MINING NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1244, 25 July 1872, Page 2

MINING NEWS.

GREY/VALLEY DIGGINGS.

[from* our own correspondent.] \ No Town, July 24. The heavy rainfall within the last two weeks; and the consequent godfl luWOty'of water, have had a good deal to do with the lively condition of mining 'affairs in -'this district as compared to other places,_ The Blui6erfl are all in full work, and jfltf'the terraces where large, :qdahtities of washdirt were stacked, the miners have been busy washing up. • Large parcels of gold have been disposed of, and the competition among the goldbuyers is very keen. Gold is at a higher price here now than on any other gold field on the -coast, L 9 16s 3d per ounce being the general figWe, and it is said that even a higher • pnceis paid, on the quiet, but this is denied by the legitimate purchasers. ■ It was stated in a letter from a correspondent at No Town, published in the' ARO^stwq weeks ago, that more gold was offering'than could be bought by any single storekeeper. This statement has given Tise to a deal of comment/, and every one of the storekeepers deny 7 that he is the man, who wasn't able to uphold the /literal integrity of the literary composition of his [..billheads, where it is positively, asserted that "gold is bought in any? quantity^ It was wonderful what a hubbub that unfortunate statement created, much' more than seemed necessary to a disinterested visitor, but "it is very difficult to tell thVtiroth sometimes withoiit treading 6n[ soirietkidy^s Jcbrns.'; Q^ J aro now the main support district.' ; At the forinef pUviei there area dozen claims paying, and some of them must be paying well. During the hearing of a case recently, at the Warden's Conriit was stated .tha^bne of them wasgivinglP yidends at'the rate 'of L 8 to LlO per week per share. All the ground •' likely to prove of any value is supposed to be now occupied on Quinlivan's terrace j but -this is one of the old suppositions', j It waia long time before 'the 1 terrace was considered even a likely place to- Jook. for gold; and when it wjisj discovered it was thought the good ground was confined to the prospectors' claim,, and l'it : was almost doubted by the knowing ones if jury such ground existed even there. It is now pretty clearly demonstrated that these so-called terrace'; patches are portions of a former continuous run ; of golden drift, which has been intersected by the present ;watercdurses. 7 Consequently thek- auriferous wash is not likely to be entirely confined within the limits of any one terrace or on any* single point of a spur, and it may reasonably be expected io be found at a corresponding elevation at other points up and down /the , creek. The workings at Maori Gully No. 1 afford the best, example of. the correctness of this theory in this' district. "■■ Cockney Terrace may be reokonecf^e mainstay, of the place/ and it Is oertainly holding t quf, astonishingly weU«> ;. There , are several claims being worked which, nowaday^ may be considered rich,' but it seems "the ; greater portion of ; grdumj is payable only because of ., the , great depth of ..washdirt in it, and the 'facility with which it is .worked. There- have seen several good, because extensive, washings, from the terrace recently, 'arid; it was a parcel of gold the result of one of these washing* which 'it was said cbul&V'not be purchased' in the township, and which has been the cause of so much "gnashing of teeth," if not weeping,' for the last week or so. The cojunotion of both ends of the Cockney lead is nob yet effected, although energetic and commendable forts are in progress towards that object. r At the Joyce a Creek end, on the northwest, and at the left-hand branch or southern] portion,' working and blocking oufr is going on vigorously, but the break in the centre is still puzzlingthosewhohave claims in it. Galbraith and party have done an enormous amount of driving and other 'work'in "this" block' wit^ou^TcbmingTon^he gold. ;;They have driven; hundreds of feet from the left branch, and now they are trying from the mate creek', -arid [they appear to be as determined as ever to lee it out. •..•; ;.: ?;uy-j: [ ■ By far the' most important work connected with mining now in course of construction in this district, if not in the Grey Valley, is the large reservoir Messrs Porter aiid Gunh are making ion the top of the dividing range between 1 Nb^TowS'^ Creek and the^ Arnold' River. After a long and careful search, a spot was found admirably situated $nd entirely suitable, for the purpose of forming an embanki meat for the storage of water in quantity. The locality is a hollow or depreseion in the range, formed ;by a ] blind creek or gully at the head of Shicer, or UncleV Creek, as it is sometimes called. The main wall of the embankment is not much under 100 ft in length ; it is 25ft wide at the base, with a width of lOf tat Uie top. The water covers an area of ; betweea five . and six acres; and it iislOft deep at a distance of 200 ft back from the face of the dam. The water is ata sufficient elevation to command each fall of the range, and the party have been working in Piper's Creek, a tributary of the Arnold, and in Bell's ': Creek, a feeder oi No Town Creek. A cutting, 6ft in depth on the crown of the range/ was sufficient to take the water from tiie No Town to the A^iiQld watershed. The party contemplate increasing the • capacity -of ithe dam by raising and strengthening the embankments, and they calculate that when the alterations ' are wmpleted the resereo^.Vili hold nine -months prater at thY present rate of consumption, viz., eight hours sluicing with four heads of water. With & view of making the"brop6sed alterations permanent and complete, Messrs Porter and Guhri ' have ' 'procured "from -Melbourne v .quantity 6t WfsugKt"lßjn piping .felght^inighlslin, d|am6ter, fitted with valves to regulate -the issue of the water.; These will be fixed in the escftte level of the dam as a conduit, and itwas necessary to procure iron pipes as the pressure would >be too great for wooden ones. The importance of this abundant Biipply of water, at a height . sufficient to comniafidall the wdrkuigs'iri the district of No" Tb wn, can scarcely " be over-esti-mated. It will be the means of giving employment to hundreds of men, and the results will be such that; works of a similar . nature will bp constructed, and the great want of the district, a good and avaU? able water supply, will eventually be r^s* moved. , - ; ■ At Paddy's Gully; F. Ashcroft and Oo ' have their large : tail-race nearly completed. It is now about 500 ft long, with a face 20ft h;gh where the party are working. The tail-race Has taken Nearly twelvemonths to make; but twit has/been

