Lunenburg by the Sea

In 1861, 150 individuals secured several prospecting claims on a beach at the base of a large cliff at The Ovens, just outside the town of Lunenburg. Captain Campbell Hardy explained to The Illustrated London News' readers that "on its beach the mingled sand and pounded shale are highly prolific of gold scales. These are deposited too in the crevices of the slate strata below high-water mark, and as yet each storm and even each tide silts fresh deposits of gold in the fissures." Hardy also noted that "This golden harvest, easily reached with the usual appliances of cradles, tubs, and tin washers, has necessarily fallen to the lot of the first comers, but it has been most amply remunerative. I believe that 13 ½ oz. of fine gold have been taken from 100 lb. weight of roughly-cradled sand."

Date: 1861

Photographer: Captain Campbell Hardy, RA

Reference: NSARM Newspapers Nova Scotia Archives The Illustrated London News, 5 October 1861 p. 347