton