The Federri Alluvial Tin Property, the Tin Fields of Northern Nigeria, Limited 247 Doss or Dila Tin Property, the Tin Fields of Northern Nigeria, Limited 248 The Kurdum River Alluvial Tin Area 249 The Rein, Forum, Ribon, and Kurdum Alluvial Tin Areas 250 The Rein Alluvial Tin Area 251 The Farum Alluvial Tin Area 252 The Shen Alluvial Tin Area 253 South Bukeru Tin Area 254 Juga District 255 Gel Tin Lode and Alluvial Company 256 The Northern Nigeria (Bauchi) Tin Mines 257 Route from Minna to Tin Fields 258 New road from Railhead to Tin Fields 259 NIGERIA & ITS TIN FIELDS EARLY DAYS IN NIGERIA In 1879, when Sir George Taubman Goldie organised the amalgamation of the rival trading firms of the Lower Niger and formed the United Africa Company, only a few far-sighted people could have had any idea of the possibilities of future commercial greatness that were possessed by this utterly unattractive and uncivilised region. “The Niger,” as Colonel Mockler-Ferryman tells us, “was absolutely tabooed; its name was mentioned only in whispers, and the British public regarded it as an unlucky, pestilential spot, out of which no good could ever come.” It must be remembered, in explanation of this pessimistic attitude, that all attempts to explore Nigeria and open up commerce on the river had failed more or less completely; a great number of lives had been sacrificed in successive expeditions, and no practical good had been accomplished. McGregor Laird, some quarter of a century earlier, had founded the African Shipping Company, with monthly sailings to the West African ports and, with the grudging co-operation of the Government, had contracted to keep a steamer on the Niger. But Laird died in 1857, when his spirited enterprise appeared to be on the point of yielding tangible results, and the country was still under a cloud when, twenty years later, the first organised attempt was made to develop its commercial resources. THE PROTECTORATE PROCLAIMED