1905-1915
(The following written by Oswald Botton in 1968
two months before his death)
Towards the end of 1905, my parents (Arthur and Marion BOTTON) were firmly established at
'Botton's Hotel and Store" and within a few weeks of being there, I(Oswald)
accepted a job on the Celtic Mine a mile or so from home, as an amalgamator in the mill.
The manager of the Celtic Mine was a kindly and courteous old gent by the name of Tom
TOOLEY and a close family friend. A most likeable, soft spoken and refined old man, who
was incapable of saying an unkind word about anybody.
The mine was owned by JOHNSON and FLETCHER, the well known mechanical and engineering
firm. They had erected a new type of stamp mill on the mine, called the 'Tremain'
mill, to prove its suitability for conditions in this country. This mill was the first of
its kind and not very successful, revealing some major disadvantages.
As an employee of the Celtic Mine it was one of my duties to cycle over to the Killarney
Mine, about ten miles distant, with the Celtic's monthly output in gold bullion. This
would be accepted for transport by Mr PLAISTOW, the Mine Secretary, together with the
Killarney's output and would then be taken to the Filabusi Siding. The transport was a
four wheeled tented Cape cart, drawn by four mules. In April 1906 Mr. PLAISTOW with his
mule driver, was on his way to the railhead and was approaching the bottom of a deep
ravine about six miles from the Siding when he was 'held up' in true Western
fashion, by masked bandits, armed to the hilt. The bandits halted the vehicle by shooting
the two leading animals and ordered the occupants of the cart to get out. George, the
driver, slipped out of his seat in a trice and reached the cover of the near by bush
before the bandits could do anything to prevent his escape. Meanwhile, Mr Plaistow was
blindfolded and ordered to retrace his s!
teps along the road. As soon as he was out of sight the bandits got busy off loading their
bounty which consisted of several boxes of bullion gold, amounting to nearly 2000
oz's. The Bandits concealed it in thick undergrowth nearby. Whilst this was going on
George, the driver had reached a trading store on the road, about four miles back. He
reported the robbery to the store keeper who, in turn was able to get in touch with the
police. In less than a week three Europeans, an ex B.S.A. Police member, the owner of a
small mine operating in the area and an unemployed miner, were apprehended and charged
with the robbery. They were found 'not guilty' and discharged, because of
insufficient evidence. The gold was found intact, still hidden in the undergrowth near
the scene of the hold up.
It was on the Celtic Mine that I met my first professional snake catcher. This resourceful
young Australian visited many of the smaller mines dotted about the country, catching
snakes and despatching them overseas where apparently, there was a ready market, the price
was based on 'per foot' of snake. His most popular hunting ground was the wood
piles stacked near the wood burning boilers and, from my own observation, reptiles of many
kinds could be seen moving about in these piles, in search of rodents, frogs and
other prey. The method the young man employed was simple, but it called for courage and
fearlessness. Armed with a six foot long stick about the thickness of a broom handle, one
end having a forked prong, he approached the reptile without hesitation, waiting his
opportunity, deftly speared it behind the head, in the next moment taking a firm grip of
it near the pronged end. Meanwhile, in its frantic efforts to be free, the snake would
coil itself ar!
ound his arm, at times lashing its tail in his face or against his chest. All this he
endured with the utmost calm. Needless to say, when this young man was at work, pretty
well every native in the vicinity, both male and female, were enthralled spectators -
at a discreet distance, of course. When he made to approach the mob with a reptile still
at hand, I have never seen such a rapid exodus, scattering in every direction, hysterical
yells created a din that could be heard from a'far. The Celtic Mine shaft was sunk on
a gentle incline, permitting easy access. At the outbreak of the
Matabele Rebellion in 96' the Celtic Mine was being actively worked and the staff
consisted of several European men, with wives and children. The African rebels soon moved
into the attack, headed for the occupied mines and farms, where murder and pillage were
their main concern. The staff of the Celtic Mine suffered the same fate, with only one
survivor to tell the tale of horror. He said he was having a cup of coffee in his kitchen,
when he heard blood curdling yells. Looking up, he saw a warrior about to hurl an
assegai at him from through the window. Quickly he summed up the situation and grabbed a
steel mining drill as a weapon. He dashed out the back of the house. The mouth of the mine
shaft was ahead, somehow evading the frenzied, yelling mob, he ran headlong down the
shaft. At this moment the mine workers were returning to the surface, excited by the din
and fearful of the safety of their wives and children. The survivor remained in the
darkness of the shaft unt!
il dusk. When at last he summoned up courage enough to return to the surface, he found
that the rebels had departed and total silence reigned. He did not stop to ascertain the
fate of the others. In the stillness of that night, he started the long walk to Bulawayo.
