The three great gold districts, which have lately grown into importance, are, the chain of the Oural and Altai Mountains, California, and its extensions to Sonora and Oregon, and the eastern and southern districts of Australia; let us consider each in its order.
The washings of the Russian streams first aroused public attention from the languor into which the question of gold-working had fallen. The deposits of the Oural, where the first discoveries were made, never gave any extraordinary results; the workings appeared almost impracticable above the 60th degree of latitude, and although begun on a great scale above half a century ago, they have remained almost stationary for the last fifteen years; the annual returns, divided about equally between the government and private individuals, scarcely exceeded[56]5,000 kilogrammes.
The Altai gold district was in a very different position; in spite of the rigour of an inhospitable climate, and the difficulties experienced from any work of labour with a scanty population, the development of produce was extremely rapid. Begun in 1828, the result, after the first eight years, was[57]1,722 kilogrammes, but from that time it increased in a geometrical proportion; it rose to[58]4,000 kilogrammes in 1840, to[59]10,000 in 1842, and exceeded[60]20,000 in 1847.
The year 1847 appears to have been the culminating point of the position of gold in Russia. The “Administration des Mines” report a produce of[61]1744 pouds, or[62]28,521 kilogrammes, as the combined working of the Oural and Altai; admitting that one-fifth of the produce escaped the government tax, the result of the gold produce of 1847, would be at least[63]110,000,000 francs. From that time the decrease has been continuous. The official reports of 1848, give the figures at 1,726 pouds, or[64]28,252 kilogrammes; 1592 pouds, or[65]26,077 kilogrammes in 1849; 1485 pouds, or[66]124,324 kilogrammes in 1850; and 1,432 pouds, or[67]78,000,000 francs in 1851. It is to be observed that the reduction refers exclusively to Siberia, east and west; not only has the activity of the workings in the Oural been undiminished, but it has slightly increased: the produce of 1849 was 342 pouds, being[68]244 kilogrammes more than in 1845.
The decrease of production appears to have been principally caused by excessive taxation. The working of the Siberian gold districts is divided between the Government and private owners, and in the division, the eastern side of the mountains has been retained by the former, whilst the latter have worked the western. The result has been an immense loss to the public treasury, for whilst two-fifths ofthe washings of the Oural are from the government reserves, the Altai districts do not yield above 5 to 6 per cent. of this produce. The Russian government has endeavoured to collect by taxation what is lost either by abstraction or the washings. The tax was at first one-tenth of the net produce; it was then raised to 15 per cent., and has since been further increased. The new tax, however, only applies to Siberia, east and west. It is a progressive rate, divided amongst ten classes, the rate varying from 5 per cent. on the raw produce, when the working was from one to two pouds, up to 32 per cent. when the working amounted to 50 pouds per annum. The whole tax, however, was, in addition to another tax called “minier,” also progressive, and varying, according to class, from four to[69]ten roubles per pound of gold.
These exorbitant taxes may have acted in two ways, either as an encouragement to fraud, or as a discouragement to production. At the distance at which we live from Siberia, a country where the light of public opinion has penetrated even less than the rays of the sun, it is difficult to decide between these two consequences, both perhaps equally probable. But the fact of the decrease remains undoubted, and this decrease has been to the extent of one-seventh in three years, or about[70]4,000 kilogrammes.
The working of the gold regions of Siberia has not been of the democratic character which it has assumed in California and Australia. There the first comer, provided he were furnished with a pickaxe, a bowl, a cradle, and a small store of provisions, might, without further capital, pitch his tent over some square yards of land, and dig until he has made his fortune. With a license costing 60s. in Australia, and with a tax of 20 dollars a year in California, he may go where he pleases. It is not the government which fixes his boundary, but the regulations of the republic of miners, forming a community along the banks of a river, or at the foot of a hill, forbidding one man to usurp a greater space than he can work with his own hands; the miner himself possessing nothing, and therefore, risking nothing, may dispense with all calculations of profit and loss. If the spot he has selected does not answer his expectations, he shifts his ground, or his occupation. Under any circumstances, the tax, not bearing upon capital, and being moderate in amount, is easily paid; a few days work is sufficient for it; the remainder of his time during the year with his bad or good luck, is at his own free disposal. Such is not the case, in the Altai, where the aristocratic forms attaching to all industry, either at the will of the state, or from the force of circumstances, have exerted their influence over the first commencement of working the mineral districts. By the terms ofthe imperial decrees, concessions are only obtained on special application, and for a term of twelve years, and the portion assigned to each person never exceeds 100 sagenes (about[71]250 metres) by five wersts, (about 5335 metres); the same person may, however, take several lots, provided they are separated by a distance of five wersts. These contractors engage a certain number of workmen, whom they provide with utensils and machinery, besides feeding them and paying them high wages. Everything connected with the arrangements entails considerable advance of capital, and when the chance of a small return, or sometimes of no return at all, is added to the heavy deduction to be paid to the state, out of the raw material, is it surprizing that members of this community are frequently unwilling to extend their operations, and almost always anxious to conceal the magnitude of their working?
It is said, that in keeping up the amount of the tax, the Russian Government has had less in view the advantage of a larger participation of interests than a desire to check a kind of industry very demoralizing in its nature. If such is really the motive, it might be less critically censured. Whatever the reason, so long as the Russian Governmentconsiders it advisable to keep up the present taxation, it is not likely that the increase of production of gold will be considerable; it appears to be limited for the present to an amount probably not exceeding[72]90,000,000 to[73]100,000,000 francs per annum.
