Barberton

Barberton, a mining-town of the Transvaal, at the De Kaap gold-fields. It is situated at the base of a high range of hills 2500 feet above sea-level, 180 miles E. of Pretoria, and 100 NW. of Delagoa Bay, with both of which it is connected by railway (a branch-line constructed in 1894-95). In 1886-87, owing to the discovery of rich gold reefs, there was a 'rush' to the place, and the population soon rose to 8000 or more; but the superior attractions of the Witwatersrandt reefs and the growth of Johannesburg soon reduced Barberton to a place of 2000 inhabitants.