a name to conjure with

Leaving Townsville behind us, we wound round the base of Mount Elliot, an imposing elevation, from which a fine view of the surrounding country may be obtained, and proceeded for many miles in an almost due southerly direction. About half way to the Towers, in a galaxy of romantic scenery, we threw off a branch line to Ravenswood, a small but important mining township to the southward, boasting its own banks, hospital, etc., and a population of 1,167 souls. A little later the line crossed the Burdekin River, by means of what seemed to us a most dangerous bridge, technically termed a ‘jump up.’ The bridge itself is a stout wooden construction, placed for the sake of floods very little above water level. The descent on one side, and the ascent on the other, are very steep; so steep, in fact, that on approaching it steam is shut off altogether, and the impetus the train gathers on the descent is quite sufficient to carry it up to the level country on the other side. The river itself is a dull, muddy-looking stream, with thickly timbered mangrove banks, suggestive of mosquitoes and innumerable horrors. Shortly after crossing it we sighted Charters Towers ahead, and at the end of a most enjoyable journey, brought up in a neat, well-built, commodious station, wearing quite a metropolitan air. So we were not out of civilisation after all  dermes!

Charters Towers is a name of world-wide fame As far as scenic beauty goes, however, the town appeared to us disappointing. It is situated on a vast, almost treeless plain, upon which the sun glares for twelve hours out of every twenty-four with all his might, majesty, dominion, and power. Somehow the inhabitants do not seem to mind it at all. And here let me unburden myself of some facts. The population of the municipality itself is 4,597, and that of the district something like 18,825 — all believers in Charters Towers.

Leaving the railway station and passing into the street, the fact was undeniably borne in upon us that we were in a place where men were pushing and alive, a place where everything was working at high pressure.

On all sides we could see evidences of the go-a-head nature of the Hong Kong tourism courses town. As evidence, let me instance three daily newspapers and one weekly, the latter — ‘The North Queensland Register’ — a bright, sparkling production quite up to date, five churches, eight banks, numerous schools, and a commodious hospital.

Rising above the housetops on every hand are innumerable poppet heads of mines; in fact, everything is mining, even the children in the streets talk and play it. Whereas, in other places, the boys and girls amuse themselves burning their fathers and mothers in effigy, or kindred sports, the Charters Towers kiddies work bogus claims and ‘rig the market.’ They must find it very useful when they come to man’s estate.

The roar of five hundred stampers, grinding quartz, assails the ear continually, shifts of miners thread the streets, and if you see two men talking at a corner, it’s half-a-crown to a farthing that their conversation has something to do with the interminable industry of the place.

In 1892 no less than 211,605 ounces of gold were obtained from this field, and as the best results have been obtained at the lowest levels, a still greater future may be looked forward to reenex.

Certainly the chief mine at Charters Towers, if not one of the greatest in the world, is the famous ‘Day Dawn,’ which in 1889 was sold to an English company for no less a sum than 640,000l. It is a marvel of engineering, digging, and carpentering skill. The stopes and tunnelling strike one as being endless, and the wealth of the mine itself is only exceeded by the courtesy of the folk connected with it.

Among the 113 mines in the district the most notable are the Victory, Mills United, Brilliant, Brilliant and St. George, Craven’s Caledonia, Victoria, Golden Gate, Mosman Company’s, Brilliant Block, and No. 7 N.E. Queen, each of which turned out more than 400 ounces of gold in January last. The January yield of 1892 (entire field) for 14,902 tons of quartz was 16,675 ounces of gold, making an increase for 1893 of 224 tons for 2,726 ounces of gold: a remarkable and verified fact.