Early the next morning he had the good fortune to meet a rescue party under the command
of Captain Jack Spreckley, who were on their way to rescue the Europeans in the Filabusi
area. But sad to relate, they found none alive. Another fine character (although not a
member of the Mine staff), was Bert Smallie, a bachelor and a man of sterling qualities,
with a great knowledge of mining. He had acquired the right -to treat the Celtic Mine
tailings by means of the cyanide process. Bert cultivated the pleasant habit of coming
into the mill each evening for a chat, when I was on long spells of night duty, and this
was something I appreciated and always looked forward to. It is interesting to
note that Be!
rt was the discoverer of the Fred Mine, destined, to become one of the best mines in the
country, extending over an active period of nearly sixty years and producing many
thousands of ounces of gold bullion. Such is the romance and the fascination attached to
gold mining! When the Celtic Mine closed down later on, Bert Smallie for obvious reasons,
had to pack up too. He then entered into a partnership with his friend, Furber an old
hand in mining, to work the Etal Mine in the Filabusi District. Vivian Botton my older
brother was known to them and was engaged to work for them on Etal. It was on this mine
that Vivian injured his back. Serious complications set in. His back injury a fractured
spine, occurred when he was uncoupling about a mile of rusty water piping that had been
laid some years previously, resulting in the ill fated displacement of his vertebrae.
Vivian visited Dr Standish White, where he had a thorough check up. White said that Viv
was completely run down !
and recommended that he should have a couple of weeks bed rest, stressing the fact that a
complete rest was absolutely essential if Vivian was to resume normal activities. The
doctor's orders permitted Vivian to enjoy the company of all those at home, Mom
arranged his bed in a corner of the dining room rather than in the room he occupied in the
backyard. When Mom tucked him into bed that day Vivian was not to know that he would be
bedridden for the next six years. A welcome and frequent visitor to his bedside was a
young girl Kay Hairbottle, whose friendship and constancy towards Vivian relieved him of
much of the monotony of life throughout those long years of convalescence. Their
companionship endured and they married in Cape Town. He lived an active life until his
death.
I found work at the near by Bucks Reef mine, which consisted of four men, an Australian
James Black, as Manager, Jimmy Smith a Scot, who was the fitter, Howe the miner and
myself. I was fortunate in working under a considerate and able manager, Jimmy with whom
I 'messed' for a couple of years, before his departure to join his family in
Aberdeen, Scotland. Although he was some years my senior we had much in common, with a
mutual liking for the good things that life had to offer. Jimmy was particularly partial
to Cheese, the very sight of it sickened me, he loved over ripe Cheddar. He showed even
stronger preference when it had reached an advanced state of putrefaction and teemed with
maggots. He would store a portion of the cheese in a tin canister until it reached the
required state of ripeness then, armed with a table knife with a small blob of butter on
the end of it, he would lift off the lid of the canister and immediately the dining-room
table would swarm with !
countless, jumping, maggots which he mopped up with the buttered end of the knife. He
would smack his Lips in an effort to convince me, that I was depriving myself of a
gastronomic marvel too good to miss.
