made known his discovery to the warden and registrar, Messrs. Finnerty and Compton. He applied for a lease, and lodged 554 ozs. of gold at the bank.
The news of this splendid discovery was telegraphed far and wide. Men throughout Western Australia prepared to go to the site of Bayley's find, which obtained the name of the Gnarlbine Field, Coolgardie, or Bayley's. The emotion caused at Southern Cross knew no bounds, and crowds gathered at the bank, jostling and clambering on each other's shoulders to get a glimpse of the specimens. Bayley immediately returned to the place, accompanied by Warden Finnerty, and was followed by all the inhabitants of Southern Cross who could by any means leave that centre. The exodus was such as only a sensational gold find, or imminent danger in time of war, could cause. The people were beside themselves with excitement, and clamoured for provisions and conveyances. A strike of miners was in progress, and the men were delighted with the opportunity to leave the district; tanks, stores, and offices were deserted. Parker's Range, Golden Valley, and Southern Cross were almost abandoned. The Registrar's offer was besieged by able-bodied men anxious to obtain miner's rights. All day, and during a greater part of the night, the Registrar was issuing these little bits of paper, and in the street and at his meals he wrote them out and received the fees. He was even rapped up from bed by enthusiastic men. Two enterprising residents, Messrs. Cohn and Murphy, announced during the day that they would send three waggons to the site of the find on the following day (Sunday), and charge £5 per "swag" of 100 lbs. weight. At about two o'clock on Sunday afternoon the waggons started on their journey, and took Hunt's old track. An excited concourse of men hurriedly followed, like refugees from a city besieged by an army of infidels. The route was poorly watered, and many of the men were inadequately outfitted. Some went out on this desolate journey of over 100 miles with nothing more than a few pounds of flour to sustain them; one man's provisions consisted of a bottle of brandy and two buns. When Coolgardie was reached, after a tedious journey, the first arrivals pegged out leases close to Bayley's prospecting area, and others fossicked for alluvial in the ground surrounding the outcrop. Among the first to take out leases, besides Bayley, were Messrs. Ward, Waldock, Bennett, Latimer, J.M.F. Galle, Tibbetts, Adams, Blackett, Rowles, and O'Dea.
At York, Northam, Albany, Perth, and Fremantle similar excitement prevailed. Before many days had elapsed men were trailing along the track leading from York to Southern Cross. Numbers walked this journey of nearly three hundred miles, others took carriages and horses, and still others hired or purchased all the available camels. The stampede was to most disappointing, and to some disastrous. It was soon recognised by the cautious that an extensive emigration to Coolgardie would be suicidal; there was not sufficient water for all these men. Those not well equipped suffered severely, and were dependent on the good nature of others better provisioned. Bayley and Ford employed miners to help them to manipulate their quartz, and they were put to considerable trouble to keep the men camped around from assaulting them. On 8th October Bayley returned to Southern Cross a second time, on this occasion with 528 ozs. of gold, dollied out in six days. Mr. Finnerty returned at the same time, and reported to the Government on the find. He announced that no defined line of lode showed on the surface, but that a line of quartz, from four to twenty feet wide, could be traced through a considerable portion of Bayley's ground. The chute from which the gold had been obtained was only a few feet in length. When he left there were 150 men on the field, and he met about 170 others going out.
Mr. Finnerty permitted the men to work the alluvial ground to within twenty feet of the reef. Some valuable nuggets were found. Three men are said to have accumulated 200 ozs. in fourteen days, and before the 25th October about 3,000 ozs. had been secured in the district. Much of this was picked up on the surface, or was obtained by the dry blowing process. Nearly 400 men were scattered over a ten-mile radius of Bayley's by the end of October, and numbers of others were constantly arriving in buggies, on foot, or with camels. Water became so scarce that several shillings a gallon were paid for it, while flour was sold for 1s. 7d. a pound. The majority of the men became downcast by reason of the many difficulties. Only a comparative few were fortunate enough to obtain gold. Without water, supplies, and gold they began to go back to Southern Cross, proclaiming to all they met that the field was a failure. Thus, in the hot weather, towards the end of 1892, Coolgardie was nearly deserted. This became necessary because of the absence of water. Bayley and Ford, however, had good cause to be satisfied, for within a few weeks they had dollied over 2,000 ozs. from their claim. But Coolgardie was destined to a bright near future, and in the first few months of 1893 hundreds of men were prospecting the country stretching from there, and hundreds more were coming to the colony.
While so much attention was absorbed by these gold discoveries, deposits of tin and coal were found which deserved more support than they received or are receiving. When kangaroo hunting in a gully on the Blackwood River, in the latter part of 1888, Mr. Stinton found a small quantity of stream tin. The site was situated about nine miles froth Bridgetown, and fifty-two miles from Bunbury, on the north-east side of the Blackwood. The tin was said to be very rich, and several leases were pegged out. The Bunbury Tin Mining Company was formed, and began work on Stinton's lease early in 1889. Samples of ore were raised, and by April shares in the company rose rapidly. Quarter shares, which cost the vendors £5 each, were sold for £80. Several other companies and syndicates were floated in the south-west and Perth, and for a time the future of tin mining was excitedly debated. The tin field lay on a ridge, and the greater part of the surface was covered with ironstone gravel, with here and there outcrops of hard crystalline rock, and dykes of diorite and tourmaline. The Bunbury Company sank a shaft on Stinton's claim, and found a false bottom of ironstone, in which there were pockets containing tin ore. Deeper down through a coarse quartz grit, containing a little clayey matter, richer tin ore and tourmaline were struck. Some of the stuff went 4 and 5 lbs. to the dish.
Mr. Woodward visited the district, and issued a report in June, 1889. He found prospects of fine tin nearly all over the field, and even in sand on the surface. He inspected the shaft, and expressed the opinion that a valuable discovery had been made. Good colours of gold were obtained in the shaft, and Mr. Woodward anticipated that rich pockets of that metal would be found. But although the Government Geologist had great hopes of the field, and thought that rich tin lodes undoubtedly existed, the claims, which became known as the Greenbushes Tin Field, have not been adequately worked. After the first spasmodic excitement, the shareholders of the companies became dissatisfied, and tin mining lanquished in later years for
