The Tumut and Adelong Times 15 Jul 1930
PASSING NOTES REMINISCENT OF OTHER DAYS (By AN ADELONG MINER of 1873) The passing away of those two grand old ladies of the Adelong district, Mrs Nancy Purcell, and Mrs. Lawson, revive many memories of the roaring days of old Adelong in the early seventies. And, strange to relate, they were both the daughters of two grand Pioneer miners, Mrs. Purcell being the daughter of that old sluicing miner, John Ferguson, who was also one of the pioneers of Kiandra, afterwards returning to the Adelong Creek, where he labored for many years, being associated with the late T. M. Rogers. The other departed lady, Mrs Lawson, was the youngest daughter of the late William Willams, who is reputed to be the first discoverer of a gold quartz-reef. Her husband, William Lawson, was one of the leading blacksmiths of Adelong in the early seventies, and, with his brother John, carried on business in premises now occupied by the Royal Hotel billiard saloon. In the obituary notice of Mrs. Lawson, mention was made about the famous Williams Gold Mine. Yes, Mr. Editor, I was working on that mine during 1873 and part of 1874: that was after that mine had been floated into a comimny for the colossal figure of £46,000. The four original shareholders were W. Williams sr, his two sons, and James Curtis, and it was reported that all four were on the bread line, battling away expecting the worst but hoping for the best, when all of a sudden seme of the old workings caved in and fortune stared them in the face. After some splendid crushings had been taken out, the four shareholders sold out to the company for the sum stated. The late H. Copeland, M.L.A. for New England, was one of the company sharehoIders. Some of the finest quartz I have ever seen was taken from that mine during 1873 — great blocks as much as a man could shift — pure white, studded all over with the precious metal. At that time many of the mines of Adelong were in their heyday. But the Williams was the premier of them all. There were 60 underground miners at work under three shift bosses, viz:. Tom Davis (a Welshman who was accidentally killed by a fall from his horse on the Adelong Gap), a big German named Armstrong, and that noble old Ccrnishman, W. H. Powell, father of Billy of that ilk: and the general manager was that sturdy little Cornishman, Jessee Harford, and one can understand the volume of stone he raised when the Edwards battery was kept running at high pressure week in and week out, the only spell being from midnight on Saturdays until midnight on Sundays. That battery had just been acquired by the Williams Company. It was reputed that there were some very large cakes of gold turned out of the batteries in the early days of Adelong ; but the largest that I saw came out of the retort was 500ozs, and, if my memory serves me aright, that was from a fortnight's crushing. It was a beautiful cake, and that little Cornishman, Jessee Harford, placed it in an empty sugar-bag, threw it across his shoulder and marched off to town and placed it in the Bank of N.S.W. What a risk to take, as the distance was in the vicinity of one mile. But there were no bag-snatchers about Adelong in those days. (To be continued when I will make some reference to the Williams family) . |