The Spaniards—those indefatigable treasure-seekers—who discovered the hidden riches of the Cordilleras, had been in possession of California for above two centuries. From the year 1602, Sebastian Viscaino, the founder of Monterey, had learnt from the Indians, dispersed throughout that country, that it abounded in gold and silver. Nevertheless, instead of planting a colony of miners to examine the soil, the Spaniards sent thither a body of missionaries, who proclaimed the gospel, and at the same time instructed the natives in the rudiments of civilization and of agriculture.
In 1846 there was scarcely 10,000 of the original Spanish creoles, when a body of some hundreds of adventurers from the United States, under General Taylor, invaded and took possession of the country. The Government of the Union, in demanding its cession from Mexico, thought chiefly of an aggrandisement of territory; they wanted ports on the Pacific and a rival colony to Oregon. Little was it expected that in the valleys which descended from the Sierra Nevada would be found mines of goldlikely to become the principal attractions to colonization, and a district whose exuberant products would be shortly disseminated throughout the markets of Europe, as well as of America.
The extension of the population of California which so speedily occurred, is greatly due to the truly fabulous success of the first washings; the miners naturally first planted themselves on the richest “placers,” they rather culled the produce, than exhausted it; they frequently discovered “pépites” weighing several ounces, if not pounds of gold; a clever workman made his fortune in a few days.
In June, 1848, Mr. Larkin, Consul of the United States at Monterey, valued the day’s work of a gold seeker at an average of 15 to 25 dollars ([74]133 to 267 francs). Colonel Mason, in his report of August, considered the produce of a day’s work of 4,000 European or Indian miners at[75]30,000 to 40,000 dollars, giving an average of about 10 dollars[76](53 francs) to each workman. Captain Folson writes about a month later, “I do not think that there can exist richer deposits in the world. I have myself ascertained that an active workman can collect from[77]25 to 40 dollars per day, valuing the gold at 16 dollars the ounce.” Mr. ButlerKing, whose report is of still later date, places the average day’s work per man at about 16 dollars, or one ounce of gold.
During the second period of working, when the miners flocked to the “placers,” and disputed every inch of the golden soil, the yield began to diminish in a very marked degree. A local mining journal, the “Placer Times,” of 26th October, 1850, giving aresuméof the proceedings of the season, including the encampment from the River de la Plume to the River Consumnes, covering an extent of about 100 miles, and occupied by 60,000 gold-seekers, estimated the mean result of a day’s work at from six dollars on the River de la Plume, to four dollars on the l’Yuba and Ours, and five dollars on the American Fork. The information collected by our consuls at the beginning of 1850, gives a result of one to two ounces per day in the Valley of the Sacramento, and from one to four in the newer regions of St. Joaquim. The diminishing produce, comparing one year with the other, was not without some compensation. If the miner gained less, he did not spend as much. The extravagant rise on all sorts of provisions, clothes, and tools, had been brought down to a more reasonable limit:—they no longer paid[78]one dollar for a pound of bread;[79]eighty dollars for an outer covering;[80]fifty dollars a-dayfor the use of a cart with two oxen, or[81]5000 dollars for a cask of brandy. An artizan could no longer command sixteen dollars for a day’s work. Europe, the United States, and other nations, shipped to California cargoes of provisions and of manufactured goods; competition soon lowered the prices. Roads were made from the “placers” to San Francisco; bridges were thrown over the rivers; they established stores of provisions and merchandize at every canteen. Towns sprung up like mushrooms, and in 1850 San Francisco numbered 50,000 inhabitants. The production of gold in California appears to have now arrived at its third period. The miners have acquired a certain experience, their modes of working are less primitive, and they are more settled. The want of order is diminishing, and the average produce is increasing. The accounts from San Francisco in April, 1852, mentioned “placers” in the valley of the Sacramento, where a day’s working yielded from[82]fifteen to twenty dollars, and others on the frontier of Oregon, where the average was from[83]five to ten. On the frontier of Sonora the washings of the auriferous clay yielded[84]seven to eight dollars a day with the roughest description of work; all agreed that eight hours hard work should produce everywhere from sixto[85]eight dollars, if the plain be rich; and as the miner could live on from[86]two to three dollars a day, he might reckon on a gain of from[87]400 to 500 dollars during the season. However, by the latest accounts, it would appear that the “placers” are beginning to be exhausted. 100,000 miners turning over continuously for three years the alluvial sands, (already successfully explored by the first comers in 1848 and 1849,) could hardly fail to extract everything of value. It remains now to explore the auriferous quartz veins which may extend to the centre of the Sierra Nevada. This new work, however, requires large capital, and extensive combinations. The success of such operations has hitherto been but moderate.
The auriferous richness of the quartz rocks in California appears sufficient to remunerate the speculator; and foreign capital is not deficient at St. Francisco. Whence is it, then, that the quartz mines have hitherto been but slightly attractive? It has arisen from the want of the requisite and essential conditions for the progress of such undertakings.
Property in “placers” or in mines is not yet sufficiently secure; it is neither yet placed fully under the safeguard of law, nor is it protected bypolice regulations. Anarchy still reigns in this new country;—not only have the miners to defend their persons and their acquisitions against the incursions from Indian tribes; not only are crimes and offences common (lynch law maintaining a permitted existence instead of laws and police); but every one appears to hold his property by right of first comer: a miner chooses the spot he likes best; a strong arm and a carbine, with a steady eye, are his title deeds. To seize upon a rich “placer” from a miner too weak to resist, is called in the slang of the district, to “jump a claim.” The President of the United States himself, stated in his last message, that “The mineral lands should remain free to every citizen;” and the Secretary of State has added, “that the right of occupancy should be submitted only to such laws as the miners themselves thought fit to make.”
