Facts are stubborn things, and an ounce of experience is worth a ton of theory. Here was a mine which in a few months yielded over,£80,000. The following is an extract from a Perth newspaper:—
“The cry from Coolgardie is still of astounding discoveries of such rich gold-bearing rock as mankind has never known before. There is actually being exhibited at Counsel’s Stores a lump of gold and stone weighing a little over two hundredweight, in which, it was estimated by experts, there was nearly a hundredweight and a half of the precious metal. It looks as if the time were within reasonable distance when Punch’s old prophecy would be realised, and the Cheapside hawkers be seen going about with gold snuff-boxes and a ha’porth of snuff for a penny.”
One of the prospectors wrote thus: “I left the field at the end of January last, when things were at their earliest stage, and even then phenomenal finds were of daily occurrence. I remember one evening particularly when the whole camp was thrown into a furore of excitement owing to three men coming in with a gunny sack full of quartz some 60 lb. in weight (I saw and handled the stone myself), and before the evening they had dollied 150 ounces from it. At Adams’ Reef, 25 miles north of Bayley’s, I saw tons of stone on which the gold was sticking in small nuggets. There was one place we christened the Potato Ground, owing to the large size of the nuggets picked up there.
“On Sundays, by way of rest, picks and shovels were abandoned, and almost every one in the camp went out for an afternoon’s specking (looking on the ground for nuggets). Before leaving Coolgardie I had the pleasure of seeing over Bayley’s Reef. I shall never forget the sight; it settled my career, and I do not think I shall ever follow any avocation but that of a miner; for there on this reef, instead of, as one usually sees in an ordinarily rich reef, specks and perhaps here and there nuggets of gold—on Bayley’s there were veins, in fact, literally outstanding bars of gold. So much so that if Mr. Bayley had given me leave to do an hour’s work on it and take the results, my trip to the old country and back to Western Australia would have cost me nothing, and I warrant I could have had a pretty good time too.”
Arthur Bayley did not live long to enjoy the wealth he acquired through his discovery, as he died at Melbourne in 1897, at the early age of 34 years. Gold-mining will trouble him no more. The handsome city of Coolgardie remains a monument to his memory.
Many other reefs had by this time been discovered by various parties at different distances from Coolgardie, one notably big and rich one at the 90-Mile, called the “Roaring Gimlet.” No stores or provisions lay that way, consequently great privations had to be endured. However, those who managed to remain got surprisingly rich stone on the surface. Here the quartz was quite white and barren looking, but, on sinking, rich alluvial gold was found at the rate of 250 ounces to the ton. Half-way to the 90-Mile, at what they call the 45-Mile, surprisingly rich results were also obtained.
The camp at Bayley’s was at this time a scene of intense excitement; 3000 men were on the field. Such a collection of habitations was never before seen—blanket-shelters, bush-humpies, and tents covered the ground; men were digging, specking, dry blowing, and knapping every bit of available quartz. Then provisions and water got scarce; famine was feared, and many of the miners had to move on. “Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” Many a poor parched prospector on the weary tramp has said this, and many explorers in this vast country have given the same cry. No water—this is the terror of the Australian desert, more deadly than wild beasts or savages in other countries. As the dragon in olden days guarded the gate of the Hesperides wherein grew the golden apples, so thirst, famine and fever seemed at first to guard Nature’s treasure-house. Civilisation and engineering have now greatly diminished these terrors, and in the new Eldorado large cities have arisen where once was an inhospitable desert.
The marvellous City of Kalgoorlie stands on the site of Hannan’s Find.