692 GOLD 



of gold than any other Welsh county, although Sir H. Middleton, while ostensibly 

 working for silver in the time of Charles I. and his ' most loyal chemist and mineralogist 

 Thomas Bushell,' did not leave on record all their knowledge respecting "Welsh gold 

 and its associated minerals. 1 But within the last few years, Merionethshire has taken 

 golden honours, sufficient, at least, to make them noteworthy. Hence an especial 

 reference to the gold-mines of that county. 



There are several claimants for the honour of having been the earliest of the "Welsh 

 gold-finders of later times. Mr. O'Niell, in 1836, is said to have found it at Cao Mawr, 

 a MI! Mr. James Harvey, afterwards, at Bcrthllwyd. Captain Roberts says he dis- 

 covered it before either. But, undoubtedly, Mr. Arthur Dean must be allowed to 

 take the lead. In 1843, Mr. Dean discovered some rich gold ores at Cwmhoisian, and 

 boldly stated, in the face of national disbelief, that ' a complete system of auriferous 

 veins existed throughout the whole of the Snowdonian or Lower Silurian formations 

 of North Wales.' 2 



Mr. Dean, and after him Mr. Clement, worked about 500 tons of the Cwmheisian 

 minerals, and obtained at the rate of more than half an ounce of gold to the ton. The 

 proprietor Mr. Bruin was unable to carry on the works, and then the gold question 

 slumbered until ten years afterwards, when at the Clogau mine, a pile of ' poor copper 

 ore ' was found. This grass-grown refuse was carefully examined by Mr. J. C. Good- 

 man of Dolgelley, who discovered that it really contained less of copper than of gold. 

 Some of the stones, weighing several pounds, had gold disseminated throughout. In 

 one beautiful specimen, now in the possession of Mr. Keadwin, there is the mark of a 

 boring-iron, which has passed through the solid gold. Some of this ' poor copper- 

 ore' was put to the test, and Mr. Goodman obtained 14 ozs. of gold from 100 Ibs. 

 weight. A stone weighing 3 cwts. was taken from the lode, stamped and sold for 5s. 

 per pound weight. 3 



Such novel and interesting facts as these naturally gave rise to the most extra- 

 vagant expectations as to the ultimate value of the discovery. The quartz-lodes of 

 the district were indiscriminately attacked by the hammers of ardent gold-seekers. 

 The Crown got a small harvest by granting gold-licences, and a good deal of rash 

 speculation and loss was the necessary consequence. 



Much weight was attached to Sir Roderick Murchison's Australian prophecy, and 

 that recorded opinion of his, in the Siluria, that 'the most usual position of gold is in 

 quartzose vein-stones that traverse altered palaeozoic states, frequently near their junc- 

 tion with eruptive rocks, whether of igneous or of aqueous origin.' And it was a 

 remarkable coincidence, that the gold at Clogau was found at the junction of the 

 Cambrian sandstones, and the Lingula flags of the Lower Silurian rocks near an 

 eruptive bar of porphyritic greenstone. 



About this time, a valuable paper appeared in the Transactions of the Geological 

 Society of London, in which the geology of this problematical district is described at 

 great length by Professor Kamsay, Director-General of the Geological Survey of 

 Great Britain. 4 



Of course, this became an era of joint-stock speculation, and companies were formed 

 for working Clogau, Cwmheisian, and other mines, containing, or supposed to contain, 

 jiuriferous minerals. 



Eventually, the rich Clogau mine became the subject of two Chancery suits, and the 

 other mines, one after another, collapsed, after ineffectual attempts to extract gold by 

 various means of amalgamation. 



The vexed question again lay dormant until 1857 and 1858, when the Vigra and 

 Clogau mines were sold by order of the Court of Chancery, and bought by Messrs. 

 Read win and Williams, who, with a few other enterprising persons, set them to work 

 for copper and gold, with Captain John Parry as mine agent. The Dolfrwynog, the 

 Prince of Wales, and the Cambrian mines were also started to work for gold. 



About this time Professor Ramsay, referring to the discoveries of gold at these 

 mines, wrote, ' In the Ural Mountains, South Australia, Canada, and other parts of 

 the world, gold occurs in rocks of the same general age, and apparently under the 

 same circumstances.' 5 There was, however, nothing of importance discovered until 

 the end of 1852, when several bunches of gold were found in the forebroast of a 

 shallow level, on the south side of the gold-lode at Clogau, and early in the following 

 year, the gold appeared associated with yellow copper-ore and telluric bismuth, 



1 'The Gold Discoveries of Merioneth.' T.y T. A. Readwin, F.G.S. I860. 



" 'Notice respecting the discovery of (!oll Ores in Merionethshire, North Wales.' By Arthur 

 Denn, C.B. ' British Association Reports,' 1M 1. 



* On the Occurrence of Gold in Merionethshire.' By T. A. Rcadwin, F.G.S. "British Association 

 Reports,' 18G1. 



* ' On the Geology of the Gold-bearing District of Merionethshire.' By Professor A. 0. Ramsay. 



* Monograph in the ' Geologist,' February 1838. By Professor Ramsay, F.R.S., &c. 



