MINING NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 594, 6 November 1869, Page 4

MINING NEWS.

UP-RIVER DIGGINGS, (FROM OT7B OXVX CORRESPOND BNT.) Napoleon, Oct. 30. There has been some' excitement caused this week by a rqsh to Mossy Creek in the Upper Grey district — Mossy is a tributary of the Grey, about three miles from the Little Grey junction, and has been opened for some three ytrrs. The present rush is situated on one of the spurs im-^ mediately over Tape Line Terrace. The names of the applicants for the extended claim are M-'Qonn.or-, Powell, Johnson, and Murphy. Two tunnels havesfheen taken in, in one of which prospects Varying from one. to three gpains, to a dish have been obtained ; the depth of washr dirt is about three feet. Gold was firat J struck fifteen feet from the face, and pros^ pects more or less payable were found for a distance of fifty feet inwards. Although a considerable rush has set in from this district to it, it is believed by those who jiave a knowledge of that part of the country, that it will only be oue of those terrace patches which are continually being opened up now. At Mosquito the prospecting shaft which was being sunk on the JtaUan claim, has been bottomed at 126 feet, and driven for 60 feet towards the other pi q ;pecting shaft, without meeting with payable. wash? dirt. This has rather thrown a damper pn the hopes of the shareholders at this end of the lead, but in the meantime a new shaft has been commenced on'Deane's claim, about 30 yards further eastward than the original prospecting shaft. It is the opinion of a goqd many that the lead is further westward still than the shaft just bottomed, and this opinion has been formed from the appearance of the wash |n that shaft, and also' from the fact that in Procter's claim, which jb situated between the Welshman's aud the Italian's, the same run 'of ground in which it is intended to sink the nevp shaft has been driven through already, and duffered. Btill there is plenty of room foy the lead to pass along in either of the fa.ncy lines, for all that, has been yet proved to the contrary. - The rain which has fallen for the last two days will set the sluicing claims to work again, and enable the miners on Wellington and Napoleon, leads to empty their paddocks, which were filled to bursting. This washingriip ha 9 been anxiously waited for, as it is expected that a good many of the claimholdera will be able to free themselves from all their liabilities to the storekeepers by it, I have heard of somegopd washings already, bui I expect to be able to give you an accurate account of the yield of the different claims in my next. The lead at Brandy Jack's is. progressing very slowly, as fajp as the actual turning out of auriferous wash-dirt is concerned; There is a large amount of work being done, but even in those claims which :are known to be in the gutter, it partakes more of the nature of prospecting than anything else, aid I have only heard of one washing of any consaqnenge, which was at Buckley's claim. This party, I have been informed, washed "last week 20 ounces, the produce of their week's* work, including the driving out of the wsishdirt. On the upper or- eastern end, o| the lead from the prospectors there are, as far as I could learn, eight claims on gold, and one claim across the creek at the lower end. In some of the claims at. the upper side, the glitter is split into several little runs, each containing "more or less gold, but not enough to pay for- iakihg out. In other claims in which the wash= dirt iB more confined, the occupants are driving through the gutter for the purpose of reaching the~opposito or southern reef, with the expectation of getting better gold there than they ha.ye, met with yet, for it is a peculiarity uf the lpa^la in this neighborhood, even in the present creeks, that the gold hangs Ao the southern or right-hand sjdo of the watercourses, as they are traversed from the bottom upwards. Another cai\so of delay has been the

careless manner in which the levels have been tiken in certain claims. In some instances the tunnels were taken in at too low a level, and when a considerable amount of work had been done they had to be abandoned, and fresh ones started higher up. In other claims again the parties, commenced too high, andhave had to begin afresh i nver down. In some casga these mistakes have occurred in consequence of an accidental inequality of the reef ii; the bottom of the gullies ; but, as a rule, the fault lies with the shareholders themselves in the want. of proper cautipn displayed in not obtaining the correct levels before they started to take their tunnels in, The. finding the gold in the lower end of this lead will be a work of some difficulty, The tunnels will be at least 500 feet long— that is, if the gutter continues in its present course ; but the different claimowners are going in with a will, which shows they must have great confidence in the ultimate success of tnejr undertakings. My own opinion of this place has not altered, and I still think that a good lead has been discovered, but that it will take time and patience to develop it, Lonergan'a track is finished, arid it will be a groat convenience ; this track branches off the Duffer Gully track about a mile from Savage's farm ; it then skirts "the eastern edge of the Totara swamp to the junction of Brandy Jack's Greek, and then traverses the creek upwards, It is well laid out and constructed, and reflects great credit on the contractor, Mr Costigan. The Warden visited Brandy Jack's last week, and, after inspecting the track, he. authorised Mr Lonergan to charge tolls according to the following scale :-^-Horaes, Is 6d ; cattle, Is ; sheep, 64 per head. Great credit is due to such spirited and enterprising gentlemen as Messrs Lonergan, Lardi, M 'Don aid, M'Laughlin, and others, and no doubt they are entitled to a fair reimbursement for their outlay, and for the manner in whjgh they have opened up the country at their own expense in the first instance ; but in the name of common Justice how long will this state of things be permitted to exist 1 Are the road^ to the centres of population to be for ever made by private individuals, who will then be empowered to levy prohibitive tolls on the public ? If it will pay as a private speculation to construct these tracks, would it not be as well for the Government to make them and then erect the toll-gate (if such a relic of barharism be. admissable at all), and with the revenue collected from it, mend or make roads to other places ? It is to be hoped that during the forthcoming elections, the. miners will not neglect their own interests, and that they will only send in gentlemen to represent them who will have an interest in insisting on having a fair share of the revenue raised in each district spent in it. At the lower end of Duffer's Gully, near the junction of Sullivan's, Flynn and party are taking a tunnel into the southern bank of the creek, looking for the lead which was lost in the creek, and is supposed to have taken the terrace somewhere about this spot. They are in a considerable distance, but have found nothing payable yet. Higher up, M'lntyre and party and Davison and party are taking out payable washclirt from a spur on the same side of tlie creek. The numerous sluicing claims in this gully have plenty of water now, and they are making good iise of it. At the right-hand branch the Fireman's party on the range have put in a tunnel about 30 feet, searching for a run of gold which they traced fyom the face, but without success; Lower down the spiir "Paddy the Marquis" has discovered a stratum of some dark-colored substance which he will persist in calling a quartz reef. When I saw it I modestly remarked that it appeared to' -me to be one of those beds of peat or half-formed lignite, which are so frequently to be .met with in all parts of the district, arid tliat the gold which was seen sticking upon the "specimens" had found its way down through the cracks and seams from the. washdirt above. His Lordship disagreed with me here, and he took. great pains to convince me that I must be geologically incorrect in my opinion ; moreover, he scouted the idea of his mistaking anything in the nature of turf for any other sub-stance-=-he knew too much about it for that. In printing my last report from this district you made a Berious typographical error; When 1 mentioned Spec's rush I said that the washdirt in the drive where Kelly was killed would yield an ounce to the set; you made it an onnce to the dish. The ground taken out to make room for a set of timber is generally abont 5x5 feet square, and as the correctness of my report has been questioned I take this opportunity of set; ing myself right.