UP-RIVER DIGGINGS.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 763, 8 December 1870, Page 4

UP-RIVER DIGGINGS.

. v (FROM 00 R OWN CORRESPONDENT!) ■'••■■ =■■ HALF-OUNCE. December 7. The discoveries made in Sheehan.and Wildridge's, arid in Durin and O'Hara's claims during the last week, have caused considerable excitement, and revived the spirits of those numerous croakers who had formed the idea, and didn't forget to give loud expression to their opinions, that the Half-Ounce lead was a duffer,iand that the good faith-i which competent judges have in it was merely a fictitious theoretical notion, and not a genuiiie belief in. its permanency and material value. It was even' asserted that the miners at the lower end of the lead, as a body, had no faith in their claims, but that they were merely holding on to them to induce storekeepers to give them credit until some new rush -broke'but,-or until it suited them to abandon the ground and try their fortunes elsewhere. There ate two classes of people who invariably hold this bad opinion of auriferous ground, no matter how valuable it is intrinsically, if it requires any extra outlay of time and labor to develope it./ One of these is' a class who have no practical knowledge or experience whatever of gold mining, but who think that miners shouldbe " continually working at the washdirt and knocking but gold your Worship," as was sapieutly remarked in the Warden's Court at.Napoleon the other day. These sort of people think that miners should commence to get gold the moment they mark out their claims ; that they should continue to do so up to the last minute they occupy them, andthat the actual washing out of gold should go.on continually uader every variety of circumstance ; in fair weather or foul, in dry ground or wet; with or without head or:;tail-races; at the bottom of deep shafts or on the surface, in fact, anywhere • or everywhere without reference to; time, condition, or situation. Nothing short of practical experience will convince these ■wiseacres of the fallacy of their unreasonable ideas. To the other class belong a .. body of men who are, if possible, more . dangerous, and who are greater obstrtic- ' tibns to the true advancement of their own interest, because previous pracytical knowledge and dearly bought experience had been thrown away upon them. Such men like rash speculators undertake the performance of works requiring ia large expenditure of labor and money, and involving the unavoidable loss of months of valuable time, without havitig any adequate conception of the resources at their command, or of the responsibility . they impose > upon themselves. They see a party of men getting gold,.and if they can get in edgeways within cooey of them that is sufficient for them. They never trouble themselves about the time it wiU take to sink deep. shafts, to erect waterwheels, to construct tunnels or take up ■ : long and expensive tail-races as the case may be; any, and. sometimes all, of which works the party.on gold may have been compelled to perform" before they got a ■ ■■ speck. The absolute necessity of performing all this.:" preliminary reproductive work " as the political economists call it, never occurs to these hopeful sons of toil until it is too late. When the tunnel is inabout half the required distance, or the shaft is bottomed.. and the party are swamped but until a waterwheel be • erdctedj or when the head-race is nearly • in and half-a-mile of the fluming has been destroyed from the effects of a flood, or as the result of badly finished workmanship, men of this sort get disheartened. They find their means becoming exhausted ; it will be a long time yet before the place where the gold is expected to be found is reached (and it isn't always found at the expected place), and the upshot is they make up their minds to "ding it.". Just at .this moment, as if it was to be, comes ' i "albnglan astute individual, who has been '...7da»:dlihg about for ,spme tune, smoking . jitheTotten cabbage leaves which go by the .:• ,nftU)e;of cigars, and,taking a hand at :,poker .now and then to keep him out of ,i nttte •• reach of the Vagrant Act, which he : rr eatt do, as that elastic piece of legislation 1 is generally administered. This " know;ing card/" (which he is, in more senses ; than one), sees his , opportunity and embraces it. After a liitle diplomacy he ..; discover? that the Owner of the share has "... had a letter from "his old mate Jack," . who is over the Saddle, or in some other ...far distant.land, and that Jack has a "show" for him; but the knowing card aforesaid knows well enough that '• Jack, the old mate," is only a myth, and that the fact is the man is disgusted, and ■'■= wants to get away on any conditions. He offers a price for the share and it is taken, the terms generally are a ridiculously ■. small amount of cash down, ever so much mnre -when it comes out of the ground " (which it never does somehow), and the result of the negotiation is that BDI, who has done all the work, and who was in a ■""' fair way Of getting well paid for ify if he had waited a little longer, shoulders his swagaud departs, after he pays his debts, .with- a few shillings in his pocket to repeat the operation at the next diggings he goes to, and to give the place he left a bad name, , while Augustus Collander 'Yawn, who never does any work, and who " made " the money he gave for the share on a " flush " the other night, is in possession of a property which will soon ■be'valuable, and about which he never troubles himself, except to receive dividends, having put on a wages man to represent his interest, and this wages man, it is so arranged, pays all the current expenses: of thd share, and receives his wages when "they come out of the ground."-.Gasesof, this sort have frequently occurred in the district recently, : find nothing is more calculated to injure the; prospects of a place. Everybody begins to lose faith, and it is only such! a rare occurrence as the finding of rich washdirt, under such circumstances as the discovery was made'last week, thatrestores confidence. :: ...Gold was found' in Sheehan and party's claim some months' ago, but as soon as the gutter was touched the party were driven • out with water. They have since; erected a;.vater-wheel'and sunk a shaft for the „,, pumps, and in driving towards the place where they got the foroier prospect, they have struck the lead. They have four feet. of washdirt, averaging 6gr to the dish. A '.. .miner named Gabriel was slightly hurt in this claim one day last week by the falling down of a bucket on' him, while in the shaft. In Dunn and O'Hara's amalga- •' mated claim, gold; was abo struck some time ago, but.> they were also swamped out, and work was abandoned under-

