The mines of La Plata, so denominated on account of the abundance of
silver they contain, are chiefly situated in the provinces which were
formerly attached to the Spanish viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata; but
which, since the South American states revolted from the mother country,
have been included in the republic of Bolivia, or Upper Peru as it is
sometimes called. With the exception of Mexico, Bolivia is the richest
country in silver which has yet been discovered, and contains
innumerable mines both of that metal and of gold. All its northern
provinces teem with mineral opulence; and those of Laricaja and
Carabaya, have been distinguished by the production of the latter, and
still nobler metal, in its virgin state. In consequence, however, of the
recent political convulsions, mining, once the richest source of
revenue, is in a depressed state; many of the mines being filled with
water and totally neglected.
Footnote 4:
The account of the mines of South America and Mexico is mostly from
Humboldt, and as will be obvious to the reader, has reference in many
things to their past history and progress, rather than to their
present condition.
The mountain of Potosi formerly produced weekly about five thousand
marks of silver, that is, from thirty to forty thousand dollars; a
surprising produce, when it is considered that it has been wrought since
1545, at which time it was accidentally discovered by an Indian, or
native, as represented in the cut. In hunting some goats, he slipped
from a slight elevation, and to save himself caught hold of a shrub,
which coming away from the ground, laid bare the silver at its root. At
the commencement it was still more abundant, and the metal was dug up in
a purer state.
[Illustration: DISCOVERY OF SILVER IN PERU.]
The silver was often found in shoots like roots, imbedded in the earth.
Six thousand Indians were sent every eighteen months, from the provinces
of the viceroyalty, to work this mine. The expedition was called _mita_;
and these Indians, having been enrolled and formed into parties, were
distributed by the governor of Potosi, and received a small daily
stipend, (equal to about thirty-four cents of our currency,) until the
period of their labor was completed. They were thus doomed to a forced
service, nothing less than slavery, so long as it lasted, which the
Spaniards have endeavored to justify by the plea that laborers could not
otherwise be procured.
Lumps of pure gold and silver, called =papas=, from their resemblance to
the potato, were often found in the sands. The poor likewise occupied
themselves in =lavaderos=, or in washing the sands of the rivers and
rivulets, in order to find particles of the precious metals.
To compensate for the mines rendered useless by the irruption of water,
or other accidents, rich and new ones were daily discovered. They were
all found in the chains of mountains, commonly in dry and barren spots,
and sometimes in the sides of the =quebredas=, or astonishing
precipitous breaks in the ridges. However certain this rule might be in
the region of Bolivia, it was contradicted in that of Peru, where, at
three leagues’ distance from the Pacific ocean, not far from Tagna, in
the province of Arica, there was discovered the famous mine of
Huantajaya, in a sandy plain at a distance from the mountains, of such
exuberant wealth that the pure metal was cut out with a chisel. From
this mine a large specimen of virgin silver is preserved in the royal
cabinet of natural history at Madrid. It attracted a considerable
population, although neither water nor the common conveniences for labor
could be found there, neither any pasturage for the cattle.
In the mint of Potosi, about six millions of dollars were annually
coined; and the mines of the old viceroyalty of La Plata, taken
collectively, are reckoned to have yielded about sixteen millions.
The mines of Mexico, or what was formerly called New Spain, have been
more celebrated for their riches than those of La Plata, notwithstanding
which they are remarkable for the poverty of the mineral they contain. A
quintal, or sixteen hundred ounces of silver ore, affords, at a medium,
not more than three or four ounces of pure silver, about one-third of
what is yielded by the same quantity of mineral in Saxony. It is not,
therefore, on account of the richness of the ore, but from its abundance
and the facility of working it, that these mines have been so much
superior to those of Europe.
