SUNDAY TIMES | Ufrieda Ho:
Had Time’s clock ticked differently it could have been Springs that got the gold and later the big city sparkle. Joburg would have been the backwater, tagged provincial and beige.
The story goes: back in the day the area that would eventually become Springs was a new coal mining hot spot. It also had a gold seam thick and proper waiting to be discovered. However, when Ignatius Ferreira’s pickaxe connected with the shiny metal in October of 1886 on a farm called Langlaagte, 50 kilometres away in mining camps that would become Johannesburg, it changed the course of history… Read more
Image: Springs’ art deco buildings are ideal for a walking tour because they’re contained in a relatively small walking distance from each other. Supplied