In the years1870-1871a Discovery large number of diggers had settled on the diamond of the fields near the junction of the Vaal and Orange rivers, which were situated in part on land claimed by the Fi Griqua chief Nicholas Waterboer and by the Free State.
Here Tungus diggers were encountered who had extracted handfuls of gold in small nuggets from a stream bed at a depth which they stated to be no greater than 2 ft.
Perhaps its chief value was that it brought many thousand diggers to the colony, most of whom stayed there.
The Tibetan diggers collected together at the mines chiefly during the winter, when the frost assisted to bind the loose alluvial soil and render excavation easy.
In 1883 the discovery of Moodie's Reef near the Kaap Valley led to a considerable influx of diggers and prospectors from the colonies and Europe, and by 1884 the Sheba Mine had been opened up, and Barberton, with a population of 5000 inhabitants, sprung into existence.
Originally called Klipdrift, the town was the first founded by the diggers after the discovery in 1867 of diamonds along the valley of the Vaal, and it had for some years a large floating population.