Show golden joh johannesburg ann esburg 14 w 1 11 1 W 4 W X pyramids of dross at johannesburg prepared by the national 0 ogro allo society wa hington D 0 N wal v NU s service vice HE golden jubilee of johannesburg trica THE union of south africa is marked by the opening of the empire exhibition of south africa two million visitors are expected as iii a minimum during the four months duration of this the he first exhibition outside the british isles purporting to reflect activities of the entire british empire which embraces about one fourth of the entire earths land area area the jubilee for johannesburg is golden in more ways than one in claiming a place among the worlds most prosperous this city needs only to mention that it is the center for the ten billion dollar gold industry of the discovered in 1886 thus johannesburg is the city that gold built just fifty years ago george walker out for a stroll accidentally stubbed his toe and kicked into a gold bearing outcrop of what proved to be the main reef of the here shaped like a vast bowl im bedded face upward was a 70 mile stretch of gold impregnated rock now familiarly known as the rand and surely one of the richest gold fields in the world immediately upon that treeless uninhabited no mans land there appeared a tawdry mining village of tents and covered dagons va gons telegraph wires hummed and the village became a raw tin shack town of people the prevailing crude process of mining and treatment of ore lost half the gold worked yet who cared since the reef seemed inexhaustible supplies were teamed from miles away yet who minded fancy prices and as asto to the water shortage all right lets bring in cham chain bagnel thus began the babyhood of johannesburg han which is today to day though a mere youth of fifty years a giant in achievement the largest african town south of cairo and chief commercial plexus of the south african unions hinterland coburg Jo burg has a municipal area of nearly 82 square miles and some people or about half the population of thereof the reef upon which rises this city built on gold now a cosmopolitan city A town of such spectacular beginnings needs time to settle down to lifes quieter realities today 50 years young and quite used to having an annual worth of gold dug up so to speak in its back yard the city odthe of the reef presents the aspects of a well rounded cosmopolitanism one might expect such fine public buildings as the town hall the law courts and the stock exchange few visitors howver would anticipate the planned beauty of some of Johannes burgs suburbs or the spaciousness of its parks and recreation fields orits or its support of art medical research and of so impressive an academic seat as the university it is reported that growth even within the past few years has accelerated cele rated to keep time with the amazing boom in the value of gold tall tali I 1 buildings are taller and more frequent on the skyline of this south so uth african metro metropolis P and still going UPI As for the cites play hour aspects one might mention innumerable clubs race meets sporting events motorcars like peasant peas pe asAna in a pod and as I 1 for r motorcycles watch your step in off hours the pity city built on an gold forgets ian world im in terest in such relaxations i as a quiet game of bowls on awards swards swa ads as smooth a golf greens for Johannes burgers are one with drake in their love of bowling greens and the deiy very sami same game which tradition says says the great elizabethan was playing with the captains of his fleet when couriers brought news of af the sighting of the armada i alanes of th the elfland band strangely impressive as one approaches pro aches johannesburg 1 are these miles upon miles of mine dumps surrounding the gold fields and sti stretching etching across thelast the vast plain like avenues of mammoth monuments indeed south africa also has its pyra pyramids pyramids pyramid of material into millions waste running of tons affine of fine white sands sands left from the gold extracting processes thir their sloping loping sand hued massifs massios suggest military fortifications on a scale the world has never known the mines present a unique sight above ground is a confusing mass of vats trolleys bins trestles supporting pipes and machinery dumps head gears topped by cables and whirling wheels and various structures of wood and iron workmen who are under gound commuters descend by skip lift into the interior at the speed of an express elevator for well over a mile into the depths of the earth Johannes burgers dig holes as grandiosely as americans rear skyscrapers more grandiosely the shafts of the deepest mine on the rand at present descend over feet approximately a mue mile and a half plans are under way for mining to the depth of feet nearly two miles A trip below the surface reveals to you a subterranean electric lit town with avenues and cross streets where thousands of men are drilling and loading the gold bearing conglomerate it gives yov you the impression of cleanliness neatness and alad thanks to the giant elevators of a not too uncomfortable warmth you stay long enough to watch a surface hoist start off with a load weighing over nine tons which it will lift up that mile or more of shaft to the crushing and reduction plant in about two minutes then you too may ascend once more to what mea measuring shafts by skyscrapers the elevator operator might conceivably ceiva bly announce as two hundredth floor last stop what you have glimpsed is but a tiny corner of what is in effect a vast bast underground e city whose axis measures 70 miles whose workers number over and whose shafts avenues and streets exceed miles or approximately the length of the african continent sports of the natives how to handle that grand total of men 90 per cent of them bantu bant who either above ground or under it work on the rand recreation whether golf tennis tenni S bowls swimming or native dances is universal with inter mine sport as a corollary As to health and safety each man regularly undergoes medical examination first aid is taught to man many thousands while that cheery organ the reef advises you on everything from keeping fit to giving accident prevention tips to american visitors in what is thought to be As to native recreation the boys weekly war dance rivals a circus a rodeo and a football ma match combined here is a native compound dis gorging its thousands of black Shanga ans who are welcoming cc ming other thousands of black the former tribes invited guests A pell mell pageant of sav age magnificence encel 1 all are superb in leopard skins beads head plumes oxtail knee adornments iron and diamonds too how explain the reef how was this treasure house houe built in order to comprehend we must imagine successive geologic cataclysms molten rock being ejected from the interior of the earth long vanished seas rushing in to lay sediments thereon then the seas retirement and in its place some great prehistoric hist 0 rie river sweeping through auriferous ri regions to deposit its granular ul ar gold among that three mile depth of marine sediment but them the transvaal like south africa in general is as varied in in i respect to treasure houses as was ancient delphi with its treasuries in the pretoria region and also near rustenburg and in the complex there are ap apparently parenty unlimited iron resources while the last named region promises to yield one of the greatest platinum deposits in the world and then there are the ever crop ping up diamonds one might al imort m ost say those irrepressible south african diamonds really one never knows where they will turn up next and just to illustrate how south african diamonds keep cropping up here is a glimpse of the lichtenburg alluvial diggings west of johannesburg not ten years ago lichtenburg was a tiny willow shaded sleepy hollow of a dorp sleepy perhaps dreaming but certainly not of diamonds but suddenly one day appeared some men who lined upeor the official pistol shot then rushed pell mell to peg their claims on what had proved to be a diamond field fifteen miles long by five miles wid |