GREY VALLEY DIGGINGS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1358, 5 December 1872, Page 2

GREY VALLEY DIGGINGS.

[PROM OUR OWN 1 CORRESPONDENT.] , CALLAGHAN CREEK. This place is likely "to be as much benefited by the construction of the Lake Hochstetter water-race as Nelson Creek itself. The workings, on the creek bed were at one .time very rich, but, like all old diggings, creek working has become the resource of miners who are scorched out from the terraces -for the want of water, or of those who have returned from other, gold fields, and set in to work in ground of which they had some previous knowledge. The terraces at Callaghan'a are of similar formation with those of Nelson Creek, and it only requires an adequate , water, .supply to -develop the wealth of them. This is shown by ,the good results . corairg f rointhe terrace claims on to which a . permanent supply of water has already been brought.. The .following, froiii a resident of long standing, will interest old claimholders of = : Callaghan/ Creek, many of whom are nbw':helping to oroake .the Inangahua what it is ; eventually bound to become, the .chief centre of quartz mining in the southern hemi-' •sphere:— . ' • :' "There are five parties' working the bed of the. creek about five miles above Gorman's big dam. Water is becoming scarce, "and full time, cannot be put-in. Bjorklund and party, who have Veen on the creek for nearly five years, are still working 'away with very, good returns, water being plentiful, .owingi to their having a • large dam, ' capable of holding two days' water for ground sluicing. . M 'Derritt and Thurp are work- ' ing the terrace at .Oockabulla Creek, and besides, progress in mining great improvements'in huts and gardens are perceptible. Flaherty and party have" completed their race and dam, having a piece of ground that will give years of remunerative work. This party have a fine plot of garden under cultivation ; in fact, similar improvements -may be observed; [wherever there is suitable ground along the course of the creek. Brady and -Thomson's .supply of. water has failed vthem greatly during the late warm weather. Hawk and party, however, have sufficient, and they employ labor to utilise it to the fullest extent. There are rumors of a track being cut from Hatter's Terrace, Nelson Creek, to .connect with. one t over the range via Callaghan Creek: to' GougH's punt at the crossing of the Ahaurai If carried out, it : will be by far the most convenient route to Abaura from- Nelson Creek. ..Sutherland., and Ollivierj after two years' unprofitable labor at Old Man's Gully, have left it disgusted with 'the result of the big flood last February, from which they never recovered. They had 2400 ft boxes either- broken, buried, or rendered useless. They have now picked up thewater by flume,, and are slflicing the terrace lower down." : The above was written previous to i the opportune rainfall of-, the. last few days, so that the race owners will now have a better supply of water. The track to Ahaura f ronr Nelson Creek, mentioned above, is to be commenced at once. The Provincial Government have, or ought to have, a large amount of money available somewhere for branch tracks such as this. In ; consequence of the General Government taking over the. cost ■ of construction of the main road from the Arnold to Ahaura, the money voted for it year after year, but never expended,- s by _the^Proyincial.CouiicU,o£ Nelson/ is now, on. goocl' authority, "promised" to be : spent upon branch tracks. ■•'■•"■ - NELSON CREEK. - The rush now going on to this -place is to a terrace about four miles above Hatter's Terrace. The ground from present appearance is limited, but this is only one of the numerous terraceT existing along the range • between;' Callaghan and Nelson Creeks. The exact, situation of the rush is between No. 3and,the Left Branch 'of the creek, and the prospectors, Henry Patey and party, have driven for :32ft across the run of the gold; with prospects of 4gr to a dish from 2ft of washdirt. During the week the ground will be proved, hut the fact -that this rush ia better spoken of by miners in a position to know than others which have taken place at Nelson Creek. recently, has given it the importance it possesses. The ground is in :the direct course of the Nelson Creek and Lake Hochstetter water race, and this also gives the discovery of undoubtedly payable ground in the locality a certain, significance' 'The workings at Hatter's Terrace and the Deep Lead are chiefly occupied by wellorganised parties^ who appear to be satis- , fied with the results of their enterprise. At Try- Again, Terrace the main sludge channel is completed. The parties to the "' recent dispute joined together and completed it in a short timey thus preventing the almost interminable litigation which was likely to result from continued Obstinacy on either side. The completion of the Hochstetter water-race; 13 now the great hope of this district. A share was sold last week for a. trifle under LIOOJ which contains very rich ground, but which possesses an. entirely-prospective value from the fact that the water of the large-race will command it. The claim is Bituated more than 1000 ft above the level of the creek at Try- Again, and neither vendor nor purchaser attempts to disguise the fact that there is a lare .area of auriferous ground similarly, situated which will yet be a3 valuable. MOONLIGHT OKEEK. The creek workers of this district, of all . others in the Grey Valley, have, during the late dry weather, had an advantage they may not enjoy again for some time, unless the prophecies of an exceptionally dry summer should be fulfilled. The suborned notes from a casual, visitor tp. the Moonlight district may be relied upon as giving^ the actual state of ;affairsT there, and his remarks, with respect to the scandalous neglect of the quartz^crushing machinery which was erected at a ruinous cost to goodness knowa how many, may interest those" whom it may concern?' " Having lately had leisure at my com-, mand, I took a notion of visiting the Moonlight district, and theresult of my observations shall be given, according to, promise. Starting from the foot of Moonlight Creek, I made my way up the Caledonian Creek a few miles, when I came across some old workings occupied ; by Johnston and party, who have-been at' considerable expense in. cutting a Jieadi race so as to secure a supply of water for ground sluicing. They have been located here a few years and have cultivated about an aero of ground that, is how; planted with potatoes, cabbages, and such like, denoting settlement and a -aWtiiil faction in the proapeot before them

