Smyrna times., 1910-09-14
NUGGETS OF COLD
Some of the Largest Ever Struck
Were Found by Chance.
THE OLIVER MARTIN CHUNK.
1t Was Turned Up by a Miner Who
Was Digging a Grave For His
Drowned Comrade-A Starving Miner
Unearthed the "WeIcome Stranger"

Onearthed the "Welcome stranger"
Nowhere does fortune indulge her |
love of the dramatic and the Sensa- |
tional more fully than in the gold
fields.
Take. for instance. the story of
the discovery of the world famous
blanche Barllley" nugget in the early
days of Australian gold mining. which
sent thrill around the world. Sam
uel Napier, sailor, with his brother
Charles and one Robert Ambrose, their
cook and general handy man, had been
digging for gold for six months at
Kingower. about forty miles from Ben
digo. without discovering as much of
the precious metal as would pay their
living expenses. when one August day,
to tell the story in Napier's own words:
I'VE had dug down about fourteen
feet to the pipe clay stratum and were
shuffling around in the bottom of the
shaft more dead than alive from the
heat. Old Ambrose lit his pipe and
rest. Just then l struck something
with my pick. I turned it up so the
light could strike it. and. by Jimmy.
it was chunk of gold as big as a
hubbard SQUASH" The nugget sold for
$4,000.
Among the thousands who flOcked to
the Victorian gold fields in the early
fifties were two Cornish miners. John
Deason and Richard Oates. who staked
claim near the village of Moliaque
They set to work with vigor. confident
that in few months they would be
able to retire to their native Cornwall
rich men. but their expectations were
doomed to cruel disappointment. Not
only months, but many years, passed
and found them still as far removed
from fortune as at the beginning, and
| by 1869. fifteen years after they began
their search for gold, they were re-
| duced to the last straits. Starvation
stared them in the face.
In despair the miner seized his pick
| and wandered away to the outskirts Of
the gold field. and as he wandered.
| downcast and heavy hearted. he no.
ticed CLEAN of yellow in a rut made
| by peddler's cart. Lifting his pick,
with few frantic blows he brought to
| light an enormous nugget. which. with
all his strength. he could barely raise
an inch from the ground. The nugget.
which was soon known the world over
rs the Welcome Stranger" actually
weighed two hundredweight and was
sold for nearly $4,000.
And these were but a few of the
many similar blocks of gold discovered
in Australia under equally dramatic
conditions. While a native shepherd
named Kerr was tending his sheep one
day his attention was arrested by q
yellow rock projecting a few inches
above the soil. In his excitement al
the discovery he ran to fetch his mas
ter. The rock was unearthed and
proved to be a nugget Of two hundred
weight, from which 1G0 pounds of pure
gold were extracted.
A few years later another monster
nugget made its appearance at Balla
rat. a party Of miners had worked
claim to a depth Of sixty yards wheI
one of them struck with his pickax
hard, irregularly shaped mass. whicl
on being unearthed proved to be
block of almost pure gold twent,
inches long, a foot wide and sever
inches deep It's weight was almos
one hundredweight and a quarter an,
its value $46.62J.
1t was the periodical discovery a
Ballarat of these monster nugget
which first fired the blood of the er
tire world in the faraway ffties. Bu
even Ballarat has no other romance {
rival that of the discovery of two hug
nuggets within a few days in the sam
claim. The story runs that four miner
had worked their claim down to abor
sixty feet when one of them brougl
to light a nugget weighing nearl
one hundredweight and worth $27.50
In their JOY at such a rich treasul
trove the men abandoned the di
gings and took their nugget with the
to England. They had scarcely lie
Ballarat when their successors in Il
claim. with almost the first stroke of
} pick, turned over another nugget hea
Ter than the first and valued at mo
{ than $4,000.
OF all the romantic stories told
J gold discoveries in California not OF
4 is more remarkable than that of Whit
: Oliver Martin was the hero F,
months Martin and companiC
3 named Flower had been prospectil
for gold to no purpose. Worn out
- hardships and half dead from starv
ton, they were on the point of aba
doning the quest in despair when ia
administered her last ckushing blow
They were overtaken by a territ
storm, In which Flower was browne
J Martin. weak though he was. set
work to dig his fallen comrades gra
at the foot of a tree and had d
down barely two feet when his spa
struck n hard. unyielding substan