Cogill and Owen

PILGRIM’S Rest is full of interesting people and places. Two of the best-known characters in the village were Claude Cogill and Michael Owen.

The manager of the Graskop branch, Mac McDonald, took Barclay’s News reporters to meet them at “The Diggings” where Claude entertains visitors with tales of Pilgrim’s Rest and demonstrations of panning.

Claude was born in Pilgrim’s Rest 70 years ago and has lived in the village for much of his life. He was an assayer for the Transvaal Gold Mining Estates which finally closed down in 1971. Rand Mines, the holding company, still retains all mineral rights although they sold the village to the Province. “The mining companies were never interested in alluvial gold,” says Claude, “you see, alluvial gold mining is a game of chance, reef mining is a game of skill.”

His job was to assay the bullion before it was sent to the Rand Refinery, where the silver was extracted. Against the assay certificates he issued, Barclay’s Bank at Pilgrim’s Rest was allowed to payout the value in money.

He has many stories to tell about the mining town in its heyday: “The town can never be exactly the same as it was then; lots of things today are no longer relevant to Pilgrims Rest because this was essentially a mining town. ”

Claude recalls a famous character from the past, Bert Longstaff from the Jubilee Mine who used to ride through the town on his horse, whistling as he rode. He clearly remembers  Mine “big boss” of TGME, Mr R. A. Barry, who was the mine manager who lived and ruled from the big house at the end of the town.

Some years ago Claude bought the Mali Dyke Mine from Rand Mines which he continued to operate it in a small way. His only son Professor Charles Cogill is an industrial psychologist at Natal University. “He collects university degrees – I collect gold,” quips the highly articulate Claude.

Michael Owen, his great friend, does not look anywhere near his 82 years. A Welshman from Caernarvon (Wales); Michael has lived in Pilgrim’s Rest for 64 years. His was one of the 21 Welsh families that settled in the town. He also began his mining career with TGME and stayed with them all his working life. Today he is the last Welshman left in Pilgrim’s Rest. He recalls: “There was a lot of singing here once upon a time although not everyone in the choir was Welsh – we had a few Germans”. He has even learned to speak Afrikaans, “with a Welsh accent”, he chuckles.

Claude and Michael have seen Barclay’s Bank change from a full-time bank, “the only bank here” to being a thrice-weekly agency of the Graskop branch.

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The Gold Strike in the Pilgrims’s Rest area, during the 1870’s, was a point at hand.

Nugget from Pilgrim's Rest

At first the “rush” was local. But once the news spread to Lydenburg, and then further a field, it drew hundreds of gold seekers from many parts of the globe to seek their fortunes. Reports from the Transvaal had said: “This is the real thing!” It was the Klondyke and California all over again as people set out for the new El Dorado.

To reach the goldfields however, the journey required some capital. Australian and American diggers, down on their luck, scraped together their passage money, while many sailors deserted their ships in South African ports.

Gold Diggers on the way to a Gold Rush

Virtually all of them had foot-slogged most of the way from the coast; their worn boots and tattered clothing baring out the testimony that it had been a long, hard walk. They had come from Natal, the diamond fields in Kimberley, Lourenco Marques, and from as far a field as the Cape. Kimberley, where most of the diamond claims had petered out, supplied about a third of the diggers.

Lourenco Marques was only 250 odd kilometers from Pilgrim’s Rest, but it was a most perilous journey, to be taken only by those prepared to risk their lives in the hope of making a fortune.

Gold Panners at Macmac

In the summer months the heat was appalling, and at least two thirds of those who tried to walk across the region that is today largely covered by the Kruger National Park, contracted malaria.

As the period of incubation for malaria before it manifests itself is about fourteen days, it depended on how long they had spent in Lourenco Marques, before they embarked on their journey, as to whether they were laid low on the journey, or whether it began to show itself after they had climbed the escarpment.

Remains of Malaria Victims

Anopheles Mosquito

The fate of those too weak to walk through the Bushveld is almost too awful to contemplate – a slow and lonely death from starvation, with hyenas gloating patiently as they waited for the end.

Wheelbarrow Patterson

One of the early diggers was a man named Alex Patterson. Alex was a slow-moving, taciturn man who was working at Macmac. He was a loner who could do without the company of other men. He had earned the nick-name of  “Wheelbarrow Alex” because he had arrived in the area with all his equipment loaded on a wheelbarrow.

Donkey Overload

He was believed to have come from Kimberley, but in fact had come all the way from the Cape.However, the animal was decidedly malcontent with the heavy load, and when Alex tried to goad it on, it kicked him, and that was that. He promptly sold the beast, and bought a wheelbarrow that he pushed from the Cape, via Kimberley, to Pilgrim’s Rest – a distance of 2600 kilometers !

Alex felt that the Macmac diggings were becoming too crowded, and he decided it was time to move on. He worked his claim until sundown, and then packed his pick, his shovels and sluice box onto the wheelbarrow.

Earliest View of Pilgrim's Creek

“I’m off”, he said the next morning, and headed for the hills.

Unfortunately one Stafford found him and his source of gold. He must have followed a game trail to the north-west, and pulled and pushed his wheelbarrow up a spur of the mountain that rose 600meters odd.

Gold Dust

He decided to pan the Peach Tree Creek where he found real gold. He never registered his claim and panned as hard as he could, filling his pockets as quickly as he could. He had found his Eldorado !

He blew the whistle by registering his claim, and Peach tree creek became the Pilgrim’s Creek, which was where the first real gold strike occurred in Southern Africa, spawning the biggest gold rush the world had ever seen. The diggers came from all over in their droves, to stake their claims in the Pilgrim’s Creek. It is said that Stafford coined the name Pilgrim’s Rest on finding this incredible source of alluvial gold !

Gleaned from various sources.

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Call our Dream Merchants for exciting History, Wildlife, Scenic, or General Interest tours of the Panorama, Lowveld and Kruger regions or beyond on
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