MESSRS. A. FORREST AND J. DUNN ON A PROSPECTING TOUR
To the west of Menzies is Mulline, where there are some very rich mines. Mr. De Baun, of Perth, has a mine there from which he recently brought to Perth a very nice little cake of gold weighing 447 ounces, valued at £1700. Then on the east side there are Yerilla, Pendinnie, and Eujidine; here the Nita Mine, lately called the North Fingall, has recently had a fine crushing. At Pendinnie, 120 miles from Menzies, a find lately took place, and the scene along the road was a repetition on a smaller scale of the rush to the Boulder a few years ago. Camel and horse teams crowded the way, and everybody was smitten with the feverish race to get to the promising spot; nothing stupendous has yet been found, but the place is good and fair results have been obtained. The Waihi Mine, about 32 miles from Menzies, is one of the latest sensations, and promises to be of great value. Much of the stone is being broken out, showing rich gold, and, on being tested, gave results from 6 to 20 ounces per ton. Although only discovered in October 1900, the lucky prospectors in November were offered £20,000 for the mine by a syndicate, and since then a company has been floated and over a hundred thousand shares taken up.
I went on by coach to Mount Malcolm from Menzies. Certainly there was not much but sand and scrub to be seen in the way of scenery. We arrived at Niagara, the end of the first 30-mile stage, quite ready for dinner at 1 o’clock. This little place did not present a very attractive appearance; in fact, it was most remarkably dull looking. The mining district of Niagara is scattered, but there are some good mines about. After the 60-mile coach drive I was very pleased to see the lights of the little town of Mount Malcolm appear, which is the most typical mining place I have ever seen. As I strolled down the one street in the morning I said to myself, “I am indeed getting away from town life, and shall now see real mining business to my heart’s content.” The coach journey is indeed terrible, the road being almost one sand patch, and the horses having to walk a great part of the way, so the sooner the railway comes the better for all parties concerned. There seemed to be some grass growing about Malcolm, which was quite a fresh sight for me, and I am sure a boon for the horses and their owners in these parts, where fodder is so expensive. Then the beautiful supply of fresh water is a blessing to every one, and a great aid to the development of the country, the work of digging for gold being rendered so much easier than in the sterile wastes of country where water is scarce. Mount Malcolm might almost be called Windmill Town, on account of the windmills over the wells; nearly all the public-houses and many private places have their own water supply. The gold escort had just gone down, taking the month’s gold to Perth. I saw it start from the post-office, which is quite a nice large one for a mining township. The warden’s offices, or court-house, are nearly opposite—such a funny place!—just two Hessian tents with bough-sheds built over to protect them from the sun. (A new warden’s office has since been built.) There is no lock-up here, so any one who misbehaves is chained to a small tree not far from the court-house and left there all night. This seemed to me a custom more fit for the barbarous dark ages than this enlightened century. A little while ago a man was chained up for being intoxicated. It appears he woke from his tipsy sleep in the night and felt very thirsty. He tried to get the chain off his leg, but could not. The tree they had chained him to that night did not happen to be firm enough in the ground, for he pulled and pulled until he got it uprooted, and then made his way down the street to an hotel, dragging chain and tree after him, and with his blanket fluttering in the wind made night hideous with his cries and woke the whole town with his noise. As the authorities could not give him a month under the tree for this, they packed him off in the coach next morning to the nearest gaol.
There are not many mines in the immediate vicinity of Malcolm. The Richmond Gem was under exemption, also at that time under a cloud, but it had been a good mine, and will, no doubt, recover itself. Another large mine about half a mile out is the North Star, where very good results have been obtained. There are many men employed here, and on Saturday nights they come into Malcolm and make the little township lively. A novel procession passed up the street while I was there; it was a new engine for the Malcolm Mohr battery, drawn by 14 horses, and caused quite a flutter of excitement. Malcolm was comparatively quiet, as there was a rush to Mertonville, 18 miles off.
The ex-Premier, at a recent visit, said that when he was last in the district, 30 years ago, he stood on and named Mount Malcolm, and in those days never thought that it would be the centre of a great mining district. On the earlier occasion he was at the head of a small exploring expedition sent to see whether the reports of the natives that white men had been murdered there were true; it was thought that these white men might be members of Leichhardt’s expedition.
During my stay at Mount Malcolm I was shown many really beautiful specimens by the managers of some of the principal mines. Many of these were from deep levels, and would, I am sure, much surprise many people who are sceptical about the richness of the mines in these parts. I received some very pretty little specimens, souvenirs of my visit, which I shall always value very much. There is no lack of money; every one appeared to be well off. The following story may serve to show what a lucky miner will sometimes do after he has had a good crushing or found some good specimens. A man who had unearthed a nice slug—30 ounces—in the Lake Way district came into Malcolm for a spree, and on one occasion, while drinking “not wisely, but too well,” he upbraided the Hebe behind the counter for wiping the glasses with an old towel. The delinquent pleaded poverty as an excuse, and straightway the accuser threw down ten sovereigns and suggested the purchase of a new towel. Another man at another township, who had a splendid claim, and had taken over £2000 worth of gold from it, has now not a penny, because every time he realised on his gold he immediately spent the whole sum in the hotels. As there are but two of these in the township, they have made good profits from this man’s mine. When he has spent all his money, the hotel-keepers put him into a cart and drive him out to the mine to recover himself. After he has done so, he usually sets to work for a month or two, and unearths some more nuggets for another spree (drunk).
Shortly after breakfast a few friends and myself drove to some nice gardens a little way from town. Although the weather was very warm, everything was delightfully fresh and green, the flowers were smelling sweetly, and the vegetables a perfect picture. What a blessing is plenty of fresh water! Any quantity can be got here by digging a well, and the experts from the Goldfields Water Supply Department, who were here recently, say that the country between the hills is really a subterreanean reservoir extending for miles. We drove on to the Mount, which is five miles farther away. A splendid view of the surrounding country for fully 30 miles is obtained from the Mount. The Trigonometrical Station here is very interesting. We had lunch on the very top of the hill, and returned to Malcolm in good spirits, having passed a most enjoyable day.
Daseyhurst, 35 miles from Menzies, is a coming goldfield, and North’s Consolidated Blocks, owned by Mr. J. H. North and Mr. W. E. Millar, may yet rival the fame of Great Westralian Mount Morgans, of which mine these gentlemen were the pioneers. Mr. North has recently successfully floated a company in London to further develop the North Consolidated, and we expect to hear great things in the future from this promising mine.