My Life: Pilgrims Rest

The first gold rush in South Africa took place in 1873 when payable gold was discovered on the farm Geelhoutboom near the town of Sabie on the Mpumalanga escarpment. President Burgers who visited the site names the place Mac Mac and declared the are the "New Caledonia Gold Fields". One of the diggers "Alec 'Wheelbarrow' Patterson, left the immediate area to prospect further afield and found rich gold deposits in the Pilgrim creek.

News of a rich strike triggered the first gold rush in South Africa and Pilgrims Rest was declared a gold field on 22 September 1873. The Gold Commissioner moved his office to Pilgrims Rest and and by the end of 1873 there were about 1500 diggers working 4000 claims.

It is estimated that about R2 million worth of gold (a lot in those days), were mined during the first seven years of mining in the Pilgrims Valley.

A first diggers lived in tents all along the creek and moved as they panned and mined, by 1896 many of the tents had been replaced by permanent buildings. After the first war of independence (1880 - 1881) the reinstated republican government instituted a policy of granting concessions to individuals and companies in an effort to stimulate industries and so in 1881, David Benjamin, a financier from London obtained the mining rights to Pilgrims Rest. Benjamin compensated the remaining diggers for their claims which consolidated with the formation of the Transvaal Gold Exploration Company. In 1895, this company along with other smaller companies, amalgamated to form the Transvaal Gold Mining Estates (TGME).

An average of 300 000 tons of ore per annum was mined in the period 1930 to 1950 which then crashed to only about 50 000 tons per year during the fifties. In 1972 the Beta mine ceased operations as the last operational mine in Pilgrims Rest.

The village however has survived to become a National Monument and living museum.

This is possibly one of my favorite towns in South Africa and a destination to be considered for retirement. It oozes character and to drive through thick mist over rolling hills just to get to this gem is exactly what I had in mind for a lazy Sunday afternoon.