The fact of the small number of persons employed in working them, is not
less contrary to the commonly received opinion on this subject. The
mines of Guanaxuato, infinitely richer than those of Potosi ever were,
afforded from 1706 to 1803, nearly forty millions of dollars in gold and
silver, or very nearly five millions of dollars annually, being somewhat
less than one-fourth of the whole quantity of gold and silver from New
Spain; notwithstanding which, these mines, productive as they were, did
not employ more than five thousand workmen of every description. In
Mexico, the labor of the mines was perfectly free, and better paid than
any other kind of industry, a miner earning from five to five dollars
and a half weekly, while the wages of the common laborer did not exceed
a dollar and a half. The =tenateros=, or persons who carried the ore on
their backs, from the spot where it was dug out of the mine, to that
where it was collected in heaps, had a sum equal to a dollar and ten
cents for a day’s work of six hours. Neither slaves, criminals, nor
forced laborers, were employed in the Mexican mines.
In consequence of the clumsy, imperfect and expensive mode of clearing
them from water, several of the richest of these mines have been
overflowed and abandoned; while the lack of method in the arrangement of
the galleries, and the absence of lateral communications, have added to
the risk, and greatly increased the expense of working them. Labor has
not been, as in the working of the European mines, abridged, nor the
transportation of materials facilitated. When new works were undertaken,
a due consideration was not bestowed on the preliminary arrangements;
and they were always conducted on too large and expensive a scale.
More than three-fourths of the silver obtained from America is
extricated from the ore by means of quicksilver, the loss of which, in
the process of amalgamation, is immense. The quantity that used to be
consumed annually in Mexico alone, was about sixteen thousand quintals;
and in the whole of South America, about twenty-five thousand quintals
were yearly expended, the cost of which there, has been estimated at
more than a million dollars. The greater part of this quicksilver, in
later years, was furnished by the mine of Almaden in Spain, and that of
Istria in Carniola, the celebrated quicksilver mine of Huancavelica in
Peru, having greatly fallen off in its produce since the sixteenth
century, when it was highly flourishing. The prosperity of the silver
mines, both in Mexico and Peru, therefore depended very much on the
supplies of quicksilver from Spain, Germany and Italy; for such was the
abundance of the ore in those provinces, that apparently the only limit
to the amount of silver obtained there, was the want of mercury for
amalgamation.
In taking a general view of the riches of the other portions of America,
Humboldt, who has supplied these details, remarks that, in Peru, silver
ore exists in as great abundance as in Mexico, the mines of Lauricocha
being capable of yielding as great a produce as those of Guanaxuato; but
that the art of mining, and the methods of separating the silver from
its ore, are still more defective than in Mexico. Notwithstanding this
imperfect system, the total amount of the precious metals annually
furnished by America, was at one time estimated at upward of forty-two
million dollars; the gold being in proportion to the silver as one to
forty-six. From 1492 to 1803, the quantity of gold and silver extracted
from the American mines, was equal in value to five billion, seven
hundred and six million, seven hundred thousand dollars; of which
immense sum, the portion carried to Europe, including the booty gathered
by the conquerors of America, is estimated at five billion, four hundred
and forty-five million dollars, averaging seventeen million and a half
of dollars yearly. The annual importation up to 1803, being divided into
six periods, appears to have constantly augmented, and in the following
progressive ratio. From 1492 to 1500, it did not exceed two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. From 1500 to 1545, it amounted to three millions
of dollars. From 1545 to 1600, to eleven millions. From 1600 to 1700, to
sixteen millions. From 1700 to 1750, to twenty-two millions and a half.
And, lastly, from 1750 to 1803, to the prodigious sum of thirty-five
million, three hundred thousand dollars.
The first period was that of exchange with the natives, or of mere
rapine. The second was distinguished by the conquest and plunder of
Mexico, Peru and New Granada, and by the opening of the first mines. The
third began with the discovery of the rich mines of Potosi; and in the
course of it the conquest of Chili was completed, and various mines
opened in Mexico. At the commencement of the fourth period, the mines of
Potosi began to be exhausted; but those of Lauricocha were discovered,
and the produce of Mexico rose from two millions to five millions of
dollars annually. The fifth period began with the discovery of gold in
Brazil; and the sixth was distinguished by the prodigious increase of
the mines of Mexico, while those of every other part of America, with
the exception of Brazil, were then constantly improving.
The gold mines of Brazil have been very productive. Those called
general, were about seventy-five leagues from Rio Janeiro, the staple
and principal outlet of the riches of the Brazilian territory. They
formerly yielded to the king, annually, for his right of fifths, at
least one hundred and twelve arobas (weighing twenty-five pounds each)
of gold; so that their yearly produce might then have been estimated at
upward of three and a half millions of dollars, and that of the more
distant mines at about one-third the sum.