Undoubtedly, the highlight of my stay on the Bucks Reef was the appearance in
1910 of "Halley's Comet". I was on night duty throughout its appearance in
our hemisphere and I had a splendid opportunity to watch its course for the period of its
visibility on the horizon. If my memory serves me correctly, Halley's Comet was
visible for about a week, or so, and it is, without any doubt, the most magnificent and
awe inspiring celestial body that one could wish to see. To the naked eye the head of the
Comet appeared like a large, orange coloured sphere, alive and aglow which seemed larger
than anything else in the sky with its well defined, fanlike, tail spreading out behind in
a wide expanse and sweeping across the horizon, lighting up the heavens. The appearance
of the Comet created quite a stir, especially among the native inhabitants. Being steeped
in superstition, they saw in this phenomenon a bringer of evil, in spite of my
assurances to the contrary, they we!
re firmly convinced that on its disappearance, severe drought and famine would follow. My
gang of boys, on night shift with me were absolutely hillarious. With the appearance of
Hailey's Comet in all its glory and brilliance, they congregated around me every
night to discuss the significance of its presence but my remarks had so title impact on
them that I might just as well have spoken to the flies on the wall. They were of the firm
opinion that their Mlimo had sent this strange looking object as a warning that Armageddon
was close at hand and that the 'ball of fire' would soon hurtle down to earth to
destroy all the people and burn up the universe. I could get them to do very little work
whilst Halley's Comet was around they were quite content to stand and stare at the
unusual object, debating endlessly amongst themselves what evasive action was to be
taken when it was set on its downward path of destruction.
Around this time Uncle Bob CARRUTHERS had purchased an old gold mine in the Gwanda area
called the Ma-Zeppa on which he erected a five stamp battery and engaged his brother Bill
CARRUTHERS, to assist him in the running of the mine. Bill and Evelyn were a childless
couple, but passionately fond of children. The Bucks Reef was only about twelve miles
from the Ma-Zeppa, so I took the opportunity of cycling over, at frequent intervals,
whilst Mom and Dad were there. L.N. PAPENFUS, a well known character and a Rhodesian
pioneer who had contracted to cut and transport the firewood to the mine was, by then
operating twenty five miles away, which by any standard, made the wood-burning boilers an
uneconomical proposition. Consequently the country's heaviest five-stamp gravity
mill each stamp weighing one ton, was installed. They also erected machinery which
would generate gas from Wankie coal for the necessary power and this new plant created
such a favourable impression among !
the mining community that several other mines followed suit, thereby assisting in putting
a stop to the wanton depletion of valuable indigenous timber in the mining areas of the
country. Gerald BLACK, was a keen and knowledgeable mining man and, as a small worker, had
mined in the Gwanda area for many years. At this time Gerald was developing the Freda
Mine, a large, low-grade, rubble proposition. In order to prove the extent and the depth
of the rubble, Gerald had to sink a series of shallow shafts and it was on one of these
shafts, which was about twenty five feet deep that an accident occurred. One of the
essential articles of equipment required for use by small workers for shaft sinking was a
windlass barrel, consisting of a stout portion of the trunk of a tree, about six feet
long. At each end is inserted strong metal handles. To this barrel like piece of timber
is securely attached one end of a wire rope whilst, attached to the other end of the rope,
is a mini!
ng bucket which is used for hauling up earth from the bottom of the shaft to the surface.
This windlass barrel is placed on horizontal wooden frames across the mouth of the shaft,
so that two boys at the top can operate the bucket up and down the shaft by means of the
metal handles fitted to the barrel on which the rope winds. Two boys lowered Gerald in the
bucket. He had with him enough detonated cartridges to charge six holes previously drilled
by his boys. He filled the holes, tamping down the charges of dynamite and, having lit the
fuses, signalled the boys to, "Pezulu"; but he had not been raised more than
five feet from the bottom of the shaft when the rope fouled and slipped onto the bar of
one of the handles, which effectively prevented the boys from operating the windlass and
bucket either up or down the shaft. Gerald immediately saw his predicament the fuses were
burning and he had to make an instant decision whether to jump out of the bucket to try
and cut the !
fuses or whether to stay put in the bucket and endure the consequences of the explosion.
He decided on the latter. Braced against the bucket, feet inside, entwining his arms
around the wire rope. He tucked his head into his arms and waited. The six charges
exploded. Meanwhile, the two boys had panicked and fled for assistance from the nearest
Europeans, who were about half a mile away. They came as quickly as possible and re-wound
the rope. Gerald was hauled to the surface, still grimly clinging to the rope but with
his clothes torn to shreds and his whole body lacerated by fragments of rock and rubble
which had been hurled from side to side within the the shaft. He was beginning to
suffocate from the effects of the fumes.
