Last Edited 20th November 2023
In the ten years before 1860 two locations in New South Wales were referred to in the press as Lobb’s Hole. The one of interest in this instance is near Kiandra – the other was in the vicinity of Queanbeyan.
Many years ago I found a suggestion that Mrs Lobb had a restaurant at Lobb’s Hole providing sustenance to those eager seekers of fortune rushing to Kiandra from Victoria in 1860 or 1861. I can no longer find the source of that gem of information, but I suspect that Mrs Lobb’s husband will turn up in the historical records somewhere, perhaps as an early settler in the district.
An official report upon the routes to Kiandra from Beechworth (Victoria) provides what may be a little clarification in regard to Mrs. Lobb’s restaurant… The shortest of four routes reported upon was 144 miles in length and involved a traverse of Lobb’s Hole “where there is rough accommodation in two shanties“. This route was described as being “utterly impractical for wheels for the last 30 miles, and very dangerous both for foot passengers and for horses”. It was said that “there are no material obstacles to be met with until the edge of Lobb’s Hole is reached, to which place and no further coaches have recently been running from Chiltern via Albury and Tamburambo. The descent into Lobb’s Hole … is for a distance so steep that horses have to slide down nearly on their haunches… After leaving Lobb’s Hole, in the bottom of which runs the Tumut River, the track passes for about twelve miles along bad narrow and dangerous sidelings overhanging deep precipices when the least slip would be fatal…” (South Australian Advertiser, 19 May 1860, p5)
I see no reason to dispute this description of the road, but it is a little confusing… If a person were to be travelling from “Tamburambo” (Tumbarumba) towards Kiandra via Lobb’s Hole there would be an ascent out of Lobb’s Hole not a descent into it and coaches could probably travel from Tumbarumba to the floor of Lobb’s Hole but not beyond. After the ascent out of the hole the track certainly passed for some distance along the sandstone cliffs that are exceptionally visible from below.
What is of more interest in the 1860 report is the reputed presence of two shanties, one of which was perhaps operated by Mrs. Lobb… (In Australian colonial times, a shanty was generally a source of – illicit – alcoholic refreshment. Sometimes clarified by being called a grog shanty) …
Because the passers-by at Lobb’s Hole were always on the lookout for indications of mineralisation, the existence of copper at the hole had been known for at least a few years when in 1863 a group of Cornish miners set about extracting selected parcels of ore that assayed around 70% copper. However, it was not until the 1870s that various other parties became interested in the narrow but rich veins of copper sulphide.
By 1891 Julius Conrad Forsstrom and Adolf Reekman had become the owners of the principle mineral leases in the vicinity of Lobb’s Hole. According to his obituary when he died in 1931, Forsstrom was from Finland, as, possibly, was Adolf Reekman. However, they named their mine the Sonoma mine, and when Forsstrom later became a publican in the hole he named his establishment the Washington Hotel. Because of this, I would suggest a possibility that one or both these entrepreneurs arrived in Australia by way of the United States, and California in particular.
Forsstrom and Reekman worked the Sonoma mine on and off for around fifteen years from 1891, producing small parcels of rich ore that were taken out by pack-horse along the narrow bridle trail that led 3000 ft up over the adjacent mountains to Kiandra. From Kiandra some reports suggest it was taken by bullock dray to Twofold Bay, on the far south coast of New South Wales for shipping to treatment works near Newcastle (N.S.W.) Other sources indicate it was taken to Gundagai for carriage by rail. Regardless, the cost of this transportation meant the emphasis of Reekman and Forsstrom’s mine was upon high-grade ores alone. Lower-grades were stacked in the valley with no particular prospect of attention.
By the late 1890s an assortment of other entrepreneurs were sniffing around Lobb’s Hole for an opportunity and Reekman and Forsstrom had started working a second vein of copper ore, not far from the Sonoma. However, about this time much of the easily mined ore in the Sonoma mine had been extracted, and the inflow of water was such that it was impractical to sink the shafts any more deeply – after all the main shaft was adjacent to the Yarrangobilly River. The river came down in a torrent of snow-melt every Spring, and sometimes throughout winter as well. Each year the mines flooded in harmony with the melting snow, but even without the Spring torrent things were not exactly plain sailing. The vein of copper ore ran beneath the river, and even at the best of times fissures in the ore fed water from the riverbed straight into the mine workings below.