ground, until the wheel and pumps were ready. Payable gold was crossed in the drive 25ft from the shaft, and at ftbont 35ft a run of washdirt was met with, 3ft) thick, and it is reported of extraordinary v richness. These claims striking gold, and being a great distance ahead of the last proved claims on the lead, leaves scarcely a doubt but that the lead is not only continuous, but that it is getting better as it is traced further along. Faler's party expect to reach the washdirt this week ; and Braithwaite's party have all their damages repaired, and are in full work again. Hafford's party will fix their pumps this week, and if the old drive be not filled up, they will be able to prove the claim, or at all events they will find out if the gold they have drove on to was merely a patch, or part of the lead. The Amalgamated Long Tunnel Company (4 claims) are in about 400 ft with their drive, but they experience great difficulty in disposing of their mullock, in consequence of the mouth of their tunnel being nearly on a level with the creek. Complaints are being made by parties lower down that this party aro filling up the bed of the cieek, and raising the level of the water, although it is difficult to see how that will effect the lower claims, seeing that there is only the same quantity of water, in the creek. There is a special regulation to guard agaiust general injury in a case of this kind, and the shareholders below Sweetman and party have a remedy if they feel aggrieved, but it is evident that Sweetman's party will be the greatest sufferers if the water is raised to a higher level, because it is already too high for them. The Warden has refused the application made by Mabille and party for a lease of eleven acres,.on the ground that the area applied for was too large in -..such . close proximity to a known auriferous lead. They were recommended to apply for six acres, but they can hold nearly that much ground under their miners' rights, with' the exception they won't have it in length. This party deserves encouragement, for they are getting on with their work with great energy, and with an evident knowledge of what they have to do and how to do it. The waterwheel is finished, but the pumps are not yet rigged. It is thought they will only have to drive 100 ft before they cross the course of the lead, but there .is no knowing when they will have to draw [to, for the creek take 3 a bend and opens out considerably at the claim, and the Western reef being such a distance away from the shaft, it is useless to the party as a guide to the payable position of the deep ground. If this party succeed in finding remunerative ground so far down the creek, the lead at Half-Ounce may be considered a good one. At the upper end Magrath, Ginty and party have their wheel shifted to the lower part of their claim, and work has recommenced. Cahill and Weir's party are on good gold again, and the long tunnel claims are all being steadily and profitably worked, Rankinand Cosgrave at the whim claim are getting out really good washdirt, and the several claims higher up are either washing during this wet weather or preparing to wash. The Gold Fields Secretary, Mr Donne, visited Half-Ounce Creek on Wednesday last. A deputation, headed by Mr-Win. Faler, waited on him, and called his attention to the several requirements of the place. The want of police protection was especially brought under his notice, as well as the. necessity of establishing a post office, and of having certain alterations made in the bye-laws to suit tho special circumstances of the place. Mr Donne received the members of the deputation most benignantly, and some of them say they weren't a bit frightened. Pollowing the brilliant example of his chief at the Ahaura, he put them completely at their ease. He told them the new byeiaws would soon be in force ; there was no doubt the Government would grant a post office, if the people would go whacks in the postmaster's salary ; and with reference to the road from Half-Ounce: to Totara Flat, which has been made at great expense, but on which all traffic is stopped for the want of a culvert over a bad creek, which culvert would cost about L 5, the Secretary of the South-west Gold Fields told the deputation that when the Council met, some time next year,-all their wants (including the culvert) ivould be attended to !