THE PALMER GOLD-FIELD.

Dunstan Times, Issue 627, 24 April 1874, Page 3

THE PALMER GOLD-FIELD.

Tlio Mil'joined actual experience of tWdlggWat the -PaWer gold field may nor. he altogether without interest lo (hose coute.ni plating a trip thither. The men,in question—George ■Thompson :inl Henry Williams—started from O’ eo’ get own, Etheridge River, oil the Oth September last, with two saddle-horses anil four packhorses laden with three months’ supply of rut ions. They formed a portion of the parly who accompanied the oiigirml prospectors of the Palmer gold-field when <he latter, after divulging their discovery, volunteered to guide these anxious to test it. As the road from the Etheridge .to the Palmer has frequently been deseiihed in these 'cblomhs, there is no occasion to state now that it presented no great difficulties either for teams or travel, and that the men reached the present she of Palmer tow n thirteen days after leaving Georgetown, passing seventy or eighty miles fmm the latter place one station called Firth’s, where they purchased some pork and a salted’ sheep weighing ten pounds for thirteen shillings and sixpence. The cost of 1 lie pig they forget. On the route, snipe twelve miles before arriving at the Tad, and between that river and the Vv alh the country present'd every indication of gold, and the metal itself was found insufficient quantity to warrant further exploration. On arrival at ihn Palmer, they camped about a mile be’ow the claim granted to the prospectors, who commenced Stacking washdirf, but ultimately sold out for 10 ozs. of gold, better prospects presen ting-themselves higher up the river. The fainter itself is a considerable-sized stream, with a sandy bed, flanked on loth sides by barren slate ridges, occasionally rising where the ranges immediately abut to a considerable height. The bed of the stream is covet ed with tea-tree scrub, not of great size, but so closely clamped, as, in conjunction with the tapid current, to make crossing a work of no slight, perd In the straight reaches of the river, as, iu fact, almost everywhere, gold isfouncl, but the payable localities are only what are temu-d “ leaches,” —(hat is to say, accumulated drift which has been deposited by (he action of the •current, at sudden bends of tire st ream. These beaches arc not all payable, nor is the gold obtained always of the same -quality, or so heavy as that found inlhe gullies and ravines from which it appears to have been disgorged The working is mainly a specie’s of tin-dish loss ’-eking, the extent of suy beach, gully, or ravine as yet opened being very insignificant and by no means promising permanent employment to a large population. ’] he prospects in the gully opened by the prospectors, so tar as came under our informant’s notice,ran from three grains to a quarter of a pennyweight to the"dish, and it was christened ‘Long Tad Gully,” from the extended chain of gold seekers by whom they were accompanied. This not suiting, Thompson and his mates started tip the river prospecting, and. after unsuccessful tria'sat various spots struck i heir first patch—a feed offish iu a blacks’ camp. 1 inner, which was apparently a '■ailing Heir arrival, was cooked in round shadow holes dug in the ground, lined with stoi.es heated in the lire, upon which the fish were placed, covered with a sheet of bark and a lop dressing of hot sand. Vi hen the (and lias cooled, the fish is cocked. Those obtained comprised a species of barramundi, weighing from fifteen to twenty pounds. At Fish Gamp the lirst payable patch was struck, and eighteen Ounces obtained by the two men in fom days; after which another move was requisite, and at a spot called the Eighteenmile Beach, and though a second party were doing pretty well, (here, was no temptation to remain, and Thompson and his mate proceeded to the Twenty-live-mile Beach, whore they stopped a fortnight, anil reali. cd ten ounces, including one piece of over three ounces and a half, stated to bo the largest piece found up to that date, though a nugget of twenty-four ounces, was got iu a gu']y called alter its discoverer, Hugh Kennedy. October had now arrived, and a trip to Palmers! on for beef was imperative, there being little if any game, and beef itself becoming scarce. On return, fifteen miles from the Twenty-five-mile rush was prospected, plenty of beaclies but no gold being found ; and is iu the interim, the original prospectors of the Palmer had struck payable gold on the left branch. JT.ompsnn and his mate struck across die bush from the right-hand branch, uul pasaidgover good wovkir.o-cnmitry, hj opped on to what is called theThii tvrnile Camp from Palmertown, on the eft stream. Here, from seventy to .-ighty men were at work, but nothing was done by our informants for a week, when they got a small claim [thirty-five feet by twelve) in Gregory dully, from which they look thirtyfight ounces, the sinki. g being from avo to live feet and the grid lying in mt more than four inches of wash. Phey estimate this to he quite is good as any discovered, and (hat it night employ fifty men six wefeks to work it out. Another trip for beef icing requisite, during the absence of tis rnate/riiouq Sonstarted to prospect die country before alluded to as lying •

! , ; . between tire Twenty-fifth raije beach on the left branch and the right hand branch of’the Palmer. During the tvyo days and a half that his mate was absent, Thompson got over seven ounces and a half, and on the day following his mate’s arrival, the two got eighteen ounces, including a nugget of fourteen ounces, iu a gully opened by themselves. No further find rewarded (hero, and rations getting short they started for Cookstown. via Palmer-town, on or about tho 17th February At that date flour on tho Palmer was 3s a pannikin ; little or no meat was left .; and though the old northern diggers who first opened the field were tolerably well supplied, a great deal of distress was suffered hv those who came up with M'Millin, thinking to inn-chase provisions on arrival. Thompson and his mate returned to Cook-town, via Dcu glas’s | new track, which they describe as as atrocious—impassable for drays, fatiguing for horse--,and only r-f utility for a limited horse or paslsi rlger traffic when the country between Palmertown and the Novmauby is flooded. Po far from its being seventy miles shorter (Iran M‘MiUan’s truck, P is, they affirm, far longer; and in tine, traversing fiAm Razorbnck, where the gradient is like a roof, to Hell’s Gate, which speaks for itself hills, gorges, and conglomerate ad libitum. In re. turning, they had to swim the Palmer, the Laura, and the Normanby, crossing besides other large creeks, where the water was Saddle-flap high. Douglas’s road runs into M‘Mill,-m’s, two miles from Battle Creek—so called from an attack made there by the natives on a pirty going up. Mr. jVHMillnr’s road is described as being excellent as soon as the country has dried up; and the wet season being almost, if not quite C’”- there will 1 be plenty of parties loaded up for the Palmer. At the Normanby, a punt bas been built, tho fees for crossing hj( ing half a-crown per man and .seven and sixpence for horse and pack. It is evident from the above statement that no present discoveries ;it the Palmer promise permanent occupation for any great number. Toe men . from whom these particuhirs were obtained arc old acclimatised diggers, well acquainted with Northern Gold-fields.. Hu y have had at burst average luck, yet with a new field to ransack what is tide to warrant idle Insane rush now in progress 1 hj ere a few ounces, there a few more,claims worked out with a tin dish in less than a week, no made ground, no continuous lead, nothing but the chance lodgments of a f> w nuggets in shallow mines and nek crcvicc sia the bed of the river. If in its, so u> speak, virgin state experienced men have to traverse so much ground to grt a few ounces «-f gold, what will be ihe chance w hen the ma n army arrives from the sea coast'i Stoves, will be very slow to penetrate the distant gorges and head waters, to which the diggers are now dinctiug! their course ; it is useless (o attempt it without horses; and the fairest j computation pots down at least half a man’s trine as lost, in looking filler his horses and fetching merit Imm the main camp. It, will take ver v high earnings while at work to compensate for this, parricidally when (he distance, cost, and difficulty i f going to, or getting out of, the place are taken into consideration. Queenslander