Evening star., 1933-10-03
HISTORY SHAPED
BY GOLD NUGGETS
National Geographic Society
Recalls Interesting Dis
coveries in Past.

Discovery near Wiseman, Alaska, OF
one of the largest gold nuggets found
in recent years, recalls some OF the out
standing chunks of the yellow metal
that have strained old boundary lines,
made men rich, and lured adventurous
diggers to paupers' graves.
"Small nuggets have often appeared
in the craws Of chickens and turkeys;
children at play have found others"
says a bulletin from the National Geo
graphic Society. "A 14-year-old Cali
fornia boy named Perkins, playing with
q toy water wheel in small creek,
picked up nugget worth $1,000.
Large as Human Head.
Near Dutch Flat, in the same State,
an old miner, Dan Hill, stopped to
wash his hands in brook and saw IN
the water q chunk of gold as big as
head. He got $4,000 for it.
North Carolina, famous as cotton
and tobacco State, does not come to
mind as a producing region" con-
tinues the bulletin. "Yet records in the
United States Mint show that it mined
gold as early as 1893. From its old
Reed mine. in Cabarrus County, came
veritable stream Of nuggets that ranged
from bean size up to gold chunks OF %
pounds
Another North Carolina mine in
Montgomery County belonged to Thomas
Fancy, a deer hunter, whose favorite
pastime was to go hunting with the
bullets run from pure gold Old resi-
dents thereabout tell of buck killed
long after Faney's death, in the shoul-
der of which was found piece OF gold
It was assumed that this was one OF
Faney's bullets with which he had
wounded the deer.
"A seven-pound nugget found in
South Africa was shaped like human
hand, fingers and all Near Dolores,
Mexico. an Indian found nugget
which was a perfect corn husk In
shape.
yielded nuggets up to so pounds ana
over. Three convicts found one worth
$4,000. It is written that the Isar
freed the convicts, but kept the gold.
Finds Nugget in Grave.
"A strange story attaches to the
oliver Martin, largest nugget found
In California. Two men, Martin ana
Fowler, we're asleep one night IN
canyon when a mountain storm sent
q sudden flood rushing down upon
them. Fowler was drowned. Next
morning Oliver Martin took his PICK
and shovel and started to bury his
dead friend. Hardly had he begun the
grave when he struck huge nugget:
It sold for $22,7O0 after Martin had
first earned $4,000 exhibiting it.
THE list is long and exciting. No
part of the world has been SO prolific
of gold In great Jumps as the Victoria
fields of Australia From there have
come big nuggets literally by the score.
One famous Ballarat nugget, the Wei
come brought $52,500. In New South
Wales was found a record nugget,
measuring feet inches long, which
sold for S148,000.
ITO gold nuggets the United States
owes large part Of its rapid growth
beyond the Mississippi. Beanlike mug
gets, found in a stream where James
Marshall was digging a mill-race,
started the famous California gold rush
in '49. The gold-hungry tide of hu-
manity that flowed to the West fol-
lowing news Of that discovery helped
to make California eligible for State
hood q year later In that State, as
in the early days Of the Australian ex-
element, when rich alluvial deposits
were common at the surface. most gold
was found by washing. The search
for veins Of ore and the use OF stamp
mills and other machines came later.
Bits of gold in a creek bed were
the clue to the Klondike. Weary from
chasing a moose, an Indian hunter lay
down to drink from a Yukon tributary
and saw the stream bed glittering. Thus
'Skookum Jirn,' with two white men.
Carmack and Henderson, started the
historic Klondike rush. Later, on the
beach at Nome, it was found that the
very ocean sands were impregnated
with gold and undreamed-of millions
were recovered"