The continuous flow of emigration, and the continuous working of the gold districts, appear to indicate, that in spite of many reverses and sufferings, the mass of emigrants consider the result as likely to be profitable. Without approaching to the fabulous accounts of the early adventurers, these results have certainly largely exceeded in magnificence those of any former period in history; let us endeavour to particularize some of them.
Mr. Butler King, in his report to the Secretary of State, in 1850, after a careful examination ofCalifornia, values the washings and gold working of the two years, 1848 and 1849, at[88]40,000,000 dollars. The basis of this calculation, the first officially presented, was a produce of 1000 dollars ([89]5350 francs) per miner, per annum.
According to Mr. Butler King, American emigration hardly began to flow towards California until September, 1849; up to that period, foreigners, principally from Mexico and Oregon, had reaped all the profit of the washings. TheSan Francisco Heraldestimated, that at the end of 1850, the gold produce of California, for the twenty-one months between 1 April, 1849, and 31 December, 1850, at the sum of 68,587,591 dollars (nearly[90]367,000,000 francs). According to the documents published in France by the Minister of Commerce, which appear to have been derived from local statistics, the produce was rather less than the above. From 1 April, 1849, to 31 March, 1851, in two years, it was raised to[91]329,000,000 francs.
Monsieur Emilie Chevalier, who has just returned from a government mission to Panama, in a report to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, considers the result as having been much larger. The gold brought as freight by steamers in 1850, he estimatesat[92]50,306,525 dollars. The author of the report adds, on the testimony of a person whom he considers as competent to give a sound opinion, that the sums carried by passengers are not less than three fourths of the amounts brought as merchandize; and thus he arrives at the extraordinary figures of 88,000,000 dollars (more than[93]470,000,000 francs) for a single year. At St. Francisco, where they are able to form probably a more correct estimate on a subject so difficult to trace accurately, they do not value the amount of gold carried by passengers at above one-fourth the amount taken in freight. Even on this supposition there will be a sum of 25,000,000 dollars, or above[94]133,000,000 francs to be deducted; but it appears to me very doubtful, if the produce of 1850 exceeded this figure of[95]329,000,000 francs, according to the French documents already referred to. We have more valuable documents of another kind to rely upon, in the quantities of gold coined at the United States’ Mint; the following are the official figures:—
All the gold sent to the Mint did not, however, come from California. A part consisted of specie sent from Europe, in exchange for American stocks or merchandize. The treasure found in 1848 in the Valley of the Sacramento, belonged, as it has been stated, principally to foreigners. Up to the month of March, 1850, the United States’ Mints had not received above 11,000,000 or[96]12,000,000 dollars of Californian gold. At the end of August in that year the amounts paid in did not exceed[97]24,500,000 dollars. A year later, the mints had received in gold from that source[98]80,000,000 dollars.
The United States have naturally sent the larger number of the emigrants to California. It is with the United States principally that the trade is carried on. It would appear, then, to be natural that the principal flow of gold from the Sierra Nevada should take that direction. Doubtless a portion of the gold found annually in California will remain there, and form the circulating medium. Considerable amounts also will have been spread throughout South America, and amongst the various commercial countries of Europe, either in payment of goods shipped, or as the free capital arising from the accumulations of labor. I shall not be exaggerating, however, in supposing, that seven-tenths of thegold annually produced is coined in the United States, and that one-tenth of the produce only is shipped directly to Europe. Thus, then, the United States having received from California[99]100,000,000 dollars up to the end of 1850, the total produce of the four years, including 1848, (during which year there did not appear to have been any coinage from Californian gold), ought to have been from[100]750,000,000 to[101]800,000,000 francs.
The gold exported from California in 1851 is estimated by the Custom House returns at[102]56,000,000 dollars. According to the calculations of theSt. Francisco Herald, for the first three months of 1852, the total produce amounted to[103]14,656,142 dollars; at this rate the produce of the year 1852 would not be less than[104]62,000,000 dollars. The export of April is estimated at St. Francisco, at[105]3,422,000 dollars, rather more than[106]18,000,000 francs. The produce of the “placers,” according to the latest reports, although still abundant, is decreasing; nevertheless, if Australia does not attract the most experienced and the most greedy of the work-people, the mines of California appear likelyto yield this year not less than about[107]300,000,000 of our money; that is six times the amount of the production of gold at the beginning of the century, throughout the civilized world. It is twice the amount of the production of gold in 1847. It is hardly needful to exaggerate these figures, as many writers on both sides of the Atlantic have already done, in order to prove that a change is occurring in our monetary values, and that thestatus quowhich has lasted for above half a century, is not necessarily to continue for ever.
Of the three great gold-producing countries of modern times, New South Wales is the one now most attracting public attention. This country enjoys several advantages over the others.
The climate is mild and healthy, the land is neither occupied by savage tribes nor infested with wild beasts. In a country where drought is the principal obstacle to successful cultivation, the gold regions, situated on the slopes of the highest mountains and near the sources of the principal streams, are naturally the best watered. They appear to extendfrom north-east to south-west, following the direction of the Murray, the largest river in Australia, and over an extent of 1,400 miles,[108](2,452 kilomêtres) by 400 miles (643 kilomêtres). This surface is larger, by four times, the extent of California, and five times larger than Great Britain.
