Gold nugget

“ I was on the Lydenburg alluvial fields, in the Eastern Transvaal, in 1875, and saw a good deal of rough mining. I knew at once that this was a real gold nugget. We'll have a test at the wagon to-night, but I haven't the least doubt in the world that this nugget, which weighs about four ounces, is the genuine metal. That, at £3, 15s. per ounce, means £15--not by any means a bad result for about five minutes' work."
"Splendid, pater!" put in Tom enthusiastically. "Why, I feel like a millionaire already." ”

“ With modern machinery and enlarged white staffs will come a pretentious exploitation. The Government mines alone yield more than $2,000,000 worth of gold every year. Shortly before my arrival in the Congo what was heralded as the largest gold nugget ever discovered was found in the Kilo State Mine. It weighed twelve pounds. ”

“ The man was overjoyed at his good fortune, and took the nugget home. He immediately found work and became so prosperous that he did not sell the nugget. Years passed, and he became a very rich man. One day he met a poor man on the road. He stopped him and said: “My good friend, I will give you this gold nugget, which, if you sell, will make you rich for life.” The mendicant took the nugget, had it valued, and found it was only brass. So we see, the first man became rich through feeling rich, thinking the nugget was gold. ”

“ The Victoria (Australia) nugget weighed one hundred and forty-six pounds and three pennyweights, of which only six ounces was foreign rock; and the Ballarat (Australia) nugget was thirty-nine pounds heavier yet. The largest nugget ever found was also dug in Australia—the “Sarah Sands,” named for a far-off loved one. It reached the astonishing weight of two hundred and thirty-three pounds and [158] four ounces Troy! I wonder what Miner Sands felt when he stuck his pick into that fortune in one lump!
The quality which makes gold commercially the most valuable of the metals is its docility. ”

“ Rich treasures similar to these were sent from the mines to the Paris Exhibition, and the Western Australian Court was [203] universally said to have the finest collection of minerals the world had ever shown. The Bobby Dazzler nugget, weighing 413 ounces of solid gold, valued at £1500, was a surprise to many beholders; among the hundreds of other solid lumps of the precious metal sent to Paris was the large nugget that was cut in two by one of the two men who found it, and who then drew lots for the sections and found that there was only a difference of 30s. in the value of them. ”

“ I have thus digressed in order that it may be clearly seen that mankind were not seized with the sacra fames auri from the very first moment when the eye of some wild hunter or nomad first lighted on a gold nugget as it glistened under the sunlight in the stream. ”

“ Altogether, not counting Guy's big nugget, which they christened "Poeskop's Pride," they had gathered forty-nine nuggets, giving a total weight of ninety-eight ounces. This amount of gold, at the value of £3, 15s. per ounce, would figure out therefore at a total of £367. These nuggets, varying in size and weight from a pea to more than five ounces, had scarcely any indication of quartz or other extraneous substance about them, and were manifestly nearly all pure and solid metal. Deducting £17 for wastage, Mr. Blakeney estimated their value at not less than £350. ”

“ The detective dropped the bag, the nugget, and all the other articles of value out of the tank, and with the assistance of Keel carried them into the kitchen. He examined the material in the hide bag, and found it to be washdirt showing coarse gold freely. The nugget was a magnificent one, containing, as the detective guessed, about five hundred ounces of gold, and worth probably close upon two thousand pounds. Nothing nearly so fine had ever before been discovered in the Silver Stream gutters, although they had always been rich in nuggets. ”

“ Nuggets, properly so-called, are never found in quartz lodes; but, as will be shown later, a true nugget having all the characteristics of so-called waterworn alluvial may be artificially formed on a small piece of galena, or pyrites, by suspending the base metal in the loop of a thread in a weak solution of chloride of gold in which a few hard-wood chips are thrown.
Prospecting for alluvial gold at shallow depths is a comparatively easy process, requiring no great amount of technical knowledge. Usually the first gold is got at or near the surface and then traced to deep leads, if such exist. ”

