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From: "Editor" <>
Subject: Re: History of SA gold mining [Re: [ZA] Re: SOUTH-AFRICA-D DigestV03 #652]
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 13:07:16 +0200
References: <000101c3b386$74902860$167e19ac@admin1> <009501c3b42e$fa0a9a40$9f81ef9b@oemcomputer>


Hi Marielle

What was your grandmother's maiden surname? I'm currently reading a history
about gold mining in that area & would like to recognise the name if I come
across anything. Will let you know if I do.

Regards
Maureen

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marielle Ford" <>
To: <>
Sent: 26 November 2003 05:07
Subject: Re: History of SA gold mining [Re: [ZA] Re: SOUTH-AFRICA-D
DigestV03 #652]


> I have also been to Knysna's mine - very picturesque setting and a really
historical "feel" to the place.
>
> The mention of Sheba mine got me going, as my grandmother was purportedly
the first "white" baby born there in 1886 - she was named Lilian Golden, as
her father struck a reef on the day she was born!
>
> Regards
> Marielle
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Editor
> To:
> Sent: 25 November 2003 15:29 PM
> Subject: Re: History of SA gold mining [Re: [ZA] Re: SOUTH-AFRICA-D
DigestV03 #652]
>
>
> Millwood! Thanks, Pat. That's the place -- oh, there's the dearest wee
wood
> & corrugated iron house still standing there (or was, in about 1986-87).
The
> day I visited, I was charmed by a big clump of snowdrops growing just
> outside the front door -- definitely a woman's touch. I felt I could
move
> right in & feel at home, although the old adits & stopes are quite
spooky. I
> have a vague recollection that one of the bigger buildings was moved
into
> Knysna proper & houses the Millwood Museum. I agree with you about the
> forests -- the Great Fire of 18?? did enough damage. I think all
historians
> have a secret hankering to be time travellers!
>
> The only other ghost gold rush town I've visited is the site of Eureka
City
> on the koppies above Sheba Mine near Barberton. Although Pilgrim's Rest
has
> been so well preserved for posterity as a living place, what other ghost
> towns remain? Shades of High Noon, tumbleweeds blowing down the main
street
> & two gunfighters sizing each other up ... except, I read somewhere that
> American miners who came here commented on the noticeable lack of
> "gun-slinging" in SA. Just today, I found a copy of AP Cartwright's
"Valley
> of Gold" (Howard Timmins, 1973), which narrates the history of the
Eastern
> Transvaal gold rush -- can't wait to start reading it!
>
> Regards
> Maureen
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pat Brown" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: 25 November 2003 08:58
> Subject: History of SA gold mining [Re: [ZA] Re: SOUTH-AFRICA-D
DigestV03
> #652]
>
>
> > Hi Maureen,
> > The first gold nugget was discovered in the Knysna area in 1876 and
> > by 1879 there was a thriving goldrush on the go. Unfortunately (or
> > fortunately for the forests) by 1890 barely a ghost town remained.
When
> > you stand on the site of the old town at Millwood you can feel the
> > ghosts and it is easy to draw mind pictures of a hustling, buslting
town
> > with the usual hard working goldseekers, the drifters, the business
men
> > all hoping that this will be THE gold strike. Would that we could go
> > back in time and just observe.
> >
> > All the best,
> >
> > Pat
> >
> > >>> "Editor" <> 24/11/2003 09:26:13 >>>
> > Hi Jill, Sarah
> >
> > What many people don't know is that there was a very short-lived gold
> > rush
> > along the rivers running through the Knysna forests, but I don't have
> > dates
> > to hand (the books I read years ago were from the Knysna Public
> > Library).
> > Today, a small ghost town still exists as a tourist attraction, as
well
> > as
> > old adits (opening or passages into mines).
> >
> > The first important gold finds were not in or near what was to become
> > Johannesburg. From about 1870, there was a huge rush to Pilgrim's Rest
> > in
> > the Eastern Transvaal, which turned out to be part of an extensive
> > goldfield
> > around the Pilgrim's Rest, Lydenburg, Barberton area, first alluvial,
> > then
> > surface, then mining proper -- for instance, Sheba Mine near Barberton
> > (town
