THE WETHERSTONES DIGGINGS

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 394, 26 September 1874, Page 2

THE WETHERSTONES DIGGINGS

{By our Mining Reporter,)

The above-named diggings, since their first discovery some thirteen years ago, have never given employment to so few men as at the present time, and unless some new discoveries are made in the vicinity, the population is not likely to increase until tho completion of the public works at present in course of construction, to which many of the miners previously employed on the goldfield have found their way. Since the sinking of the deep prospecting shaft on the Wetberstones Flat, and the nonauriferous character of the deposit fouud in it, little has been-done to further test the deposits of gold supposed to exist at a considerable depth -from the surface in the neighborhood of Wetherstones. The first discoveries were remarkably rich; in fact, tho Wetheratonea diggings we, unsurpassed in Kew ; Zealand for the' richness 'of their alluvial workings in the early days. At one time it was supposed that 30,000 miuers were congregated on the field, many of whom too leaped a rich harvest. Up to the time of the Dunstan rush the township of Wetherstoneß was a thriving place when Bourke-street, like its- -larger rival in Melbourne, literally Bwarmed with people especially on Saturday right. Bourke-Btreet, Wetherstones, is now a thing of the past, only one small cottage marks the site of the once leading street of a thriving township, which at one time was lined with hotels, dance-houses, skittle allies, and all the appurtenances of a goldfield's township where gold ia being got easily and spent lavishly, as as only diggers can spend their earnings when easily obtained. The West Coast rush also tended largely to reduce the population of this place, though many of the miners were afterwards glad to return to the old spot, which, if its days of "pile" making were over, stul afforded a comfortable living ; and from that time, say about 1866, dates the more permanent settlement of the present small population. Most of the men at present engaged in digging have comfortable homesteads j many of them hare also cattle and land, so as to eke out a living without solely depending on the yield of their claims. The most of the Otagonian goldfields are gradualy verging into this state. The miners not only want an interest in what lies below the sod, they ask for land by which, when the shallowdeposits of precious metal are worked out, they will be enabled to obtain a livelihood. Relative to th» farther development of the

above-named goldfield, I am glad to obserre that Messrs. Squires and party, who tare a 10-acre claim leased from the Government, situated on Poverty Hill, are Btarting in earnest to give the cement a trial. This cement, which covers many acres of ground, has been prospected from time to time during the last eleven years, and gold has been got from it in many places. In many instances rich patches of gold were got from wash that had formed on the cement. With the assistance of the Government some ten years ago, a tunnel 300 feet long was driven through the cement in Poverty Hill, with the expectation of reaching the bed rock and the finding of payable gold. This expectation was not, however, realised ; the run of the cement seemed interminable, and a blind shaft was then sunk from the end of the drive, without, however, reaching the bottom or discovering payable gold. The Government then gave up the work, which is now left to private enterprise to prosecute. Messrs. Squires and party have started a prospecting drive from the southern slope of Poverty Hill. The drive is in thirty feet in blue cement with gold on the bottom : a few colors are also to be obtained all through the stuff. The bottom of the drive is a hard slaty reef dipping at a very acute angle, so much so that should it continue at the same angle for any distance it will be a matter of considerable difficulty to drive. Otood prospects are now obtainable on the face of the drive, and from three to five grains to the dish can be washed off the reef from the upper side of the drive. The shareholders do not know what distance they will have to go to strike the opposite reef, but they are quite prepared to follow it two hundred feet and if possible prove the bottom of the gutter. As yet they have had no water to contend .with, and from the appearance of the ground they do not expect to meet with water in the cement. The driving is very Lard, the ground beiug of a precisely similar nature to that at the Blue Spur. The dirt is simply a blue slaty quartz wash, cemented together. The greater portion of the cemen* ted drifts in the neighborhood are found in a kind of basin of which the Blue Spur is by far the richest that has been developed in the province though there is every probability of their being equally rich ground in Wetherston.es. A small quantity of cement taken from the commencement of the prospecting tunnel was crushed at the Gabriels Gully bat-^ tery prior to its removal. The trial was? sufficient to prove the auriferous nature of the dirt, but at that spot it was not payable. Another trial crushing will take place as soon as the drive is far enough in to make it advisable. Messrs. Squires, Mark, and party deserve to be rewarded for the persevering manner in which they enter into mining ventures. If daunted, they were certainly not overcome by the temporary failure of the Gabriels Gully Reef, which after a large outlay of capital and labour has turned out so far a failure. They have a large interest in the cement at Waitahuna, which I lately referred to, and which will no doubt reimburse them for their labor. Of the present undertaking it is premature to offer an opinion as to whether it will be a remunerative one or not. The cement certainly contains gold, and if it exists in payable quantities, the right men ar 8 employed on it tip give it a fair trial