These discoveries had, however, little ef- 

 fect in increasing the population or 

 changing its character. Although this 

 State ranks first in the production of 

 tin, second in silver and lead, and pro- 

 duces over 6,000 tons of copper a year, 

 "it remains what it always was — a group 

 of gardens, farms, wood-lots, and or- 

 chards" in the midst of delightful scen- 

 ery. It is the White Mountain region 

 for Australia. 



FABULOUS RETURNS 



Broken Hill, in New South Wales, is 

 perhaps the most famous mining district 

 in Australia, noted alike for containing 

 the largest lead-silver mine in the world 

 and for its endless labor troubles. These 

 two claims to fame are closely related, 

 for the richness of the ore bodies and size 

 of the dividends have incited the miners 

 to "get their share." The crude ore runs 

 16 per cent of lead and zinc and 1 1 ounces 

 of silver to the ton. From a lode 10 to 

 300 feet wide and 2 miles long ore to the 

 value of $383,000,000 has been extracted. 

 One of seven shares of the original pro- 

 prietary syndicate, valued at $500, after- 

 ward was quoted at $11,000,000! 



The Broken Hill mines have changed 

 the map of Australia. They support in 

 the desert a city of 33,000 people, a pri- 

 vately owned railway 250 miles in length 

 leading to a port in an adjoining sState, 

 and at the end of the railroad the smelter 

 town of Port Pirie, with a population of 

 15,000. 



West Australia was the last of the 

 States to feel the push of mining discov- 

 eries, but the impulse came with unusual 

 force. The growth, development, pros- 

 perity, legislation, and social character of 

 this State are but the reflections of its 

 gold mines. In 1880 the total population 

 of an area nearly one-third as large as 

 the United States was 29,000, distributed 

 along the Coast and engaged in agricul- 

 tural and pastoral pursuits. But the sen- 

 sational discoveries at Coolgardie (1892), 

 followed by the almost unparalleled finds 

 a few miles farther on, at Kalgoorlie, 

 within three years doubled the population 

 of the State, and during the twenty years 

 since Hannan made his memorable dis- 

 covery a population of 48,000 had become 

 320,000 (see map, pages 480-481). 



The mines of the "Golden State" have 



A-^_ ''RockhamDton 



RAILROAD MAP (SEE ALSO PAGLS 480-481) 



Although the railroads of Australia are 

 largely State owned, there can be very few 

 through routes, for each State has its own 

 gauge track (see text, page 564). It is not 

 likely that motor trucks will ever play a large 

 part in the Australian Desert. The amount of 

 material transported to the back country will 

 always be small, and on account of the scarcity 

 of water and the very high price of gasoline 

 (there is no fuel oil of any sort in Australia), 

 it will be unprofitable to use trucks for trans- 

 portation. Where a large amount of material 

 is to be handled, as from a mine, an amount 

 too large for camels and too small to justify 

 the construction of a railway, motor trucks 

 will eventually, I believe, find a place. At 

 present automobiles are used in the more 

 thickly settled parts of the country; horses, 

 however, are the chief transportation agents 

 in the humid regions and camels in the arid. 



justified their early promise — they are 

 fabulously rich. Within a few feet of 

 the surface gold in flakes, grains, and 

 nuggets weighing tens of ounces was 

 ready for the finder. In one excavation 

 8 feet by 5 feet by 4 feet $90,000 was 

 taken, and by the year 1900 seventy tons 

 of gold had been gathered at Kalgoorlie. 



West Australia is the Nevada of the 

 southern continent ; Kalgoorlie its Com- 

 stock Lode. 



The sensational yields of the early days 

 in Queensland, Victoria, and West Aus- 

 tralia were largely from surface workings 

 made by pick and shovel ; but now ore is 

 mined at Ballarat to depths of exceeding 

 2,500 feet. At Bendigo thirteen shafts 

 are over 3,000 feet in depth, and the Vic- 

 toria Reef Quartz Mine reaches a depth 

 of 4,614 feet — probably the deepest gold 

 mine in the world. In West Australia 

 real prosperity began with deeper mining 

 and has continued with slight abatement 

 to the present day. 



559 