> > founded 1884). About the same time, gold was found in today's Zimbabwe
> > in
> > the Tati area. Prospecting along the Witwatersrand started in 1883, &
> > the
> > Main Reef was found on the farm Langlaagte in September 1884 (source
> > Rosenthal's "Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa").
> >
> > Many foreign miners travelled by ship to the Eastern Transvaal via
> > Delagoa
> > Bay (today's Maputo in Mozambique) & from there via Komatipoort along
> > the De
> > Kaap valley by ox waggon. I recently learned that a lot of silver
> > miners
> > from America came here to mine for gold because the bottom had dropped
> > out
> > of the silver market.
> >
> > For Kimberley, the port of disembarkation may have been Cape Town, but
> > many
> > more would have chosen to go via Port Elizabeth (estab 1820) or East
> > London
> > (estab 1845), which shortened the overland trip by several hundred
> > miles. In
> > those days, you would have wanted to keep your overland travel to an
> > absolute minimum -- it was extremely slow & arduous, no StarStops or
> > motels
> > back then! For Johannesburg, Port Natal (Durban estab 1824), even
> > Delagoa
> > Bay, were closer. The route via Delagoa Bay, however, ran through
> > fever
> > country, infested with malaria & tsetse fly.
> >
> > I read something interesting about the alluvial gold in the De Kaap
> > valley -- the rivers didn't hold as much of it as the miners expected
> > from a
> > completely unexploited area. This is because African tribes in the
area
> > had
> > been collecting the alluvial gold, & also mining on a small scale, for
> > some
> > centuries. This is the legendary gold of Monomotapa that was traded
> > with
> > Arabs via places like Mapungubwe & Great Zimbabwe to Sofala (modern
> > Beira in
> > Mozambique) on the coast in exchange for goods from India, China. When
> > Vasco
> > da Gama reached Quelimane and Sofala in 1498, he discovered Arab
> > settlements
> > that had been there for hundreds of years. Early Arab trade down the
> > East
> > African coast dates back to about 600 AD, but not all the way down the
> > coast
> > to Sofala -- it was a slow process that took generations. I think
> > Swahili is
> > a language that evolved from contact between Arabs & Africans, a
> > lingua
> > franca along much of the coast.
> >
> > Regards
> > Maureen
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Sarah Fulguirinas" <>
> > To: <>
> > Sent: 24 November 2003 02:15
> > Subject: [ZA] Re: SOUTH-AFRICA-D Digest V03 #652
> >
> >
> > > Dear Jill
> > > I looked up in Naairs for McElvenny (and as many variations i could
> > > think of) but could find none. The major port would have been Cape
> > > Town, with perhaps a stop at Port Elizabeth or Durban. Most people
> > going
> > > to the gold or minefields would have gone to Cape town and then gone
> > up
> > > probably by train or oxwagon to Kimberley or Johannesburg. For
> > diamonds
> > > then I would try Kimberley, perhaps the curator of the museum there
> > may
> > > be able to find something, or a researcher. Gold wa up in the
> > > Witwatersrand and the place would be Johannesburg or some of the
> > towns
> > > around it in the new province of Gauteng.
> > > Diamonds
> > > http://www.kimberley.co.za/
> > > http://www.southafrica-travel.net/kalahari/e6ofs09.htm
> > > http://www.bdb.co.za/kimberley/diamonds.htm
> > > http://www.bdb.co.za/kimberley/diamonds.htm
> > > http://www.places.co.za/html/bighole.html
> > > goldmines in Witwatersrand., Gold is found in the Free State but
> > this
> > > was found later.
> > >
> > > How common is MCELVENNY, I could only find one in the white pages,
> > may
> > > be a link if rare. I tried that with BURTLES and it was the
> > > greatgrandson of my great-grandfather, the only son's grandson, but
> > of
> > > course may not be related at all. I do not know about jewellers but
> > I
> > > would imagine that Johannesburg would have been the best place to
> > go.
> > > Sarah
> > > http://www.joburg.org.za/facts/gold.stm
> > > http://www.southafrica-travel.net/north/a1johb04.htm
> > >
> > >
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> > > Try Cyndi's List for all the genealogical links you will ever need:
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> > >
> >
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