MANUKA CREEK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 170, 11 May 1871, Page 5

MANUKA CREEK.

The Manuka Creek dialings promise to take a first place in the auriferous deposit country of Otago. We had the pleasure the other day of paying a visit to the extensive working 3at Coombe & Co., and other claims ou the spurs at the back of Gardener's Manuka Flat Hotel, and were somewhat surprised to observe the immense quantity of stuff already washed away by these enterprising miners. Some thirty or forty acres have been taken up, and several parties — amongst whom Coombe & Co. and Hardy «fc Co. are the most prominent — have made great inroads upon the auriferous spurs. Coombe & Co. especially have been doing great work, having now a face of between fifty and sixty feet. Lately they have, like all other miners in Otago, been at a standstill because of the extreme drought; but^ they have made good use of their time in the construction of a substantial dam at the source of their head race in Nuggetty Gully. _ This daip has been made in a natural basin towards the head of the gully, which is supplied by numerous creeks, and will drain a great extent of countiy. The embankment is a work oF considerable magnitude, being about 40 ft. in height, and 120 ft. in length. From the v^vy gradual fall of the gully, this reservoir' when full will contain a vast body of water, and the pressure on the dam embankment will be comparatively trifling, owing to the natural formation of the sides of the gully. On our visit to it, it displayed a large sheet of water, and was not full by at least two-thirds. Tho race, which carries several heads of water from the dam, winds round the spurs on to the workings; a distance of fourteen miles. The face, which consists qf a mullock

wash from the surface downwards until it reaches a layer of cement, in some cases several feet in thicknes3 res' ing on the reef. This cement is s i luu-d that the p.irty have been obliged fc'i bung tin? .aid of powder to their assistance, and several successful blasU have been m.ido. The fall from the claim is an excellent one, and affords splendid sc«pe for the tail race, which empties itself into Manuka Creek, where a considerable accumulation of tailings have already been deposited. We would not be surprised to tiud these Man'ika Creek workings rival iv extent the famous Blue Spur.