In 1902 a reporter from the Sydney Mail (The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 3rd May 1902 (p1112)) came to visit. He took a photograph of Reekmann and Forsstrom’s enterprise, referred to as the Lobbs Hole Mine, and reported that the main shaft was then 55 feet deep, at which level a drive had been extended 550 feet along the lode. He also stated that “there is an abundant supply of water, which enables them to work a winding plant, pump and other machinery by means of a pelton wheel, giving a pressure of 50ft. or 9 h.p.” Reekman and Forsstrom had taken out 720 tons of the high grade ore together with a considerable quantity of lesser material. The high grades had been packed-out but the lesser stuff was stacked around the site. Thus we are advised that eight years before the Lobb’s Hole Copper Mine N.L. was floated, a Pelton Wheel was already in use.
At this time the Alpine Copper Company N.L., a company of funded by 6,000 shares of 10/- each, was already operating alongside Reekman and Forsstrom’s mine. This company utilised a Tangye pump powered by an overshot water wheel to drain their mine. Although originally operated as an open-cut, in 1902 a shaft 100 feet deep was being sunk with the intention of cutting three veins of ore that had been identified on their 60 acre lease. The 1902 report already mentioned above, stated the Alpine lode “was first discovered in the bed of the Yarrangobilly River, crossing it at right angles, and apparently is from 12in. to 18in. thick, from which 14 tons of surface ore (sulphides) were taken out of an open cut, which realised 30.42 per cent, copper per ton. Another make of copper occurs some 15ft, away, and a third vein about 8ft. from this.” As with the Lobb’s Hole mine, their main shaft had been sunk alongside the Yarrangobilly River.
An extensive report in the Tumut and Adelong Times, Friday 26 June 1903 (p2) mentioned the possibility of a smelter being used to treat the lesser ores… “During the past 10 or 15 years in which time Messrs. Frostrum and Rakman (sic) have been working almost constantly in a mine they hold at Lobbs Hole £1,600 worth of copper has been raised. This was extracted from picked ore sent all the way to Cockle Creek for treatment : but there are hundreds of thousands of tons of ore at the mouth of the mine that would pay handsomely to treat if there were furnaces on the ground, the needed appliances for which will be placed there as soon as any reliable means of transit are available. Hitherto it has been necessary to use coke for extracting copper out of ore, but with new American furnaces now obtainable, wood can be used (for smelting ores), and there is an inexhaustible supply of such at Lobbs Hole – trees felled on the slopes there will roll down to the mine easily of their own accord.”
Whether or not there was hundreds of thousands of tons of lesser ore at the mine mouth is highly debatable, but the article mentioned above does suggest that thought was already being given to its treatment. Meanwhile Reekman and Forsstrom continued to work their mine, but by 1907 had all but exhausted the more accessible of the richest and most worthwhile ore. The Alpine Copper Company’s mine’s lease alongside limited their ability to expand by taking up further leases in the immediate vicinity. However, it seems that by 1907 Reekman and Forsstrom also owned the Alpine mine and the associated lease… Some newspaper reports from this time are quite muddled, suggesting that the Alpine and the Sonoma were one and the same mine, but it is clear they were separate entities both owned by Messrs Reekman and Forsstrom in 1907. That year separate companies were formed to fund their further development. The first company published its prospectus on 23 May 1907 but by the time it was published all shares had been sold. The second was more timely in issuing a prospectus,
Company A: The Lobb’s Hole Copper Mine N.L.
When all the easily accessible ore had been extracted, Reekman and Forsstrom needed substantial funds to keep a troublesome inflow of water at bay and develop the depth and extent of their mines . My very preliminary assessment disclosed that Reekman and Forsstrom found an eminently practical solution to all of their problems. First, they “sold” one of their mines – the old, flooded, almost unworkable Sonoma mine – to a pair of promoters – Thomas William Horton and Ambrose William Freeman – who formed the Lobbs Hole Copper Mine N.L. They were said in some sources to be mining engineers of Melbourne but, even if the mining engineer story is correct, their business address for the purpose of the present enterprise was in Sydney. Horton and Freeman certainly knew how to promote a mine – emphasising the richness of the ore, suggesting the vein grew wider with depth, downplaying the problems associated with water and flooding, suggesting that thousands of tons of ore were in sight and that for every hundred feet of sinking “Taking copper at £80 per ton, the gross value of this ore would be £56,000 and the probable profit £35,000. It should take no take longer than a year to work out a lift of 100 feet, so this sum should be divided annually.” They did not say how they knew the ore was in existence or clarify the problems likely to be encountered.
