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Events/Rush · 1886

Witwatersrand gold rush

Rush, from July 1886, South Africa.

What happened

The Transvaal gold yield was valued at 11.65 million pounds in 1897, fell to 1.48 million in 1900 during the South African War, and reached 30.99 million in 1909. In 1909 that was about a third of the world total of 91.9 million pounds (computed from the ABS tables).1,2,3

Why it matters

The Rand became the world's largest gold source within two decades.1,2,3

How this rush compares

Witwatersrand gold rush

  • Discovery1886-072Harrison, Langlaagte; his affidavit date is not on the opened page
  • Camp population (1886)3,000 people2About 3,000 inhabitants by August 1886, mostly White
  • Public diggings proclaimed (1886)9 farms2Proclaimed 8 September 1886
  • Towns founded (1886)1 town2Johannesburg named 3 October and declared 4 October 1886
  • Transvaal gold value (1897)11,654,000 pounds sterling (assumed)1ABS table, Transvaal
  • Transvaal gold value war low (1900)1,481,000 pounds sterling (assumed)1Output collapsed during the South African War
  • Transvaal gold value later (1909)30,988,000 pounds sterling (assumed)1ABS table, Transvaal
  • Transvaal share of world gold (1909)33.7 percent1Computed: 30.988 / 91.91

California gold rush

  • Discovery1848-01-244Marshall at Sutter's mill
  • Population before rush (1848)14,000 people (non-Indian)5State population estimate when gold was found
  • Population end 1849 (1849)100,000 people5"nearly 100,000"
  • Population 1852 (1852)250,000 people5"some 250,000"
  • Census population (1850)92,597 people61850 US census count
  • Gold recovered (1855)750,000 pounds6Estimated recovered 1848 to 1855. About 340 tonnes at 0.4536 kg per pound (computed).
  • Value recovered then (1900)25,000,000,000 US dollars, modern equivalent5Mother Lode and Klamath fields together, "modern-day equivalent of more than $25 billion" by the turn of the century
  • News reached san francisco1848-036Rumours reached San Francisco in March 1848
  • Population after 50 years (1900)1,485,053 people6California census 1900

Klondike gold rush

  • Discovery1896-08-167Parks Canada; staking on 17 August per its history text
  • News to outside world1897-078SS Portland reached Seattle with over a ton of gold
  • People who set out (1900)100,000 people8Set out for the Klondike 1897 to 1900 ("more than")
  • People who came (1900)40,000 people8"No more than 40,000" reached Dawson City
  • Canada gold value before (1897)1,240,000 pounds sterling (assumed)1Canada national gold yield, ABS table; Klondike share not separated
  • Canada gold value peak (1900)5,742,000 pounds sterling (assumed)1Canada national gold yield, ABS table
  • World gold value (1900)52,086,000 pounds sterling (assumed)1World gold yield 1900, ABS table
  • Canada share of world gold (1900)11 percent1Computed from the two ABS values (5.742 / 52.086)

Victorian gold rush

  • First discovery clunes1850-031Hon. W. Campbell at Clunes, "probably" first
  • Rush notification1851-07-051Gold notified in the Yarra Ranges and the Pyrenees
  • Commonwealth population 1851 (1851)437,665 people1Australia end of 1851
  • Commonwealth population 1861 (1861)1,168,149 people1Australia end of 1861
  • People who came (1861)40,000 people per year, average1"Over 40,000" a year reached Victoria 1851 to 1861
  • Years as top australian producer (1898)47 years1Victoria led until Western Australia passed it in 1898
  • Victoria gold 1901 (1901)730,450 fine ounces1ABS table
  • Deaths at the Eureka Stockade (1854)28 people9Six police and troopers and at least 22 diggers, State Library Victoria
  • Peak year18561Victoria's highest yearly gold output

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).10,11,12

  2. George Carmack born

    George Carmack born (date from Wikidata).13

  3. General Mining Law of 1872

    The law remains the basis for claims to locatable minerals on US federal land.14,15

  4. Homestake Mine: inception

    Homestake Mine: inception.16

  5. Gold found in the Kimberley (Halls Creek)

    It was the first Western Australian gold excitement, before the 1890s rushes.17,18

  6. Gold find at Southern Cross

    A find at Southern Cross caused excitement in 1888, before the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie rushes.19

  7. Gold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek

    It set off the Klondike gold rush.7,20,21

  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.22

Open the full timeline

Where next

People

Worked hereHermann EcksteinBeit sent him to set up H. Eckstein and Co. on the Rand.23

Mines

Located inWitwatersrand main reef mines, 1886 to 1887A mine from the same area and mineral story: Witwatersrand main reef mines, 1886 to 1887.1

Events

Led toCyanide process for gold developed in ScotlandCyanide reached the Rand in May 1890, as the surface diggings began to run out.24Led toAfrican mine workers' strike on the WitwatersrandOn 12 August 1946 the African Mine Workers' Union struck. SAHO puts strikers near 100,000.25Came out ofGold found on the WitwatersrandBy August 1886 the unnamed camp had about 3,000 inhabitants.2

Sources

  1. Year Book Australia 1911, gold chapter Australian Bureau of Statistics
  2. Discovery of the Gold in 1884 South African History Online
  3. Witwatersrand (item Q587808), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  4. The California Gold Rush (California National Historic Trail) US National Park Service
  5. Gold Rush Overview California State Parks
  6. History and the Census: The 1848 California Gold Rush (Jan 2018) US Census Bureau
  7. Discovery Claim National Historic Site Parks Canada
  8. Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike (Teaching with Historic Places) US National Park Service
  9. Eureka Stockade (Golden Victoria, ErgoSlv) State Library Victoria
  10. Fort Langley National Historic Site: History Parks Canada
  11. 1858: The Mainland of British Columbia Becomes a Crown Colony Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
  12. Fort Langley National Historic Site (item Q1282806), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  13. Wikidata item Q720659 (George Carmack)
  14. Mining Claims and Sites on Federal Lands (PDF) US Bureau of Land Management
  15. Washington, D.C. (item Q61), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  16. Wikidata item Q2351504 (Homestake Mine: inception)
  17. The Rush for Gold (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum
  18. Halls Creek (item Q992686), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  19. The Rush for Gold Western Australian Museum
  20. Gold Discoverers (Klondike Gold Rush NHP) US National Park Service
  21. Bonanza Creek (item Q2213604), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  22. Dawson Historical Complex National Historic Site Parks Canada
  23. Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement: Beit, Alfred Wikisource (public domain source text)
  24. Cyanide hazards to plants and animals from gold mining and related water issues (publication page) US Geological Survey
  25. 1946 African Mineworkers Strike South African History Online

Pictures on this page: Hermann Eckstein00.jpg, not recorded on the file page (Public domain).

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).