The gold drawn from them could not be carried to Rio Janeiro, without
being first brought to the smelting-houses established in each district,
where the right of the crown was received. What belonged to private
persons was remitted in bars, with their weight, number, and an
impression of the royal arms. The gold was then assayed, and its
standard imprinted on each bar. When these bars were carried to the
mint, their value was paid to the possessor in coin, commonly in
half-doubloons, each worth eight Spanish dollars. Upon each of these
half-doubloons the king gained a dollar, by the alloy and right of
coinage. The mint of Rio Janeiro was one of the most beautiful in
existence, and furnished with every convenience for working with the
greatest celerity. As the gold came from the mines at the same time that
the fleets came from Portugal, the operations of the mint and the
coinage proceeded with surprising quickness.
In Africa, the kingdom of Mozambique abounds in gold, which is washed
down by the rivers, and forms a chief part of the commerce of the
country. The kingdoms of Monomotara and Sofala likewise furnish
considerable quantities of gold; and the Portuguese residing in the
latter territory, half a century ago, reported that it yielded annually
two millions of =metigals=, equal to somewhat more than a million
sterling. The merchants exported from Mecca, and other parts, about the
same quantity of gold. The soldiers were paid in gold dust, in the state
in which it was collected; and this was so pure, and of so fine a
yellow, as not to be exceeded, when wrought, by any other gold beside
that of Japan. Gold is likewise found on the island of Madagascar. The
Gold Coast is so denominated from the abundance of gold found among the
sands: it is not, however, so productive as has been generally supposed,
owing to the intense heats, which, in a great measure, prevent the
natives from prosecuting their researches.
In Asia, the island of Japan is most productive of gold, which is found
in several of its provinces, and is, in by far the greater proportion,
melted from its ore. It is also procured by washing the sands, and a
small quantity is likewise found in the ore of copper. The emperor
claims a supreme jurisdiction, not only over the gold mines, but over
all the mines of the empire, which are not allowed to be worked without
a license from him. Two-thirds of their produce belong to him, and the
other third is left to the governor of the province in which the mines
are situated. But the richest gold ore, and that which yields the finest
gold, is dug in one of the northern provinces of the island of Niphon, a
dependency of Japan, where the gold mines have, in past times, been
highly productive, though now they have much fallen off. In the Japanese
province of Tsckungo, a rich gold mine, having been filled with water,
was no longer worked: as it was, however, so situated, that by cutting
the rock and making an opening beneath the mine, the water could be
easily drawn off, this was attempted. At the moment of beginning the
operation, so violent a storm of thunder and lightning arose, that the
workmen were obliged to seek shelter elsewhere; and these superstitious
people imagining that the tutelar god and protector of the spot,
unwilling to have the bowels of the earth thus rifled, had raised the
storm to make them sensible of his great displeasure at such an
undertaking, desisted from all further attempts, through the fear of
incurring his displeasure, and could not be induced to go on with it.
Thibet, a mountainous country of India, contains a great abundance of
gold, which is traced in the rivers flowing from that territory into the
Ganges. In Hindoostan there are not any mines of gold; but in the Irnada
district gold is collected in the river which passes Nelambur in the
Mangery Talui, a nair having the exclusive privilege of this collection,
for which he pays a small annual tribute. Silver is in general rare
throughout the oriental regions, and there is not any indication of this
metal in India; but in Japan there are several silver mines, more
particularly in the northern provinces, and the metal extracted from
them is very pure and fine.
Turning to Europe, Dalmatia is said in ancient times to have produced an
abundance of gold. Pliny reports that in the reign of the emperor Nero,
fifty pounds of this precious metal were daily taken from the mines of
that province; and that it was found on the surface of the ground. It is
added, that Vibius, who was sent by Augustus to subdue the Dalmatians,
obliged that hardy and warlike people to work in the mines, and to
separate the gold from the ore.
