WARDEN'S REPORT.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2163, 12 April 1870, Page 2

WARDEN'S REPORT.

Mr Warden Simpson, Lawrence district, under date Ist April, 1870, reports “ It is hardly necessary for me to remark that this is the oldest goldfield in Otago, and that it has almost completed the ninth year of its existence, gold having been first discovered in it in July, 1861, by Gabriel Read in the gully that still bears his name, and in quick succession followed the discovery of Munros, Woatherstoms, Waitahuna, Woolshed, and Waipori. During the progress of its existence the workings were confined to the beds of the creeks that coursed down the gullies above alluded to and the gold was extracted from the wash by the more primitive methods of cradle and tub, &c. As the finds of gold began to diminish and search had to be made for the gold elsewhere than in the creeks, it soon struck the experienced miner that in a country so well supplied with water, a means was at hand for the extraction of the gold more thoroughly, more speedily, and with far less labor. To cut water races, the miners in 1863 turned their attention, and soon the district became a sluicing district, as did almost all the districts in the Province. In one of the statistical forms attached I have endeavored to give a rough estimate of the miles upon miles of water races that have been cut, the money expended in cutting such races, and the quantity of water that has been diverted. The schedule also shows the number of reservoirs that have been constructed, a large proportion of which have been constructed for storing water, the demand having exceeded the natural supply. When the sluicing was confined to the creeks and gullies, sluicing by boxes was the mode adopted, but as the workings progressed into the neighbouring hills and spurs were the fall increased, the structure known as the ground sluice or tail race for saving gold was introduced, being found a cheaper and more convenient means of sluicing, especially in a country such as this is, destitute of timber in the interior, or nearly so, and so precipitous. The ground sluices are formed of stone orjsods, or cut into the solid and paved with stones, sUfice-boxes being occasionally placed here and there along the line They are commenced to be formed on the bottom or lowest level of the ground, which it is in-

tended to sluice, and carried out at a graduated fall, to be ruled by the nature of the* stuff it is intended to slllice, being seldom less than half an inch to the foot. So long as the fall will permit, they can bo extended to any length, many of them reaching hundreds of yards. The gold is secured in the interstices of the paving stones as the gravel or earth is broken up in its passage along the race by the water. The great of the ground-sluice is the facility with which large quant ties of auriferous gravel or earth may be got away in a short space of time, and consequently ground that would pay in no other way may be made to yield a handsome return by ground-sluicing it. Many of the gullies, &c., that had been worked over and over again in the more primitive styles, are yielding at the present time handsome returns to the ground-sluicers, who get a face upon their work, and put everything through the sluice. The ground-sluice might well be said to be an adoption from nature of the way she disintegrates her masses by the creeks and rivers. My reason for dwelling so much on the ground sluice .is, that it is almost the universal mode of working in this district, and that it explains somewhat the reason why gold does not cost so much to find and extract in this country as in Victoria and similar places. At the same time I must remark that I believe the ground sluice commits suicide, as _ may already be seen by the great diminution of gold caused by the accumulation of tailings and debris ; indeed, in a few years many of our ground sluicers will have to adopt artificial means to get rid of their tailings. Other questions will also trouble them in time, such as the damage to property by raising the level of the creeks and causing them more easily to overflow. “ In this district there are 279,500 acres within the boundary of the proclaimed goldfield, all more or less auriferous, and only some 13 square miles of that area has been turned over for gold. Of course that is speaking vexy approximately; for it is a most difficult task to form an opinion of the ground that has been mined in a district where the workings are so scattered as they are in this, over an area of 279,500 acres of country, consisting of nothing but mountains and gullies. An arduous task is the prospectors’ iu a country where they have nothing but chance to guide them in their search. From the discoveries made the prospector has very little to guide him, for the payable ground is so capriciously distributed. The rich deposits have been in some cases found in the gullies, in others on the spurs of the mountains, and in some even on’the very tops of the mountains. There can bo n© doubt that there are yet many undiscovered auriferous payable patches within the district, and as time ad. vances and jDrices decline, ground that would have been considered unpayable will be worked. Attempts have been made iu this district to find deep leads, but, as 1 have already remarked, it is a sluiciug district, and will continue to be so, for, in my opinion, it is too mountainous, and the gullies are too deeply eroded to expect deepleals, and there are no flats worthy of the name until you reach the grand plain of Tnkoniairiro, where it is not unlikely, if search were made, deep leads would be found. In the small flats attempts have been made to sink on the bed rock, where it has suddenly dipped. A depth of some 460 feet was gone to in one case, but nothing was penetrated but layer upon layer of hard, conglomerated cement, as it is called by the miners, or quartz gravel mixed with clay. Gold was found distributed through those layers, but not in quantity to pay at the depth. This leads me to speak of the most remarkable patch of sluicing ground iu this district—the Blue Spur. It derives its name from the bluish color of the cement or quartz gravel of which it is composed. There seems apparently to have been a large deposit of this stuff from the hills in the neighborhood filling up the cavities in the bedrock (as is exemplified by the Weathersto e’s Flat, to which I alluded when I stated that a depth of 4(50 feet had been reached in this stuff), and that nature, by her subsequent denudations and erosions, had swept it further on into the valleys. In the case of the Blue Spur the cement seems to have been caught in its downward course in an elevated cavity of the bedrock between two mounta ns ; and while Gabriel’s and Munro's Gullies were eroded and washed out on either side, it seems to have been left isolated, and so formed a spur or junction between the two mountains of about 300 or 400 feet above the gullies. It was first discovered in 1862, hut it was not until 1863 or 1864 that the sluicing operations which have since attracted so much attention were commenced. Claims were taken up on either side, and races delivering from 3000 to 4000 cubic inches of water brought on to it to wash it down, but as the claims began to get opened up it was found that the current would not yield to that force with a sufficient rapidity to be . payable, so blasting was resorted to. Eight tons of powder a quarter are consumed on this spur. In 1864 a trial blast was made of three tons of powder, and the results were such that that mode of working, together with the water, lias ever since be n adopted, with the following results:—one-fourth of the escort comes from the Blue Spur, and support is given to over 250 people. The wages men got from L 3 to L 3 6s a week, wages being higher there than elsewhere and shareholders an average of from LS to LlO. There are from eight to nine different companies, all composed of working men. Although these results are good, it is now daily becoming more evident, as the workings extend into the hill, that the returns wou d be far greater if the whole spur was in the hands of one company, for interests begin to clash and litigation cats the profits. The area of this spur is not over 20 acres. “ In conclusion I would make the remark that mining is not the only means of support the miner has in this district, for if it was it will be seen by the attached tables that the average wage from the yield of gold would not get him rapidly a fortune. Together with mining he combines some sort of agriculture. In this district there are over 15.000 acres taken up under the agricultural lease system, all of which is in the course of being brought under cultivation; and in stock 4000 cattle; and from 10,000 to 12.000 sheep. This area is not all owned by the miners, nor are the stock ; but a great portion, there being only about 1200 more population, including women and children, in the district.”

