On the gold-fields of Forfarshire

Abstract

In these our own times of gold-finding at home —having before us the fact that about £15,000 worth of gold was in 1869 extracted from a limited area in a Sutherland glen by a few gold diggers operating on the small scale, and in the face of obstacles of the most discouraging kind, it may not be amiss to inquire whether, and how far, the Highlands of Forfarshire are auriferous. We have given some attention to this question, and the general result is that—while there is no proof positive that the valleys of the Forfarshire Highlands are auriferous—there is considerable presumptive evidence that they are so to a similar extent and in a similar sense with those of Sutherland. This presumptive evidence is of different kinds. Firstly, There is the evidence derivable from geological structure —from the similarity of the rocks and drifts of the Forfarshire Highlands to those of other auriferous counties of Scotland, such as Sutherland and Lanark shires, as well as of other auriferous countries, such as New Zealand. This resemblance must be taken in connection with the fact that rocks of Lower Silurian age, and the drifts formed from their disintegration, are the most generally and richly auriferous. If a line be drawn on the map from Stonehaven to Alyth, it will (roughly) divide the region of the Old Red Sandstone to the south from the Lower Silurian slates to the north—a division which is geographically equivalent to the Lowlands and Highlands, so far as Forfarshire is concerned.