Bossina, in Sclavonia, contains many mineral mountains, and has rich
mines of gold and silver. The district in which the latter are found, is
named the =Srebrarniza=, being derived from the word =srebr=, which
signifies silver in all the Sclavonian dialects. Their produce resembles
the native silver of Potosi, and is found, combined with pure quartz, in
small, thin leaves, resembling moss.
The kingdom of Norway formerly produced gold; but the expense of working
the mines, and procuring the pure ore, being greater than the profit,
these have been neglected. There are, however, silver mines, which are
extremely valuable, and give employment to several thousands of persons.
The principal of these is at Königsberg, and was discovered in 1623,
when the town was immediately built, and peopled with German miners. In
1751, forty-one shafts and twelve veins, were wrought in this mine, and
gave employment to thirty-five hundred officers, artificers and
laborers. A view of one part of this mine is given in the cut on the
next page.
The silver ore is not, as was at first imagined, confined to the
mountain between Königsberg and the river Jordal, but extends its veins
for several miles throughout the adjacent districts, in consequence of
which new mines have been undertaken in several places, and prosperously
carried on. One of the richest and most ancient of the mines, named “Old
God’s blessing,” has sometimes, in the space of a week, yielded several
hundred pounds’ weight of rich ore. The astonishing depth of this mine,
which is not less than a hundred and eighty fathoms, perpendicularly,
fills the mind of the beholder with amazement; and the circumference at
the bottom forms a clear space of several hundreds of fathoms. Here the
sight of thirty or forty fires, burning on all sides in this gloomy
cavern, and continually fed to soften the stone in the prosecution of
the labors, seems, according to the notions commonly entertained, an apt
image of hell; and the swarms of miners, covered with soot, and bustling
about in habits according to their several employments, may well remind
one of so many evil spirits; more especially when, at a given signal
that the mine is to be sprung in this or that direction, they exclaim
aloud: “=Berg-livet, berg-livet=!” “Take care of your lives.”
[Illustration: SILVER MINE AT KÖNIGSBERG.]
The gold mines of Cremnitz, in Hungary, lie forty miles south of the
Carpathian hills; and twenty miles further to the south are the silver
mines of Shemnitz. These are called mining towns; and the former is the
principal, its rich ores being found in what is styled metallic rock.
Its mines also produce a certain proportion of silver. Hungary is beside
enriched by a mineral peculiar to itself, or one, at least, which has
not hitherto been discovered elsewhere, namely, the _opal_, a gem
preferred to all others by the oriental nations. The opal mines are
situated at Ozerwiniza, where they are found in a hill consisting of
decomposed porphyry, a few fathoms beneath the surface. Their produce is
of various qualities, from the opaque-white, or semi-opal, to the utmost
refulgence of the lively colors by which this noble gem is
distinguished.
Transylvania and the Bannet, contain numerous and valuable mines,
consisting chiefly of gray gold ore, and white gold ore. The finest gold
is found at Olapian, not far from Zalathna, intermixed with gravel and
sand. The sands of the Rhine, also, in various places contain traces of
gold.
The mountains of Spain were, according to ancient writers, very rich in
gold and silver; and accordingly Gibbon calls that kingdom, “the Peru
and Mexico of the old world.” He adds, that “the discovery of the rich
western continent of the Phenicians, and the oppression of the simple
natives, who were compelled to labor in their own mines for the benefit
of strangers, form an exact type of the more recent history of Spanish
America.” The Phenicians were acquainted only with the sea-coasts of
Spain; but avarice, as well as ambition, carried the arms of Rome and
Carthage into the heart of the country, and almost every part of the
soil was found pregnant with gold, silver and copper. A mine near
Carthagena, is said to have yielded daily twenty-five thousand drams of
silver, or over thirteen hundred thousand dollars a year. The provinces
of Asturia, Gallicia and Lusitania, yielded twenty thousand pounds’
weight of gold annually: but rich as these mines are, the modern
Spaniards have chosen rather to import the precious metals from America,
than to seek them at home.
Portugal is in many parts mountainous; and these mountains contain,
beside others, rich ores of silver. But the Portuguese, like the
Spaniards, having been supplied with metals from South America, and
particularly with an abundance of gold and silver from Brazil, have not
worked the mines in their own country. Gems of all kinds, as turkoises
and hyacinths, are also found in these mountains, together with
beautifully variegated marbles, and many curious fossils.
