Langlaagte (F 9)

Name:Langlaagte


Harrison got himself an almost identical job at a neighbouring farm, building a cottage for the Widow Petronella Oosthuizen, owner of the Block D section of the farm Langlaagte.

The moment of discovery
Walker's account, as described by historian Eric Rosenthal in his 1970 book Gold! Gold! Gold!, is that on a Sunday in February 1886, he walked across the veld from Wilgespruit to Langlaagte to call upon his friend Harrison. Strolling through the long grass, he stubbed his foot upon an outcrop of rock, which he recognised as "banket", or gold-bearing rock. Fetching his prospector's pans he crushed a sample, mixed it with water - and spotted the unmistakeable "tail" of gold.

Rosenthal is sceptical of this account. It seems improbable to him that Walker could recognise the value of "banket" - a formation whose gold bearing qualities were still unknown at that time. But it is Walker's rather appealing version of the discovery of gold that was accepted decades later by the Historical Monuments Commisision report, and entered local mythology as the accepted account.

Meanwhile, Struben, whose Confidence Reef was drying up, laid off his staff. Unemployed yet again, Walker, who appears to have done nothing about his sensational find, called on Harrison at neighbouring Langlaagte. Precisely what the two discussed is unknown; but what is clear is that on 12 April 1886, they signed a contract with another of the Oosthuizen clan, Gerhardus Cornelius Oosthuizen, who granted the pair the right to prospect for gold on his own portion of Langlaagte, Block C. Clearly the men knew they were on to something big, for Harrison immediately went to Pretoria to secure a one month prospecting licence. Oosthuizen, who was required by law to inform the state of any possible gold strike, wrote a letter to President Kruger himself, advising that "Mr Sors Hariezon" believed that "the reef is payable".



Read more: http://www.joburg.org.za/content/view/273/51/#ixzz0elhqhpJ9


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