ALEXANDRA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1057, 21 July 1882, Page 3

ALEXANDRA.

(From our own Correspondent) Tbk season is everything that could be desired for the prosecution of mining, and advantage is being taken of it in all directions. Renewed activity has set in—as is evidenced by the many new claims lately taken up ; the extension and alteration of the courses of water races ; by the “ batter, batter, clank, clank,’ - of the newly erected ■quartz crushing mill in Conroys; and by the equally noisy dredging machines, both ■of which are delving into the bed of the Molyneux in the recovery of its hi Iden wealth; not speaking of the numerous ■claims that are being worked by hydraulic sluicing ; nor forgetting übiquitous John Chinaman with his cradle, rooking out the golden metal. A quiet stroll round the district, such a one as I took the other day •Could not but be profitable to anyone and to those who want, but who are waiting for ■Something to turn up, my a ■vice is to do likewise, and I am convinced they will Hu 1 many openings worth going info; Of the new c’auas taken up the principle one is in Gilbert’s Cully, this gully crosses the mam Teviot road, about half a mile from the bridge,and empties itself into the Molyneux, at what is known as the Half Mile Ba..eh. •From lime to time parties have gone inti this gully wi & the object of working it, they •have sunk snafts ami obtained good proaspects, but all alike have had to give in, the boulders in the gravel being to them unmanageable. The present holders—Messrs Alien, Austin, and Campbell, aware of the difKculties that beset their predecessors, go into it with a perfect plant, the chief item being a powerful crane, wherewith to clear away and put on -o ie si le the big stones. Commencing as they will at the mouth of the gully they will clear all before them, sluicing as they go, and if they do not succeed in putting t )gether good piles of bo hj ■stones and the glittering metal jade ru nomas to the past prospects will hj ive lied and the long list of duffer claims a idea to by one more. The water for sluicing is to be brou;ut from die head of Conroys, a di - ~,..ce of some six miles. The expense,

therefore, this party is going to is not in significant, the wish tin u is that they may succeed. Another new claim is taken up by Noble, Paget, and party, on the old punt road site, on the West bank of the river, and f-ora its close contiguity to some of the best ground ever worked on the Molyneux, at all events in this part, notably the “ Frenchman’s Claim,” it should well reward the party for all labor expended upon it. They are altering the course of their race to bring water on the ground, and if all goes well, they should make a start in a few weeks. McKenzie and Co., at Butcher's Point, have got all their machinery, including steam engine and pumps on the claim, well-known as Coleman’s, but as the river is still too high to give them a chance of doing much good, and as their is no

pro-pect of the river keeping low for .any length of time this season, they have V dertermined to defer commencing opera- * tions tilt next winter. Anderson, Ter r y, and Co., at Doctor’s Point, are taking eve y advantage of the mild season, and if •lot making a fortune are working hard in the endeavour, but fro n what I hear they are doing passably well. All the other sluicing claims are busy and as tin y have a full supply of water they should lie doing ■well. The two dredges on the river here are delving into it at a rare old pace. KinRaid and McQueen's steam dredge is s ill ■on the ground it first started on or not tar from it, and so far as appeatano's go—those working this really splendid vessel are very reticent and keep their own counsel are ■accumulating the wherewithal! for big dividends for the proprietary. Scott’s dredge, which as you and your readers well know discarded steam for the current of the river /as a motive power, 1 notice is now at work close into the bank, about a mile above the town, hut with what result this deponent knoweth not. It has ever been the opinion of many— and to which 1 myself hold—that the nearer into this bank the more the gold, 1 accordingly judge they have struck “ ile.” Bennett and Dewar have got their little battery at work in Conroy’s Gully, crushing the stone got out of their prospecting tunnel, of which they have about 100 tons. It will he remembered that a trial crushing of the stuff taken promiscuously from the heap and crushed, if 1 mistake not in Dunedin, yielded over two ounces to the ton, a few weeks will tell what the whole will turn out, and should it be anythiug up to that, or one ounce will do very well, Mr John Bennett, who has been the moving spirit throughout in getting tins reef under full swing may reckon on a very fair competency, and richly does he deserve • it, as through thick and thin and in the face of all sorts of opposition he has stuck to it. The battery is a perfect model in its >. way, and its constructors deserve every credit for the way they have t’vried it out The battery itself has three 4-cwt. stamps fitted up witli the latest improvements for saving tho gold, the copper plates being corrugated instead of flat, and the water

and crushed dirt instead of in the o'd style falling direct from the stump hex into the (inickailver wells, passes over and through pel {orated sheets nf iron, hy this system the silver is kept fully alive and is not subjmited to anv sudden bursts of vva’er. The motive now ris an overshot water wheel, fifteen fee in diameter, with a breast of two fe"t six inches, and a thirteen feet drum fed by a race which takes its rise about 60 yards in the creek above the battery, and as the battery and wheel is immediately opposite the month of the tunnel eve lyihiup m y be said to be compact. Of ordinary stuff it will cru»h about 5 tons a day. Messrs Kincaid and McQ’ieen were the constructors of the battery, and MrL Garde of the water wheel, ami the whole was erected by Mr Bennett and his partner and to all alike great credit is due for the really excellent plant. In future issues I will enlighten you further on this and other subjects.