But the richest and most productive gold mines of Europe, at the present
time, are probably those of Russia. It had long been known that gold was
to be found in the Russian dominions; but in 1829, Baron Humboldt, with
two scientific associates, at the request of the emperor of Russia, made
a mineralogical tour to the Ural and Altai mountains. In this journey,
they not only discovered new localities of gold and silver, but from the
geological features of the country suggested that, at certain
localities, diamonds would also probably be found, which accordingly
happened. And as the result of the report they made to the Russian
government, mining operations were commenced on a large scale in these
mountains, which have now become one of the most prolific gold regions
in the world. The increase of these sources of gold, in extent and
amount, has been such, that from the value of about ten thousand dollars
in 1836, the amount received in 1843, was some eighteen millions of
dollars; and the supply has since increased annually, until at present,
1855, it amounts to about twenty million dollars a year. Most of this
large amount of gold is gathered from washing the sand and loose earth,
and not from deep mines; and as it is every year becoming greater and
greater, it must add immensely to the wealth and resources of the
Russian empire.
But by far the greatest gold-field in the world, has been opened by the
discoveries of the last few years in California. At the close of the
late war with Mexico, the United States acquired, by conquest and
purchase, a tract of country of some five hundred thousand square miles
in extent, known as the Mexican territory of upper California. And from
the western portion of this region, Congress, in 1850, created and
admitted into the American confederacy, the thirty-first state, under
the name of California. It is almost superfluous to say, that California
is one of the most important mineral regions in the world, particularly
in its deposits of gold. Vague notions of the existence of this gold,
had from time to time been spread abroad; but it was not till 1848, that
an accident discovered the marvelous fact of its abundance. In that
year, a Mr. Sutter, a native of Switzerland, was settled near the mouth
of the American fork of the Sacramento river, at the head of navigation,
one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. Here he had founded New
Helvetia, and obtained a grant of thirty miles round. He had sent some
men to the upper part of the American fork, to clear out a mill-race.
The soil was washed down in the process, and some shining scales laid
bare. These proved to be gold, and on investigation, not only the valley
of this stream, but the beds of all the other streams running into the
Sacramento, were found to have a soil full of gold, in minute scales and
in bits, from a grain to many ounces in weight. New “placers,” as the
“washings,” or “dry diggings” are called, have constantly been
discovered, and people have rushed to these hills from all quarters,
with pans, tubs, pickaxes, shovels, hoes, filtering-machines, and
energetic sinews, till they have extracted, by digging, washing, &c.,
millions on millions of dollars’ worth of the yellow treasure. Gold is
now found over an extent of many hundred miles, and also on the Gila,
and throughout the great central plateau, north and north-east of it.
In a favorable locality, the lucky finder of a placer will sift out
hundreds of dollars’ worth in a day. Persons with not a shirt to their
backs, and scarcely a whole garment upon them, are seen with bags of
gold in their hands. Prices of everything went up at once to an enormous
rate: laborer’s wages became eight or ten dollars a day; cooks at the
diggings, ten dollars a day; clerks, fifteen hundred dollars to six
thousand dollars =per annum=, &c., &c. As all the productive industry of
the country is now turned to gold-digging, and as such vast numbers of
consumers are flocking in from all parts, prices continue to range high
for every article of necessity, although such large quantities of goods
have been sent.
[Illustration: GOLD WASHING IN CALIFORNIA.]
The gold first discovered was evidently not in its original place, but
had been washed down from higher regions; and when all that is thus
spread through the sands of California shall have been exhausted, if it
ever shall be, there are large bodies of auriferous quartz, which (with
greater labor and expense) will doubtless afford large supplies of gold
for generations to come. The amount of capital invested in
quartz-mining, according to the state census of 1852, was about six
millions, and in placer and other mining operations, about four millions
of dollars; and the sum total of these amounts has been greatly
increased since that date. Up to the close of 1851, there had been
deposited in the United States mint, $98,407,990 of California gold; and
the deposits of 1852 amounted to $46,528,076, making a total of
$145,000,000. But all this falls far short of the real amount produced;
as probably quite as much more has been sent to Europe in the shape of
dust or bullion, not to mention the unreported sums which have been
privately taken out of the state. An official estimate states the
production of American gold in 1853, at $109,156,748; and of this sum
nearly the whole is from the mines of California. And this vast amount
is steadily on the increase, in about the proportion of the increase of
the mining population, so that California not only is, but is likely to
continue to be _the great gold-field_ of the world.
