Page 71 - Handbook of Gold Exploration and Evaluation

52 Handbook of gold exploration and evaluation

1.17 together with some minor gold areas. Gold rushes of the Americas and
Australasia (Australia and New Zealand) followed. In December 1843 President
Polk of the USA referred to the abundance of gold in California as `of such
extraordinary character as to scarcely command belief'. By 1848, mass migra-
tions of the `forty-niners', as they were called, took place from all over America
and overseas. Some 50,000 people from all walks of life crossed the continent
riding in wagon trains, on horses, mules and donkeys; fighting Indians along the
way. Others braved the fever-infested jungles of Panama to make a faster
crossing. Fifteen thousand or so accepted the rigours of passage around the
`Horn' and arrived in the goldfields some seven to eight months later. The `Gold
Fleet' from Australia carried more than 7,000 hopefuls. More than 18 million oz.
of gold was won in the first four years, but of the 90,000 people of all
nationalities, who reached the field, 18,000 died in the first six months mainly
from privation. Figure 1.18(a) depicts stampeders arriving at the Gregory
diggings Colorado in May 1859. Figure 1.18(b) shows the level of accom-
modation provided on the floor of a Colorado billiards saloon for newly arrived
miners.
In Australia, Edward Hargraves, returning from California found gold in New
South Wales in 1850 and the first gold rush took place at Ophir in 1851. The
Ballarat alluvial goldfields were discovered a few months later followed by fresh
discoveries over the whole of the Victorian gold belt. Victorian goldfields
reached bonanza proportions, approaching those of California in terms of man-
power and richness. In 1851, the population of Victoria was only 37,343 males
above the age of twelve years. By 1854, the number had quadrupled to 144,803
of whom 65,763 were engaged in goldmining. By 1858, this number had risen to
223,604 even though 10 000 miners had left to join a new gold rush taking place
in New Zealand. Records of production were not monitored closely but between
650 and 800 tonnes of gold are believed to have been produced from alluvial
workings during the first ten years, including the worlds largest collection of
nuggets.
Although gold discoveries in New Zealand were smaller than in Australia
important finds were made in Otago in the South Island (McLintoch, 1966).
Production between 1857 and 1867 amounted to something in excess of 100
tonnes Au. The first bucket dredge to be built in the world was commissioned in
Otago in 1886.
In North America, Henry (George) Holt, who obtained the gold by trading
with the Indians, brought out the first authentic samples of gold from the Yukon.
The American government then provided troops to protect the trade routes in the
area. Prospecting began shortly thereafter, at first in a desultory manner, then on
a major scale in 1881 when gold quartz reefs were found at Juneau in the Yukon
`Panhandle'. The first large alluvial diggings were in the Stewart River, another
tributary of the Yukon, some 96 km upstream of the Klondike confluence; the
second was in the `Forty-nine' about the same distance downstream. The last of