The effects of the Californian gold have been principally felt at a distance from the producing country. The valleys of San Joaquim and the Sacramento were, before the extraordinary discoveries of 1847, but a desert, with but an occasional “oasis” of cultivation; California had neither population, agriculture, commerce, or industry. The “rancheros,” half farmers, half hunters, raised cattle for no other purpose than for the value of their hides; the discovery of gold could hardly disturb any existing trade. The production itself was then the cause or the motive power, creating a new state of society, a new order of things.
In Australia, on the contrary, and long before the consequences of the discoveries could be appreciated in Europe, the working of the mines was of itself a revolution. The first washings occurred in May, 1851; at that time the English colonists in that part of the world were in a flourishing position. The population of European origin did not exceed 400,000 in the whole Australian group of islands.New South Wales, in which division Victoria was included, recently elevated into a separate colony, numbered more than two-thirds of this total, and formed the chief seat of its industry and wealth. The inhabitants, principally the descendants of convicts of the last century, obtained, in 1850, a representative form of government, and now make their own laws. They have upwards of fifty-one newspapers, and they have also public schools and banks. Their principal harbours are on a large scale, and the inter-communication by steam-boats and roads excellent. Their principal cities are Sydney, with its 50,000; and Melbourne, with its 35,000 inhabitants, which are lighted with gas, and have an organized police, as in London.
The luxury of living and of dress defies comparison, and affords large profits to tradesmen; they have already begun to make two railroads. Australia has its commercial fleet, which entered into competition for the supply of flour to California in 1850. The trade with England is of twice the magnitude to that which existed between England and her American colonies at the time of their separation. The colonial revenue, exclusive of the sale of the Crown lands, which forms the foundation of the emigration fund, nearly amounts to £1,000,000 sterling, per annum.
Australia produces wheat, Indian corn, and barley, in abundance; they have planted vines, from whichthey are making good wine; tobacco is successfully and extensively cultivated; but the principal source of wealth is derived from the growth of wool, for the production of which the lands watered by the tributaries of the Murray are as well adapted as the valley of the Mississippi is for the production of cotton. Australia takes a prominent position with respect to civilization, in the midst of the pastoral employment of her population. It is a vast arcadia, the poetical side being cast into shade by the industrial occupation of its inhabitants, and perhaps somewhat damaged by a very natural corruption of morals. It has been called a mine of wool and tallow; 20,000,000 of sheep are said to be pastured on its plains. In England the use of Australian wool has almost entirely superseded that of Germany and Spain, and the Yorkshire manufacturers cannot now dispense with it. In 1850 Australia exported 137,000 bales, and in 1851, 130,000; 130,000 bales are worth about[109]65,000,000 francs. The mother country receives, then, from Australia about £3,000,000 sterling of raw material in exchange for £3,000,000 of English manufactures; the result is most profitable for capital and labor; it is to this beneficial and flourishing trade that the sudden appearance of gold has threatened a most unexpected and alarming interruption.
Sir Roderick Murchison, whose opinions are considered as of high authority, commenting on the writings of Count Strelecki on the geology of New South Wales, announced, in the year 1845, that gold would be found in the sides of those great chains of hills, which may be called their Alps or their Pyrennees. At different times, fragments of the precious metal had been brought either to Sydney, or to Melbourne, without having excited the belief in the minds of the public that they were really the product of their own soil. In the month of March, 1851, a person, less incredulous than his neighbours, a Mr. Hargraves, struck with the similarity of the geological features of the country to California, whence he had lately arrived, made up his mind that gold must be to be found in New South Wales, and set himself resolutely to work to hunt for it at the foot of the mountains, and in the beds of the adjacent rivers. Having found some small portions, he followed the pursuit until he had satisfied himself of the existence of gold in a great number of places. He then went to Bathurst, an advanced post in the country, called a public meeting, openly announced his discovery; and in order to give practical proof, took many of his hearers to the seat of his own exploits, in a little valley at the foot of Mount Sumner, where he employed nine miners to dig actively, and to wash the earth. Four ounces of the purest gold were brought to light, as theproduce of three days’ labor; each man had gained £2 4s. 4d. (61 francs) per diem; but this was not considered by Mr. Hargraves as above the half of the probable gain to be obtained by an experienced workman, and with proper implements.
This happened on the 8th May, 1851. The result of the experiment was immediately blazoned forth: three persons started for the washings, and returned in a few days with several pounds of gold. At the same time a geologist, ordered by the local government to attest the statements of Mr. Hargraves, at once stamped an official authority on the actual existence of gold mines. This news created an immense sensation, not only in Bathurst, but beyond, and in the capital of the colony. On the 19th May, there were 600 miners at the “placers;” an enormous immigration to a district where the population was but thinly scattered over an almost indefinite extent of land. On the 24th, some of the people wrote to their friends, that they were collecting from £3 to £4 per day. One party of four miners had in one day, obtained thirty ounces of gold, and had found a “nugget” weighing one pound. In three weeks time, one workman alone amassed £1,600 sterling.
We would remark, in running hastily over the account of these early experiments, that from the first, the inhabitants of Australia foresaw the serious consequences of the revolution about to occur. Thecolonial journals were filled with lamentations and direful forebodings, and cursed, both in prose and in verse, the mania for gold. The solitude of the towns, at the expense of which the deserts were peopled, the abandonment of labour, the disruption of all social ties, flocks left without shepherds, and crops destroyed for lack of harvestmen: in short, every kind of misfortune from which the colonies are now suffering, were seen in perspective. The greediest seekers for gold might well take alarm; the epidemic, however, stopped not, and soon spread in all directions. The Government took the lead, by largely rewarding Mr. Hargraves, and appointing him the “explorer of the mineral districts.” A proclamation immediately appeared, claiming the precious discoveries as Crown property, and announcing a rate of license for working gold mines at 30s. per miner per month. A wild spirit of speculation soon sprang up in every direction. The municipal authorities everywhere followed the example of the Government. From the Bay of Newton to the Gulph of St. Vincent, over an extent of 2,000 miles of shore, there was no town or village without its sought-for neighbouring “placers.” In many districts, associations were immediately formed, offering premiums for the earliest discovery of gold.
