WARDEN’S REPORT.
Mr Warden Pykc, writing from Clyde under date January, 1870, reports as follows : I do myself the honor to report as follows respecting the progress and condition of the Dunstan district. At Clyde, mining operations arc temporarily suspended, owing to the state of the river, now at high flood. The principal item of local interest is the discovery of an auriferous quartz lode immediately above Connew’s farm, in the Wai-kcri-kori Aallej'. The prospectors are busily at work tracing the lode, which is reported to promise well. 1 have not been able to visit the workings, but shall do so ere long. Alexandra. —The miners here arc generally at a stand-still, except as regards the preparations which are being extensively made to reap the anticipated harvest of the coming winter. At Galloway Flat, some five or six parties of miners a: ill continue working. The Alexandra Reef, at Butcher’s Gully, is being honestly and fairly prospected, and will, no doubt, be fully developed in due season. In the prospectors’ shafts the workmen are sadly troubled by water, and another (a third) shaft has been c mmenccd on a different part of the reef. Iverson and party at Conroy’s are also making every exertion to dcvclopc their reef there.' This reef, or rather leader, has now been traced along the surface for a very considerable distance, and payable stone has been struck ; but so far as is yet Icn.Qwn, the reef “runs out” (that is, gradually narrows and finally disappears) at a few feet bejow th,e surface.
Serpentine. —That portion of the Serpentine diggings known, as Long Valley, on the western slopes of South Hough Ridge, is within my boundary, and this locality has of late been brought somewhat prominently before the public, owing to the re-opening of the Eliza Reef there. Some years since three different parties applied on the same day at three different Warden’s offices for mining leases of this reef. Eventually one application was withdrawn—two of the applyingpartiea were amalgamated, and nothing further was ever done in the matter. Recently three claims have been taken upon the reef under miners’ rights, and are being wrought. If the specimens submitted for inspection may be relied on as fair samples of fhe two at least of these claims are likely to turn put well. I am ■well acquainted with the character apd appearance of the Eliza Reef stono, and I therefore ajn able to 'recognise the specimens as genuine. It may be described as a very hard and compact white quartz, much oxidised and iron-stained, and in places highly ohristallized. Gold, of a coarse description, is visible both on the face and through the body of the stone. IVo applications for water for crushing purposes have been received, and I have reason to hope that ere long machinery will be erected. Blacks. —The alluvial workings m tins division are going on, as usual, very prosperously. The deep ground at No. 3 will shortly be re-opened by the “ Ida \ alley Deep Lead Company.'” This ground is known to be extremely rich, but tl,e original workers never had proper or sufficient appliances for its development. Energetic efforts aro' being made to discover quartz reefs in the neighborhood of Black’s, but hitherto without any ' great degree of success. On the low range above the township at Blacks No. 1, some prospectors have struck a “mullochy” reef, containing golden stone ; but no defined lode has yet been found. I am_ watching all these experimental workings with great interest ; ami eon currently with their progress there are gradually accumulating the elements of a new theory respecting the formation of auriferous veins in New' Zealand. During a recent visit to Drybrcad, I was much struck with a peculiar geological feature observable in the main gully there. Tim whole gully has been sluiced away from the "rass downwards to a depth of from 10 to 12 feet, laying hare a red tertiary “bottom,” curiously indented. Traversing “ b'.ttem ” longitudinally down the gully there are Lands radges of older (blue) tertiary—very regular, continuous, ami w,cJldefined—from 18 inches to 2 feet in width. Those ridges present all the appearance of having been ploughed up by glacial action.
It ia somewhat strange that no attempt (so far as I could learn) has ever been made to penetrate beneath the clays to the true bottom. But possibly no such attempt will be made whilst ground-sluicing continues to be a profitable occupation. Cromwell.—This portion of my district is progre.-sing in a most satisfactory manner. The quartz reefs at Bendigo arc being more or less wrought, but the want of crushing machinery is a great drawback to the place. There is an immense quantity—l should say thousands of tons—of stone “at grass,” but there arc no means of bringing its valuable contents to market. Persons who do not properly understand the nature of quartz workings ask why so small a return has been hitherto made from these much and deservedly vaunted reefs. But a quartz minor cannot get out the gold as an alluvial miner does—by simple washing. Machinery is requisite, and public machinery there is not any at the reefs ; consequently the possessor of the richest stone is compelled to fold his hands in idleness pending the erection of public crushing machinery. At present only one battery of five stamp hearts is at work, yet what has been the result? During the first four months of 1869, Cromwell sent down per escort only 3832 ounces of gold, being an average, yield of 958 ounces per month. During the last eight months of the year Cromwell has sent down 13,529i0z5, or an average monthly yield of 16910z5. And this astonishing increase in the local yield is without doubt attributable principally, if not entirely, to the successful operations of one five-head battery—namely, that of the Cromwell Quartz-crushing Company. In a short time, other five heads of stamps will be erected at Logan and Company’s machine, and the Aurora Company expect to open their ten-stamp-head battery in a few days. With five heads they intend to crush their own stone, and the remaining five beads are for public use. But there is plenty of stone for fifty heads to be kept continually going, and a more genuine or a more profitable enterprise I do not know. Nevis. —This portion of my district was in the full swing of prosperity when the Picton rush attracted a largo number of minors from the Province. It has never since regained the same status ; but I feel convinced that there is not a richer goldfield in Otago, nor one more worthy of mining enterprise on a large scale. At present there are six parties of miners working near the township so-called of Lower Nevis, which consists of two stores, being also public-houses, and some