THE NFW OPHIR

Dunstan Times, Issue 1242, 18 December 1885, Page 3

THE NFW OPHIR

(Speeia’ly Written forth* Otago.Wilneis ) VOIJRTH ARTICLE. ... ... •• If such a promising p ice were in Vic toria it would he-nishe I directly.” Thus Professor Ulrich says, in his Rtpurt to the Mini-4erof Mines, on the Ida Valley “ deep lead.” (I’d ayoH misapprehension, I use the current phrase, with the understanding always that I mean deep ground.) The Professor is right; and, coming nearer home, if it were on the West Coast r. would he a scene of busy milling industry to-day. Otago has fallen hack in the rac», from causes already specified, and is now far behind any other New Z‘aland goldfield. In alluvial mining Westland is far aw-iy ahead of us ; and in quartz mining and machinery Auckland is in advance; whilst the people of both districts display an am mat of energy, enterprise, and skill which put Otago eompleiely in the shade. The ground of Ida Valley hj is been proved, and is known to contain large qmntities of richly acrifernim washdirt. There is no speculation whatever about; it.. The gold is as sure’y cm the bottom ai the grass is on the surface. Yet there it has lain untouched and undtsturbed for years, for wane of a little more individual vigour and healthy assistance. Tha last straw that broke-the camel’s b ok was the refusal of the Government to pay over a paltry -uhsi ly of L‘2fl(l or L‘iso, for the want of which the shaft went smtimbored and fell in. This was about three years ago and norhmg h's since been done. Let ns hope that a revival i» at hand. Better unearth’ the millions lying under our feet than borrow millions from the Stock Exchange.

Ida Valley is not the only place where known rich ground exists at considerable oeptbs. At Cardrona there is an excellent illustration of this. There the gold was traced from shallow creek-beds, at the foot of the Crown Range, for some miles down the valley, and operations only ceased when the increasing depth of ihe ground rendered the assistance of capital necessary for their further prosecution. The Cardrona "deep lead" remains nnworked; but the lew “ fosaickers ” left on the ground—mostly Chinaman— have good and golden reasons for kn win ' that then, are m -ny miles of nn evdooed auriferous ground awaiting .development. To talk of “ prospec ing ” for gold under such circumstance is to misuse the Queen’s English. 1 may cite as a third instance the ground in Miller’s Flat, along‘he foot of the range, between A-ihnr’s Point and Arrowtnwn, which nn loub'e tly was once the bed of the Shotover River At the two points named, heavier deposits of gold were found, I think, than in any other parts of the two rivers and the ten or twelve miles between them are probably every bit as noh. I have heard this same opinion expressed by many experienced and practical miners. Very little gold was over found below Arthur’s’Point Gorge in the present channel of the Shotover. And there is also a scientific evidence to the same effect extant. In Professor ITlneho’s Report on the Goldfields of Otago (p, 101) he speaks of “the extensive so called Miller’s Flat, which to all appearances represents an old channel of the Shotover Rivor, and should, as such, be vary reh, judging from the splen lid yields ob-, tained from th ■ river wo* kings higher up ,’ Y« t this promising ground has never'yet, so far a« I know, been prospected.

Now, without going farther at present, here are three extensive “ leads” lying dormant, which, if properly opened up, would furnish profitable work for hundreds of mine-s for many years to com». And when I say “hundreds,” I believe I might add another cypher to the calculation withOUt '.Va-sta ing th" fact. But. I am positive) v afraid to place on record the actual eapaci*m tfsrar owtorslopod mbcw, lest 1 should