“ One man will wash out ten or fifteen dollars’ worth in a week, while the claims around him will not come near paying expenses. Sometimes a large nugget is found, as, for instance, the one recently exhibited in Durham, weighing 214 ounces. Young men frantically rush to see such a nugget, and immediately imagining the country is covered with gold, are eager to leave a good situation and go to the fields. ”

“ Not much gold in the dust was found, but quite some of the precious metal in grains which occasionally reached to the size of nuggets.
"Nuggets are what I want," cried Bob. "A good big nugget beats dust all to pieces!"
"Dust is all right, if you can only git enough of it," answered Maybe Dixon.
At the end of the second week at Three Cross Gulch they calculated that they had brought in over three hundred dollars' worth of dust and small nuggets. The largest of the nuggets was found by Si and was thought to be worth fifty to sixty dollars. It made the former farm lad dance a jig for joy. ”

“ Gold Nuggets
nearer home; possibly you may have to work a little for the precious metal, but the exertion will be only fun. Ten little fairies—your ten fingers—will cheerfully supply the gold as well as the mine from which the nuggets must come on the eventful night. The fairies should make a number of small gold parcels which when finished form the nuggets (Fig. 432) . Inside of each package is a piece of candy and a strip of paper with a fortune written upon it, so whatever may be the fate sent by the gnomes in the mine, it is sure to be sweet. ”

“ Thus, for instance, since the Californian and Australian discoveries of gold we hear often of a [85] ‘nugget’ of gold; being a lump of the pure metal; and there has been some discussion whether the word has been born for the present necessity, or whether it be a recent malformation of ‘ingot’, I am inclined to think that it is neither one nor the other. I would not indeed affirm that it may not be a popular recasting of ‘ingot’; but only that it is not a recent one; for ‘nugget’ very nearly in its present form, occurs in our elder writers, being spelt ‘niggot’ by them [92] . ”

“ Conroyal looked up, his face white and his eyes shining. "It is gold; and enough of it to make us all rich beyond our fondest dreams. No wonder the miner called it the Cave of Gold."
"IT IS GOLD! IT IS GOLD! AND ENOUGH OF IT TO MAKE US ALL RICH BEYOND OUR FONDEST DREAMS."
"Gold! Gold! Now Ruth shall have her breastpin nugget and gold necklace!" and Thure, with hands that trembled so that he could hardly hold the candle, began an excited search for the largest chunk of gold that he could find. ”

“ Three hundredweight, four hundredweight, a quarter of a ton, perhaps!
"Do you think that bigger nuggets will be discovered than those you speak of, Tom?"
"To be sure. There are some places where gold will be found in great lumps."
This was once a favourite fancy with gold-miners, and some theorists to this day persist that by-and-by men will be cutting solid gold out of the rock with a cold chisel. When that time comes we must have our sovereigns made of iron.
"If we find a big nugget in the claim," said Richard, "and make our fortunes, I shall bid good-bye to the colony, Tom." ”

“ It weighed originally two thousand three hundred ounces, and was valued at forty-six thousand dollars. It is known by the name of the "Welcome Nugget." It seems that the finder had heretofore sought in vain to make a living at gold-digging, having worked long and patiently in search of the precious metal. Finally he had reached a condition of poverty and desperation which had led him that very day to resolve upon throwing up his claim (nobody would give him anything for it) , and to seek [Pg 167] work in the nearest city as a day-laborer; he would thus secure at least food and a shelter. ”

“ But it was a splendid lump of gold, almost entirely free from quartz and dirt, and of rare fineness and purity.. The finders were overjoyed, as well they might be, and guarded their treasure with great care until they saw it safe in the custody of the government agent. A gentleman from Melbourne, who was on a visit to the mines for the purpose of collecting rare specimens of gold, offered the lucky finders four thousand pounds for the nugget, but they got an idea into their heads that it was worth more, and declined. ”

