Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1910-10-26
NUGGETS OF GOLD
Some of the Largest Ever Struck
Were Found by Chance.
THE OLIVER MARTIN CHUNK.

Drowned Corrade-A Starving Miner
Unearthed the Welcome Stranger"
Nowhere does fortune indulge her
love of the dramatic and the scnsa-
tional more fully than in the gold
fields
Take. for instance. the story Of
the discovery or the world famous
blanche Barley" nugget in the early
days Of Australian gold mining. which
sent thrill around the world. sam
uel Napier. n sailor. with his brother
Charles and one Robert Ambrose. their
cook and general handy man. had been
digging for gold for SIX months ut
Kingower. about forty miles from Ben
digo. without discovering as much OF
the precious metal rs would pay their
living expenses. when one August day.
TO tell the story I'm Napier's own words:
I'VE had dug down about fourteen
feet 10 the pipe clay stratum and We're
shutting around in the bottom OF the
shaft more dead than alive from the
heat. Old Ambrose lit his pipe and
leaned against the side OF the hole to
rest Just then I struck something
with my pick. 7 turned 4 up so the
light could strike Il. and. by Jimmy,
it was n chunk Of gold as big as n
hubbard squashr' The nugget sold for
$4,000.
Among the thousands who locked 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 mer. but their expectations were
doomed TO cruel disappointment. Not
only months. but many years. passed
and found them still as far removed
from fortune rs At the beginning. and
by 1860. fifteen years after they began
their search Tor gold. they were re-
duced 10 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 us he wandered.
dowacast and heavy hearted. he no
ticed CLEAN Of yellow in n rut made
- peddler's cart. Lifting his pick,
with n 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
as the Welcome Stranger" actually
weighed two hundrcdwelght and was
sold for nearly $4,000.
And thescs were but n few Of the
many similar blocks OF gold discovered
In Australia under equally dramatic
conditions. While native shepherd
named Kerr was tending his sheep one
day his attention was arrested by 4
yellow rock projecting Il few inches
above the soil. In his excitement at
the discovery he ran 10 fetch his mas
| ter. The rock was unearthed and
proved 20 be n nugget Of two hundred
weight from which leo pounds Of pure
gold were extracted.
y few years later another monster
nugget made its appearance at Balla-
rat. y party OF miners had worked q
claim 70 a depth % sixty yards when
one Of them struck with his pickax =
hard. irregularly shaped mass, which
on being uuearthei proved TO be 4
block Of almost pure goid twenty
inches long. a foot wide and seven
Inches deep. Us weight was almost
one hundredweight and quarter and
its value $4G.625.
IL was the periodical discovery AZ
Ballarat OF these monster nuggets
which first fred she blood Of the en-.
tire world in the PARKWAY fifties. But
even Ballarat has no other romance Il
! rival that OF the discovery Of two huge
nuggets within few days in the same
| claim. The story runs that four miners
had worked their claim down TO about
sixty feet when one OF them brought
10 light n nugget weighing nearly
one hundredweight and worth S27. 800
In their JOY at such rich treasure
trove the men abandoned the dig
Sings and took their nugget with then
10 England. They had scarcely left
Ballarat when their successors in the
claim, with almost the first stroke of q
pick, turned over another nugget heav
Ter than the first and valued at more
than $4,000.
or all the romantic stories told OF
gold discoveries in California not one
Is more remarkable than that Of which
Oliver Martin was the hero For
months Martin and a companion
named Flower had been prospecting
for gold TO no purpose. Worn out by
hardships and half dead from starva.
ton, they were on the point of aban
doning the quest in despair when fate
administered her last crushing blow.
They were overtaken by n terrible
storm, in which Flower was drowned
Martin, weak though he was. set tC
work to dig his fallen comrades gray,
at the foot of tree and had dug
down barely two feet when his spade
struck n hard, unyielding substance
which, to his amazement and delight
proved to be an enormous nugget. the
largest ever found on the American
continent. The "Oliver Martin Chunk.
as 1t came TO be known the Who'll,
world over. weighed l5i rounds {
ounces and was the nucleus Of for
tune OF a million dollars whirh Martiy
accumulated in later years CaSSelrs
Saturday Journal.