miners’ tents. Two miles up the river three parties are at work. Six miles further there is one party working on a terrace. At the Upper Nevis there are three parties ; and a solitary “hatter” is toiling by himself on the saddle betwen the Nevis and Nokomai. Below the township, some six miles, there arc other three parties, each party having full possession of an entire gully. Along the river a comparatively large number of Chinamen have set in, and they appear to be, and admit that they are, doing well. Altogether there are about 70 European, and nearly 200 Chinese, miners on the Nevis. That the miners are doing well, I had ample and satisfactory evidence on my last visit. I was shown the washdirt in the ground-sluices, and it is long since I have snen such magnificent prospects, or such fine heavy gold. One party placed before me their private books, showing the yield of gold actually sold by them, with full permission to publish the results. I found that they had obtained 3490zs 7dwts during a period of less than six months—namely, from June 2Cth to December 18th, 1869. This was a party of five miners, showing a gross annual yield of more than LSOO per man, and I am assured that this is not by any means an unusual return. There is ample room and verge enough for many hundred miners at the Nevis, which has yet to see its best days. \ The workings at the rear of the Nevis township present some peculiar features. The wash dirt is a coarse, rubbly, watervorn, shingly deposit, above which is what the miners term “ a fa'se reef.” In reality, this “false reef” consists of a confused mass of soil, which has slidclen from the over-hang-ing ranges. Geological strata of all kinds are jumbled together in most admired confusion. On the top of a face may be seen old tertiaries superincumbent on new tertiaries, and generally both mingled together. In truth the auriferous wash represents the true surface of the apeient lake deposits. The Nevis presents incontrovertible evidences of having been anciently the site of two large fresh-water lakes. One basin is now known by the name of Lower Nevis ; the other as the Upper Nevis. Between the two a rocky gorge, eight miles in length, presents the elongated lip through which the resistless waters have for untold ages been cutting their channel.
In the claims adjacent to the Lower Nevis the miners are following the course of the old shingle terrace—generally by tunnels, but sometimes by open faces. In the claim of Redding and party, there is one tunnel over 200 feet in length, besides others of varying extension branching on either hand. (Calvin and party have put in a tunnel 550 feejb in length from the outer opening, with two shafts—one 70 : feet, and the other nearly 90 feet deep on the line. Their object is to strike the “shingle” or “terrace” lead, and this they hope to do. They arc now going through a mullochy reef, beyond which they have ascertained by sinking that the ground is deeper; and in their searching for “the lead” they have already expended eight months of labor—a circumstance which significantly evidences the faith of the minors in tiro ground. One of the greatest wants of the district is labor, both male and female. House servants are not to be had at LSO per annum. All the stations about here arc almost at a standstill for want of shearers. Agricultural laborers are not to be had at all. Our few agriculturists are offering from 50a jo L 3 per week, with board and rations, but cannot obtain men. Miners at wages are impossible One party has advertised for working miners, and, in addition, posted public notices in every township for three weeks, and not one applied for an engagement. In all my experience, both Victorian and Otagan, I never knew such a dearth of labor, and that experience extends over a period of nearly twenty years. There is work on the goldfields for all and sundry, both male and female, and extravagant wages to be had by any who prefer living honestly in the interior to loafing about Dunedin. The weather during the last few months has been altogether something apart from all former experience. There has been more rain than has ever before fallen during the same period. And the heat has been something unprecedented, and without parallel. Crops are looking magnificent, but for the ]a«tf'few 'd&ys hot winds have been blowing incessantly, and unless a change; speedily occurs, severe injury will accrue to vegetation ,
Yield of Gold. —ln the month of Decernber, 1869, gold wa? escorted from the Dunstan district as follows :—Cromwell, 22500z ; Black’s, 105Soz ; Clvdo, 75Soz ; Alexandra. 6170z : total, 46830z. During the twelve months ending 31st December, 1569, the Escort returns show that the following quantities of gold have been despatched from the several divisions of the district, namely : Cromwell, 17,3G10z lOdwt ; Alexandra, 10,rt290z Sdwt ; Clyde, 94950z 12dwt ; Black's, 94000z : total (Dunstan), 4G,*2SGoz lOdwt. This total represents nearly onethird of the total yield of the Otago ColdGelds. On comparison with the yield of 1863, it would seem that there has been a slight decrease ; but this is accounted for by the circumstance that nearly SOOOoz have been forwarded by direct escort from the Teviot, the produce of which district formerly found its way into one or other of the Dunstan escorts.
Business of the District. —During the year 1869, the business in the various Courts was as follows In the Resident Magistrates’ Courts and Courts of Petty Sessions, 506 cases have been disposed of. Of this number •261 v re civil cases, and 245 criminal cases. Of the civil cases only 16 were tried at Cromwell, which speaks well for the prosperity of that division of the district. In the Wardens’ Courts 93 cases were heard, and 699 gold mining applications were disposed of. Population.—l estimate the total population of the district at 2,550 souls. _ Of this number about 1,000 are Europcm miners and 550 are Chinese. The balance is composed of traders, farmers, runholders, and station hands, laborers, dairymen and others, including women and children. There ara about 350 or 400 of the latter, and their number is rapidly increasing. Perhaps ft finer or healthier climate does not exist in the world, and as a natural consequence, deaths, otherwise than from accidents and intemperance, arc of exceedingly rare occurrence in the district.
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Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2102, 31 January 1870, Page 2
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2,222WARDEN’S REPORT. Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2102, 31 January 1870, Page 2
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