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4ken through the old ground a little gold has been getting all the time. Ashoroft and Oo intend sluicing the Paddy's Gully Lead before them, and they have every reasonable prospect of years of remunerative work. The head race of this company is taken from the main creek near the forks, and about two miles from (he junction of Paddy's and No Town Creeks. There is another work of Home magnitude going on at the junction of Steels and the main creek. Hueish and party are for the last three months taking up a tall-race, to work what Beems to be a portion of the ancient network of watercourses, existing at a former period on the surface, long prior to the formation of the present upper auriferous drifts. These old water-courses have been traced and worked at different parts of this district far under the beds of the present creeks, and wherever they could be wrought to advantage, they have paid very welL Williams and party, who discovered the lower gutter, at the bottom of Steel's Creek, are working on it now for nearly three years. This party are taking in a new tunnel at a level 10ft lower than the one they have previously been working in. Hueish and Co. have erected a water-wheel for the purpose of drawing up their mullock ; they reckon to be four months yet before they come on the gold. The usual amount of fossicking is going on in the old ground all over this extensive district, and it is this particular kind of work which keeps this place so far ahead of all the other alluvial diggings, And attracts such a comparatively large population. The Wardens and Resident Magistrate's Court and offices are shifted from Camptown to this place, and Courts are periodically held. This is a great convenience to the miners both of No Town and Bed Jack's, but the formation of a bridle track from No Town to Bed Jack's, by way of Paddy's Gully, is necessary to bring the two places within easy reach of each other. This track has been long talked about, and of course it has been promised over and over again by the authorities. One solitary laborer represents the Engineer's Department in the whole of the district, and yet, with all this disadvantage it is laboring under from prohibitive obatructiveness, the revenue for the last year, ending on 81st March, came within a trifle of the amount collected on the whole of the Inangahua sold fields—quarta, alluvial, and all, The nguiraareli36ooforßeefton, andL3o27 for Camptown, for the same period. This result shows that the alluvial gold fields of the Grey Valley are still intrinsically and it proves that under a more progressive and liberal form of government, there would be scarcely a limit to their productiveness, %