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From thence tracks were made towards the head of Baxter's, a gully long ago worked out, and now deserted. At both these places are quartz reefs that will at no distant day be prospected, and found payable, if one is to take the fact of rich specimens having been found in the alluvial as a criterion. Frcm Baxter's there is a blazed track to the Frenchman's Point, where two parties are working the terrace. It was to this place that a fine head-race whs cut and completed some timo ago, the proprietor expecting to reap some solid advantage from the speculation. After a long trial in the vicinity, it was comparatively abandoned, the natnro of the ground being so stoney that it would not pay more than about L 2 per week per man, those parties who had been trying their fortunes there removing to quarters nearer the township. Peek Beckwith and party are still persevering with but indifferent success, at the tunnel that has occupied them two years in cutting. They have cultivated patches of ground, as well as other miners, and it is now of equal occurrence to hear " How are your crops getting on," as the older one about the state of the chamoi3 bag. Near the township on both sides of the river several parties are at work, some cutting tail-races to their claims, others sluiciug away both old and new ground. Above these are two parties groundsluicing, and one party working a tunnel, who state that although they have be.en in it over twelve months, it has not paid tucker ; yet, withal, they tenaciously cling to it. Next above are Wood, Morris and party, who have been to great labor in making a wing-dam at a very narrow part of the gorge in order to work the bed of the creek. The dam is a very substantial piece of work, reflecting credit, and it is to be hoped floods will keep off until such time as they are satisfied with the ground. Next above is Holgate and party, who had all their dams and material wrecked during the flood about a month ago. They are busy making crates and clearing the tail-race and so on, but will be some time yet ere they are as far ahead as previous to the flood. At this place the gorge is narrow. The same remarks will apply to Duckett and party, and JVl'Laren and party, who are persevering the neighborhood. A short distance below the upper township the creek is being dammed right across by Fryer and party, intending thereafter to flume the body of the water over and above v/here they work. Every flood injures them more or less, but their perseverance is indomitable. Immediately about the npper township there are several at work, that of Watterson, Mitchell, and Bussel being the heaviest — working in a face of bowlder drift 25ft deep. They have a length of 200 ft or 300 ft of boxes that conveys the tailings to the current, and the mountain of broken and unbroken rock that was and is being removed gives one some hope that substantial recompense comes in at every washing-up. Young and Nelson and others are working or prospecting in the locality with different success. From this to the reef in a distance of about a mile, yet, to a stranger along the present unused, undefined, track, it seems much longer. Arriving there, one scene of ruin and desolation meets the eye, and it may be interesting to whomever owns shares in machinery or what not to know that the great water- , wheel is warped out of all shape by the sun, that the offices are without ends to them, that the blacksmith's shop has been buried up in a great measure by a landslip, the material lying partly immured in debris, the machine gradually, yet surely, getting buried up with silt from the hillsides, and the woodwork galloping into a state of decay. Pity, gTeat pity, while so many eyes and mouths about Reefton would water at the sight, and wish the plant were situate on one of the i many reefs at tbe Inangahua lying idle for the want thereof." Fof continuation of News, see 4&h page.)