The Palmer River Gold-field.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 227, 17 March 1874, Page 7

The Palmer River Gold-field.

The following article appears in the'iVorIhem,• Advocate, a ijournal polished at Milchestef:— *I ! «hj “An eld friend of ours—one of the first wjio arrived there —having recently lias favoured us with a few items of his experience while on the rush, “Ho arrived with a single mate on the Palmer about October Ist. They set into work at a place called the Three-mile Beach, ;and remained there about three weeks, during the last of which they did little or no work. Their average earnings during that time,were an ounce a'dayfor the,party. Our friend'heing ill, his mate started off to look' at the left-hand branch of the Palmer, upon which many were doing well. Ho returned In three or four days with a favourable report, and they then both started for the place ; the distance being about 25 miles over a very rough country. Arrived there, they set in, in company with two others, and obtained three pounds weight of gold during the first week. Our friend became so ill from dysentery, brought on by poor diet doubtless, that he made up his mind to leave, although the claim was still good, thinking as he was unable to work it was unfair to tax his mate’s earnings. Previous to leaving he offered several men 395. per day to work for him in the claim, but was only laughed at for his pains. On the left-hand branch, our friend says, plenty are doing first rate ; half an ounce per day being thought nothing of, and the yield when he left was one to five pounds to the claim, —in fact, at this particular spot a, man could not go wrong for a bit of gold. Good gold has been got on the righthand branch, one party having got sixteen ■ounces in one day there. The gold has hitherto been got in the bed of the river, and what is termed the beaches; on these the gravel is stripped for about one or two feet, and there then is six inches and upwards of wash, according to the lay of the bed rock. Our friend saw during his stay on the field a 250z., a Kkwj., and 7oz. nuggets; the largest found bv his party being 3-iozs. Prices for ■everything are very dear : for salt and horseshoe nails an equal weight in gold is offered and refused. £2 would have been> freely given for horseshoe nails to tack on a set of shoes. It Is quite impossible to travel in that country with bare-footed horses. Our friend advises us most earnestly to persuade parties from attempting to proceed to the Palmer until after the wet season ; it is not a more risk of starvation, he thinks, but a certainty. Amongst the news of interest told us, is that the earlier arrivals were so disappointed that they threatened to Lynch the prospectors, and that it was these threats which induced the latter to prospect and discover the leftImnd branch, where the most payable workings have been found. Our friend said be never travelled over rougher country than the Palmer, and we can add that his experience is considerable in that line.”