Before leaving California, it may not be amiss to add, that the country
abounds in mines of almost every kind, as well as gold. Quicksilver,
plaster, lead, iron, silver, copper, asphaltum and marble, are found in
Butte, and also in Marion county; rich silver mines and coal, in San
Louis Obispo; copious salt springs, in Shasta; bituminous springs, in
many places along the coast; hot sulphur springs, in Santa Barbara; warm
soda springs, near Benicia; and platina is said to be widely distributed
in almost every section where gold has been found. Silver has been
discovered in several mines in the southern district; copper is widely
distributed in other sections beside those above-mentioned; chromium
occurs in large quantities in the serpentine rocks; and diamonds are
reported to have been recently found in several localities.
[Illustration: PLACE WHERE GOLD WAS FIRST DISCOVERED IN AUSTRALIA.]
At a date still later than the discovery of gold in California, the same
precious metal was discovered in Australia. The cut on the following
page gives a view of the place where it was first found, in the county
of Bathurst, not far from Sydney in New South Wales. It is worthy of
note that we owe the discovery of gold in Australia to the high state of
geological science. Sir R. Murchison, in his address to the London
Geographical Society in 1844, alluded to the possibly auriferous
character of the great eastern chain of Australia, being led thereto by
his knowledge of the auriferous chain of the Ural, and by his
examination of Count Strzelecki’s specimens, maps and sections. Some of
Sir R. Murchison’s observations having found their way to the Australian
papers, a Mr. Smith, at that time engaged in some iron works at Berrima,
was induced by them in the year 1849 to search for gold, and he found
it. He sent the gold to the colonial government, and offered to disclose
its locality on payment of five hundred pounds sterling. The government,
however, not putting full faith in the statement, and being, moreover,
unwilling to encourage a gold fever without sufficient reason, declined
to grant the sum, but offered, if Mr. Smith would mention the locality,
and the discovery was found to be valuable, to reward him accordingly.
Very unwisely, as it turned out, Mr. Smith did not accept this offer;
and it remained for Mr. Hargraves, who came with the prestige of his
California experience, to make the discovery anew, and get the reward
from the English government on their own conditions. The first discovery
was made in the banks of the Summer Hill creek and the Lewis Ponds
river, small streams which run from the northern flank of the Conobalas
down to the Macquarrie. The gold was found in the sand and gravel
accumulated, especially on the inside of the bends of the brook, and at
the junction of the two water-courses, where the stream of each would be
often checked by the other. It was coarse gold, showing its parent site
to be at no great distance, and probably in the quartz veins traversing
the metamorphic rocks of the Conobalas. Mr. Stutchbury, the government
geologist, reported on the truth of the discovery, and shortly afterward
found gold in several other localities, especially on the banks of the
Turon, some distance north-east of the Conobalas. This was a much wider
and more open valley than the Summer Hill creek, and the gold
accordingly was much finer, occurring in small scales and flakes. It
was, however, more regularly and equably distributed through the soil,
so that a man might reckon with the greatest certainty on the quantity
his daily labor would return him. At the head of the Turon river, among
the dark glens and gullies in which it collects its head-waters, in the
flanks of the Blue mountains, the gold got “coarser,” occurred in large
lumps or nuggets, but these were more sparingly scattered.
As already said, the discovery was made by Mr. Hargraves, in May, 1850;
and before the end of June, there were more than twenty thousand persons
at the mines. When it was known in the town of Bathurst, that the
discovery had been made, and that the country, from the mountain ranges,
back to an indefinite extent in the interior, was probably one immense
goldfield, the excitement was intense and universal. A complete phrensy
seemed to seize on the entire population; the business of the town was
paralyzed; and there was a universal rush to the diggings. People of all
trades, callings and pursuits were quickly transformed into miners; and
many a hand which had been trained to kid gloves, or accustomed only to
the quill, became nervous to clutch the pick or crowbar, or to “rock the
cradle” at the newly discovered mines. The roads were literally alive
with the crowds pressing on from every quarter, some armed with
pickaxes, others shouldering crowbars and shovels, and not a few strung
round with hand-basins, tin-pots and cullenders. Scores rushed from
their homes, with only a blanket, and a pick or grubbing-hoe, full of
hope that a few days would give them heaps of the precious metal.
