THE NEW OPHIR.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1245, 8 January 1886, Page 3

THE NEW OPHIR.

f Specially Written for the Otago IPiliieM )

The more I investigate dormant facta the more convinced £ am that the auriferous reaonrcea of Otago are very far from havingbeen developed. Ik seems to me certain that there are more B : ue Span, and Dun* Stan beaches, and Shotover terraces yet to be_ found and wrought; and that one of the chief cm see of the present stagnation in, mining affairs, over and beyond what 4 have already indicated, is to be. found; in the utter apathy and neglect to which this mining community has been subjected for nearly a score of years. Our miners have lost heart in consequence, and their numbers have gradually diminished, as also have their meant, so that new a-days they have neither the p'uclc nor the money to develop our many untouched gold'mines. Isay “ill!* mining community" because the most profuse fostering care has b en lavished on the Westland and Thames goldfields by the Government, and our own people have lavishly given of their substance to aid in thedevelopment of distant mines, whilst they have suffered the very - base and foundation of the prosperity of Otago to well nigh perish for lack of assistance.

I have recently visited the site of the prospecting shafts at Tapanui. I have no desire to excite extravagant hopes, nor to send men on what might prove to be a delusive quest. But I will speak of what I have seen, and place my opinions before the public for what they are worth, and subject to correction. The locality w here Mr foreman and his mates have been searching for gold is «t the westerly base of the Bine, or Tapanui Mountains. It is a singularly wild spot. The mountains, rising almost perpendicularly, are scarped and riven as by the beating of winds and waters, whilst on the far-away opposite margin of the great lake-ha«in which occupies the Tapanui—or I should say the (llenkenick— plains there is a distinct con tinsons terrace formation of great extent. From the plain almost to the foot of the mountain there is a gradual ascent, and i than, standing on the edge of an isolated bluff, one looks down on a deep depression, into which land slides have discharged enormous masses of ea th, totally changing the wiginrl contour of the, surface. Here Mr Fqrem.-m.a miner himself, and the son «f an old Victorian miner—reared, so to •peak, in cradles and ■ stuioo boxes—has been induced, by the “lay ofthc'coontry,” to seek for a new goldfield Gold m small quantities he has found, but his researches were cut short hy the caving-in of his last | shaft when snnk CO t below the surface, in a small transverse gully—that is to say, a cully running ont from the mountain. The drift passed through is of various character, and need not be specially described. What I am most concerned with is, whether the lowsrt layers yet brought to the inrfaoe *ro

lake-wash, or river-dirt, for tlicroujion depends the solution of a problem that has long puzzled geologists. And here I may say that there is p him mass of information abbot gold-niinmc published “by onler of the Provincial Council of Otago ”in 1875. It is entitled a “Report on the Geology and Goldfields of Otago," by Captain Hutton and Professor Ulrich, with appendices by Professor Black and Chief Surveyor M'Kerrnw, . Possibly few of our miners ever heard of such a book It is only another instance of misdirected effort. The price at which it was published virtually tabooed it from ponular acceptance ; whereas each a book so full of valuable information should have been circulated at a merely nominal _ price amourst the people whose interests it was intended to serve.

