THE NEVIS GOLDFIELDS.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2063, 15 December 1869, Page 2

THE NEVIS GOLDFIELDS.

In the vicinity of the Nevis township some very promising deep sinking operations are carried on. The ground is described as a piece of table land through whicjMfcxcellent lead of heavy gold runs. occasion, not very' long ago, a nugget was taken out of it which weighed four ounces some odd pennyweights. One shaft known as that of Galvin and party’s, after going down between eighty and ninety feet had the water come in upon them in such quantities that they we e forced to abandon the shaft Since then they have driven a tunnel some five hundred feet long. When we bear in mind that tim. ber in the Nevis is very scarce, and that every foot of it requires to be packed either from the Nokomai or else taken from CromJ well in a bullock dray, it is easy to under? stand that the ground must be very good to warrant such tedious and expensive opera* tions. Besides the above named party there are other 'three companies at wore upon the mound. Two of them have been going on tunnelling the ground for the last three years, and the third is comparatively speak* ing new to the place. Snow Gully, which was at one time rushed by a population of 150 working miners is now all but deserted. This is perhaps one of the coldest quarters in the whole province. Summer and winter it is covered with snow, and in some places the diggers had to work in a cutting with a face carrying as much as thirty feet of snow. A small township sprung up in the vicinity in early days, and so very cold was it, that even the hardy digger never knew it by any other name than the North Pole. Despite its climatic privations it can boast of a deal of good gold, and although only two parties are now at work in it, their returns will equal anything in the digging line to be found in Otago. At the Nevis Elat, upwards of 200 Chinamen have set in to work. They have erected substantial buildings for themselves, and have all the appearance of being a perfectly fixed population. They arc making from L 3 to L 5 a week, box and ground sluicing. They carry on their work much more systematically than, generally speaking, they get credit for. A number of them have brought in races from gullies opening into the Remarkahles, and as that range is, generally speaking, pretty well supplied with snow, it is very seldom indeed that the supply runs short. The ground is much lower than that of Snow Gully, consequently they are in a great measure protected from the inclemency of the weather ; besides they have got a splendid seam of coal in the neighborhood, said to be the best in the province.

At the Nevis Crossing, opposite what is called the Deep Creek, another party of Chinamen has taken up its quarters. They are engaged turning the bed of the river, damming it up, and working out the dry bed. The very same ground was wrought by the same process a few years ago, but the trouble was considered so great that it was abandoned. Since “John” set in, he has struck it, and is making a very good thing out of it. But for Chinamen the place might have remained long enough, aqd this is only one instance oaf of many that could be named where the Chinese digger shows his superiority over the European. A regular camp has been formed on the flat, comprising three good-sized stores, a butchery, a shoemaker’s shop, and a blacksmith. There is another establishment around which a certain amount of mystery hangs. Europeans say that it is a gambling-house, but “John” denies it; and as he takes good care to keep the _door closed, there is no actual proof that what lie states is not correct.