“ Obed and the boys made arrangements to travel with the party sent by the commissioner as an escort to the nugget and other sums entrusted to it by different miners. The strong guard gave them a sense of security which they would not have had under other circumstances.
They were all in high spirits. They were no longer penniless adventurers, but, though not rich, were possessed of enough gold to make them feel so. Now that they were well fixed they were all filled with a strong desire to see their home across the sea. ”

“ Before a week was over he was to come across a large nugget of pure gold, the largest nugget that had ever been discovered, and bring it down to the coast in a waggon guarded by six mounted policemen. The bushrangers were to attack them three times, and be defeated with immense slaughter. Or, no. He was not to go to the gold-fields at all. They were horrid places, where men got intoxicated, and shot each other in bar-rooms, and used bad language. ”

“ Mat could hardly believe his eyes, and whilst yet examining the nugget, Tim brought forth another from under the bank of the dried-up watercourse in which he was standing.
Both brothers now fell to with pointed stakes to dig in the sand, and, before another hour had passed, had unearthed several nuggets of various sizes.
At length this “pocket” of treasure ceased, and their digging-sticks came on to hard rock, which, at length, laying bare and following up the creek, they discovered was milky white, with distinct veins of gold running through it.
“Why, the gully is full of gold! ”

“ He was breathless and speechless for a few minutes, but I at length obtained information that two miners had come across a nugget of gold so large that half a dozen men were unable to lift it from the shaft. I hurried to the spot, and as I went along hundreds of people were flocking to the scene. The news spread like fire upon a prairie. Saloons and rooms were deserted—miners crawled from their shafts—sick men forgot their ailments—even gamblers desisted from playing for a short time, in their anxiety to look at the largest lump of gold that had ever been discovered. ”

“ And the next day he had turned up, a foot under the surface, a nugget of pure gold, the tenth biggest nugget in the world, the “Paradise nugget,” weighing 980 ounces and worth £5,000.
That, related the Courier, had been the beginning. Spoelmann's father had emigrated to South America with the proceeds of his find, to Bolivia, and as gold-washer, amalgam-mill-owner, and mine-owner had continued to extract the yellow metal direct from the rivers and the womb of the mountains. ”

“ Several small pieces of gold and quartz were broken off and given to friends after the burning. About 5 oz. of gold was given away and this has never been reckoned in with the weight of the nugget as sold to the bank. I still have a small piece of the gold, the only bit that is left (2-3dwts now in the Melbourne National Museum) . The total weight of the gold was over 200 lbs. ”

“ It weighs over 400 ounces of gold, and is worth over £1600. Another large nugget was found in that district a few years ago, which weighed 334 ounces; so that people wishing to pick up the precious metal in large lumps had better try their luck in the far North.
After spending some days at Peak Hill, I started, with my kind friends, on my return to Nannine, and passed through [312] acres and acres of the finest everlasting flowers I have ever seen. The beautiful cream-coloured starry flowers were as large as a florin; the country looked like a foamy sea. ”

“ A mass of common pyrites (bisulphide of iron) weighing only 12 lbs. is competent for the construction of the famous 'Welcome Nugget,' an Australian find having weight equal to 152 lbs. avoirdupois. Such masses of pyrites are by no means uncommon in our drifts or the beds of our mountain streams. Thus we find that no straining of the imagination is required to conceive of this mode of formation for the huge masses of gold found in Australia in particular, such as the Welcome Nugget, 184 lbs. 9 oz.; the Welcome Stranger, a surface nugget, 190 lbs. ”

“ These we spent in the cavern diligently and systematically digging for gold, under the direction and supervision of Cunningham; and I may as well mention here that the results of the two days’ labours demonstrated that we had been lucky enough to stumble upon what is probably the most fabulously rich “pocket” of gold nuggets that has ever been discovered by man. ”