CHARTERS TOWERS ASWINDLE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 193, 8 November 1872, Page 3

CHARTERS TOWERS ASWINDLE.

(From the c Ballarab Co&ribr,') With lightened pOckefs, but hot otherwise disturbed, a number of Ballarat miners reached their homes yesterday from Charters Towers, having arrived the previous day in Melbourne by the Sydney steamer Blackbird. The tale they relate of the colony from which they have returned with so much haste is interesting at least. When the Omeo reacheA Cleveland Bay the people of Townsville were astonished to see such an influx of population, and on landing the voyagers were beset with enquiries as to what they had come there for. A significant shrug of the shoulders when the reply was given was not very reassuring. However, the bulk of the men started off to Charters Towers, only on their arrival to feel the pertinency of the inquiries made of them in Townsville, and to see that they were the victims of a delusion. Charters Towers is eighty-five miles from Townsville, and is reached after travelling through a very sandy country, but otherwise it is similar to the Victorian bush. Some thirty or forty reefs have been found, varying in width from a quarter cf an inch to a foot, and seaming the grDund to a depth of about 30ft., where they end on the top of a hard granite formation. The result is that a reef claim is' speedily worked out. The yield varies, but the highest crushing yet effected was about 4|oz to the ton, the gold being of poor quality, and worth about £3 5s 6d an ouuce. These reefs have been found from time to time, extending over eight years. The stone is crushed by two small batteries, one of ten head and the other of eight, both of which have been erected for a considerable period. The charge for crushing is 30s a ton, and it is a very common occurrence to see as many as 150 heaps of stone, varying from one to four tons each, wailing to be passed through the mill. The particulars we have published as to the alluvial lead, which is about 30ft. deep—the same as the reefs, with a grauite bottom—are corroborated by the miners who returned yesterday. The lead completely ran out in about a mile, and gold was only found for about i2ft. in width. The dirt was by no means rich, the principal yields being about 7dwt to the load, with only two inches of-wash dirt. The whole of this ground was " gutted " when the first batch of Victorian miners arrived. It will be remembered the main cause of the rush was the arrival of an escort with 11,000 oz of gold, alleged to have been obtained at Charters Towers. It now turns out that this gold was an accumulation, extending over nearly six mouths, of all the goldfields for a radius of 500 miles from Charters Towers. Nearly the whole of it came from Conclurrie, Ethringe, Cape, and the Gilbert diggings, and it is stated by our informants that only 750z of it i were raised at the spot alleged. Eth-1 ridge seems to be the richest - quartz district in Queensland. It is situated about 350 miles higher up the country than Charters Towers—in fact, lies midway between Townsville and the Gulf of Carpentaria. The climate is intensely hot, but there is compensation in the fact that the reefs are proportionally rich, being from sfr. to 3ft. wide, and yielding from 4oz to LOoz to the ton. We have remarked above that the country frOm Townsville is very sandy. So much is this the case that twelve'or fourteen horses are required to cart a couple of tons of goods to the diggings. There is plenty of drinking water at Charters Towers, but it is only attainable by sinking a couple of feet in the sand at the bottom of the creeks, when it flows into the hole :n a very pure condition. There is also plenty of fish in the Burdekin river, about twelve miles from Charters Towers, and an abundance of game in the bush between. When our informants left Charters Towers, there were between 2000 and 3000 miners' on the ground nearly all of whom were making preparations to return to Sydney or Victoria. The A.S.N. Company behaved very fairly to the miners, bringing them round to Sydney, a distance of 1400 miles tor £2 a head; but the

travellers did hot fare so well between Sydney irnd Melbourne. They had to pay £1 for this trip, and seventy-three were crowded into a space about 26tt. by 20ft. The vessel was also anything but clean, which did not make the crowding together a whit more pleasant. Our informants think very highly of Queensland as a copper country; but they say that, owing to the granite formation and the little wash there is upon it, that colony will never be worth much for gold mining.