In that book I find a disquisition respecting the Bine Spur, which has always had a rial interest for me, because it indicates a vast discovery, each as would set Otago firmly on its feet again. Permit me to quote the passage in extento Speaking of the famous Spur, Captain Hutton say a; -“This old roex-bssm is filled up witn beds of conglomerate that dip to the east,' sad as a ru'e the stones in the conglomerate get smaller towards“thc east, wh'ch, together with the direction' 1 of the dip, prove that the old tarn was filled up fromthe west. The conglomerates consist in great .part of pebbles, and snb angular blocks of green qnartzite, and a dark purple jasperoid elate with quartz veins, which rocks do no exist nearer the Tapanui Mountains west of the Cluthi River. South-east of Lawrence also, several other patches of conglomerates are found, all < f which probably mark the position of an old valley which extended from the Tapanui Mountains through the Blue Spur to Kaitaugata. No appearance of such a valley can, however, he seen at present, and its supposed coarse is now crossed at right angles by the Clutha and Waitahuna Rivero. Consequently this old river must date back to a time previous to the forma' tion of the present valleys.” From my examination of the wash-dirt raised at the 60ft level, by Foreman «md party, I am disposed to believe that it is river-drift. Neither it nor the superincumbent strata present the ordinary appear* ances of lake wash. Be this as it may, there is this to be said—The rema ksble depression between the high lands abutting on the plain and the mountains is Cons tinnons for many miles both west and east of Foreman’s shafts. And there are not wanting indications in the vicinity of Tapanni itself of a big river having once rolled its water* from Wakatipn and the wafam lakes, and under the very skirts of the Tapanui range in an easterly direction, and consequently in the line suggested by Professor Hutton. What if we are on the verge of a great discovery—that, namely, of finding the course and source of the ancient river which held its way when the Citttha and its tributaries were not? It does not necessarily follow that the old river b d is full of gold, but who shall venture <o forecast the issue? One thing ia established as a fact. S.mc ot the gullies that branch ont from Foreman’s have been proved to he gold-bearing. There is a quondam miner—now a siihstan’ial farmer—in the district, through whose property tons a small creek, beading from that direction, which he has profitably sluiced for gold at odd times, and he is not the only one. Even in the vicinity of the town itself gold has been found, and seemingly in the line of the river. The subject is one deserving investigation, both from a mining and a scientific p >iut of view. I have not said half as much about it as I Cituiu, ] prefer saying too little to unduly committing myself Rat I shall be disappointed if something extensive does not come ot this matter. ~ And now, having said all I mean to say at preseii*’- about this latest mining exploitation, let me apeak of the creek and ; river workings in the neighbourhood of Tapanui. Here I am on sure ground, , without »„y theory to stifle my utterance. The gold is there, and it is to bo found everywhere where gold is ordinarily sought for. On the banks of the Pomabaka river, mine re with a sheath knife and tin dish make three or fonr pennyweights a day. While at Tapanni I was shown a sample of coarse rough gold of excellent quality of the estimated value of eleven shilling-', which had been obtained after this rude fashion. There are miles of similar .country untouched. 1 also had ample evidence produced to me of the existence of payable gold in all the cr. cks and spurs extending from the Waikaia to tbs Waikaia, and also on the eastern and western branches of the latter rivulet. In fad this has been known for many years. The auriferous nature of this country was made known to the provincial authorities in 1864 5, and the locality of proved gold deposits were marked on the official maps through the agency of the then existing goldfields department, as may be seen in the Land Office today. But the department was destroyed in 1867. and everything in connection with goldmioing in Otago has gone adrift ever since. The land has been sold to private individuals, and now the question is how to get it back. There is a law which compels the S ate to resume possession of prove I auriferous land at a fair price for the surface, without regard to tbe gold or minerals in the soil. And such a rich and valuable goldfield is now locked up in private hands that it ia incumbent on the State to exercise its powers if properly called upon to do so.

Then in the b-d of the Pomahaka tbereare rich, patches known to contain gold in quantity, hut which haye been hitherto unapproachable, for waht of the needful capital. The dredge now aliout to set to work will give a good account of these. But it may be worth while to mention that, according to all the evidence I was able to glean, these gold-drifts rnn transversely to the present bed of the river, and consequently in the direction of the old river-bed spoken of. In fact, all the information 1 could obtain tended to sustain the opinions set forth on scientific anth- rity, that a large river, immeasurable by modern ideas, once traversed the country from west to ea-it, the surface traces of which are now lost or obscured by the manifold changes which have taken place in the configuration of the country.

As another item. 1 may say that the Waikoikni—referred to lately by Mr Power an a gold-bearing country—is now being worked principally by Chinamen, and pro* filah’y so worked, although the workings aie on private land, so that the privilege of mining has to he dearly paid for. In connection with this part of the country, I may mention that it was prospected by Mr Gabriel Head in 1861-62 ; and 1 will make a few extracts from his repoit to the Provincial Government, only premising that yields wh'ch would have been disregarded as insignificant in those days would be con sidered rich to-day . “1 found cold in small quantifies on the Waipahi. near its junction with the Poir.a----h-.ka, and also in the latter river. . . . My next journey was to the Landslip Hill. 1 could wash fine gold in every place I tried but wan not able to attain to the slate bed rock. The creeks are full of lignite, by breaking up the surface of which and washing it in the prospecting pan I could obtain a* much aa sixty or {seventy minute •caloa o? gold. . . . . 1 am of opinion

that tlio hills throughout the who'e range lot. run* 167 175, to the nqrth of the Lands'ip Hill” (this is the Wnikoiko' ’country) V will some day be valued for their auriferous treasures” Thus Mr Read in 1861—'but despite’ tllj» strong expression of opinion the freehold has been parted with, and will now have to be bought back again by the State. Here are more bin's, taken from Gabriel Read's reports, which may be useful to ** “Staling to ths rightof Blount Wendon, I struck theJLathan at Mr Manley’s station. In the slate laid Bare in the bed of the stream very minute gold may be washed out in every pan.” ' Finally, I uil! qnotq, from myself. 1" my official report of 1862 I find this : “ Mr Read also tried the Okapns, Wendon, and Otaria streams, and found light gold intermixed with magnetic iron aand in all of them.”

From all of which, and from my revived otaervations of the localities referred to, I venture to predict that. Tapanni will yet be the centre of a very extensive gold -mining district.'. - - , Vincent Ptke. Noth, —Since mating the- shove I have received a letter from the prospectors, in which they state that 11 the-whole of the Flat from the railway-station to the bridge at Conical Hills ” (eight miles) “ bears a layer of wash from 3 to 10 feet deep, all gold-bearing.”—V.P. . "