THE ARROW.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 23, 18 July 1863, Page 5

THE ARROW.

(fkom ottb own cobbespondent.) July 15,1863. As usual in times of great stagnation, parties are prospecting in every direction; no place is too unlikely for some of the despairing ones to try. No great, or even moderate, success is reported. Gold certainly is found everywhere, but not in payable quantities, where sluicing is not available. At the Township Terrace, one shaft has been sunk some 35 feet, without bottoming; and another, close to the Camp Reserve, 25 feet. The gravel strata, which is immediately under

the surface loam, furnished the " color," but the depth of sinking probable before bottoming, has disheartened the miners, whose claims are now represented only by the pegs and a few very dangerous holes; one in close proximity to the coach road, which it is not improbable that rickety vehicle, with its broken-down, jibbing steeds, may some day furnish a paragraph by tilting into. Parties are working: the new bed of the river, formed when the water was diverted by the Hit or Miss Company's dam, and now high and dry again; whether with success is not known. Gordon's party, and those amalgamated with them, commenced work again to-day. Their large wheel, nearly completed, is half buried in sand, and their race has to be almost reconstructed; so they have their work before them, but seem confident of final success. The Bush Creek has cut a channel, in some places 100 feet wide, through the flat, and above that is so choked with landslips from the steep mountain sides, that its course is quite altered, and is more fantastic and picturesque than ever. The many poor fellows who earn a scanty subsistence by cutting wood three or four miles up the glen, and bringing it for sale to the township, have now a very arduous task; path or track exists no longer, and at many points there is no choice between the bed of the stream and the precipitous face of the rock, sheeted as it is with ice. Several prospects have been obtained contiguous to the Creek, but none pro- i mise payable gold; enteprising men, how- j ever, still persevere, and it is much to be hoped will at last fall in with a lead. No tidings yet of the unfortunate man who lost his life attempting the Arrow ford with Rowley's express. Every part of the river has been searched rigorously, but without effect. Information received to-day from the Dunstan fails to furnish any clue to his individuality ; no doubt exists as to his having been a stranger to the district, as he inquired very carefully his way when halting for a few minutes at the Twelve-mile hut on Sunday afternoon. He is described as about 5 feet 8 inches in height, with a dark moustache. The new track is in a deplorable condition and quite unfit for travelling, sidelings have fallen away entirely, and many of the gullies are exceedingly dangerous, water having rushed down them leaving precipitous cuttings. A gentleman arrived this morning who had been detained thirty-six hours at the Roaring Meg, which, true to its name and reputation, presented an insuperable obstacle to progression. The Gentle Annie rush is turning out badly, and the majority of diggers are leaving for the much less romantic scene of Hogburn, now the great attraction to the mining community. Private accounts state the ground there to be alluvial, the sinking very shallow, with three or four feet of wash dirt. Great caution, however, must be used in accepting these rumors, which derive generally more of their interest from imagination than fact, and have frequently foundation in the lying tongue rather than in sound statisticts.