OTAGO.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 984, 21 September 1871, Page 2

OTAGO.

[T>AILY TIMES.]

In order to give an idea of the, severity of ' the weather in the Skippers district, the Airow Advocate mentions that it is informed that there is eight feet of ice in the dam of the. Ophir reef. The sluicing of the land Blips which covered up the reef had to be postpoued, owing to the race-water freezing whilst falling down the mountain. Though the fall is nearly perpendicular, the water froze so Rapidly that the iee 'would soon have formed quite : a : glacier,' had not * the operations' been suspended. •:■••• ■'■■-. Accounts from Cromwell, as from nearly all the other districts, state that mining is broughtalmostto a stand-still in consequence :of, the extreme severity of the ; weather. The Cromwell Quartz Mining Company cleaned up during the~month for ths first time after their winter spelL-' The ; result whs a cake weighing some43opi.' The stone was fakenf rom - the portion •of the company's ground known as" the " Golden Link." This company have lately . erected whims and other contrivances for pushing' on the work expeditiously, and will'no' doubt maintain their, position as the leading quartz-reefing company in Otago. The Coldough Company are said to be working on firSiyfate though rather "thin" stone. VThey are at any rate working with great vigor, having between eighteen and rtwenty men regularly employed. The ; qnarte-reenng.com-panies on the Bannockburn side which are able to continue working are getting very, encouraging: prospects. , The opinion . "' that all- the mountain is one mass ;of " quartz reefs" appears -to- have gained bo ; much ground that a company of eighteen has been started for the purpose of thoroughly prospecting the hill by meaps of a tunnel, driven from the head of -Adam's to the head of Pipeclay Gully. The alluvial deep sinking at Bannockburn still continues to pay well. The Kawarau Gorge is fast' losing the importance which once was attached to it as a gold-produc-ing district. Its staunchest supporters are gradually -getting .scattered up and down the rivery the ground in the neighborhood of the . little township fbeing either worked put or so far worked Sack as to become unprofitable, sluicing ground. • Several schemes have been proposed for testing the deep-sinking ground known to exist in the neighborhood, but somehowthey have all fallen through. On the 19th August five of the mor.e important quartz companies at the Bannockburn were reported to be again busy at work— the Rayal Standard, Border Chief j Elizabeth, Star of the East, and Heart of Oak. The Caledonian, also, had started.-; It is understood that two : more crushingmachines, are tip Jbe ..erected shorily ; .ajb, ; the .Barinockburn, pne by the. Elizabeth; Company, whose machine is now on its way, and the : other conjointly by the Star- of the East and the : Heart of Oak Companies. - -Gold mining in the-*B.ockand*Pillar Ranges during tbewinter season must be a very arduous 1 occupation, judging from the, following 1 extract from a privateletter; which has been placed at our disposal :— " Last week the new 3of a small rush to the Deep Stream, about 20 miles from; this township (Hamilton), where, it was 1 stated, two men had got:3ooz of gold in six week, caused a little excitement. Among others, I started for the new diggings, and reaching it among thta earliest arrivals, J managed, to. get a claini 'next' "the prospectors, It,i3 an awfijlly wild and rugged spot, quite on the top of' the Bock and Pillar Range. . In the gully where we are working is lying to a depth of nearly four feet, and the ice is very thick. I have known of the place fcj» about two months, the men who found' it having been obliged, some time since to temporarily leave the scene of their operations, ami come into the township, . in consequence of the frost and snow pre- . venting their working.' You may imagine the great altitude of the place, when I tell you that on a fine day we can see Saddle Hill and the sea in the direction of Green Island. lam afraid, however, that the rush is not going to turn oxit well, as my mate and 1 have hardly got the color, notwithstanding that we have & claim bn each side of the prospectors; Still, there is no saying, as the ground a very patchy, and we have not been abl£ to give it a fair trial, in consequence of a snowstorm coming on soon after we had set in to work. We have to pack; our stores on horseback 14 niiles ,up .th^ mountain range, and then , go back with the horses, a& there is no feed for them u^ here," "; .'. .\ . . -.-. ;: .j, -„- .•- J