Remarks on the production of the precious metals / and on the demonetization of gold in several countries in Europe

by Léon Faucher

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 which they 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 the produce 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. The colonial 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-courses fell 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 washings at the Turon and Mount Ophir were then producing £10,000 to £12,000 sterling per week.