WAYSIDE NOTES.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2729, 15 November 1871, Page 2

WAYSIDE NOTES.

(By our Special Reporter.) ’Tis twelve miles from Clyde to Cromwell —of which town more anon—and you have the choice of a road through the gorge on either side of the river on which to travel. The one, however, on the. east side of the stream seems to have the preference, as over the western road only some two drays have passed, I hear, since its formation—some seven or eight years since—at a cost of about L 15,000. Passing over the broken-backed bridge that spans the Clutha, and wending your way through Cromwell’s main street almost to the town boundary rn the Queenstown road, you turn suddenly to your right, if you follow my footsteps, and ascending or following up the valley of the Clutha to M'Pherson’s punt, on which you can cross the river if you have money—or indeed can do so without if such should be your unfortunate condition—and then being some ten miles from Cromwell, will be infor.. Ed that you are three miles from Bendigo. Many of us came “from the other side,” as “Old Mac” would say, and have been turned round often enough by the police of circumstance since then. I retain a lively recollection of old Bendigo, and so felt anxious to see its New Zealand dwarf brother. ’Twas there I got my first gold, got hunted down for my license, took my first lesson in reefing, and learned other things not quite as profitable; and remember the brandied peaches we used to buy to get the liquor in which they were conserved, and many a Saturday’s saturnalia. We voted the old place done up in ’54, and were looking out for fresh rushes; and now, some seventeen years after, we are told to our astonishment that the red gold of its reefs is as abundant as the red dust and red brick buildings it contains, and that men may come and men may go, but the reefs go on for ever. This present excitement has been steadily fomenting for some time—l expect underground, like the action of a volcano—but has only now. when wool has “ riz,” and “ile” been struck, leapt lambent. People were half mad on the Thames two years ago, got threequarters insane till the water in the Caledonian cooled their heads, and seem now to have gone the whole hog over a garden gully and a lot of new chums. (I wonder how the ardent lovers of separation of Government in the two New Zealand islands would like their programme carried out now, when the go d rtturns shew the first fruits only of a small and insignificant part of the mineral wealth of the North Island.) So I determined to take a look at our Bendigo in Otago, and go from thence to' the Car rick Ranges—our quartz country—and endeavor to discover and mark out a piece of ground to transmute into scrip and siller as well as any other man, and start perchance another Southern League, since the present one has become defunct Bendigo, or Bendigo Gully, is some thirteen miles from Cromwell, and was some eighteen months or two years since a very busy locality. Several quartz reefs had been discovered there, and the consequence was that visions of wealth dazzled the eyesight of speculators, and induced pei haps overmuch confidence, too profuse an expenditure, and too small an amount of prudence. Considering, bow*

• hj evef, ;tbe money-spent, the manner in whic it h'as beemspent, the quantity of machinery erected, and the amount of labor performed* a sufficient amount of practical information* and returns in the way of coin of the realm, have accrued' already to recoup the outlay as a whole, though particular cases of suffering and ill success may have arisen. Were no other facts elicited than that Logan’s Reef has been traced and worked to a considerable depth for some 500 yards ; that at the greatest depth reached, 160 feet, the reef is found to be thicker and the gold more plentiful; that its continuity cannot for a moment be reasonably doubted ; that in all ; robability it will be traced for miles ; its appearance indicating its running to depths of which we have at present no conception. Were these results alone obtained, without the compensa- , tiou in coin, they would be sufficiently worth all the expenditure incurred. It appears mest apparent in every fresh stride we make in gold mining, how really little we know about the matter. When reefs were discovered first in Victoria it was predicted they could not possibly extend to any great depth. This was an article of the mining creed till it was pronounced heterodox, and found to be an error. It was considered that, our Victorian, Californian, and New South Wales experience would at all events tell us where to look for alluvial gold—but yet wise as we imagine ourselves we never dreamed of finding it in payable quantities in the sand on the sea shores till we came to New Zealand, and now, after nearly twenty years experience, the old mining heresy is being revived. “ The reefs won’t continue down.” I don’t know to whom we are principally indebted for the opinion that there would be few or scarce any quartz reefs in Otago. I fancy the miners themselves first gave birth to the rumour—which Dr Hector adopted—but I am happy to say I think the miners and the doctor as well, will both be found in the wrong. The work done at Bendigo Gully and on the Shotover—vide Mr Evan’s report—ought to convince any unbiassed mind that quarts reefs in Otago should be as permanent, as well defined iu their course, mid perchance in many places as remunerative, as on Bendigo, Tarrengower, or the Thames. The great difficulty in the development of reefs in this island hitherto has been their discovery. The quantity of waste scattered all over the country, often at wonderiully high eleva* tions—prevents the prospector from discovering their position when in close proximity to their actual sites j and knowing from the character of the gold obtained, and the prevalence of specimens that reefs must be close at hand, yet fails from the country being so covered up to discover the stone in situ, or form an approximation of the probable course of the lode. In Australia a little surfac* scattered over the hill-side containing gold, induced you to go to the crown of the spur or range—there as a rule you found the reefs cropping. On the Thames, a steep hill-side swept bare of almost all soil, reached nearly to the water’s edge, and' save the density of the vegetation, presented as favorable circumstances for prospecting as Eagle Hawk or New Chum. Slowly, but surely, I think Otago will prove it has long lines of payable quartz reefs as well as extensive auriferous deposits. - 1 suppose Logan’s Reef, where first di|- • covered, must be 1(,00 feet above the river that is in its neighborhood. The crushing machine belonging to the reef is at Wakefield, some mile or - thereabout from the workings, at the edge of the township.; The heavy expense attached to road making was borne by the company. They have a ten stamp battery erected, working night apd day, crushing about 100 tons of stone weekly. They have motive power, however, to drive 50 head of stampers. They hold two leases —l6 acres each—joined together by a piece of spare ground called “ The Golden Link.’! This piece of spare ground has been, I am informed, very rich, aud will yet form a subject for litigation. • Till lately the reef bad been found 'only in the western lease, and pieces of spare ground—it has now, how* ever, been traced into the eastern lease as well—thus solving the question of its con- . ti unity. No expert following the course of the reef through the western lease and the pieces of spare ground, would ; have any doubt as to its permanence. While some of the surface stone from this reef has yielded as much as 7i ozs. to the ton, the general average, I was informed by the manager, may be considered 30 dwts. to the ton. About 40 men are employed by the company. When this reef has been further traced into the eastern lease, a fresh impetus should be given to Bendigo, and claims or leases taken up some considerable distance ahead. The present company hold 900 yards on the line of reef, It has hitherto been worked in a systematic and business like manner, and reflects great credit in my opinion to both past and present management—save the strong probability of the tailing containing a considerable percentage of lost gold. It may be stated that it is principally owing to this cause, and the c instant crushing of the battery, that Lagan’s Reef has been so successful and well developed.