The locality of the first operations was situated at the junction of two little valleys, whose water-coursesfell into the River Macquarie, a tributary of the Murray, and which soon received the scriptural name of Ophir. The early successful workings in these “placers” were soon cast into shade by the more brilliant result of the works on the Turon, and its tributaries; here gold was found not only in scales, but in pépites or nuggets. Whilst the Ophir digger was making his 15s. or 20s. on an average day’s work, the people at Turon were counting their gains by ounces. The more primitive process of washing had given way to the more philosophical system by amalgamation. The operation was sufficiently remunerative to repay a simple mechanic at the rate of 20s. a day in addition to his keep; but the miners no sooner obtained money enough to buy a license, and some implements, but they set to work in a more business-like manner. They formed themselves into parties of three or six, the day’s work of each party sometimes producing several ounces of gold. The weight of the pépites varied from one-fifth of an ounce to many ounces.
Towards the middle of July, Doctor Ker found in the valley of Meroo, a few miles from Wellington, a lump of quartz weighing 3 cwt., containing more than 100 pounds of gold. Later, again, they found three “nuggets,” each weighing from 26 to 28 pounds. In the month of August, the export to England commenced; the first remittances of gold dust amounted to £50,000 sterling. The washingsat the Turon and Mount Ophir were then producing £10,000 to £12,000 sterling per week.
The treasure of Doctor Ker, exhibited first at Bathurst and then at Sydney, soon drove everybody wild. The very newspapers which had first maligned the discovery, now sounded the trumpet in praise of this wonderful piece of good fortune. “The news,” says theMorning Heraldof Sydney,“will astonish Australia, will astonish England, Ireland, and Scotland, will astonish California, and will astonish the whole world. On the arrival of the packet in England, when every newspaper throughout the United Kingdom shall have repeated the news of the discovery as the wonder of our age, the sensation will be profound, and will exceed anything hitherto talked of, or thought of; from the queen on the throne to the peasant in the fields, there will be but one united exclamation of surprise and astonishment; from the palace to the cottage, from the drawing-room to the stable, from the schoolboy to the philosopher and the statesman, there will be one universal talk of this mass of gold, and of the country whence it came; from all the ports in Great Britain and Ireland, ships will be freighted with passengers and goods—population and wealth will rush to Australia like a torrent. Port Jackson will be the best filled and the most flourishing harbour in the world, and Sydney will take its rank amongst the most opulent cities. New South Wales will be looked upon in England as the queen of her colonies.”
Waiting the impression to be produced in the mother country by the news of the “golden land,” to use again the expression of theMorning Herald, the population of Sydney flocked to the diggings; the numbers who left were about 400 a day. Sailors deserted their ships in the harbours. Government, on account of the dearness of provisions, doubled the salaries of their officials. In every direction there was a general hunt in quest of new “placers;” and the districts South and West of Sydney were explored by miners to the extent of 200 miles. Auriferous deposits were discovered in the counties of St. Vincent, Argyle, Dampier, Wallace, and Wellesley, as well as in the basins of Murrumbedgee Shoalhaven, the River Hume, the River Peel, and the Snow River. At the extreme north of New South Wales, in the district of Moreton Bay, the diggings are in full work at the several branches of the River Condamine. Nearer to the capital, in New England, gold has been found in abundance in the basin of the River Macdonald. 200 miles south of Sydney, at Braidwood, one miner realized £30 sterling in five weeks; another £42 sterling in fifteen days; and a party of three £200 sterling in one week. Nothing was more common than a produce of two ounces per man per day; and not unfrequently it reached as much as one pound. Womenalso set to work. One widow and her two daughters are said to have collected an average of two ounces a-day.
The district of Turon did not lose its repute. Such was the attraction for gold hunting, that a labourer at Meroo would not undertake to work for hire at a lower rate than £3 a-week, in addition to his food. Up to October, 1851, the Government had given out 8,637 licenses; 10,000 miners were at work in the province of Sydney, and £215,866 sterling, (about 5,500,000 francs) had already been shipped to England.
In December, the yield of the “placers” averaged £40,000 sterling per week, a sum equivalent, after deducting the stoppages during extreme drought and rain, to £2,000,000 sterling per annum.
These results, however brilliant they appeared, were soon eclipsed by the accounts from the province of Victoria. Gold was first discovered at Ballarat, where it was found at some considerable depth from the surface; then at Mount Alexander, where it was dug up merely by the pickaxe, almost on the ground; at Caliban, fifteen miles further, at Albany, on the Murray, and on the east coast at Gipp’s Land.
It is asserted that the chain of hills which separates the province of Victoria from Sydney, and which are known by the name of the Snowy Mountains, is one vast mine of gold. Everyday announces some new discovery, and that of yesterday is almost always surpassed by that of to-day. The mines of Mount Alexander are in extent about ten miles, and the earth is said to be full of gold; they find the precious metal in a gravelly clay, and in the interstices of a slatey formation. It is sufficient to dig six inches of soil; and already, in the month of December, 1851, there were 15,000 miners at work, and the deposits appeared inexhaustible.
