A TRIP TO THE WEST COAST.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 89, 13 April 1878, Page 2

A TRIP TO THE WEST COAST.

- • [By «E."] j The Kumar a. To the fact of my having mislaid my notes, must be attributed the gap that ha 3 occurred iv my report of the hurried, but extremely pleasant, visit which I paid to the West Coast, two mouths ago. When my last j letter closed I was just about to enter the township of Kumara. On'approaching a town of this description the first thing to strike ! the visitor from the longer settled parts of the coiony 13 the absence of any suburban holdings or residences. Eor miles we. had been driving (over an excellent road certainly) through wild and uninhabited countrybush and barren hills on either side, and not a sign of civilisation, except the road and the telegraph wires, and suddenly we found ourselves transplanted into a town, which at one time contained a busy throng^ and even when we arrived, many months after the discovery' of the diggings, showed considerable signs of lite. The town of Kumara consists of! two streets, one, about half a mile ;in length, closely built upon on one side and at not very distant intervals on the other,, and the other running at right angles; to the main street in the direction of the diggings. . At first sight it creates a feeling of wonder how so many places of business can exist, for of the consumers of the wares offered for sale nothing is to be seen. , There are the stores in great number, the hotels more plentiful still, and the Banks, of which, if I recollect rightly, there were five. How did tbey all contrive to carry on ? . This is the question that, must suggest itself to the mind of everyone whovisits.this township which has sprung up with such marvellous rapidity. On making enquiry, I found that although the ! place was overdone— no less than six unfortunates had been "sold up" that week— the tone of business generally was healthy, and when the surplus shopkeepers have sought fresh fields where .there is a better opening for them, those who have established themselves firmly are likely to do well for some years to come. As the time at my disposal was limited, I started with as ' little delay as possible for the diggings themselves, which are about three-quarters of a mile from the town. Between the two the principal means of communication is a wooden tramway running up the valley where the works are being carried on, and at the mouth of which the town is situated. We, however, took a shorter cut— a foottrack which sidles up the spur separating the gold-field from the valley of the Teremakau. As we walked along, rising higher and higher every minute, the peep that we obtained of this river, and the valley through which it winds its way, was exceedingly picturesque. Away up the stream the \yater was a bright blue, with the bush iv many places descending to its . edge on ;both sides, but. just .below us .and from i that downwards .it ' • had changed its colour, and was as 2muddy as . the Maitai iv a flood, this effect being : produced by tha number of tail races that find their way iinto it after having washed out the: dirt frbni the numerous claims on the hill side. As we approached the summit of the" spur,! the workings' became more and" more numerous, and the .whole of the gully toour left showed ' signs of having been made to yield its; golden I treasures to the hard working fellows 1 who seemed to be daunted by no difficulty in attaining the object of their pursuit. iAnd now we . were ou Ithe top of the spur, and the sight that, met our eyes on the other side was a strange one indeed. Immediately below us was another township that ; had sprung up in the : course of a little over twelvemonths. It is known as <Dillman Town, and it is, I should say, about the funniest little town on the face of the earth. The streets are narrow and winding — in some places two wheelbarrows abreast would almost occupy the whole of the roadway, and the houses on, either side are the oddest little shanties it is possible to imagine. Some of them are ordinary dwelling houses, some stores, and some, of course, " hotels." Give a child a. pack of cards and in a few minutes he would build quite as substantial looking a collection of houses— by courtesy so called— as that which forms "Dillman's Town." Two large leads, through which the water is brought from a considerable distance, in some places taking the shape, of wooden aqueducts high above one's head, in others a ditch along the side of a spur, and agaiu, in others, an underground watercourse, according to the level of the position you take up, are the most prominent features of the landscape. One of these was constructed by, and belongs to, the Government, and the other is the- property of a Company." , From these the miners receive the supply of water necessary for washing up, which' in most instances is done once a fortnight, that being about the average time required to filli the I '•■ ■ ■ : j ■>.'!■* ',