The sale was organised as follows:
- The Lobb’s Hole Copper Nine N.L. would be formed with an authorised capital of £60,000/-/-. shares to be valued at £1/-/- each, paid 2/6 upon application and 2/6 upon allotment (so in total 5/- paid per share except that the vendors received their shares as fully paid… ( see next point.) (A further call of 5/- per share was made less than twelve months later, giving the Company another £7,500/-/- in cash)
- Reekman & Forsstrom, as vendors of the mine to receive 30,000 fully paid shares (£30,000/-/-) plus £6,000/-/- cash and a further 7,500 fully paid shares (£7,500/-/-). The latter shares were said to represent payment for water rights and the actual mining lease.
- One Charles Taylor was to receive 11,500 fully paid shares (£11,500/-/-)
- J.F. Ducker, broker to the issue, would receive brokerage of 6d per share on 17,000 shares. (£425/-/-), suggesting that he did receive brokerage on the further 7,500 shares issued to Reekman and Forsstrom.
In summary, of 60,000 shares, 49,000 were to be issued (fully paid) to Reekman, Forsstrom and Taylor. Taylor was referred to in the press as a mining engineer linked to both Sydney and London, but by 1908 he was superintending engineer (Sydney Morning Herald, 17 June 1908, p11) at the Kyloe copper mine near Adaminaby, about 65 or 70 km away, but much further by road. With 49,000 shares between them it was reasonably clear who were to be the controlling shareholders of the Lobb’s Hole Copper Mine N.L. , even though they had no exposure to calls for additional capital and received £6,000 cash for their trouble. Reekman and Forsstrom were to receive an additional 7,500 shares representing payment for the lease licenses and water rights. Looking at the accounts of the company it is clear that in all 30,000 contributing shares were issued because the cash received for the first two calls equates closely to that number of shares, but Ducker was to receive brokerage on only 17,000 shares.
If Reekman Forsstrom and Taylor received 49,000 shares fully paid, it would appear that Reekman and Forsstrom’s additional entitlement of 7,500 shares were contributing ones, but even then, given the number of contributing shares issued was 30,000, the total number shares on issue was 79,000 not 60,000 as authorised in the (subsequently published) prospectus. The first of the two promoters, Horton, became Chairman of Directors. His co-promoter, A.W. Freeman, became another Director and the General Manager. Still another Freeman (W.A.Freeman) became solicitor to the Company and a third director. A fourth Director was G.W.Waddell. There was also a Company Secretary – Alex Jobson – Actuary and Accountant.
Sale of Reekman and Forsstrom’s mine to Horton and Freeman (“of Melbourne”…) was reported in the Evening News (Sydney, N.S.W.) p2, on 15 May 1907. An abridged prospectus dated 16 May 1907 was published in Sydney (Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney 16 May 1907, p2) and Melbourne (Punch, Melbourne, 23 May 1907, p8) together with a header advising “For Information Only, All Shares Having Been Subscribed”. Registration documents for the company were prepared on 28 May 1907 and published the following day.(Government Gazette of NSW, 29 May 1907). A review of the Company’s accounts confirms that all 30,000 contributing shares were issued.
The surviving records of the Lobb’s Hole Copper Mine N.L. indicate that by April 1910 the company had used shareholders’ funds of £19,000, loans from Horton and Freeman of £4,780 plus bank advances of £2,805 – a total of £27,085 – to produce matte that realised £1,717. Meanwhile a reverberatory furnace had been built, the main shaft had been sunk another hundred or so feet – not 160 ft as originally proposed and at least one ventilation shaft had been constructed. Drives at the 95 ft level were extended 354 ft along an ore body generally less than 6 inches wide, and at the 200ft level a total of 612 ft had been driven. The drives and shafts were much wider of course – at least 2 feet – meaning that for every six inches of vein they accessed, 18 inches of country rock had to be removed. Of course there were occasional lenses of wider ore, but not many. There were also places where the vein was much narrower or disappeared altogether. The Lobbs Hole Copper Mine NL also set crosscuts, winz and rises to a total of 336 ft in order to determine the extent of the ore vein. To facilitate this expansion, six-monthly reports to the shareholders advised the company had installed a much more powerful pump and a turbine to drive it.
The Report of the Directors for the half-year ended 31st December 1907 stated that ” A large race, two miles long, capable of carrying a flow of water 7 feet wide by 22 inches deep has been completed, and a substantial dam built across the river at the point of intake… A 30 H.P. Turbine has been placed in position near the shaft, and a connection made with the point of outlet of the race by means of a heavy wrought iron pipe line 33 inches in diameter.”
It is the 33 inch pipe for this turbine that survived on the site in the 1980s and 90s. The turbine itself was present in the late 1950s, as is shown in the image from that time.
