Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1910-09-03

who went as miner to California,
who first discovered gold in Aus
tralia. He was struck by the resem-
Australia to the gold bearing rocks
blance of the rocks near his home In
in California. He systematically
searched for signs of gold, and on
February IL, 1851, he found some
of the precious metal for the first
time.
The excitemen created by the dis
covery was intense. Towns grew up
as II by magic. Even police left
their employment to try their luck
at the diggings, while sailors de-
serted from their ships as soon as
they arrived at a port near the fileds.
Men focked in thousands to Ballar-
at and Bathurst, and 1t was at these
places where the worlds biggest mug
gets were found.
Fifty miles north of Bathurst three
quartz blocks containing 112 pounds
of pure gold were found, and the IA
nous Victoria nusset," single
mass Of pure virgin gold weighing
$40 ounces was brought from zen
digo. But the largest nugget Of all
was that christened the welcome" "
This was found at Ballart on June
4, 1858, weighed 2,516 ounces and
was valued at $4,000. Within III
years gold to the enormous value OF
800, 100000 had been brought to
England from the two colonies oi
Victoria and New South Wales.
Two years ago one Of the discov
erers of the famous Kalgorlie golc
field in Western Australia passed
away in the person of an IrishmaI
named Daniel Shea. He and a com
patriot named Hannah. while pros
pecting for gold, camped on the sit
of Kalgoorlie when it was wilder
ness. Hannah, in searching for
horse kicked up nugget OF gold
The news spread, rush set in an,
the wealth of the place soon becam
apparent. Harmon and Shea as tn
pioneers were awarded pensions O
. $500 a year-not great sum WheI
one considers that the annual out
put of the Kalgoorlie gold field
=, between $1O,OOO,OOO and $4,000
o 900.
There are, however, no gold mine
! so rich as those of the Transvai
. Since 1SS4-the year the world
= greatest gold field, Witwatersant
4 was discovered, until June 1908, tn
o total value of the gold production
, the Transvaal amounted no less tha
+ G211,535,9 1876. 1t was a prospecto
q named Arnold who first discoVere
! that gold lay among the bare an
n lonely hills of Witwatersand.
II this case there was no great rus
q for the simple reason that there wt
not chance for miner without ca
ital. The Rand's pre-eminence anon
gold fields is not due to the excee'
&C ing richness of its deposits, for
ir their percentage of the yellow met
= they do not compare with the min
of California, for instance. b.
J. while its ores are of low grade, the
n are found in much more extensi'
10 bodies than those of any other fell
/ much machinery and many worke
u being required to unearth the gold
4 There are still more chances, hoy
n ever for prospectors, like Croesu
v fame, who is said to have discovert
the first really rich man known
G. little gold mine of his own, to fiji
A. one for themselves; for, accordil
N to authorities, the world contai
a several unworked gold fields quite
ia rich as any yet discovered. Parts
Of Siberia are alleged to be richer
r gold than the Klondike, while
IN Martin Conway said some time a.
vs that along the eastern slope Of t
W Andes ran many rivers rich in gol