“The number of miners employed in alluvial workings in the Tuapeka Goldfied, which includes Waitahuna, Waipon, Table Hill, Beaumont, and Tuapeka Proper, is— Europeans, 1,000 ; Chinese, 500. The machinery employed in alluvial mining is I whim, 25 water-wheels, 100 pumps, 2,500 sluice-boxes, 00 quicksilver compound cradles ; and in quartz mining, 2 crushing

machines, 18 stamp heads, and 2 water* wheels. The quartz crushing machinery is, however, at present at a standstill. The approximate value of the mining plant enumerated is L 4,200. From four to five square miles of ground are actually worked, but probably more than 12 square miles in area nave been turned over. In addition to the plant above enumerated, there are 200 water-races extending through a total length of 600 miles. The probable present cost of those races would be L4OO per mile, or L 24.000, but the cost of those races—cut in expensive times, when the yield of gold was great—was in all probability 145,000. There are 400 ground-sluices and tail-races, measuring a total length of about 2000 chains. At the present value of labor, the cost of them would be L 8 per chain, or L 16,000. The probable cost of such as were cut three years ago was L 25.000. There are 150 reservoirs and dams, the present value of which is about L6OOO, but which in all probability, when constructed, cost L 12.000. The quantity of water used for supplying the goldfield is 400 sluice-heads, which, at the present value per head, costs L 12.000 per quarter. Three or four years ago the value of a sluice-head was L 4 per quarter, and the cost would then have been L 24.000. To this cost that of blasting-powder must be added, which may be estimated at eight tons, or L 640. The present yield of the goldfield is about 9000 ounces per quarter, which may be estimated worth L 3 15s per ounce. “ The average prices of provisions sMs live stock in the district in the quarter ending 31st March were :—Beer, per hhd, L 5 10s ; brandy, per gallon, LI ss; bread (wheaten), per 41b loaf, Is ; butter, fresh, per lb, Is fid ; do, salt, per lb, Is fid ; cheese (colonial), per lb, Is ; coffee, per lb, Is fid; flour, per 2001bs, LI 12s; grain—wheat, per Imperial bushel, 5s fid ; oats, per Imperial bushel, 3s fid. Live stock—cattle, horned, weighing fiewt, per head, L 7 10s ; goats, per head, 10s. Horses—hacks, per head, LlB ; draught, per head, L3O; sheep, per head, 7s ; swine, per head, L2 ; meat —beef, per lb, fid ; muttou, per‘lb, 3d ; pork, per lb, fid ; milk, per quart, 4d ; rice, per lb, 4d ; salt, per lb, 2d ; sugar, per lb, fid ; tea, per lb, 3s ; tobacco, per lb, os ; wine, per gallon, 20s ; rate of wages, from L2 10s to L 3 6s; with board, from LI 5s to LI 10s.”