Here occurred the most extraordinary events. Amongst ordinary cases, seven workmen were cited, who amassed 500 ounces of gold in three weeks, which at £3 sterling per ounce, the then current value of gold in the colony, was about[110]260 francs per day each; at another time, two miners, in the same space of time, collected 400 ounces, or[111]735 francs per day each. One carman, who had never even removed the earth, made up a bag of £1,500 sterling in five weeks. A convict, but just freed, made £150 sterling in sixteen days. A workman, who had never exercised any trade but that of shoeing horses, was somewhat less fortunate, but brought home £100 sterling, clear, after paying all expenses, and working five weeks. A boy of fourteen, in less time, collected £400 sterling; andanother of the same age, £120 sterling; but the ambition of the workmen knew no bounds; there was scarcely a man who set to work digging a hole who did not expect to come home at night with £40 or £50. These expectations were kept up by some most wonderful instances of fortune, the recital of which, repeated from group to group, amongst the diggers, soon became matters of history. One spot of a few feet square produced[112]45,000 fr.; four sailors, after six weeks’ work, loaded their cart with a case containing two hundred pounds of gold, about[113]260,000 francs; four other workmen, after two months’ labour, divided[114]1,000,000 francs. One workman was spoken of who gathered twenty-five pounds in two or three weeks, and another was known to have amassed eleven pounds in forty-eight hours; another, in less than one hour, made up a package weighing thirty pounds, worth at least[115]38,000 francs. It was said that the miners would no longer pick up gold-dust, it was not worth while; anything smaller than a pin’s head was thrown aside as too insignificant for notice. There must have been fine gleanings from these fastidious reapers.
In the “placers” of Mount Ophir, and of the Turon, where the profits and the workings were ona more moderate scale, there was less difficulty in preserving order and good behaviour. Captain Erskine, of the Royal Navy, who was there about the end of July, 1851, reports most favourably in this respect. The miners received him with the most perfect civility; order and good feeling was the general rule. Captain Erskine only saw one man drunk on the placers. The sale of spirituous liquors was forbidden, and the Sundays religiously observed. There even appeared some traces of regular industry. The neighbouring “placers” of Port Philip presented a perfectly different scene. There, mining appeared to be considered as a complete lottery. The coolest heads soon grew as wild as the steadiest—passions and extravagance broke loose in all directions. The consumption of wine, beer, and spirituous liquors was enormous; gambling tables, quarrels, and prize fighting, desecrated the Sundays. One man was quoted who placed a £5 note between two pieces of bread and butter, and ate it as a sandwich. Another rolled up two £5 Bank notes, and swallowed them as a pill. A third went into a pastry cook’s shop to eat a cake, threw down a Bank note, and refused to take up the change. The miners appeared to have no idea of the value of money; they bore their losses with the most perfect philosophy. One man, who had had a draft of[116]3760 francs stolen from him, and onenquiring at the bank, finding it had been already cashed, exclaimed, “Bah! there is no want of money now.”
A “placer” in the colony of Victoria presented the appearance of an immense encampment, with thousands of tents of all sizes, colours, and shapes; the bivouac during the night was illuminated with fires in all directions, and noisy with the discharge of guns and pistols; every miner was armed to the teeth, and could only trust to himself for the protection of his booty and his life; every one kept himself on thequi vive, and took even the precaution of daily discharging and reloading his firearms every evening at sunset. Government offered a weekly transport to Melbourne at a charge of 1 per cent.; but as, notwithstanding so exorbitant a charge, this transport was without any guarantee against robbery, the miners formed themselves into parties, when tired with making their fortunes, and escorted their own treasures. The bandits from Van Dieman’s Land came down like birds of prey, and fell upon the miners, and in such numbers and with such fury, that when a murder was committed the local police were not unfrequently afraid to go amongst them to seize the murderer. The authorities of Melbourne were unable to give effectual aid under such circumstances; for their own city police, with the exception of six, had all gone off to the diggings. A cry of despair and indignation wasuniversally raised. “The imbecility of our Government,” says theArgus, “has compelled us to take the police into our own hands, and to make lynch law the rule of action.” TheMorning Heraldsays, “The Government must act with energy, and without loss of time, or we shall become a second California, with mutiny and lynch law established, and crime in its naked deformity.” The Governor, Sir G. Fitzroy, responded to this appeal by sending home for more troops, and by recruiting his police by discharged soldiers. Will it be sufficient for the preservation of this community, scarcely yet formed, from the threatened danger of disorganization, to send a vessel of war to the station of Port Jackson, and to Port Philip, and to reinforce the garrisons of Australia, as Sir John Packington proposes, with some 400 or 500 soldiers?
Fortunately, such a state of disorder is not likely to become chronic; when public authority, which ought to suppress it, is declared incompetent, society, alarmed for its own existence, steps in and at all hazard gets rid of turbulent characters. What is to be as much feared, especially in a community of such recent formation, is the attraction to a spirit of gambling, from fortunes thus suddenly acquired. Men, fascinated by such a magnet, abandon all productive and useful employment. Neither their ordinary vocations or their known duties will retain them in their ordinary habits; no rates of pay canfollow the progressive chances of the miner with his pickaxe; the trade of gold-seeking supplants every other occupation; a whole people are bowed down to the earth, and absorbed in a work which brutalizes them, and they abandon to others all the cares of and attention to the cultivation of the soil.
