Seeing smoke rising amongst the trees, I drove over to the place, hoping to find a camp where I might get water for my horse. I found the camp and one solitary man working by it, who had been in the neighbourhood prospecting for months. He asked me to give my horse a rest, offering to attend to him and also to make some tea for me, which hospitable offer I gratefully accepted. While the “billy” boiled he told me much about the hardships he had endured for many months. “But now,” said he, “luck has turned; look here, ma’am.” At the same time he unearthed from the ground an old jam tin, which proved to be full of little lumps of gold. For months, he told me, he had been fossicking (that is, searching the top ground), and looking for shows of gold, and one day had struck a patch. Picking out one little piece he said, “That’s the first bit I found, and you are the first white woman I have seen for months, so I’ll give it to you for luck.” The piece was almost exactly in the form of an eagle, and is now one of my gold treasures. He said that he had often been without food, or the money to obtain it, but had subsisted on the kindness of other prospectors, who had helped him from their often scanty store, and of the storekeepers who had given him tick (credit). (I have since heard that the man afterwards struck an immense find, and is now thoroughly successful.) Bidding my hospitable entertainer “good-bye,” I again started on my journey and soon found myself at the Euro, not having met even a solitary kangaroo on the road.
In the early days this mine was known as Quartz Hill, and the company owning it was unlucky. Thousands of pounds were spent, but nothing much was got, and the mine was finally abandoned; but some prospectors, who often have a liking for fossicking on an abandoned spot, thought that it had not had a fair trial, and two men, named Champion and Mason, determined to give it another. Knowledge or chance led them to continue a costéen, and they were not long coming on stringers (thin courses) of rich quartz. Mr. G. W. Hall eventually came upon the scene in company with Mr. A. W. Castle, and these well-known gentlemen were not long in making a proposition to the prospectors, from whom they shortly afterwards bought the mine for a considerable sum and renamed it the Euro.
There is every appearance of a brilliant future for the Euro. There is a large body of ore in sight. The reef is 10 feet wide, and some of it gives assay equal to the rich Kalgoorlie claims. Many nice houses are being built for offices, manager’s house, and stores. Farther on is the Sons of England, another rich property acquired by Mr. Hall.
At the Euro I was most hospitably entertained by the manager’s wife. There were two other visitors at the mine that day, and we made quite a merry party in the cool Bush-house, where we were invited to a very nice lunch.
Mount Weld was the object of my next day’s journeying. I did not lose myself this time, but on the way came across some prospector’s camping, and stopped to have a talk with them. They showed me a bottle full of gold that they had recently got. One of them, the old man of the camp, went very mysteriously into the camp and brought out something tied up in a piece of an old bag. It turned out to be a nugget which must have weighed 60 ounces. A small piece of gold was given me as a souvenir, and I was bound to secrecy for a month about the big nugget; but, as the month will be long past when this is published, I may now safely speak.
At Mount Weld the miners seemed amazed to see a lady drive up alone, and all work was suspended for the time by the hands on top. At the same time an “Hallo” was given to those working below, with the message, “Come up; a lady visitor.” The reply came, “You’re codding” (joking); but when I went to the top of the shaft and called down, “It’s quite true,” they came up the rope (dispensing with the bucket) with great alacrity. Several claims here were yielding splendid returns, notably the new find, 7 miles from the Mount, where Bates and Whelan have recently struck a rich patch.
Another new place is called Bett’s Find, and 150 men were working there; but, the heat having been terrible and water rather scarce, a good many of them had left the place. The North Country, as this part is called, has the advantage of rock not nearly so hard as on the fields lower down, consequently the ores can be more easily treated.
The time came when I had to bid farewell to Laverton and to its many interesting mines. As time goes on the now modest little township will, no doubt, develop into a fine city, for it is the centre of a very rich district, although almost up in the Never Never country (where there is no white population). Many mines of which I cannot speak are full of golden promise, and many more will yet be discovered. The country around is mountainous, and it is near mountains and hills that all the rich reefs are found.
It was on a lovely morning that I started for my return journey to Mount Malcolm. As I had 70 miles to go, and as I was on the front seat of the coach, I was thankful that the weather was cool. At first some difficulty was experienced in getting the off-side leader to go. He was a young horse, just broken in, and had never been in harness before; the way he stood on his hind legs and curvetted around put terror into my heart, for I am not strikingly brave where horses are concerned; with a great effort I controlled myself and sat still, for I could see that the coach-driver had full command, and, after about ten minutes of fear to me and fun to the crowd who gathered round, we got away, the unmanageable animal behaving admirably for the rest of the journey.