BLACKSTONE HILL.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 290, 19 September 1874, Page 3

BLACKSTONE HILL.

(From our own correspondent.)

In this portioii of the district the miners are now in full .work, with an efficient supply of water; but, from the poor coating of snow on the ranges, fears are entertained of , a scarcity ere long, unless we have a wet 'spring. So "dry has the wiiiter been,'that parties with catch'water dams have not been able to sluice at all : past seasons they have generally had a month's wat. r.

Mr. Withers'has just finished his trial* crushing of some thirty, tons of stone from a new reef at Hough Eidge. He professes himself satisfied with the result, and purposes to sink a shaft at once, to the depth Of eighty feet, to further test it. Whilst this is being done, he intends a crushing from the late Energetic Company's reef, from which quartz is how being raised. . The price for crushing to the public will be fixed low, so. as to induce prospecting. Altogether, the present proprietor appears to mean business, and deserves success for his enterprise and perseverance. The farmers are taking advantage of the favorable season for agricultural purposes, a.nd the crops are , being sown fast a greater breadth being brought under cultivation, but'not yet sufficient, as supplies have been brought from Blacks for some time past to meet the local demand.