From the beginning of November last, the towns of Melbourne and Geelong were forsaken. Out of this numerous population the women alone remained stationary. The proximity of the “placers” at two or three days’ journey rendered the access easy. It was not necessary, as at Sydney, to equip for a long journey, or to lay in a stock of provisions and money. Men deserted, in crowds, flocks, farms, ships, workshops, counting-houses, and shops; no wages would induce them to remain. They flocked in from Sydney, Van Dieman’s Land, South Australia, and even from California. Vessels arriving could not discharge their cargoes for want of hands; goods perished on the quays, where they had been piled up. In many districts of the colony business and cultivation were suspended; hands were wanted everywhere. When shearers were to be met with, they asked the enormous price of 3s. 6d. for twenty fleeces. A month later, and Adelaide, the capital of Australia, realized the picture of the “Deserted Village.” Traders, artizans, proprietors, and capitalists, all were either ruined or had emigrated to Port Philip, to escape frominevitable ruin. The shares in the celebrated Burra Burra Copper Mine, which had been sold for above £200, found no buyers at £60, and their 700 workmen had disappeared; prices of all goods and wages rose in a frightful degree.
We read, in a letter from Melbourne, of the 17th January, 1852:—“In the Banks and at the Post Offices, the clerks work double tides; other public services are at a stand for want of hands. There are no male servants to be found, even at exorbitant wages, and women will not remain, unless at considerable increase of pay. I requested first the waiter, and then the maid, at the hotel where I was stopping, to send a small parcel of linen to be washed. They told me that they could find no one who would wash. I was obliged to go to a shop and buy some new things. If you want a pair of boots, you must pay £2 10s. (63 francs). A pair of shoes cost 20s. (25 francs).”
Another letter, of the 1st January, adds again to the picture:—“In my opinion, this town is threatened with complete ruin. Last night, two men arrived, announcing a discovery of gold deposits in the district of Gipp’s Land; they had brought £10,000 sterling in gold, and said there was enough there for all the world. What shall we do for want of labor? Suppose that 100,000 immigrants were to arrive here next year, would one of them remain in the towns or at the farms, earning a few shillingsper week, when they can go to the diggings and gather £50 in one day? At this very moment I cannot find one man in Melbourne who can mend a pair of boots at any price. I get bread from Collingwood, as a great favor, and the baker will not engage to supply me regularly. I pay 5s. for two buckets of water, and 30s. for as much wood as a horse can carry. One can hardly find a man with a handbarrow to carry a portmanteau, even at any price he chooses to ask. The servants of the Judge have all left him, and he cannot use his carriage; his sons clean the knives and shoes, and drag their invalid father to the court in a wheel chair.”
An inhabitant of Melbourne, himself reduced to the necessity of looking after his horse, whilst his wife attended to cooking the dinner, writes:—“One of the members of our club, a large sheep-owner, and who cannot obtain shearers, is gone to the diggings to try and hire some men. He asked them what wages he should pay them, they replied that they must have all the wool; and, as he was leaving them, they called him back to say. ‘We are in want of a cook; we will give you £1 a day if you like to take the place yourself.’”
At the “placers,” a mechanic is worth at least £1 a day. The people who return to the towns with their little fortunes will no longer work, and consider that they have a right to live on in idleness.All provisions are dear. At Mount Alexander, flour was sold at 5d. a pound (which is equal to[117]60 centimes the demi-kilo.); oats at 18s. the bushel, or[118]64 francs the[119]hectolitre. In August last, wheat was not higher than 3d. a pound, and oats 4s. the bushel, in the Sydney market, a higher price than in any famine year in the European markets.
Two causes have been acting simultaneously in creating this great rise in the price of all the necessaries of life, in those countries where the gold finders have become suddenly enriched by the discoveries of these “placers.” In the first place, population increasing more rapidly than the supply of food, has necessarily caused a rise in price, and this consequent increase in price, is out of all proportion to the deficiency of supply. Who does not know that a deficiency of one-sixth, or even of one-tenth of the crop of grain, frequently doubles, or even trebles, the price during the famine. Such was the case in France and England in 1846; and without facilities of communication, and the cheapness of carriage, the result, even at that period, would have been much more calamitous. Can we be astonished, then, that in a country where civilization is but just established, where roads, canals,and railroads are wanting, the evils must be felt in a greatly increased degree?
Another cause is the very abundance of the precious metals. Gold, when amassed by handfuls, instead of being collected in very small quantities, and with great labour, must necessarily lose a large part of its value. The diminution of the price of gold and silver is, generally, only shewn by the increase in the price of every other article. The nominal value of the monetary sign remains the same, but its power diminishes in proportion to its increase in quantity, unless some counteracting cause, such as an excessive supply of provisions, &c., should step in and re-establish the equilibrium.
Up to the present time, every progress in mining in Australia is retarding the proper care and attention to the breeding of cattle. Van Dieman’s Land, which produced food for other districts of Australia, is likely, it is said, to require an import of food for her own people. It was true that the crops at the end of 1851, presented every appearance of a magnificent harvest, but how could a harvest be gotinon an island inadequately supplied with labour, and where the people are deserting daily for other places?
