VICTORIA. 6 1 



that the auriferous deposit did not extend beyond the commencement of the 

 pipe-clay stratum, and. most of the diggers moved further afield as soon as 

 they had turned over the bare skin, so to speak, of the ground ; but one 

 digger, more persistent than the rest, dug beyond the clay, and was richly 

 rewarded by finding that here lay the true home of the precious metal, here 

 were the ' pockets ' so dear to the heart of the true digger. The deserted 

 ' claims ' were quickly reoccupied, fresh thousands of diggers poured to the 

 locality, and in a couple of months Ballarat was more vigorous than ever. 



Then for a time it was thought that the golden riches lay solely in the 

 alluvial stratum ; but more modern research led to the discovery of a number 

 of quartz reefs, from which large quantities of gold have been taken. Amongst 

 the leading mines at present being worked are the celebrated ' Block Hill,' 

 the ' Band and Albion,' ' Redan,' ' Washington,' ' Koh-I-Noor,' « Band of 

 Hope,' ' Victoria United,' ' Llanberis,' ' Smith's Freehold,' ' Williams' Freehold,' 

 together with scores of others, employing upwards of three hundred steam 

 engines, with an aggregate of about ten thousand horse-power, besides numerous 

 machines worked by horses. The total value of the plant and machinery in 

 use is nearly a million sterling, and the number of miners engaged in active 

 operations is returned as nine thousand, of whom nearly one-seventh are 

 Chinese. The total number of quartz reefs proved to be auriferous is 

 between 350 and 400, while the extent of auriferous ground worked upon in 

 the district is 187 square miles. 



But, in addition to its mines, Ballarat is renowned for its pastoral and 

 agricultural advantages, the Ballarat farmers being always large prize-takers 

 at the various annual shows. The town is delightfully situated at an elevation 

 of 1,413 feet above the sea-level, and is correspondingly healthy for all 

 rejoicing in fairly robust constitutions. In winter the weather is sometimes of 

 an ultra-bracing quality with sharp frosts, and even an occasional fall of snow, 

 but. on the whole the climate is very good. 



'The Corner' is a local institution. It was at the Corner in olden days 

 that a sort of open-air Stock Exchange was established, and here do 

 speculators of all degrees still delight to come. Many are the stories of the 

 fortunes that have here changed hands at a word — of the Midas-like touch 

 of some, the Claudian fatality of withering blight possessed by others. Here, 

 in the maddest times of the gold fever, was a scene of gambling pure and 

 simple, as reckless as ever broke a Homburg bank. Here was the auri 

 sacra fames in its most maddening and tantalising intensity, And here, even 

 in these more prosaic times, are sudden flashes of the old spirit, that keep 

 gesticulating crowds surging over the pavement, and the busy wires working 

 hence to Melbourne, Sandhurst, and other commerce-hives. 



Now and again we read of half-a-ton or so of gold being sent by one 

 or other of the Ballarat banks to its Melbourne head office, and then we 

 may be sure, there is a bubbling over of excitement at the Corner. But it 



