Canadians find gold on Aruba (See Box)

Gold mining in Canada was never, ever like this — on a beautiful island with nearby clean white sand beaches stretching for miles and washed by warm, crystal clear aqua-blue water.

About 20 miles long and six miles wide, Aruba is the home of some 62,000 friendly people who’s official language is Dutch with a goodly smattering of Spanish. But virtually all speak English.

The average year round temperature is 82degreesF, with very, very little rainfall. But what’s really original about this lovely island is its steady and refreshing northeastern tradewinds that temper the hot tropical sun.

Discovered by the Spaniards in 1499, it was inhabited by Arawak Indians. The Dutch claimed it in 1636 during a war with Spain, with the British taking over in 1805 during the Napoleonic wars. But the Dutch reclaimed it again in 1816.

Aruba’s first industry, surprisingly, was gold, first discovered in 1824. That continued on a rather significant scale until 1913 when it was all but discontinued because it became uneconomical. The biggest industry, subsequently, became the huge Lago oil refinery treating Venezualian oil. But that closed several years ago, leaving tourism virtually the island’s sole industry. But now it is hoped that gold mining will come back.

Aruba has a stable government that supports private investment. Significantly, license plates on the cars (virtually all Japanese) carry the motto — One Happy Island.