James Smith (miner)

James (Philosopher) Smith (1 July 1827 – 15 June 1897) was a politician, goldminer, explorer and discoverer of tin reserves in Tasmania, Australia including the Mount Bischoff mine.

Smith was born at Georgetown, Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), second of three children of John Smith and his wife Ann, née Grant. When James Smith was five years old, his father was shot dead and his mother later remarried. Smith was educated at Launceston, and after working for some time managing a flour-mill there, he went to the Victorian gold diggings in 1852. Returning in 1853 Smith took up one square mile (2.6 km²) of forested land at Westwood between the Forth River and Leven River. After making this his headquarters Smith began exploring and prospecting. There was barren and mountainous country to the south of his home, and Smith had to endure many privations. He discovered gold on the Forth River, copper on the west side of the Leven River, and silver and iron ore at Penguin.

On 4 December 1871 Smith discovered a large deposit of tin oxide near the summit of Mount Bischoff. His specimens when smelted yielded the first tin found in Tasmania, but it took some time for the importance of the find to be realised. In August 1872 Smith took a small party with him to the field and in 1873 several tons of ore were sent to Melbourne. In that year the mine was visited by William Ritchie, a solicitor at Launceston, and with his help the 'Mount Bischoff Tin-mining Company' was floated with 12,000 shares of £5 each. Of these 4400 were reserved for Smith who also received £1500 in cash. One expert who visited the mine at this time pronounced it to be the richest tin-mine in the world. The company, however, had many difficulties, one being that the bush track to the coast for many months of the year was almost impassable.

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