Selling the Show by The Floater

Selling the Show
by The Floater, Bulong.

Dear Non-Com -This is a true story concerning the Mt. Katherine mine near Kookynie. It is about 25 miles out on the Edjudina road. I had Ted Kerry (not his correct name), one of the original prospectors, camped with me some 25 years ago. The mine was never any good, although it was sold for £1,200 in the early days of the Coolgardie boom.

I asked Ted how he came to get £1,200 for the Mt Katherine, and this is the story as told to me:-

We were out prospecting. We had horses and pack-horses and in some of the pack-saddles we had some specimen stone. We came across a big outcrop of quartz, and in the middle of the outcrop we found a small leader showing gold. We put a costean across the outcrop and we dollied the specimens we had in the pack saddles. Then we put the fine gold in an old muzzle-loader gun we had and shot it into the side of the costean.

News went into Coolgardie about the hill of gold we had, and we had option seekers by the score. We could show them gold in the centre and we let a six months option on it to a big mining representative They put us on wages under the charge of an old New Zealander named Tom B-, (I knew Tom myself later and a very straight old chap he was, too.) I tried to square the old blighter to hang up the job until the six months was up. We were sinking a shaft to cut the reef at a depth and we had an Afghan with camels carting timber for the shaft. I used to go out at night and take the hobbles off the camels and hunt them to hell, with the result that the next day the Afghan would be looking everywhere for his camels. Sometimes for two or three days the work on the shaft would be hung up for want of timber. Anyhow, by the time the six months were almost up the shaft was just about down to where the reef ought to have been, but there was no reef and no gold to be seen.

Out came two experts to report on developments. They had two horses and a buggy, and they wrote a long report condemning the mine, and gave themselves three days to get back to Coolgardie before the time for the option was up. Tom B told me that wouldn’t get a bob!’

I thought to myself ‘Won’t I Just’ !!!!’ The two experts left in the afternoon on the return journey, and decided to go about eight or ten miles before camping for the first night. I let them get a start on me, and then I caught one of my own horses and followed. When I came to where they were camped, they were some distance away from where they had left the horses. I crept up, untied the horses and led them through the bush to a place called Yilgangie. I caught another horse there and rode into Coolgardie, where my two mates were waiting to see if the attorney for the company was going to exercise the option or not.

The attorney was waiting for the two experts to come in with the report. Two o’clock was the hour fixed for the final decision, but the attorney put us off until 3 o’clock, hoping that the two experts would turn up. But they failed to do so, and the attorney paid us £1,200. The experts arrived that night about 9 o’clock. They had walked all the wav and were nearly dead when they entered the town, bringing their long report condemning the mine, but they were too late!

I believe that Kerry painted the town red that night. The company went on with the business, and put a ten-head battery on the mine. The first crushing went four dwts. to the ton. Later they offered a reward for the horses. Ted told a mate of his where they were, and he collected them and the buggy and brought them into Coolgardie. Ted went for a trip back to New South Wales. On the boat going back he shouted all the first-class passengers to a champagne supper. Ted got a bit noisy, and the captain had to speak to him. He put his hand into his pocket and said, “Well Anyhow, how much to you want for your boat?”

When next I met Ted he was broke.