Everything at once rose in price, and the whole face of society was
speedily changed in almost every aspect.
The first pieces found were in grains. Soon a piece was picked up
weighing some eleven ounces; and soon after, several lumps weighing
together about three pounds. Gold was speedily discovered in almost
every place where it was looked for; in the beds of the streams, and in
veins of quartz, in grains, in scales, and in lumps of various weights.
Some, as might be expected, were successful, and some comparatively
unsuccessful in seeking it; the great mass of the miners averaging not
more than four or five dollars a day, while in some rare cases a single
individual gathered to the value of a thousand dollars in the same time.
Gold was soon discovered in the Wellington district, and in various
other places. One piece was picked up weighing almost five pounds; and
from a single cleft in a rock, a miner took out eleven pounds’ weight of
gold, in separate pieces of various sizes. A Scotchman gathered fourteen
hundred dollars’ worth in four days, and eight of his associates
averaged from thirty to forty dollars’ worth a day. Apparently there is
no end to the supply, at least for years to come; and all this within
forty miles of a town where every comfort, not to say luxury, can be
obtained, with a good post-road all the way to Sydney, and in the midst
of tracts of the most fertile land, partly occupied, and where food may
be supplied for millions of inhabitants, if needed. An official
statement estimates the supply of Australian gold at sixty million
dollars a year; and in addition to the gold, diamonds and platinum have
also been found. Australia and California are likely to be the great
sources of the supply of gold, compared with which all others will be
relatively unimportant.
Before leaving the subject of gold, it may be interesting to the reader
to trace the process of its coinage, which may thus be briefly stated.
The metal, after being received in the deposit-room, is carefully
weighed, and a receipt given. Each deposit is then melted separately in
the melting-room, and molded into bars. These bars next pass through the
hands of the assayer, who with a chisel chips a small fragment from each
one. Each chip is then rolled into a thin ribbon, and filed down until
it weighs exactly ten grains. It is then melted into a little cup made
of calcined bone ashes, and all the base metals, copper, tin, &c., are
absorbed by the porous material of the cup or carried off by oxydation.
The gold is then boiled in nitric acid, which dissolves the silver which
it contains, and leaves the gold pure. It is then weighed, and the
amount which it has lost gives the exact proportion of impurity in the
original bar, and a certificate of the amount of coin due the depositor
is made out accordingly. After being assayed, the bars are melted with a
certain proportion of silver, and being poured into a dilution of nitric
acid and water, assume a granulated form. In this state the gold is
thoroughly boiled in nitric acid, and rendered perfectly free from
silver or any other baser metals which may happen to cling to it. It is
next melted with one-ninth its weight of copper, and, thus alloyed, is
run into bars, and delivered to the coiner for coinage. The bars are
rolled out in a rolling-mill until nearly as thin as the coin which is
to be made from them. By a process of annealing they are rendered
sufficiently ductile to be drawn through a longitudinal orifice in a
piece of steel, thus reducing the whole to a regular width and
thickness. A cutting-machine next punches small round pieces from the
bar, about the size of the coin. These pieces are weighed separately by
the “adjusters,” and if too heavy are filed down; if too light they are
melted again. The pieces which have been adjusted are run through a
milling-machine, which compresses them to the right diameter and raises
the edge. Two hundred and fifty are milled in a minute by the machine.
They are then again softened by the process of annealing, and after a
thorough cleaning are placed in a tube connecting with the stamping
instrument, and are taken thence one at a time by the machinery, and
stamped between the dies. They are now finished, and, being thrown into
a box, are delivered to the treasurer for circulation. The machinery, of
course, for all those processes, must be of the nicest kind. When in
full operation, a mint like that of England, or that of the United
States at Philadelphia, can coin millions on millions in a year.