■ bo suspected of exaggeration. It seems ini credible that with se mnoh wealth under our i feet, and above ns in the terraces no effort should have been made to rev!v> the raining industry. But tho solution lie* in a nutshell With the mining population depleted by the attractions of other fields, with capital standing aloof from mining enterprise, or preferring to “plunge” into •ohemes rendered rosy by the deceptive haziness of di-dan.-e. with’ long years of studied and systematic official negleot, what other result could be expected T To develop these “ deep leads " some capital is necessary ; and for the want of this a dull deadly languor has benumbed the energies of our people. If there is not public spirit enough to take up this matter and go into it heartily we deserve to suffer depression. I would be one of the last to implore Hercules to help ns out of the ditch into which wa have rolled ; but t think the Government might wisely affirda little assistance, if only as a stimulus toprivate exertion, for 1 am convinced that if once the ball is eat rolling it will continue to roll of its own momentum. The first start is diffionlty. If the Government,after obtaining satisfactory fevidenoe of known tacts, will authorise nr better still, undertake the sinking of shafts in . Ida Valley, the Cardrona, and Miller's Fiat, carrying on the work under the supervision of skilled inspectors. I believe the end sought will be accomplished. The expense would be recouped to the Government by the sale of the shafts and claims after testing the ground, and could then tie reapplied to similar explorations elsewhere. There is no reason, indeed, why the local bodies should not take a share of the liability, since theirs will be all the profit, in the shape of gold duty and other revenue. Whilst writing on these old leads, lam reminded of the 1-land Block. There is very little doubt that the bed of the great Clutha river was formerly on the west aide of “ the Island,” but its course was ! blocked probably by successive landslips from tbe ranges above M'Cunn’s Plat, and its waters gradually diverted into their present course. Surface indications point to ground at the foot of the Island as having been .the greatest depression. At the southerly end of the block there are two ancient outlets. This locality is known as the Horseshoe Bend, and I am told that from the river beach inwards a run of fine shotcy.gold is found making into the Bick. Of course this is now private property, but I cannot help thinking that it would handsomely remunerate the owner to allow it to be ooene i up for mining, for only a very small portion of the property would be disturbed There is another direction in which gold may he looked for with almost the certainty of [success. The old lake bods represented by the Upper Clutha Plains. Dunstan Flat, and Maniototo Plain, may reasonably he presumed to contain very extensive deposits of auriferous drift. It may almost be regarded as an established fact that before the Clutha River settled down into its present bed. above Cromwell, the main currents traversed several shifting channels, and each of these in its turn his probably been choked with gold-bearing drift. Gold was c-.rtainly found under the township. Tbe north bank of the Kawarau was 'at one time lined with tunnels to such an extent that alarmists pretended to fear that the place , would cave iu. The au -si denoe, however, has been gradual. When the bridge was in course of erection some biurets called on me to complain that they •were ordered to cease their operations, which were supposed to be. in some inoom- 1 p; ehensihle-way, - a source of danger to a pier huilt on solid rock in tbe river bed. They showed me a nieo sample of gold, amongst which were some rather large j ' pieces, and the description they gave me of I 1 the .bottom was that it was flat, water- ! worn rock, with occasional hollows, in which most of the gold oocuired. Cromwell. Flat artd the 'country above it would he well worth prospecting. At the Dun ' stau tho river seems rather to have formed I a number of ana-branches through the flat , between Clyde and Alexandra, entering , ami again emerging hy way of the broken bars which are notici aide at the old terry- 1 road and elsewhere on the east bank. 1 Some well-meaning at temp s to prospect this flit many years ago failed, because ■ at a depth of about 60ft tbe miners 1 broke through tho bottom, finding a 1 heavy-body of -wat-r underneath. Below 1 the township of Clyde there is a bed ( of stiff, y.-il iw clay, upon which rauo-i gold was obtainable both in the river bed aid in ' the cast bank. Some tunnels were driven in a considerable instance throngn this clay, i ami the levels showed a rapid incline to- i wards the centre of the Flat. Is is about ( time that a little interest was taken in the subject of further exploration iu this diree- ( tinn. And I may point out also that a shaft sunk through tho clay bottom, and | tunnelled, may disclose th- e.mtance of a , second bottom in the Clutha River itself, ! as occurred iu the San J eujuiu River iu 1 California, where very rich drift Was found < under a similar clay-bed. ] The Mauiototo Plain is so wide that it | would bar impossible to indicate any particular part as being more than possibly 1 auriferous. Bat lam strongly of opinion that whatever gold there is will eventually | be discovered on the Mount Id aside of the | plain. If the old run of the Taieri River, round the foot of tha Raggedy Range, towards Hill’s Creek, could be traced its ' value as a lead might be tes'ed. But there ( are other aims intersecting the plain, and j I should suppose at great depths It may be worth while to n member that the work- 1 at Naseby and Hamiltons, at two ends of < the Maniototo Plain, are situated at equal I or corresp'oding altitudes. These work t ings are on ancient lake terraces, which at , certain points sheer suddenly downwards, and so the “ lead” is lost. Ur H cor, 1 when at Hamiltons, once expUine! to me that where the run of gold ceased t:e , miners could find no bottom, because it meant an almost p-eoipitmis drop from the edge of the terrac- into the bed of the old lake But lam glad to see that the Na-eby penpl" are cnntemp’ating a trial of the deeiier ground. Wo wmt all tho light that cm bo got on the ton long negl cted ques • inn of the deposi'ion of gold under an amaz’ng variety of rircnm'tanci’S, of wh'ob I verily believe we hj ive only a f.ii t anil fl.ckering giuumer of knowle 'go at nre'ent Vtxcxxt Pyke.