WEST COAST SOUNDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 30

WEST COAST SOUNDS.

MINING AND PROSPECTING.

A PROSPECTOR'S EXPERIENCES

Mr E. M. Stentiford, of Dunedin, who has been prospecting among the West Coast Sounds for the last five months, has returned to Dunedin to have an injured hand attended to. Mr Stentiford is an observant traveller and an experienced prospector, and when

' interviewed by * Doily Times reporter on 1 Monday he was able to give some very interesting and instructive notes concerning his wanderings in a little-frequented part of the Dominion. j ] "We left Dunedin — my mate, Mr D. Monson, and myself — on the 16thr September," | said Mr Stentiford, "in the motor launch i Myra (the old White Wings yacht), and | reached Preservation Inlet after a rough j trip. We prospected the Surroundings of j the inlet for thiee months. We visited Long Sound, Isthmus Soixnd, and otEer places. The party in this inlet is starting the Morning Star Company again. This time they j are employing hydraulic sluicing, working on a large flat at the foot of * cliff. They are spending £3000 on fluming and piping. ■ The old 10-head battery is still there, and the 'party will utilise it iq/c crushing the goldbearing quartz they get in the flat. At Cuttle Cove a reef was found in the early i 90s. Messrs M'Kenzie and Co. «re working j there. They have now erected a substantial 5-head battery, and a start was to be made 1 to-day with the crushing. They reckon on having a return of loz to the ton. The I party has gone to great expense, and tram- [ ways, water, fluming, and other works have now been fixed up. The battery is to be i driven by a Pelton wheel. At Gulches Head, an Invercargill syndicate (Messrs Whittingham, Bastings, and Co.) is working. The i liydraulic plant is in working order, but there j is not enough w*ter to keep it continually | at work. There is now a scheme afoot for j spending a few thousand pounds in carrying water from Lee Creek, a distance of four 1 miles. The water will have to be syphoned across a low isthmus on to the high land. The estimated cost of the projected works i 3 about £5000. With the present method of working the perty is now getting good gold when there is water. The dam is large enough, but lately there has not been the , rainfall that there used to be. The old 1 Tarawera, which it its day produced galena, silver, copper, lead, and gold, *11 mixed in I one mass, has been abandoned for several years, but it has now been taken up with , a view to further prospecting. I "At Coal Island there are eight men working alluvial with varying success. They get enough gold to keep them going, but no j more. They have had several nuggets lately ] — 6oz, 4oz, and 3oz, for instance. The old beds of the gullies have been worked out, i and they are now (working along the terraces. The water is not as plentiful a.3 it w«s in the old days. The rainfall seems to be going off. With plenty of water they might do better, but at present they have to wait botween whiles for water. At Wilson's River, where good alluvial was got in the early days, nothing has been done for several years. The Golden Site 10-head battery is lying idle, and all the houses are going to ruin. The tracks ara all grown over with fern. There is some talk of starting the Alpha battery again — in fact, the application papers have been put on th« peg. Two men have started, at the Morning Star, and others will follow in the next boat. There are now 45 people in Preservation inlet, including the lighthouse-keepers. "We also went to Dusky Sound, where we had a hearty welcome from v Mr Henry, the Government ranger. We spent Boxing Night with him. We prospected that sound, also Wet Jacket Arm. At the latter t»lac« we came on two prospectors from Auckland. They were prospecting a copper lode that was found by the late Mr Anderson. When we returned to Preservation Inlet from Dusky Sound we took them with us, together with a ton of ore which is to be treated at Auckland. They are going back with a party of men from Auckland to further prospect. The results of the treatment of the ton of ore were sufficient to lead tnem to decide on | giving the field a further trial. In Dusky ! Sound there is very little gold. It is mostly granite country, with the exception of Fanny Bay, where we came across the last of the line of slate from Preservation Inlet. We followed several big creeks and cajjie on some nice lakes, well stocked with game — swans, ducks, etc. We also prospected several good bodies of quartz, but got no gold. There are plenty of signs of copper, mica, and asbestos. We found nothing, however, that I considered payable. We also visited Facile Harbour under Mr Henry's pilotage, and saw the remains of the old Endeavour. " My impression of the whole of the Pre- ' servation goldfields, so far as I have seen them, is that in the future vigorous prospect- • ing may find some low grade propositions, but I think the best of the alluvial and the best of the reefs are pretty well in hand. We found it very difficult, and somewhat dangerous, in parts to prospect. The country is v«ry rough, some of it almost mtcces- | sible, and the only means we found of prospecting was by sticking to the shores and up every creek we came to, also where a slip had occurred or the face of a precipice. Between thei oreeks and in th« bush ther* is thick underwood — ferns, moss, and the roots of trees, — extending to a depth of sometimes two or three feet, and, perhaps, Bit, -which. would entail * vast amount of expense to uncover. On the whole, ye have enjoyed the trip. We got plenty of fish, mostly blue cod, trumpeter, and groper. The weather is vastly different to the Dunedin weather. It knows how to blow there with a vengeance. W© have often had to hang .on with two anchors out, and not a wink of sleep could we get. But when we do get a spell of good weather it is such that one can appreciate Mr Stentiford is returning to the Sounds to finish up the nine months he originally set out to fill in. Notes from Greymoutli. (Fhom Our Own Correspondent.) GREYMOUTH, March 1. Pactolus No. 2 resiimed operations on Thursday. Callaghan's Creek return will be known to-morrow. ! Nfl'es from Reffton. REEFTON, February 29. The Big Paver mine manager reports that j work in the mine was confined to No. 9 up- i rise, which has been connected with the bottom of No. 8 eastern wmze. If dry weather continues the mine will be stopped. AUCKLAND GOLDFIELDS. AUCKLAND, March 1 Since the compilation of the gold returns from the Auckland district mines for 1907 the initial returns from the principal bullionproducing properties for the present year j have come to hand. These give a total of £90,107 11s sd. Of this amount Ohinemuri contributed £85,975 19s 3d, Thames £4119 15s lid, and Coromandel £11 16s 3d. I During February the Waiotahi Gold Mining Company crushed and treated 432 tons of general ore and 541b of picked stone for a return of 711oss Bdwt of retorted gold, valued at £1946 8s 3d. This is an increase upon the return for January, when 452 tons and 301b yielded £1600 13s 6d. During February last year 1546 tons and 7781b were treated for bullion worth £18 888 14s Id. The total amount won from the mine to date is £644,042 89 9d,