NO TOWN;

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1084, 18 January 1872, Page 2

NO TOWN;

[frojta correspondent.] ; ; ;. . , . : January IG. Since my last communication we have liad one; of the largest floods rthat has been seen in the district for the last threp ; years,* doing a great amount of damage to head-races and. dams. In Black Jack's .Qully I could hear of nothing new, either 'in the gully .or .the terraces, around, ibut /, up the creek towards Lally's store there are several parties at work on the terrace, making fa'Y. wages. There is nothing particularly Stew around Half-way further than all the parties! haye 1 now gotjp fairly to work ; but between Lally's and*I observed several new cuttings started into the terrace that Sam Hall and .his water-raceare working into, with tfie hopes, no doubt, of getting on the same, "gold that ' San* is • working -on* Marshall's Terrace looked busy, all the parties on it being hard at work. The' old terrace was reported to have b an worked out three years sinoe, and now scarcely a. wepi passes but you hear of a nice patch being got. The sluicing claim of M'Lean and party, near the store, : is^ still giving the owners' fair returns. Cock's' Gully (last week printed < Cook's) looks a lively place. There are five or six parties ,at work in this gully, and all ding well. ! ■ Bullarook Jack, report says, has the Iwh ' claim. He is at work on the terrace, and on a ■well-defined gutter next to him is R. Gibson, working onthesame run, and with nearly, the (i sarae prospects, . . Eo.u^'i and Tumble" seemg to be again rec^qi^4 . ips population, as I observed several^ new v parties -in 'the Gully this week. "The/; heavy flood did a little damage to .th» k creek. Neil Lamond's long tail-race wn nearly filled up, although, ,when I saw him, he had it again- 'nearly in working order, anddoubtlessby this time he has it v.i the same condition as i,t was, prior to c flood. Further up iKo crwktneilooda

did not do much damage, but rather a considerable amount of good, having. *^kpped large paddocks, and in one case sxripped a whole claim down to the washdiri, the owner wishing that a flood would come every month. In the left-hand branch the flood did a great amount of damage, carrying the dams before it, and . sending down some immense timber, which pot jammed in the tail-races, making fresh dams, and filling up the tailraces. There is some good ground still left in the branch, as nearly all the parties that have had their dams carried away and tail-races filled up have been and still are busy repairing the damages. In the majority of cas.es it will take, them three or four weeks before getting into working order. On the north-east end of Cockney Terrace there are several fresh claims taken up, and those claims taken previous to the New Year are now ? i fair working order, and the prospects obtained have induced other parties to take fresh claims on the terrace, and on i lie western side the claims at work still support the good returns they had before Christmas. Oti the south side of the terrace, next Joyce a Gully, there are a few fresh tunnels going into the hill, the face of the tei.ace at this end being all but worked out, but some of the parties are of opinion that thore is another run of gold further into the hill, which they inhnd driving for. Fisher and party's claim, at Irish Town, still continues giving fairroturus. Tnis is the only claim, on this Terrace at work. H. Hewish and pait/, at Steel's Gw'iy, are working on tho run of ground that Fisher and Co. are on, with similar good returns, but there is a long ha^-mile between tho two claims, and tho only way it can be accounted for such an extent of ground laying idle is the large amount of capital and labor that it would cost to get into it. At Paddy's Gully I heard of nothing now, but the few parties at work in the terrace are making fair wages. I was well rewarded for my ramble up No Tona Creek, and having often heard of Porter; and parly's large dam, was much surprised on seeing it. I can scarcely term it a dam; it is moro of a natural reservoir than anything eke, the bottom of which they have not seen for the last eight months. It is X6ft high, and throws the wafer back over half a mile, and they say it will hold four weeks' water for ground-sluicing. The floods did this party a little damage, both to their dam and head-race, and on going down into the gully and looking at their workings, found they have a long tail-race from the foot of Bell's Gully nearly to the head of it. They spoke well of their ground, and that it paid them pretty well, but without the water it would be useless to anyone. G. Ruddick and party are also grqund'Sluicing in the same gaily. They also speak well of their ground, saying if they had Porter and party's water the : ? ground would pay' well, but waiting as they have to do on water, the claim only pays them small wag : \ I observed a party just starting a tunnel in the terrace above Ruddick's claim; they had a large face of wash to start on, but as it was getting late 1 did not go up to see them. Conway and party are alao driving into the same terrace, but I could not find out i? tfcey were gett'-ig anything prnat. In Big Bill's Gully there are only two parties at work doing a little groundsluicing ;> they said it paid them small wages. I found, on going to the head- of Big Bill's Gully and over the Saddle into Clark's Gully, that there were a few parties on that Bido of the range making small wages. From Clark's to Portugese Gully I took a look at the tunnels and claims there at work. There are three or. four of the claims on the terrace paying well, and on having a chat with ,the celebrated " Lord Gough," the gentleman that bought Speck out found himself well satisfied with his bargain, and hopes the claim wi 1 ! continue to pay as it is now doing. Shaw and Southworth's claim, on the same teuace, is also giving good dividends. Strolling from Portuguese Gully along the te- pee, and dropping into No. 2 Maori GuHy, I was astonished to see the bustle and activity of a new rush, never having heprd of it before. There are several fresh claims taken, up on the Spur 1 ding towards Swiss Terrace ; ana shor 1 1 it be as the parlies at work there think, namely, a continuation of Candlelight Lead, something more will be heard of it in a few weeks. Candlelight, or Swiss Terrace continues to hold its reputation as a payable lead, but a patjhyone. In Abe's Gully, the floods seem to have done both good and harm ; it was a regular feast For thg ground Bluic3rs, as it stripped a lot of ground for them and gave them a supply of water for a week ; but poor Po£metal Charley was swamped out, the water broke into his tunnel and completely mined his claim. In Monument Gully there is only one party at work. Robertson and mates are still working the old claim, with very gopd returns. Over the range, on Aberdeen Terrace, } was astonished to find Old Lewey, the original prospector of Monument Gully. Lewey says he is looking for the Old lead ; that he and Charley (his mate) w? 1 ' find it if it is there. I have no doubt of their success, being two persevering men, and who know the ground well. In this district, the part that suffered most from Vie floods was the tributary of Deadman's Creek. There are several parties at work sluicing its tributaries, and nearly every party said it would take four or five weeks to repair the damages sustained, and that it was hardly worth the trouble, the ground being very poor : bpt &' 1 &dr routed if theylia/1 a, sjfeady supply of \fraterj' it would pay wages. When is the Government going to get that water scheme of theirs in order i