Gerald recovered from his ordeal and resumed his activities on the Freda Mine, eventually
disposing of it to his own advantage.
1913 I received word from Dad that he had discovered a very rich
little prospect less than half a mile from our home, which he registered as the 'Edna
May' Mine. He had undertaken some preliminary work on the surface and this looked so
promising that he suggested I return home and assist him in its development. The reef we
exposed near the surface oxide zone, it was indeed most promising and I think we were
justified in our high hopes for the future. It was due to such high values that it was
necessary to pack the ore in large packing cases until arrangements could be finalised to
crush it in the battery of a derelict mine nearby. My brother Vivian returned home to lend
a hand in the developing of the mine. Dad was in his element lining the vertical shaft
with timber. There could be few, if any, shafts to compare with Dad's craftsmanship!
The shaft was approaching the depth of 100 feet and this we thought, was the crucial time
in the history of the Edna May. We had reached the water level and were also into the
sulphide zone and had to d!
ecide whether the values were likely to continue when we contacted the reef by cross cut
or whether the reef would be valueless and peter out. In excitement we exposed the reef to
view, and to our disappointment, the reef had developed into a 'Buck reef', devoid
of any value whatsoever. Our hopes were dashed. We continued in the hopes of striking a
splinter reef of some value but without success. Dismally we abandoned further mining
operations and the Edna May became one of the many 'might have been's' dotted
about the country. A typical example of many reefs discovered and worked by the ancients,
their customary habit was to devote all their energy to gauging out the ore of very high
value to be found near the surface, this ore was more responsive to the mediaeval tools
available at the time. When we ceased active work, we had roughly about twenty tons of
very rich ore to show for our labours.
ROBERTS and LETTS the owners of the 'The Devon and Grant' Mine, complete with a
five stamp mill and other essential machinery, were anxious to find a buyer. We approached
them, with an offer to put the plant in reasonable working order provided we could make
use of it to crush our ore for free, to which they agreed. Once everything was in order, a
few days sufficed to crush and recover the gold from our ore. In the end recovering, we
recovered gold to the value of nearly @500, about five ounces to the ton and barely
covered the costs incurred.
Uncle Bill CARRUTHERS was out prospecting in the Zambezi Valley, with Uncle Jack, when he
suffered a severe affliction which caused the loss of the use of his legs. His leg muscles
would contract and all his efforts to straighten them would fail. Various doctors in
Rhodesia and South Africa had the opinion that he had picked up some sort of virus on his
foot slogging journeys through that untamed country, but none of them were able to remedy
his disease. Bill was a Master of one of the Masonic Lodges, they took a great interest in
his case. Suggesting that with their financial assistance, he should proceed to London
and consult with specialists. Uncle Bill was bedridden and the Union Castle Line refused
to grant him passage unless he could arrange for a personal attendant to accompany him on
the voyage. This was a great disappointment to him. Many months elapsed before the
opportunity presented itself, Claude and I decided to join up for active service (W.W.1)in
England. I !
received a letter from Uncle Bill who was laid up at his home in Somerset East, telling me
all about his contemplated trip and asking if I would act as his personal attendant on the
ship. In April 1915 all was in readiness for our departure. I said my goodbyes to a very
tearful Mom and Dad at Filabusi. Claude, Wally STUTTAFORD and Bill were already in Cape
Town upon my arrival. I shared a very comfortable cabin with Bill on the promenade deck.
Within a few days we were on our way to England. May is a glorious time to arrive in
England. Claude and I enlisted in the Officers' Training Corps at Berkhamstead, some
miles out of London.
On our arrival in London, several specialists were awaiting Bill at the hospital, I saw
him comfortably settled in before I proceeded to my own hotel. The specialists seemed to
be in no hurry to act and after many consultations extending over a period of a couple of
months, they decided that Bill's only chance of recovery would be to sever the tendons
behind his knees. After the operation his general condition deteriorated, a few days later
Uncle Bill's condition was causing concern. I was called to come as quickly as
possible, arriving at the hospital that same afternoon finding him desperately ill. I
remained with him until he passed away a few hours later. Uncle Bill was buried in the
Finchley cemetery, on the outskirts of London. etc etc