Gold Mining in Kildonan, Sutherland, 1869
Title
Gold Mining in Kildonan, Sutherland, 1869
Category
Jewellery and Silverware
Description
At the peak of the Kildonan Gold Rush in March 1869 over 600 men travelled to the Highland districts of Suisgill and the Kildonan Burns in the hope of making their fortunes. The three men in this hazy photograph, which was probably taken by photographer, Alexander Johnston, from Wick in Caithness, are standing in front of the huts and tents that formed temporary living quarters in the landscape beneath the Sutherland estate hills at Helmsdale. This make-do, shanty town known in Gaelic as Bal an Or (Town of Gold) was home to a transient workforce of hopeful gold prospectors between January and December and 1869.
The history of Sutherland gold began when a nugget of gold was found in the River Helmsdale early in the 19th century. Fifty years later, native Kildonan, Robert Nelson Gilchrist, recently returned from his successful gold-mining venture in Australia, was given permission by the duke of Sutherland to survey the river’s burns and tributaries. Gilchrist’s efforts revealed enough gold to trigger a wave of newspaper reports and a short-lived escalation of mining activity. The Kildonan waterways yielded relatively little saleable gold, yet stories of fortunes made in recent gold rushes in Australia and California fuelled the public’s imagination and their enthusiasm for stories of Scottish gold. The activities at Helmsdale were reported widely in Scotland and London most notably in an extensive article published in the Illustrated London News (May 29, 1869).
Mining for gold wasn’t a skilled or artisanal activity; on the contrary characteristic of the Scottish gold rush was that it attracted both seasoned miners returned from the fields of California or Australia and hopeful adventurers armed only with a pick and a sieve or rudimentary kitchen equipment. Gold on the Sutherland land was extracted from the banks of the burn through a process of mining and then sifting in the Helmsdale waters, and much of it found its way to jewellers in Inverness and Glasgow who used it to make jewellery favoured for its novelty and its resonance of the Scottish landscape. The Inverness Courier reported that Mr Wilson, jeweller from Inverness, bought £30, 5s 8d worth of gold early in March and a further £193 worth at the end of the month. D.C Rait of Glasgow was another good customer of the Kildonan miners.
Who the men in this photograph are isn’t recorded but twenty-two tents and wooden houses were in place at Bal an Or by the height of the rush, so these men could be seasoned miners or hopeful beginners. The imposition of licenses at the end of the month checked the expansion of the settlement and dissuaded those without experience or equipment from persevering with the difficulties of washing gold and combating the hostile weather.
Alexander Johnston (1839-1896), son of plumber, whose mother was the daughter of a local cabinetmaker, set-up as a professional photographer in Wick in 1863, later occupying premises in Parliament Square. Johnston specialised in local harbour scenes and was equipped to take photographs in exposed landscapes. Taking a portable camera and mobile darkroom Johnston travelled for four days to capture images of the Kildonan miners. His photographs of Bal an Or were produced as both single and stereoscopic images.
The history of Sutherland gold began when a nugget of gold was found in the River Helmsdale early in the 19th century. Fifty years later, native Kildonan, Robert Nelson Gilchrist, recently returned from his successful gold-mining venture in Australia, was given permission by the duke of Sutherland to survey the river’s burns and tributaries. Gilchrist’s efforts revealed enough gold to trigger a wave of newspaper reports and a short-lived escalation of mining activity. The Kildonan waterways yielded relatively little saleable gold, yet stories of fortunes made in recent gold rushes in Australia and California fuelled the public’s imagination and their enthusiasm for stories of Scottish gold. The activities at Helmsdale were reported widely in Scotland and London most notably in an extensive article published in the Illustrated London News (May 29, 1869).
Mining for gold wasn’t a skilled or artisanal activity; on the contrary characteristic of the Scottish gold rush was that it attracted both seasoned miners returned from the fields of California or Australia and hopeful adventurers armed only with a pick and a sieve or rudimentary kitchen equipment. Gold on the Sutherland land was extracted from the banks of the burn through a process of mining and then sifting in the Helmsdale waters, and much of it found its way to jewellers in Inverness and Glasgow who used it to make jewellery favoured for its novelty and its resonance of the Scottish landscape. The Inverness Courier reported that Mr Wilson, jeweller from Inverness, bought £30, 5s 8d worth of gold early in March and a further £193 worth at the end of the month. D.C Rait of Glasgow was another good customer of the Kildonan miners.
Who the men in this photograph are isn’t recorded but twenty-two tents and wooden houses were in place at Bal an Or by the height of the rush, so these men could be seasoned miners or hopeful beginners. The imposition of licenses at the end of the month checked the expansion of the settlement and dissuaded those without experience or equipment from persevering with the difficulties of washing gold and combating the hostile weather.
Alexander Johnston (1839-1896), son of plumber, whose mother was the daughter of a local cabinetmaker, set-up as a professional photographer in Wick in 1863, later occupying premises in Parliament Square. Johnston specialised in local harbour scenes and was equipped to take photographs in exposed landscapes. Taking a portable camera and mobile darkroom Johnston travelled for four days to capture images of the Kildonan miners. His photographs of Bal an Or were produced as both single and stereoscopic images.
Image copyright
Tain and District Museum Trust
Item Location
Tain and District Museum
Files
Citation
“Gold Mining in Kildonan, Sutherland, 1869 ,” Artisans in Scotland, accessed May 23, 2025, https://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/items/show/61.