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Show IMMENSE GOLD FIELDS, j A Califurnian's Discovery in j i Africa. A GOOD COUHTRY FOR AMERICAN M1HEFS : All Freight is Transported by Bullock ' j Trams. j K. C. I'iii.t.-wi. a young California:!, j ! who rc-nth rt-tiu n- tl I nmi :i three yearn fi-ri-ii.L- in lie iiuiti Alricuri gold ! field, givn .in iiiU-r.-t.ung wil'ouiiI ot that part of llit- worM. Mr. PoLfui wwt wining in MiutltiTU California, when bU attention directed to some discoveries discover-ies in South Africa, ami lit was on of thu thst to explore tho new timid. Keach-ing Keach-ing there he found himself in a strange land mid among, to him, strange people. Jolianueslerg, the chief town of the new mining district, La uituated in the Transvaal Trans-vaal and iinvv contains a population of lo.ouu, although only in the third year ot its : xi.itci ice. The population comprises com-prises Dutch und English, with large numbers of Kallirs, who are the laborers aud minemof the country. The mines are around the city, easily accessible, : aud are worked generally by bhafts sunk ou the "reefs." as the ledges are there called. The gold is found in a pure state, : without any combination, and is easily . worked in proper stamp mills. j The claims allowed to be taken up are j ITjOx-IUO feet, and there seems to be uo ! limit to the number of "farms" which each one m.iv claim. Upon a very elab-1 orate map of the district hi Mr. Poissou's 1 potiHussion there are thousands of detiig- j . nated claims, and tho country is appar- j 1 ently taken up for miles in every direc- j tiun. In this respect tho South Africans! seem not a whit behind the American prospector and miner. But the nuinesj givi-u to the claims are jawbreakers to : . new comers of American extraction, though no doubt they sound luusical and , harmonious enough to South African j I ears. Take such as these, selected al - haphazard from a thousand others: Wit-! Wit-! watersrand, Lobengula, Klerksdorp, Wit-! Wit-! poorje, Portschefstrootn, or Zontpaus-i Zontpaus-i berg. These are easily pronounceable j compared with others, comprehensible only to tho native Dutch, j There aro now in operation in the dis-I dis-I trict stamp mills aggregating ono thou-j thou-j sand stamps, and before the year is out i these will be increased 50 per cunt The llrst stamp mills erected were primitive and hardly equal to the crushing of the hard ore. Within twelvemonths, however, how-ever, an American machinery firm, whose headquarters are in Ciiicago, sent out agents to such good purpose that nearly all the mills now in courBe of j construction, nnd many recently con-t con-t structcd, are all of the latest improved California pattern. Americans aro quite : scarce in the Transvaal, and experienced 1 mine managers can command high tal- aries: so with competent miners, who i must sooner or later Ik substituted for j the Karlirs who are now relied upon to do the work. Their labor is unsatisfac-I unsatisfac-I lory, and in the end expensive. Mine : pilomotors are very numerous, and Johannesberg's finest edilice is the Stock Exchange, where shares are dealt in, combinations made, and trusts will soon Ik organized. There are good mines and bad mines listed, and tho wildcat is just as prolilic in South Africa as in Nevada Ne-vada or Colorado. Everybody in and around Juhanuesberg seeuis busy, and there is plenty of money in circulation. It reminds Mr. Poisson of the early days of California und Nevada, with the Kaflir element as n strange background. Johannesberg draws js .s.uiillli'ia-Jit T goa Bay railway, of which so much has been heard of late, threatens seriously to I rival the English colony. From Cape Town the hunter of gold has an easy time traveling to Kiuibeiiey, where are j located the celebrated diamond fields, j for It is all rail 050 miles. From Kim-I Kim-I berley to Johannesberg is 298 miles, whicli must be traveled by stage, in a bullock cart, or on horseback. So extensive ex-tensive is thu travel that Goats in the coaches are secured weeks ahead. From Delagoa Bay the distance is much j shorter, and it is a question which rail-I rail-I road will be completed first. From j London to Capo Town is o,950 miles, and the entire distance from London to the gold fields Is completed within thirty-j thirty-j two days. Nearly al! tho freight transportation trans-portation is by bullock teams, necessarily necessa-rily slow, but not expensive. The mines are at a high elevation, but the climate is temperate, and there Is very little sickness, except what results from undue exposure. There is scarcely any snow iu winter. New York Sun. |
