A MOUNTAIN OF GOLD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12698, 21 July 1919, Page 4

A MOUNTAIN OF GOLD.

ROMANCE OF MOUNT

MORGAN.

OWNERS WHO LOST MILLIONS.

(By H-A.W. in Melbourne “ Argus/") As is the case with so many other Australian mines, there is an interest attaching to Mount Morgan, apart from its mysterious origin and fabulous richness. In the early days of settlement in Queensland it was remarked as a rough lull with dark metallic-looking boulders, twenty-five miles south-west of Rockhampton. It was within the boundaries of a, selection upon which a settlor tried unsuccessfully to mako headway grazing cattle- Adventurous prospectors, spending their lives in a more or less futile search for precious; metals, pottered around the watercourses -at its base aud camped iifpon; its crest, and not even their wildest dreams of dazzling finds encompassed such a store of wealth as that which lay so close at hand. THE ORIGINAL OWNERS. . \ The story of this “mountain of' gold” begins back in the dawn of time, when Nature was forming the deposits, but wc take it up in 1871, the year when a family of Gordons, with two sons, Donald and “ Sandy,” selected two areas of 640 acres- each, known as “ Calliungal.” On one selection was a houlder-strewn hill that was to make many fortunes and sustain a great population, Math wealth untold within his reach, Donald Gordon, who was working this selection, set himself industriously to make a living by raising cattle, but he met with very little success- Year after year passed, and ho found himself growing poorer. Droughts were experienced, and his cattle died. Sometimes he stood on the rocky- hill, and. surveying his lidding, wondered whether "it was worth persevering with. Eventually he decided that it was not. SOLD FOR £1 A.N ACRE. Accounts differ as to the way the brothers Morgan were introduced to the “ mountain of gold.” One story is that while prospecting they .spent a night in Gordon’s ir.n, that “that night there was heavy rain, and that next morning they found the scouring had uncovered traces of gold. Another version is that Gordon went to Mount; Wheeler to earn the living that his land denied him, and that, meeting the Morgans, he told them one day of the peculiar hill on his selection, and revisited it with them. Whatever happened, the brothers Morgan became in-; tensely interested in 'the rockv eminence upon which Gordon had beer* trying to raise cattle. They made investigations on their own account, while the owner, we may be sure, was watching the or otherwise engaged, and the brothers were satisfied with the results. Gordon regarded them as i philanthropists when they offered him £1 an acre for the selection, and it is mm that he was not wholly at his ease | tinti I he had the £640 m coin of tho 1 realm. Math this windfall Gordon fades | out of the story. TROUBLE IN FINANCING. Tim. financing of the proposition caused the Morgans some trouble. In. fine account they are said to have oficred a half-interest for £2OOO. Thev applied for help to T. S. Hall, who wasDianagmc the Rockhampton branch of the Queensland National Bank, and n. K. D A rcy, a solicitor in Rockhampton. By this time there were four Morgans in the transaction. Er., Edwin, and Thomas, and a nephew, ihey were the 'orifdnal owners. Retaming one-half, they sold the other half to Messrs W. K. D’Arcy, W. Patron, M.L.C., T. S. Hall, and W. Hall. Later the Morgans divided their half into five shares, and T. S- Hall became i the possessor of one of these fifth ! shares- E. F. Morgan paid £IO,OOO for his brother Edwin’s share, and also acquired the other brother’s share, so that with his son, who owned a share, he controlled three-tenths of the whols mine. This interest .he later sold for £62,000 to tlie purchasers of the original second-half, and the same day the purchasers disposed of one-tenth interest in the mine t’o J. Ferguson, M.L.A., member for the district, for £-0,600. Finally the original pur- * chasers secured a further one-tenth interest for £31,000. A limited c-wipanv was then formed, with a capital of £1.000,000, and was registered on October 1, 1886. The capital was raised, states one account, in £1 shares, which rose to nearly £lB at the height of tho b00m£9,000,000 IN DIVIDENDS. "When the wealth of the field became apparent, attempts were made to “ jump ” areas, and enormous sums were spent in litigation. The courts, however, upheld the original holders. Developments of the property at tho outset proceeded slowly, but from small beginnings the mine grew into “ one of the most efficient mining propositions in tho world.” It is estimated roughly that up to the end of 1918 the output- had been Considerably above £20,000,000, the payments to shareholders more than £9,000,000, and tha sum spent in wages more than £6,000,000. Three towns —Mount Morgap, Marin or and Calliungal—with a- population of about 13.000, are dependent on the mine. At the works at Mount Morgan 1700 persons arc employed, and 700 others are engaged in associated trades and occupations. The copper from the mine is refined at Port Kembla, where 1000 persons are dependent on the com pa ny's opera tions. The ’original cap of the mountain, mostly removed in the course of operations. stood at a heiahb of oSOft above the River Dee. which flows past the base of the elevation. How the central mass of ore of several distinct Zones and classes was formed is one of the most interesting problems of mineral deposition. Dr Logan Jack expressed the belief that the denosits were due to a geyser or hot spring which burstout in tertiary times when the valley of the Dec had been carried Put of the desert sandstone which once covered the side of the mountain. Dr Leihen, lecturing before the Roval Society of Now South Males in 1884. said that the mountain ridge appeared to bo the result of a thermal spring which in, past ages held quartz, iron, and gold in solution. The results of the fourth night’s play in the second round of the Christchurch United Friendly Societies Card Association’s tounvment were:—Pioneer (124) heat Mistletoe (6), 21-17; City of Christchurch (7-j) made a draw with Ivy of Limvood (7). 19-19: Lily of Richmond (74) heat Star of St Albans(9). 23-17 ; Star of Linwo’od (10) head Addington (6), 21-20: Washington (6) heat Queen’s Own (oj), 22-19; Anchor (7) had a bye. Wyoming’s first official historian is a woman, Miss Eunice G. Anderson, of Cheyenne, whom Governor Carey had appointed to this new position as a recognition of the efficient ««ervice which women have performed in tho State’s government affairs, states the “ Christian Science Monitor.” The. office of State historian was created bv the recent Legislature in order that aii official record might he made of the stories of pioneer settlers who still survive, and it will be the duty of the hostorian to visit the homes of these men and women and make notes of their reminiscences. During the last three years Miss Anderson has been director of the State workmen’s compensation department, and dnrinw the years Deputy State Treasurer.' While holding the lattei* position she located and proved up .oil a homestead r!u-mit R ve ? lilcs from town, tui fillip, 160 ucfg-f gf rw>r pv-g-itLe into a productive fana* a - - - v- I I *