The Miner.

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 31, 27 October 1894, Page 9

The Miner.

PRESERVATION INNLET GOLDFIELDS.

Mr James Knight, of Gore, who returned last week after a stay of a month at Wilson’s River, has communicated to us some particulars regarding the place which will, no doubt, be of interest to our readers. At Cromarty good accommodation may be had, and now that Mr Geo. Woods has his sawmill, driven by water power, at work, other buildings should soon be erected. There is some splendid timber on the big flat lying behind the mill, and they are about to build a wharf, so that the timber can be run from the mill to the vessel’s side. The harbor is one of the best in the colony ; vessels can come in at any time, and several mills could be well supplied with timber for some years. After spending two days in this locality, Mr Knight went to Crayfish Island. This is where the big quartz specimens were got about four years ago. Three reefs back out on this small island, and on a claim called “ The Nugget,” a reef is showing. A party are now prospecting for a Christchurch syndicate.

On the same island two parties, D. McKenzie’s and J. McGrath’s, are working alluvial ground. They are greatly handicapped owing to the want of water for the stripping, which is now 17ft., as against two or three when they started. However, they are working away, and have every prospect of striking the reef, which runs in a direct line with the reef at Wilson’s River.

At Long Beach two parties are driving for the reef indicated by the prospects they got on the surface. A couple of days before Mr Knight left they had tunnelled 50 feet and struck the pug (the walls of the reef). The pieces of quartz picked up showed gold, and there is every indication of the reef being there. The men are quite satisfied, and are confident that their six months labour will be well rewarded.

At Sealers’ Creek, between Wilson’s River and the Inlet, where Longuet and party have been working for the past three years, Mr Knight was shown some very rich specimens of quartz, such as they get at every washing up. They appeared quite hopeful of finding the reef from which the quartz comes. It appears to run in a different direction from the Wilson’s River one. The Cuttle Cove side of the Inlet was reached after an hour and a quarter’s row from Cromarty. Henry and party, who have been prospecting for some months on the top of the hill, can show some good stone-bear-ing gold. The claim is now being inspected on behalf of the company owning it, and a report may be looked for by next boat.

At Wilson’s River the most ot the miners are working on the terrace of a very heavily-timbered hill, so steep that they cannot pitch their tents on it, but have to climb up to the top, about 700 feet, every night. They are working alluvial ground, and the gold they are gettingis very nuggety. Our informant showed ns a small handful of it, and the pieces ranged in size up to that of beans. The scarcity of water is a great drawback here and it should be a good, investment if a syndicate would bring in a race from McNamara’s Creek to Wilson River. Giunn and party have been three or four months at work cutting a race from a creek on Wilson’s River, and it is expected it will bring them a good return for their work. The water will be saved in a dam, above the terrace, and run out as required. Although a lot of rain falls in the locality, very little remains on the ground owing to its steepness. Ten alluvial claims are working on the terrace, and all are satisfied that if they had water the terrace claims would pay handsomely. On the Triangle claim, which adjoins that of the Hesperides company, the reef has been struck in three

places, and from the direction in which it runs, the latter Company’s claim seems (fortunately situated. Coal, which they claim is equal to the West Coast coal, and a sample of which has been reported upon as good gas coal, -was found at the Neck in Grulche’s Head, by John Wild and party. The seam at first was small, but it has now been traced up to 11 feet in thickness, and widens out as they go into the hill. At this point the largest vessels afloat could come within a few chains of the beach, and if the find turns out right, there could be no better place from which to export the coal. Mr Knight says the Preservation Inlet field appears to be a network of reefs, and he is of opinion that if some more capital were judiciously spent in developing it, it would be one of the best goldfields in the colony. The Shaftesbury township, on the Peep o’ Day Claim, where most of the miners are camped, can now boast of two stores, and Mr McKenna has commenced to build a boarding house. We may add that the s.s. Invercargill will leave here for Preservation Inlet on Thursday next (sufficient inducement offering) and return to the Bluff on Saturday morning, thus giving business men and others interested in the field a stay of twelve hours at Cromarty.