330 Canadian Record of Science. 



first recognition of their value, but the best authenticated 

 facts are as follows : The property forms part of a block 

 of 640 acres originally taken up in 1873 for grazing pur- 

 poses by one Donald Gordon. The Brothers Morgan held 

 land in the same district, and were one day shown by 

 Gordon a fragment of gold-bearing quartz which he had 

 picked up in Mundic Creek. For a consideration, said to 

 have been £20 and as much whiskey as he could drink, 

 Gordon agreed to show them the locality where the 

 specimens had been found. On the hill overlooking the 

 creek he showed them the silicious ironstone that carried 

 visible gold, and they found by sending samples to 

 Sydney that it was even richer than they had imagined, 

 so they purchased Gordon's holding at £1 per acre. 



The three Morgans subsequently sold, first a part, and 

 eventually the whole of their interest in the mine. In 

 1886 a company was formed with a capital of one million 

 shares of £1 each. These shares rose, toward the end of 

 1888 to £17 5s. (about $86.25) giving the mine a market 

 value of seventeen and a quarter millions sterling, or over 

 eighty-six million dollars. 



In one year, ending November 30th, 1889, the Mount 

 Morgan mine produced 75,415 tons of ore, yielding a 

 little over 323,542 ounces of gold, worth $6,657,424, and 

 permitting the payment of $5,500,000 in dividends. The 

 yield per ton was 4 oz., 6 dwts., 4 grs., while the working- 

 cost was, as is seen, only 17 per cent, of the value of the 

 product. The yield has now fallen off somewhat, though 

 the mine is still very productive, affording last year 

 119,900 ounces of gold, and paying dividends to the 

 value of nearly $1,500,000. 



The mine does not, as the name would imply, crown the 

 summit of a mountain properly so called, but forms a 

 quarry at the top of a hill only 500 feet above the 

 village at its base, and 1,225 feet above sea level, sur- 

 rounded by very broken, hilly country and almost encir- 