The position is certainly critical; with any other people than those of Anglo-Saxon race, it might be desperate: a few months more delay, and thewool shearing will be lost; for the flocks, no longer watched, will have strayed away, and possibly will have perished. It was the work of a quarter of a century to have accumulated the capital employed in Agriculture in Australia; without an immense immigration, not of gold seekers, but of shepherds, and persons accustomed to a pastoral life, before the end of 1852 all this capital will be inevitably destroyed. England has awakened rather late to the danger, but she has now to work in good earnest to apply the remedy. The Governor of Australia witnessed the daily arrivals of emigrants with alarm, so long as they added only to the crowds of miners, and who by their competition still further increased the price of provisions; he even pressed the Colonial Secretary to try and turn the stream of emigration to other colonies. But independent of Government emigration, voluntary associations for the same object have not been inactive. Liverpool alone has been shipping at the rate of 2,000 a month for Sydney or Melbourne. Ships are wanting in all the ports of Great Britain and Ireland, for the transport of emigrants. Shipbuilding yards are all in the greatest state of active employment.
Nor has this want of an agricultural population in Australia been overlooked. The islands to the north and west and the Highlands of Scotland, contain a population far too numerous for their means of adequate support, so that in spite of hard and constantwork, there is frequent mortality from famine in this poor and barren country. Twenty or thirty thousand of these labourers, engaged for agricultural occupations in Van Dieman’s Land, and for sheep tending in New South Wales, would cease to be a burthen on English charity, and would avert the ruin of Australia. Subscription lists are opened in England for this object, and the colony itself is in a position to lend its aid, as Sir John Packington informed Sir G. Fitzroy that the government would place at the disposal of the local legislature the revenues which might accrue from the workings of these gold regions. At this time the port of London contains a fleet of vessels ready to sail for Australia, capable of conveying 23,000 persons and 30,000 tons of merchandize. It is clear, that by abandoning all the rights of the Crown to the treasures of the “placers,” the British Government has saved Australia. By this arrangement, the Colonial revenues have been almost doubled; 30s. a month levied on 60,000 miners, working eight months in the year, would produce[120]18,000,000 francs. A tax of 60s. which was attempted to be established, but which the miners resisted, might have produced[121]36,000,000 francs. In default of English labourers, the expenses of whose voyage must necessarily be great, and whose willingness towork could not be depended on, there would be funds enough to import a whole population of Indians or Chinese.
The production of these gold regions in Australia does not appear to have exceeded £1,500,000 sterling in 1851, from all the “placers” then worked; but we know that the working in the province of Sydney did not begin until the middle of May; and in Victoria, not until the end of September. In January, 1852, they reckoned 10,000 miners in the Sydney gold districts, the produce of which oscillated between 12,000 and 15,000 ounces per week. For eight month’s work this would give about[122]31,000,000 francs at the Colonial price, and[123]35,000,000 at the English price of gold; but the population will certainly have increased in 1852, and it will be a moderate calculation to estimate the produce of this province at[124]40,000,000 to 50,000,000 francs during this year.
In the province of Victoria, 30,000 miners were at work at the “placers,” at the end of December; and the number was daily increasing. They probably would have received, by the spring of this year, a reinforcement of 10,000. Mineral working is a lottery, in which very few gain the great prizes. Aletter from Sydney, dated 4th February, thus sums up the result of the work, and of its uncertainty and irregularity. “They calculate, that out of every ten speculators who hire workmen for the gold-washings, only one repays his expenses, and of those who work on their own account, the proportion who are successful is about one in five.” It is not to be expected, then, that the quantity of gold collected by so many miners should equal the brilliant, the extraordinary, profits made by many of the first adventurers. It is a liberal calculation to suppose that the 40,000 miners of the province of Victoria might obtain on an average 10s. or 12s. each for their daily work. At 200 days’ work this could give about[125]3,000 francs each, or about 120,000,000 francs per annum. Thus, these two provinces would yield a produce in 1852, of[126]40,000,000 for Sydney, and[127]120,000,000 for Victoria, together about[128]160,000,000 francs.
In following the scale of progress of California, these results might be doubled the third year: but it should be remarked, that up to March last, notwithstanding the immense increase of the workings carried on for nearly a year in Sydney, and for six months in Australia-Felix, the colony had notshipped, of all the gold it had collected, above £819,000 sterling (20,537,000 francs) to England.
Uniting the products of the three great gold regions, we find that Siberia, California, and Australia, are expected to supply in 1852, about[129]600,000,000 francs: a mass of gold equal to about 175 tons in weight. It should be borne in mind, that China and Japan have also their mines of gold and silver in full work; the produce of which does not appear, however, to leave those countries. The Chain of the Himalaya possibly contains mineral wealth equal to that of the Cordilleras, the dorsal division of South America, from Chili to Oregon. It is also said, that the inhabitants of Thibet have begun to work their golden alluvial deposits. All the mines in the world, therefore, are not yet fully worked; and there will, probably, be an ample supply for some generations to come. The gold supplied by America, independently of California, can hardly be estimated at above[130]8,000 kilogrammes per annum. Hungary is the only country in Europe, excepting Russia, which is producing about[131]2,000 kilogrammes of gold. The quantity from Africa is very small; and[132]3,000 or 4,000 kilogrammes is the whole of the known produce of the washings in the Straits of Sunda, and in the peninsula of Malacca.From all which sources united, an approximative value may be fixed at from[133]40,000,000 to 50,000,000 francs. To sum up the whole, then, it would appear that the gold production of 1852 may be estimated at—
It has been already stated, that California produced[134]750,000,000 francs during the four years 1848 to 1851. Russia, during the same period, at the rate of[135]100,000,000 fr., will have produced[136]400,000,000, and the other gold districts[137]200,000,000. Thus, in the five years ending with 1852, the total production including Australia, will probably amount to nearly[138]two milliards of francs: a result unexampled in history; gold has never previously flowed from such numerous channels, and from such abundant sources.