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The discovery of gold by Graham Barber and his cousins, Harry and Fred, sparked the greatest gold rush of the country at the time. After informing the Transvaal government of his find at Rimer's creek in 1884, David Wilson was sent to investigate and three days later, Barbers camp was proclaimed the township of Barberton.
From here the town grew at a stagering rate. In 1886 the town was home to twenty-thousand inhabitants with four-thousand claims being worked. Barberton boasted one bar or canteen per fifteen inhabitants and soon had the reputation of a wild and lawless town. Only one town was considered wilder and more lawless, Eureka town which also boasted a music hall and racecourse.
The first stock exchange in South Africa was opened in 1887 and soon the claim covered area of the Kaap Valley was over-capitalized. The profit from a payable mines hardly covered the amount of money flowing into the area by investors. The crash was inevitable. Slowly enterprises closed their doors and moved on. The second stock exchange closed when the Witwatersrand drew most of the prospectors away from Barberton.
The township of Barberton was set to became another ghost town except that a couple of mines pressed on through the hard times to emerge victorious. Today more than just gold is mined in the area and a thriving farming community has developed around the town due to the warm climate of the area.
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| References and Resources |
 | Discovering Southern Africa: 6th Edition
T.V. Bulpin
Discovering Southern Africa is regarded as the standard travel guide to Africa south of the Zambezi river, one of the greatest guide books published anywhere in the world, readable, informative, diverting and crammed with interesting comments. |
| | Wikisource, 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica - Barberton
The original entry in the 1911 Encyclopędia Britannica for Barberton. |
| | Barberton, Mpumalanga - Wikipedia
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|  | On Route in South Africa: A Region by Region Guide to South Africa
B.P.J. Erasmus
On Route in South Africa is an invaluable guide and companion to travel in this country. The book tours the length and breadth of South Africa, recounting the stories and legends, both amusing and tragic, of every hamlet, village, town and city. ' |
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