Herbert Hoover and the Sons of Gwalia Mine

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Herbert Clarke Hoover

- Born 10th August 1874 - West Branch IOWA U.S.A.
- Mine Manager Sons of Gwalia Mine Western Australia 1898
- 31st President of United States of America 1929 - 1933
- Died 20th October 1964 - Aged 90

Herbert Hoover was born in a very humble three room one-story home, built of upright boards whitewashed inside and out, on the bank of the Wapsinonoc Creek, across the alley from his father Jesse Hoover's blacksmith shop. Both of his parents died when Herbert was a young child and he was sent to live with an Uncle where he went to work in his Uncle's Real Estate Business, here he met an Engineer who impressed upon him the importance of a college education. Leland Stanford Jr. University formally opened on October 1st 1891, and young Herbert, though lacking a high school diploma, passed entrance exams and entered the Department of Geology & Mining. He received his diploma in 1895 and met Lou Henry during his senior year at Stanford where she majored in Geology and graduated in 1898.

In October 1897, a British company, Berwick Moreing, was looking for consultants to head to Western Australia where the Gold Rush was under way. They needed a young man, as the job would be extremely strenuous - but not too young, as it required thorough experience; say a man of thirty-five. His tutor did not conceal Hoover's relative lack of experience, but indicated that he was not yet thirty-five, he was well within the truth by twelve years, in fact Hoover was just twenty three years old! Hoover bade farewell to Lou Henry with whom he had an "understanding", he bought himself his first dress suit, crossed the Mississippi for the first time, and headed for New York, for London, for Australia, for the world. It was a long journey by way of France, Italy, Egypt, and India before arriving in Albany Western Australia where he had to spend two weeks in quarantine, small pox having been discovered on board the ship. Then after three hundred odd miles inland by a recently constructed single gauge railroad, he was at Coolgardie, one of the area's assigned to him. Kalgoorlie & Leonora was flat and desolate land, vast distances covered with low, bristly sage bush, where the mercury rarely dropped below 100 even at night, a land in which water was almost as valuable and more rare than gold for which thousands of men were hunting feverishly.

RIGHT: Hoover in London, c.1896

For the rest of his life the very sight of a camel made Hoover seasick. In installments of thirty or forty miles a day, he traveled with the nauseous caravans from one of his mines to another; or on the trail of rumours that sometimes made millionaires in London and New York and more often fizzled out in disappointments.

LEFT: Hoover seated on camel, c.1897

On one of his early camel treks, 150 miles into the interior, Hoover camped overnight near a prospect, which a group of Welsh men had called the "Sons of Gwalia" (an ancient poetic name for Wales). The Welsh syndicate of miners had sold out for 5,000 pounds to G.W. Hall. They took him through their primitive mill and showings. Others had seen the place; it was one of dozens of hopefuls - and moved on. But Hoover, with that sixth sense to guide him, stopped short. He knew at once that this was it, and negotiated an option, a purchase price of 200,000 pounds. It required a special kind of courage for a man of twenty three to urge upon his home office, on his judgment, an investment of half a million dollars for a two-thirds interest in the property and $250,000 more for working capital. London followed his hunch, voted him ten thousand dollars a year to manage the mine, and gave him a small interest in the enterprise.

The Sons of Gwalia Mine to date has produced over 5 million ounces of gold. When Hoover took over the shaft was down 175ft, and several hundred feet of drives had opened the lode. The main reef was found to dip uniformly at about 45'deg, and to maintain its grade with depth. In addition there was a second parallel reef in the formation with values in the host rock. There were 40,000 ton of ore proven. Hoover had no doubts about the long term value of the property, and recommended systematic extraction, and construction of a much larger treatment plant. He also had firm ideas about whose hands should control this enterprise, for in recommending acquisition of the Sons of Gwalia; he personally demanded "entire management" of designing the mine plant. These were brave words for a twenty three year old engineer on his first real job, but they had their effect. The Sons of Gwalia was purchased by the London and Western Exploration Company Ltd. on 17th of November, and preparations were made to float the property in London.

ABOVE: Hoover Inspecting the Mines in WA, c.1897

The company's principal was C. Algernon Moreing and simultaneously with the purchase, Hoover was made a partner in Berwick Moreing, giving him a share in its interests, the largest of which promised to be The Sons of Gwalia. In January 1898, the new company Sons of Gwalia Ltd was launched in London. Most of its capital of 300,000 pounds was issued to the London and Western Australian Exploration Company to acquire the property, with smaller parcels going to a consortium of associated companies the London and Western Australian Mines Finance Agency, the British Westralian Mine Sand Share Corporation, and the union Financial Syndicate. Berwick Moreing had boosted the property vigorously in the mining press, and the few shares that were available to the public sold at over two guineas, more than twice their face value, on the first day of trading.