« paddock » There is a regular gauge showing the number of « heads" of water Used; and for each of these the parties requiring it pay £1 per day. At the time I pAS, Sa ■ of these gauges showed that it «,- supplying eight heads ... - w^ s the . n situated dp°- - JJ»'tnan's Town is !„_ the head of the valley, and .^./er down every inch of ground is taken up by the miners, a good many of - ' , he seen at wo'- 1 - fc . -. . - - ."'nom are to o f +' -"-I BUt Hot nearly the whole -uose Ougaged, for as my guide pointed out; to me, thewnole of the talley f'ro'rh top ia bottom is liltd a rabbit warren, and at depths raring from 40 to ,60 feet below the surface, , the men are at work getting out the washdirt which averages from five to eight feet in thickness. Lookitig down from* the emirience on which we were standing we could also see that .there was a perfect network oi tiny Wooiieii tramways', the gauge generally being about one foot. On these the washdirt is wheeled after being brought to the surface, in little trucks of about a three gin case holding capacity, to the ".paddock/' or wooden reservoir, which is erected in some spot where , the .water is easily obtainable iind there is ever? facility for getting rid of. ..the '•tailings." I visited one of the "claims on the opposite side of the valley to' that on which I had .descended into it. Here a horse wa3 working ' a windlass by which the stuff was wheeled up a tramway, which at an angle^of about 35 degrees communicated with the depths below, where the dirt containing the.gold was being obtained. The little trucks that came up full one after another as fast as the empty one , returned were emptied into a larger one at the mouth of the niine, and this when filled was run across the valley on Wooden tails, and through a^ minute tunnel that pierced the spur over which. I had travelled irito the "paddock" on the Teretna,kau side. . A ■ prettier little piece of engineering work on' a small scale it would be "difficult to imagine. AH round us "everybody was busy. On some of the claims the dirt was hauled :up by men, in others by horses, and.the "paddocks " were in variojis stages of fulness, some being ready .to' wash up the'nexb day, some only half full, ' and others with, but a small layer at the bottom, having washed up only the day; previous. From here we crossed another spur, and found ourselves in " Larrikins," where the workings were being, carried on with j equal vigor. And here I saw one of the most ingenious contrivances for raising washdirt that, it is possible to conceive. It is, known as' the water balance, and this is the way in which it is worked. There is a perpendicular shaft 60 feet in depth, above the mouth of which is erected a platform some fifteen or > twenty feet in height. From the top of this there runs a tramway at an angle of about 45 degrees, which is carried on the same slope some depth into the earth. At the upper end of this is a truck on wheels capable of holding perhaps 200 gallons of water, and this is connected by a shoot with the nearest water race. At the bottom of the shaft there are tunnels branching off in various directions where the men are at work, and as soon as they have filled their little truck with dirt it is wheeled to the foot of the shaft when the signal is given to those above that all is ready. The water is' then -, turned on into the tank — which is connected by a chain running under one block and over another with the truck below, and as soon as ;it is filled the chocks are removed from the wheels, and it runs down the tramway, its . own weight being sufficient to haul up the full truck. On arriving. at the foot iof the tramway the tank runs against a wooden projection which is so arranged that it drives into the tank a plug at the bottom of it. The water rushes out, and the truck having in the meantime being unloaded is lowered down the. shaft, in its. descent hauling the empty tank back, to ;the 'top of ; the tram-; way". All the miners to whom I spoke ap-. peared to be-in good spirits and well satisfied' with their prospects, for even should no new ground be discovered it is calculated that .the claims they have taken up will occupy at least three years in working out. Being much pressed for time I was only able to cast a passing glance at the, diggings generally, where I saw much that would keep a stranger interested for many hours if not ■■" days. However, the car was to start 'from the tramway station for Greymouth at four o'clock, and I had to hurry away from the Kumara much sooner than I should have done had I been master of ray own time. . In my next letter I must bring to a close this rather lengthy account of my West Coast trip.