VICTORIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 579, 2 October 1869, Page 4

VICTORIA.

If we can believe a respectable resident, says the Daylcsfqrd Mercury, who vouches for the truth of the statement, fj, miner in Old Tom Gully, who is also a' "hatter," had a few days ago a washing that gave him little less than GOoz of gold. This would scorn to show that there are still prizes worth searching for in the gullies of Jim Crow. A correspondent, speaking of theDargo, Flat Diggings, -jays. .— " These diggings are still attracting a considerable number of miuers, and to those who are satisfied with small but certain wages there is no better field in the colony. The gold, being very fine, is pretty equally distributed throughout the entire course of the Dargo River as yet prospected. The average earnings of Ijassich and party, the prospectors) is from L 2 10s to L 3 10s per man par week, These are decidedly the best returns yet obtained, but several other parties are confident of doing equally well when they have their claims properly opened." From Stringer's Creek, Gipps Land, the Long Tunnel Co. report a return cf 1107oz of gold from 346 tons of stone, and are still crushing, and the Walhalla Co. on the same line of reef, have 3800oz of amalgam, not yet retorted. From Bendigo, twelve of the large companies report yields in all amounting to nearly 2000oz, beside a lot of ihe smaller ones, which average nearly 50oz each. From Clunes we have only three returns this week, but they amount to over lOOOoz, and the alluvial yields in the Ballaarat district continue much as usual. Touching i\\e interests of Victorians on the gold .field at Trunkey Creek, we find the followingin the Sydney Herald of 30th August: — "We are informed .that the parties who were disputing the title to Arthur and Co. 's rich claims on Trunkey Creek have, through the kind int( rvention of a mutual friend, been amalgamated into one company, to be styled tie Victorian Trunkey Gold Mining Company, with a capital of L 30.000 shares, in 30,000 shares of LI each. The directors are Mr George; King, JlrThomas Hale, Mr E. R. Emniett, .Mx* George Thorne, Mr H. D. Chard, Mr VV. Holland, Mr D. Parker ; and ilieshares are equally divided between the shareholders at Trunkey Creek, Melbourne, aiidlSy.dney,uthe v capital being all found by the two latter interests." According to the Majorca Independent, il a most promising discovery, and one that will probably lead to the opening of a large area of new ground, was made last week by a man named Myers, who, while splitting wood, came across a nice nugget of 3oz sdwt -lying ./m the s surface. There arjp rib tracks; or. traffic on that part of the country, and the indications are very promising for a rich shallow diggings, long, low rolling hammocks of * made' ground, cement and ironstone, with quartz conglomerate, being the prevailing features of the country. , The lucky tinder brought his prize into 'Majorca, where it was seen by many on Saturday. He has now marked off a, prospecting claim, arid is entilled to an area of 700 feet, sis the spot is^'fiyen^ilerf'distajit from any other gold field, the nearest diggings being probably old Dunolly. The exact spot is not known as yet, but is upon the Archdale station, about six miles from the Avoca River, and lying about a mile to the right of the St. Arnaud. i*Oa,d after, passing the junction. That part' "of the country in totally 11 nprospected, and nearly destitute of water, and for ten miles .the whole appearances are those of a shallow, easily- worked goldbearing district." . . The news from . Tyler's Rush still continues very encouraging, not a day passing without several nuggets being unearthed, varying in weight from loz. to 200oz. The correspondent. of the Inglewood Advertiser, writing on. the 2nd, says: — " I don't think 1 shall exaggerate if I set dojvn the quantity of gold got since. Tuesday last at 1000oz, and thi3, bear in min fl , independent of tl c fine gold got at Christinas Gully, and the lower side of the workings ati Tyler's Flat I know f«-r a fact many are getting half an ounce ,to the load. I heard on Thursday last two large nuggets had been discovered at Old Berlin, one weighing 241 b. and the other 201 b. I could give, the names of many who have got nuggets tliisweek, but they .requested me not to do so." The same correspondent, writing on the 11th of September, says : — I have to report two rushes, one on Thursday above the slaughter-yard, adjoining Mr Hugh Peck's property, the prospect being 2dwt. off the bottom of a small hole. Several holeß were bottomed on Friday, but no finds got. Ere long I believe some large nuggets will be found. Mr Peck arrived here on Thursday, and had men engaged in placing flags around his allotment. His terms,-to;the miners are os a claim for the first, months and 20s ror six. months should the miners continue working their claims, making in all 255, which -I consider very liberal terms. The second; rnsh is about a mile below Willan'a station, not far from the Dunolly road ; a few miners have been working for the last few weeks. Lately one of the party got 2£dwt. to the bucket, half a pennyweight to the dish, and a quarter of a pennyweight to the dish from different parts of the hole. The sinking is very hard ; depth, about 7ft. A finer looking country no one would wish, to see. Ait Tyler's Flat large quantities of gold are got daily. Several large nuggets were unearthed a few days ago, the largest weighing 250z. I saw a 12oz. piece a few minutes .after it wasgot. It made about 140bfc. already got out of the claim. Six p.m.^-rJThave just heard that LSO- worth of gold was got'out of a hole in Slaughteryard Gull}-, also a nugget weighing loz. from another hole, and that another rush h.-is taken place to-day to the east of Willan's station ; depth of sinking, from 9ft. to 20ft.';. prospect from the shaft, 26z. to tli e load ; and from the other shaft already down, something like foz to the

