Letters by George William Stow - Vaal River Coal Mines

Two separate letters, both double-sided on, one page.

Written by George William Stow (1822–1882), a foundational figure in South African geology and ethnology. Stow is famously credited with discovering the coal fields in the Vaal River region that led to the founding of the town of Vereeniging.

The letters provide a rare, intimate look at the final years of his life, a period where his groundbreaking geological work intersected with extreme personal and financial hardship.

Stow was a polymath who arrived in South Africa in 1843. While he is best known today for his meticulously detailed copies of San (Bushman) rock art and his posthumous book The Native Races of South Africa, his primary career was as a geologist. In the late 1870s, he was commissioned to find coal to power the Kimberley diamond mines, leading to the discoveries mentioned in the letters.

Letter 1: The Geological Hardship (Sept 6, 1880)

Location: "Vaal River"
Stow writes to his daughter Nellie about the immense difficulties of field work. He mentions being 50 miles from the nearest post office, requiring a "boy on foot" to walk nearly 100 miles round-trip to deliver mail.

The "Koranna boy John": This is a fascinating historical footnote. Stow mentions that John ran away after driving four oxen into a "deep quagmire." He notes that if the oxen had stayed much longer, they would have "smothered," and are now so weak they can "just crawl along."

The letter captures the grueling reality of 19th-century geological surveys—relying on ox-wagons and facing constant environmental hazards like "dreadful grass-fires" that left the country "burnt up for many miles."

Letter 2: The Final Christmas (Dec 21, 1881)

Location: "Vaal River Coal Mines"
Written just three months before his death in March 1882. Stow is clearly in failing health, stating, "I am far from as strong as I was—my illness was so very severe—that I never expected for a long time that I could get well again."
He addresses Nellie again, asking about her school examinations and sending love to "Annie and Jessie" (his other daughters).

The heading "Vaal River Coal Mines" places him at the site of his most significant economic discovery. At this time, he was working for the diamond magnate Sammy Marks (of the company De Vereeniging), attempting to establish the mines that would eventually change the industrial landscape of South Africa.

These letters are "on-the-ground" reports from the birth of the South African coal industry.
They show the human side of a man who died largely unrecognised and in poverty, despite his discoveries making others incredibly wealthy.
Personal correspondence from Stow is quite rare, as much of his focus was on his massive manuscript and rock art copies.

Stained with some tears.

Each page: 115mm x 183mm

R7,500