WAKATIPU DEEP SINKING PROJECT.

Southland Times, Issue 1556, 26 March 1872, Page 3

WAKATIPU DEEP SINKING PROJ ECT.

The knowledge of the existence of gold on what is known as the old Wakatipu diggings, dates from an early period in the settlement of Southland as a province. On 31st July, 1862, (about six months prior to Fox's rush to Arrow, Shotover, Kawarau, Ac.,) the then Chief Surveyor of Southland furnished a report on the subject, in which he explains that his attention had been called to the practicability of opening a dray road up the Oreti valley, in pursuance of which. he proceeded over the line, extending his journey to the gold-diggings in the vicinity of the Eyre Kiver. After detailing the characteristic features of the intervening country with a view to roadmaking, the report goes on to say : — " Proceeding onwards to the Dome Pass, the road runs over very fine dry gravelly plains, until meeting the low ridges which form the watershed between the tributaries to the Oreti and the Mataura. There the road is soft, and in places on steep sidings. The flats of the Eyre and its tributaries seem generally to be swampy. " In a small gully leading out to the N. "W. on one of these tributaries, about a mile north of Messrs liodgera' station (which is in the angle between the Eyre and the Mataura), are the so-called WaKATrptr Diggings. " When I was there, about sixteen or eighteen men were at work in the bed of the small steep rivulet, — which, I am informed, is nearly dry in summer. There is no superficial soil worth mentioning in the upper part, and the diggers (generally in parties of two) were washing the whole of the detritus lying on the top of the slaty rock. This deposit only averaged two or three feet in thickness, and the quantity of gold it contained is very considerable; — so that I have no doubt that industrious men could make very good earnings. But it is evident that the creek will only afford room for a very limited number of diggers. The valley into which this steep gully falls is of considerable length, and about half-a-mile wide — flat, andratherswampy. Itia obviously probable that gold will be found in it ; but the soil is deep, and the water will be heavy. Stirling's party sank 40 fee o in it without reaching the bottom. The material they excavated is precisely the same as the "wash dirt" in the small gully, and contained traces of gold all the way down. " As far as I could learn, the prospecting in the neighborhood has been of a very limited and languid character. " The bed rock on which the gold is found is a chlorite elate, not unfrequently intersected by small veins of quartz, irregularly disposed between the cleavage planes as well as the transverse joints of the slate. The western limit of this formation seems to be in the vicinity of the Eyre Creek, — the Dome Mountains, and those rising on the north side of the Five Kivers Plain, being apparently composed of compact porphyry and greenstone. My time, however, afforded very little opportunity for exploration, and I was obliged to content myself with the general conclusions, that — "1. The gully now being worked is generally remunerative, but it will not afford room for more men than are already there, and on the road. " 2. That there is a considerable extent of country of similar formation, which affords reasonable encouragement to prospectors. "3. Tbat deep-sinking in the flat is a fair speculation for a party that could afford to risk the large outlay it would require ; and generally, that it would, at present, be highly imprudent for any parties to proceed to these diggings, unless prepared to expend a considerable time unremuneratively in prospecting. " For a small population, there is a present stock of firewood, near at hand, in the dead scub scattered over the flat, and within about a mile or two, small patches of birch high up on the hill ; but for a large population, or for slabbing, a great deficiency would be found. I understand that the Messrs Bodgers have had timber sawn on an island in the lake — brought by boat to its southern extremity, and from thence by dray, about fifteen miles."