THE MATAKITAKI

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 623, 30 August 1933, Page 7

THE MATAKITAKI

NEW DREDGING VENTURE ON AN HISTORIC FIELD. RECENT COMMENCEMENT. Nelson, Saturday. After a spell of over thirty years Murchison will again hear the rumble of gold dredging machinery when the i Matakitaki Dredging Company's plant commences operations on Monday of next week. In the presence of a large crowd of local people and a number of visitors on Thursday, Mr. Mahoney, the chairman of directors, declared the new dredge open and as the wheels began to turn the great buckets commenced to cut large holes in the bank of the artificial lake on which the structure fioats. Other dredges have operated in the Murchison district before, but this is the largest, and the prospects of success seem brighter than its predecessors. The first dredge was the "spoon" type, operated by man1 power and stood near Fern Flat in the early eighties. The possibility of steam dredging was then demonstrated in Otago and it was decided to put a steam on the claim and the Alexandra iron . dredge was built, the contract being secured by John Anderson and Sons, Christclxurch. This dredge was subsequently discarded for & modern machine with a wooden hull. Then followed the Matakitaki dredge erected almost in the same spot as the present one, about a mile from the tcwnship. It paid its way for a short time till frequent breakdowns and heavy work resulted in it ultimately closing down, and a flood settled its fate by washing it'away down the Buller. Yet another dredge worked on Four River Plains, below Murchison, nearer to the entrance to the Buller ■ Gorge, where the Matiri River flows into the main river. However, it shared a similar fate to its predessors. Then came the Kohikohi, near the Six Mile, this dredge producing as much' as 50 ounces of gold per week for a long period. Later the Amikatea worked at the Six Mile, but lasted only about a year. The Bell Vue worked about four miles up the Matakitaki from Murchison just helow the lake which was formed as the result of the 1929 earthquake. Some of its machinery was sold to a southern dredge, but was brought back for the construction of the latest venture. It is considered that the Matakitaki Company's dredge has good prospects as tests have indicated good payable q^antities otf jgqld lin the vieinity, and the operations of this venture will be watched with interest. The dredge has taken a year to build, for the greater part of the machinery had to be dismantled from the Waikaka dredge, near 'Gore. Most of the heavy building materials were transported by rail to Inangahua Junction and thence by lorry. The manoeuvring of huge iron eomponents around the eorners of the Buller Gorge and across a number of brxdges presented difficulties which required skill in overcoming. The renewal of dredging operations in the Murchison area, once a highly productive 'gold district, will arouse ' interest locally and will add another phase to the already interesting romance of gold seeking along the banks of the treacherous Matakitaki. • needed a robbery to account for it. "Truly Methuselah was a happy man. to live so long in the country," murmured a wizened old peasant of nine and ninety summers as he sipped slowly the glass of burning plum • brandy I offered to him. In this village I am inclined to agree with him.