load has been obtained. I attended another small rush between Qpossum Gully and Christmas ,* sinking, 7ft. and very hard ; prospect, Hoz. to the load. 1 know of several nuggets being got here on Friday, the largest weighing 140z., and the s-mallest 9dwt,. Business 1 is. exceedingly brisk, and many of the. business people aj*e nearly worn out with much work. According to the Ijehalla Ijnsign, •■ the discovery of payable gold near Beualla may be looked ui:>on as an established fact, nor shall we be too sanguine in expressing our belief that it iB a fact, after tlie repeated experiments made during the past week. Some, time ago we drew attention to, the desirability of working the alluvial ground adjoining the reefs, near Benajla, because we believed the trial then made was not conclusive, and th^t there was no real reason for abandoning the ground, and the several washings which have now been effected prove that those remarks were not qjjt qf place. Mr Hart, a practical ininpr from Ballar^t (and now holding several large interests m Godfrey's Creek claims), having heard of the efforts which formerly failed, was at length induced to visit the spot, and in company with a Benalla gentleman, washed a tin dishful from the bottom of one of the shafts and found about twenty specks of gold. This was not bo bad for such a rude trial, and Mr Hart went on his way rejoicing to report to his ' mates,' who decided to take up a prospectors' claim. The news got wind, and two days later three amateurs proceeded to the place and tried a tin dishful of the stuff which had been thrown up from an unbottomed shuft left some four years ago, the result being a good show of fine gold distinctly visible by each of the three, but which, owing to inexperience in washing, was clumsily lost. A small nugget and several grains of shotty gold were, however, left, and the genuineness of this statement is vouched for by each of the three gentlemen referred to. Several other tin dishfuls were tried, and from half a grain to a grain in weight was obtained from each. Mr Hart (whose opinion is wortli having) declares that nothing so good has yet been found on Godfrey's Creek. The Talbot Leader states that, on the 7th inst. , a rush took place between Coxtown and the ranges to the north-west. "A splitter, while following his occupation, discovered a nugget weighing 3ioz. , and on trying the surface with a dish" got capital prospects. He at once applied for a prospecting claim, and since the find became known a large number of diggers have collected on the ground. Those acquainted with the neighborhood pronounce it a likely spot, and there is plenty of room for a large rush. The same journal reports another rush as having broken out near the township of Lexton, and which is attracting considerable attention. Thirty of the residents have taken up an extended claim with miner's rights, and a considerable amount of prospecting is going on. " The correspondent of the M'lvor Times draws, with too jaundiced an eye let us hope, the subjoined melancholy picture of Spring Creek : " The Spring €reek rush is a thing of the past ; the lead which attracted a large population is nearly worked out Still, if the weather continues favorable, a number of miners will find as good fossicking here as on the older gold fields ; but if ever a flush of wet weather should set in, so as to let the water into the ground, the remnants of the old lead will be swamped in every sense of the term, for if the ground becomes wet it will be unworkable ever after ; for ground that will only yield what is termed ' tucker' when dry would starvo out the most industrious and persevering when wet. Most of the reefs discovered are what are called flat reefs, and they are by no means rich, while at the same time their conformation precludes all hope of permanency. There has of late been an apparent scarcity of water for washing purposes, but more of the machines are idle from a want of washdirt than from a want of water, and it is not easy to find any circumstances to lead people to hope for a revival of mining prosperity. The population of the place is dwindling away fast, and like all great rushes it leaves behind it a social sediment."