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Ch. 15: The Mining Towns

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THE MINING TOWNS
105
The foundation stone of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church was laid on the feast of All Saints, 1879, by the Vicar Apostolic of Natal and Griqualand West. For many years previously a Catholic Church had been maintained on the fields, but its building was too small for the growing congregation. The foundations of the new building had just been completed, in August, 1879, when the old building was levelled to the ground by a terrific hail-storm. This was looked upon as a significant
warning to replace the iron sides of the new church with brick, and the present edifice was accordingly erected, which will accommodate about five hundred people. It is adorned with stained glass windows, paintings, and oak altar and reredos, the gifts of its parishioners.
Wesleyan Methodist missionaries were probably the first to visit the River Diggings in 1869, and representatives of this energetic denomination were among the first also that flocked to the Dry Diggings at Dutoitspan and Kimberley. The first regularly appointed minister of this church came in 1871, and
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