Besides holding the controlling financial interests, Berwick Moreing was engaged as managing consultants at the mine and Hoover was appointed General Manager from 1st of May 1898. This was against the stated rules of the mine managers Institute in Coolgardie which insisted that a manager have 3 years practical experience.

Having demanded a free hand in planning the mining and treatment processes, Hoover set about assessing the situation. He inherited a mine with a vertical shaft down to 200ft, employing 150 men. The small, inefficient mill had crushed nearly 9,000 tons of ore & yielded over 12,000 ounces of gold. All indications were that the reefs extended to great depth, & long term production must be planned which radically altered the emphasis of operations from maximizing profits, which had been the old company's policy, to development. In a harsh climate, 70 miles from the Menzies railhead, & faced with high material and labour costs, Hoover saw that his critical task was to reduce production costs by any means at his disposal. "No other lode country in the world" he claimed "presents such an array of severe conditions which must be struggled against to do cheap mining". Within days of his arrival, he calculated that he could cut production costs by a third. Estimating total expenditure on mining and milling under his new regime he reported to Berwick Moreing; "I have put this at one pound per ton. The past cost has averaged 30%, but I think I can lower it much" To bring about this saving, Hoover had first to subdue his workforce. Only days before he took over the management of the mine, a mass meeting of miners had formed a local union. It is difficult to believe their timing was coincidental; Hoover met the Union head on. In his first four weeks as General manager he increased the working hours from 44 to 48, introduced single hand work, instituted shift changes at the work face instead of the surface, stopped double time on Sundays and bonuses for working wet ground, bought in piece-work shaft sinkers, apparently sacked the union organisers, and was contemplating a general wage cut. Incredibly he won!

ABOVE: Mine Lease document, May 1898

Hoover's cost cutting strategy took two main directions: to convert labour to a contract basis where ever possible, and to minimise dead work - unproductive sinking and driving in the mine, Hoover contacted a labour agent, Pietro Ceruti of Bardoc, who provided a steadily growing workforce of Italian miners for the Sons of Gwalia. To cut dead work, Hoover planned a radical change in the underground workings. A new underlie or incline shaft was to be sunk at 45 degrees in the gold bearing formation ore itself, involving relocating the mine entrance and installing completely new hauling machinery, Hoover in effect began the mine all over again. Haulage was to be done by a 50 hp Risdon winding machine over a headframe of Oregon timbers 48ft high incorporating an automatic ore cart tipping device, primary crusher and ore bin. Work on the new incline shaft commenced by September 1898, excavating upward from the existing workings, and the design on the ore treatment plant next exercised Hoover's engineering skills. Mr. Hoover, while brilliant in his profession, had no idea how to deal with Australian workers. Being Quaker he was quick to dismiss anyone found drunk on the mine unless the offender was indispensable. The temptation to drink was strong in this hot climate. He was to find however that not all technical decisions lay in his control. The Coolgardie office of Berwick Moreing was independently drawing up plans without his view, consulting him adequately. Hoover wrote in June, "to disclaim any connection with any process or designs made at this juncture for I am not taking any responsibility for premature machinery" with this type of increasing friction between Hoover and his superiors, Hoover left Sons of Gwalia on November 21st 1898.

ABOVE: Hoover in London, c.1910

Hoover telegraphed Lou Henry "Will you marry me?" the reply of "yes", traveled back very fast. They were married February 10th 1899 and took up residence in China. They had two sons, Herbert Jnr. born in London 1903 and Allan born in London in 1907. One of the books that intrigued Hoover and his wife, was De Re Metallica published in 1556 by a German scientist. It took Hoover and his wife five years to translate an accurate rendition of the classic into English. He delivered a series of lectures to students and Engineers. The substance of these lectures was published in the Principles of Mining published in 1909. This book remained as standard text for decades.

LEFT: Lou Henry Hoover with
Herbert Jnr. & Allan, London 1907

Hoover became President of the USA in 1929, just before the stock market crash, unfortunately the depression descended on America as on many other Countries. His Presidency ended in 1933. Lou Henry Hoover died suddenly from a heart attack on 7th January 1944, while Herbert Hoover died 2Oth October 1964. 10 months after the Sons of Gwalia Mine closed at Christmas in 1963.

Here at the Gwalia Museum stands the headframe of Oregon that Hoover designed, the Mine Mangers house, where he spent his 24th birthday in August 1898, in a partly finished house, (now restored) The Mine Managers Office, (now housing the photographic & small item collection) and the Assay building (now archives and office), lasting reminders of his contribution to Mining & Engineering.

ABOVE: Presidential Inauguration, March 4th 1929