WAKAMARINA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 77, 31 March 1881, Page 2

WAKAMARINA.

[Communicated.] I The diggings in the Wakamarina river which, attracted so much attention in the early winter 1864 appear to hftve been almost tit*- ! | gotten j they otlll, however, continue to be worked, and to those industrious few who ! have for years persevered iv mining there are as profitable as ever. Certainly Canva9 ■Town has ceased to be, and we no longer read of tlie great finds ol " pounds weight '* at . flrbt reported. Possibly no one has au ia- ' - terest in making known the quantity of gold now being raised, and, generally, the miners are loth to give exact information on this point, but quietly dispose of their gold to the Banks, in which they make considerable deposits. The aspect of the valley is also different, for we now no longer Bee even one solitary tent, but against this we find numor« ous small but neat houses, each with its clearing and garden, and with stock in the shape of horses and cattle. Also instead of the numerous small claims taken up " peg on peg" there are now extensive rirer claims, Whereon a large amount of labor and of ! capital has been expended. Of these the first is the Diamond and Trent claim, where we -find a flume some 200 yards in length carrying the who'.e of the water of the Wakamarina river for that distance, and having near its lower end a well constructed undershot water wheel, which by means of .a Californian pump raises the leakage water from the bed of the river, whilst the men are extracting the wash dirt or otherwise working on the bed rock. At present they are preparing to lay a permanent "covered" tail race in the bottom of the river; "covered" with the object of allowing the flood water to pass harmlessly over the top of the races I during freshes. Although a large amount t of sawn timber and machinery is visible oa this claim, which from its newness gives one a greater idea of its importance than would otherwise be the case, it, however, re- ■ presents not a tithe of what has already been used on the claim— the previously existing flumes, wheels, pumps, dams, &c, having been carried away by different floods. Howj ever, the ground being known to be very rich and some of it still unworked, Messrs Diamond, Trent and mates have persevered, and have erected & flume of the most permanent character possible, inasmuch as the bed of it is attached by iron rods to the bed rock, whilst the sides are all moveable, and can be taken away with the wheel, &c, at the first warning of a flood. Such perseverance, energy, and skill cannot fail in securing ultimate Buccess. Leaving the river we find that many parts of the terraces have been worked as sluicing claims after having been originally worked by tunnels. In most instances, however, they appear to have been worked with too small a quantity of water with the exception of Waters and Party's claim between Deep Creek and the Forks. Some months ago a small company was f unned by various diggers and [storekeepers ia the neighborhood under the management of Mr M'Glashan. These for a fair consideration secured the rights of some men who for many years have been working a terrace, and after obtaining a lease of 14 acres they have made a head race three miles in length conducting the water of the Mountain Camp Creek to their leasehold; at the same time they have deepened the old " tail race " : through a bar of bed rock 200 feet in length. In this terrace there has evidently been an old river bed, the bar of bed rock intervening between it and the present course of the river; in fact the old river course can be traced to where it adjoins the present one, both below aud above, for a 'ength of half a mile. The object in working this claim is thus not only to secure the gold found in the SO feet of gravel, amounting to some grains per dish, but also to get the gold at tbe bottom of the old river bed or gutter, j which it may be presumed is as rich as the average of any other part of the river, to obtain which so much risk of flood has of l necessity to be run. Anyhow, in a few weeks the claim will be in full work, as itho head race is nearly completed, and ithe iron pipes for the hydraulic are (already on the ground.: These pipes were [purchased from the unfortunate " .Decimal " [claim at Collingwood, and will now be placed, |p? bblyiora more remunerative purpose, tha difference being that they supply water

to "nozzles" for hydrauHcing, instead of a turbine for a crushing machine. The peculiar advantages of the Wakamarina for groundeluicing and hydrualicing are that the gravel containing the gold is, in most instances, in a soft state, that T3 to say, it disentegrates on application of water, or is not " cemented •," furthermore, there are no very large stones in it, which to the hydraulicer is the great dread, as it gives rise to so much hard labor, which of all things is to be avoided. This remark applies to the greater part of the terraces of the Wakaraarina. The claim referred to, it should be mentioned, is situate on " Wilson's Beach," well-known as the one selected by the discoverers of the gold field in 18G4 as the " Prospectors' Claim." It is a curious but well-known fact that not only is the best gold discovered first, but that the first prospector generally selects the richest spot. We may instance Ballarat, Sandhurst, or Bendigo, Gynipie, Forest Creek, now I Castlemain, first discovered, than which, none have been better^ and on which the jJrospec toys selected th 6 richest ground • possibly had thede, spdis nob been So rich the gold would not have attracted tfie flotiee of the prospector, but at all events it is a well known fact that the richest diggings are always discovered first. Iv the present instance, the p'rospe'etora were paid a bonus out of the duty on g»ld tafeefl froni the ground* so that the province was in reality at no expense, and these prospectors by instinct cr by observation selected their .claim on fchis ground, still ibown a 4 " Unfortunately, the VVakamarina gold is fiot so valuable as that from the Bu'.ler, (say in proportion of dC3 13s 6d to £3 16a) and the well known cupidity of the gold buyeia has induced them to offer a still less value than it ictritiaically possesses. The Wakamarina digger, therefore, whfiu in Kelson, if about to sell gold, pretenis to be from the Coast, aud if asked for the exact position of his c'aitn, rfepresfcnts it As being near "Dirty Stairs/ there being a well known gold-bear-ing locality with this euphonious denomination on the Coast, as well as also one in. the. upper part of the Wakamarina Valley, but that ou the Coast being better known the buyer snatches the " golden opportunity/ and purchases the dust with notes, possibly at its full va"ue. [To be continued.]