RED JACK'S CREEK.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1956, 12 November 1874, Page 2

RED JACK'S CREEK.

A sort of re-action is setting in to this district, which may be said to have remained in a stationary condition for the last three or four years. A number of tbe miners who are either worked out or duffered out in the Moonlight district are about trying their luck in Red Jack's or some of its upper tributaries, and their efforts may result in making the place better known to the outside world. Red Jack's has never been what may be considered properly rushed a second time, .or after the excitement of the first discoveries in the locality died away. Nearly every other gold-field in the Grey distridt has had the advantage of afresh infnsion of new blood, but since the rush to Sunday Creek in 1867, Red Jack's seems to have remained in statii quo and unheard [of, except that a straggling party might. by accident as it were find a way into it. v It: is the "difficulty of finding a way into the workings which has been the principal cause of retarding the progress of 'the district, and on this subject the following letter from an old resident of ttie.' place/ whpse statements may be relifed ; upon,' will throw some light. Ai tefc ; warnily

commenting upon the negligence of every successive Government of Nelson with respect to the Red Jack's district, our correspondent continues : — " I beg to- lay before the readers of the Argus a statement of how utterly neglected some districts have been on the South- West Goldfields by the Nelson Provincial Government, and if this -neglect .cannot be remedied,, it can, at least, with your permission,' be exposed. I -shall commence with, the ;above-named creek. There are . more than one of the same name' in the Grey Valley, but this creek empties itself into the Grey River- near Camptown. It runs parallel with No Town Creek north and south, and from: Camptown to the township of Red Jacks was reckoned in early days to be twelve miles, and from No Town, over a steep range, four miles. It was rushed in 1865, and provisions, &c, had to be- carried on; men's ; backs from the old Twelve-mile Landing', and some time after from No Towh, u when horses, could get that far. Montgomery and Williams were the first to' cufcfa horse track from' Camptown to Red' Jack's, and to open a store. Anderson and \Co., and Ching and Russell came s6o'n ; after, and opened stores, so there was lib more swagging over the range, for theidigging community freely subscribed to keep the track in 'some" kind", of xepair. • the first four years the population; off Red Jack's averaged 200, and for the past five years about 130/ The 'population ! here at . present ; is" 110 "all :--rtoia.T?>Ifc is generally .admitted! that this has;been one the richest creeks "hitherto 'opened in iv the Grey Valley, so that the revenue, derived from gold alone, not to" speak of licenses, i&c, must have been an enormous amount. , Session after ; session, moneys varying in amount ; was placed on the Nelson Provincial Estimates to be expended on the track to Rad. Jack's ; on one Occasion" 'as ' muck) as ,'seven^ hundred poun'ds'was voted; Mr Bull, surveyor, and his 'statF, cut a. traverse line/abput four years ago, from Camptbwn .tottbe/itownship ot Red Jack ? s. The surveyor's party, though ihfbrmed-'ithat . the i rdrgta'nee was only six r and a-half miles. Nowthlre is a mile and a-half cut-off '-SinceHhe main road was made, and this is all that has bee'ii : hitherto' done " by ; the : Government for this district.. ... - r '":■:, incu •'lt may be said we 1 have not agitated. Well not much latterly, certainly, and the reason .is simply this..., Some time ago a public meeting was held' here, and^s a result a memorial, setting lfofthithe grievances the inhabitents. were laboriug-under, was duly, signed and forwarded to Me Superintendent of Nelson. ' The reply may be guessed, which is that. we iifevef heard anything of it, since. Four -hundred pounds was voted last session' to' be^expended on vhe track from. , the Twelve-Mile through No Town to Red Jack's. Most people are aware -that there T r is and has been for the past, two years' dray road from the Twelv'e^lVtile to No Town,- and I see by the quarterly.'return that the sum of LSO has been expended under the heading { |Roads— Twelve -Mile to Red Jack's.' I wonder can : this LSO be soinejlrf the L4OO. 1 know not who has the conducting of the expenditure of this money, but one thing I' know,, they might as well have expended that LSO on the wing-dam at No Town, as far as the-, peopleief Red Jack's are concerned,, for wtiat good does the repairing or widening of the No Town : .'track l -'do i- us ; all our goods' : are brought on drays to M'Laughlin's farm, on' the main road at the foot of Red Jack's. Creek, ,^an,d three miles from the Twelve-miley atifd: from thence up the creek on horseback. No horse has up to this crossed .the. range fronv No Town to^Red Jack's jot back. The track from the main road" up Red Jack's Creek is, -worse now tbaifever it has been; in fact the loads have to be taken off the horses several times to allow them to go over the bad places unloaded. Some shore time ago a horse of Mr James Devery's fell into a water-hole on this track, and by great difficulty it was got out alive, but the loading^ : which was of a valuable description, was never ; fAund at all. It is rumored that Mr O'Conor, the Provincial Secretary,- will shortly pay a visit to the gold-fields. If so, I would suggest that he be interviewed by a deputation appointed at a public meeting held for that purpose, for ; if something is not done iv that way the L 400" will be expended on the No Town road, "and Red Jack's will continue to remain shut in from the outer world."