As outlined above, the company spent roughly £27,000 upon development of the mine, associated facilities and the erection of a reverberatory furnace for smelting the ores. In theory the furnace should have been able to treat all of the low-grade ore lying around, but it would seem there was never enough ore to keep the furnace in production. However, someone was paid for firewood, and a little money came in from the sale of matte. According to the accounting records the mine’s total income from the sale of matte was £1,716 in the six months ended 30 June 1909. An additional £2,424 for the sale of matte in the six months to 30 June 1910 was also reported, but this was actually a misstatement, as is clarified later. No high grade ore was recorded as being taken out of the valley by pack-horse or any other means during the period that the Lobbs Hole Copper Mine N.L. operated the mine. What little high grade ore was extracted apparently went towards enrichment of that being fed to the on-site smelter..
Company B: The Lobb’s Hole Central Mining Company N.L.
One week before the Lobbs Hole Copper Mine N.L. was registered, the Sydney Morning Herald ( 20 May 1907, p9) reported that Reekman and Forsstrom had floated their other enterprise – the Alpine Mine – the smaller operation working the equally smaller vein of copper adjoining the main Lobbs Hole Copper Mine. It became The Lobbs Hole Central Mine N.L. and this time a prospectus was published before all shares had been taken up. ( also in Sydney Morning Herald, 20 May 1907, but at p4) The prospectus, reproduced below, is a masterpiece of non-disclosure. Great emphasis was placed upon the quality of the ore, but there is no mention of the quantity in sight or of problems with water. It would seem that two shafts 35 feet deep had been sunk and the total length of drives was 55 feet, but no mention was made of sinking shafts to lower levels or other development works. However, to the credit of the promoters (Reekman and Forsstrom themselves this time) no opinion was given as to the actual value of ore in sight.
Again, things were quite well organised. Authorised capital was only 12,000 shares but this time of £10/-/- each. 400 fully paid shares (with a face value of £4,000/-/- ) plus £2,000/-/- cash were the fees granted to the promoters – in this case Reekman & Forsstrom. The rest of the shares were only paid £2/10/- meaning the purchasers could be called upon for another £7/10/- per share, and that they would forfeit their shares if they did not meet the calls… The issue was over-subscribed by 95 shares. The records of the arrangement do not indicate that the over-subscriptions were accepted. If not, (12,000-400=) 11,600 shares paid £2/10/- were issued. These share sales produced cash of £29,000/-/-. As £2,000/-/- of this was due to the promoters, only £27,000/-/- cash was available – presumably in the bank. Of course, the 11,600 shares issued partly paid carried a liability for calls totaling £7/10/- each – or another £87,000 in total.
Again, Mr Ducker was the broker to the issue, but the directors were a new group – R.Donaldson. MLA, Dr Mason, Robert Gregory, E.P.Pring, and R.T.McKay. The Lobbs Hole Central Mine N.L. had lots of cash and a lot more they could call upon. However, they seem to have got through at least that first £27,000 in very short time. I never looked for the annual accounts and so do not understand where it went. The Directors, however, were the local member of the Legislative Assembly of NSW (who was also a butcher whose business was in Tumut) , a medical doctor, also based in Tumut, a mining engineer based in Sydney, and two others whose qualifications I have never tried to find. Further research may provide a very interesting next edition of this page, but meanwhile…
The LOBB’S HOLE COPPER MINE N.L -. REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS – 30 June 1910
“The Directors beg to submit their Seventh Half-Yearly Report accompanied by Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account duly audited as at 30th June 1910.
“The Directors then gave the position their earnest consideration and decided to recommend the shareholders to accept an offer which has been made by the Mine Manager to take the Mine on Tribute. An agreement was accordingly entered into, subject to the shareholders approval which is to be sought at the General Meeting on the 2nd September. The main provisions of the agreement are that the tribute is to be for four years from 9th March 1910 terminable by six months notice in writing by either party, that the tributor pay to the Company 10% of the amount received from the smelting company for all ore sold, all charges from the mine to the smelter to be paid by the tributor. Not less than eight men are to be kept employed and the mining laws and regulations are to be duly complied with by and at the expense of the tributor.” “The tributor began work in May…”
(Report of the Directors, Lobbs Hole Copper Mine N.L. for the six months ended 30 June 1910, pp1&2)
By way of explanation: Historically a tributor was someone who took over when a mine was unlikely, under its normal operating conditions, to produce sufficient income to ensure the solvency of the mining operation. A tributor, then, is a miner of last resort . Unless the process is tightly managed, a mine is unworkable after their activities. This is because a tributor’s usual mode of operation was to strip out all ore in a manner that progressively destroyed the ability of the mine to be safely worked at any later date. For example, removing all ore from the lowest levels first, then progressively filling the voids left below with tailings as they work their way to the surface removing ore, including, when practical, any pillars of ore that were left to support the roof of the mine.
