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Events/Discovery · 1886

Gold found on the Witwatersrand

Discovery, July 1886, South Africa.

What happened

George Harrison is credited with the main reef find on the farm Langlaagte in July 1886. By August the unnamed camp had about 3,000 inhabitants. Nine farms were proclaimed public diggings on 8 September. Johannesburg was named on 3 October and the site declared on 4 October 1886.1,2

Why it matters

It created the largest gold field known and Johannesburg.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Fraser River gold rush

    The rush led Britain to create the Colony of British Columbia in 1858, partly from fear of American annexation. The legislature dates this to 2 August and Parks Canada to 19 November (proclamation by Governor James Douglas).3,4,5

  2. George Carmack born

    George Carmack born (date from Wikidata).6

  3. General Mining Law of 1872

    The law remains the basis for claims to locatable minerals on US federal land.7,8

  4. Homestake Mine: inception

    Homestake Mine: inception.9

  5. Gold found in the Kimberley (Halls Creek)

    It was the first Western Australian gold excitement, before the 1890s rushes.10,11

  6. Gold find at Southern Cross

    A find at Southern Cross caused excitement in 1888, before the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie rushes.12

  7. Gold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek

    It set off the Klondike gold rush.13,14,15

  8. Dawson City at the height of the Klondike rush

    Parks Canada estimates 20,000 to 30,000 people at the height of the rush.16

Open the full timeline

Where next

Mines

Located inWitwatersrand main reef mines, 1886 to 1887See the mine at the heart of this story: Witwatersrand main reef mines, 1886 to 1887.1Came out ofCrown MinesRead what happened near Crown Mines: Gold found on the Witwatersrand.17Came out ofEast Rand Proprietary Mines (ERPM)Read what happened near East Rand Proprietary Mines (ERPM): Gold found on the Witwatersrand.18Came out ofRobinson Deep mineRead what happened near Robinson Deep mine: Gold found on the Witwatersrand.19

Events

Led toWitwatersrand gold rushBy August 1886 the unnamed camp had about 3,000 inhabitants.1Came out ofBarberton gold rushBarberton was the first major eastern Transvaal boom, two years before the Witwatersrand.1

Places

Located inJohannesburgSee the place where this happened: Johannesburg.1

Sources

  1. Discovery of the Gold in 1884 South African History Online
  2. Johannesburg (item Q34647), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Fort Langley National Historic Site: History Parks Canada
  4. 1858: The Mainland of British Columbia Becomes a Crown Colony Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
  5. Fort Langley National Historic Site (item Q1282806), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  6. Wikidata item Q720659 (George Carmack)
  7. Mining Claims and Sites on Federal Lands (PDF) US Bureau of Land Management
  8. Washington, D.C. (item Q61), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Wikidata item Q2351504 (Homestake Mine: inception)
  10. The Rush for Gold (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum
  11. Halls Creek (item Q992686), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  12. The Rush for Gold Western Australian Museum
  13. Discovery Claim National Historic Site Parks Canada
  14. Gold Discoverers (Klondike Gold Rush NHP) US National Park Service
  15. Bonanza Creek (item Q2213604), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  16. Dawson Historical Complex National Historic Site Parks Canada
  17. Wikidata item Q31908708 (Crown Mines) Wikidata (CC0)
  18. Wikidata item Q137925092 (East Rand Proprietary Mines) Wikidata (CC0)
  19. Wikidata item Q3437185 (Robinson Deep Mine) Wikidata (CC0)

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).