350 YEARS AGO.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19148, 3 November 1927, Page 7

350 YEARS AGO.

WHEN FROBISHER SOUGHT GOLD. TRACES.OF EXPEDITIONi' ~ , .., ■ From a Special CorkespokdestVANCOUVEK, October 5. Mute reminders of an. almost forgotten* gold rush of 350 years ago, which came to naught, but in which Queen Elizabeth and many of England's wealthy nobles were involved, have been found in the frozen north by the Kaw-son-MacMillan Arctic Expedition of the Field Museum. William Duncan Strong, anthropologist of the expedition, has reported that the explorers came on the ruins of the house, the mining pits,' and the improvised shipyard of Sir Martin Frobisher, who, between 1576 and 1578, led three expeditions, two of them, for gold, into the. forbidding regions of Labrador, and Baffin Land.

Digging in the ruins, Dr. Strong unearthed fragments of. brick, plaster, coal, and porcelain, products which, he states, undoubtedly were brought over from England and are indisputable proof that the ruins are of European, and not native Eskimo habitations.

The story of Frobisher, recalled by the museum expedition's findings, is one o£ the most romantic in the history of quests for riches. Frobisher, with the financial assistance of a few friends, sailed from England in July, 1576, in search' of a north-west passage to Ca-' thay and* India. He had two tiny vessels, the Michael and the • Gabriel, and thirty-five men. Arriving in Labrador, they proceeded' up the coast to what is now Frobisher Bay, in Baffin Land. Five of the men were captured by the natives and never seen again. Failing to find the passage, the expedition returned to England, bringing specimens of what the. sailors called "black 'earth" and soon a rumour spread that this was gold ore. In the excitement* another expedition was fitted out. The Queen lent the Aid, a large vessel, to Frobisher, and £IOOO to finance the quest. ilining equipment, miners and refiners,. were included in the vessel's complement. The expedition returned in the following autumn with 200 tons of the ore.

Dr. Strong reports having investigated what were believed, by some explorers to be Norse rHiins, but declares all he had seen to date were.of. Eskimo origin. Further search is to be made for evidence of landing of the Askings.