The Company’s half-yearly accounts and the Report of the Directors for the half-year ended 30th June 1910 indicate £2,424/9/6 was received from the sale of matte during that period. What is not said is that it was the result of the tributor’s work. The total tribute received was $3,854, the balance being received after the books had been closed for the half year.
What also remains unsaid is that, based upon the total of tribute paid, the tributor received at least $38,540 from the the sale of matte sent to the smelters in the two months after he took over the mine. Of course he had to pay wages and the cost of transporting the ore to the smelters. … Let’s be very generous and suggest that his costs were perhaps £10,000…and a profit of £28,500 for 6 to 8 weeks work.
The former mine manager who became tributor of the Lobbs Hole Mine was Julius Conrad Forsstrom…
And as for the LOBB’S HOLE CENTRAL mine next door that had £27,000 in shareholders’ funds not three years before ?
On Friday 4th March 1910 the press reported “Mr Julius Forsstrom, who holds the Lobbs Hole Central Mine on lease, is raising something like 11 tons of good ore weekly. The lode which took so long to discover at a lower level than was worked by the company is showing a decent width of high-class sulphide ore…” (Adelong and Tumut Express and Tumbarumba Post, 4 March, 1910, p2)
Summary
The ores extracted from the Lobb’s Hole copper mine in the years before incorporation provided a comfortable living for Julius Forsstrom and Adolf Reekman. When extraction of those ores became too problematic they co-operated with others in the formation of corporate structures intended to fund and manage further development and ongoing operations. Neither Forsstrom nor Reekman was a director of the companies involved. Shortly before the float of the Lobbs Hole mine, Reekman and Forsstrom initiated development of a second mine. Very little work was done on the second mine before it too was incorporated in May 1907.
The proposed further development of the Lobbs Hole mine did take place at a considerable cost, but at this stage I have not determine if any took place at the Central mine. Julius Conrad Forsstrom was mine manager at both the Lobbs Hole mine and the Lobbs Hole Central during the latter parts of the process.
When a reporter for the Sydney Mail visited in early 1902 he stated that a Pelton Wheel had been installed at the Lobbs Hole mine and the image dating from that time (above) confirms it’s presence. This wheel does not appear to have continued in use after installation of the turbine in 1907. It may, however, have been transferred to the Central mine. This remains to be more closely reviewed, as evidence from 1985 suggests the Lobbs Hole mine used a Pelton wheel at some stage – perhaps during the tribute period.
During the incorporation and float of the two mines glowing statements were made about their prospects by persons who styled themselves mining engineers, but it seems none of the holders of contributing shares saw a return on their investment. It also reasonably clear that none of the mining engineers were called to account – they had only expressed an opinion…
As promoters of the Lobbs Hole mine Horton and Freeman probably did loose the funds that they personally contributed when the fortunes of the mine started to falter and the bankers put a halt to any extension of the Company’s overdraft. One of the unfinished lines of research is to resolve that question. Neither Reekman nor Forsstrom was a director of the companies involved and accordingly they were not held liable for decisions made in that quarter.
After 1907 Reekman appears to have slipped into the shadows but Forsstrom was certainly involved in the management of both mines and was in a position to manipulate reports of progress to his own ends. That he became tributor/lessee of the mines suggests an incentive to guide the decision-making processes. Further, as one of the two majority shareholders in the Lobb’s Hole mine he could have given that Board a degree of gentle persuasion when he offered to operate the mines on the basis of tribute or lease. As for the Lobb’s Hole Central Mine not much more can be said without a review of that company’s six-monthly reports, balance sheets and statements of profit and loss. However, for that mine to have been taken over under a lease within 18 months of the float begs one or two questions – firstly what became of £27,000, and secondly how much development took place at that mine…
Research to date has not bothered to address the probability that the Copper Mines at Lobb’s Hole funded construction of the Washington Hotel for Julius Conrad Forsstrom. It was a pisé structure on the banks of the Yarrangobiily River some distance downstream of the mines. However, that Julius Conrad Forsstrom did very well out of the corporate structures he appears to have encouraged is confirmed by an extract from his obituary, written when he died in 1931…“…He engaged in copper mining at Lobbs Hole in partnership with Messrs Reeckman, Amundsen and J.O.E. Pattinson…which was floated eventually into a large company, his share of the proceeds running into thousands of pounds…” Tumut and Adelong Times, 16th June, 1931 (p5)