THE AUCKLAND RUSH.

West Coast Times, Issue 101, 13 January 1866, Page 2

THE AUCKLAND RUSH.

(FBOM OUR SPI3OIAX REPORTER.) Since my last report on this part of our beach workings, a very marked change is perceptible in its outward appearance, indicative of the facility with which the ground is turned over and the gold extracted. Unsightly heaps of sand now meet the eye where but the other day solid and promising looking blocks were to be seen, and tho lead from one end to 'the other gives striking evidence of tho indefatigable labors of the goldseeker. Many of the claim's are already worked out and abandoned, giving 'the portions of the load in which they are situated a deserted look, suggestive of by-goriO glories and . a consequent reaction. Still, compared, to the extent of ground still in hand, the quantity worked and left is exceedingly small, and it is satisfactory as an evidence of the confidence miners have in this locality, that very few desert it as soon as the claims are exhausted, but turn their attention to prospecting the adjacent coxiutry, which certainly presents a fair field for such enterprise, The advantages to be derived from? . system itic co-operative labor are also-; being recognised, even at this early stage of the rush,- and ■ a company is already formed, and is now busily employed with the preliminary arrangements for the purpose hereafter of re-working the lead by sluicing it from top to bottom/and fro n my own observation, T am inclined to imagine the undertaking will bo a successful ono; as the sand from fir surface to the falso bottom on which vests tho auriferous layer that is yielding such splendid returns, is intersected with veins of blacks and, which, although not, well defined or as the digger.:?' say '•jewelled up," yot contain gold to a greater but less extent. Moreover, it i.s the intention of this company to siuk through ' tho present bottom, hoping thereby, to cut other . layers of gold-bearing drifts than •have been already discovered, and when sufficiently deep to ensure a con- ' stant supply of water for sluicing, work *~ tho ground upon a face, and put every yard of dirt removed through the boxes. ' There are eleven working shareholders ►in this company, who have already sunk and secured with sawn timber a shaft 10 x 3 sixteen feet deep.^Mr. Belmar, the manager, slated it to be their intention to erect pow6rful pumps and trust entirely to the drift" water v for their supply,, preferring that 1 method to constructing long and costly races .from tho Arahura or Waimea. I am, however, .inclined to think it Avoiild be found mofo profitable in tho long run to cut tho races at onco, for I havo found by experience tho pumping process a most expensive one, seldomanswering in extended sluicing operation's. . I also think they have commenced this undertaking rather early, ns it will bo some weeks ore tho bulk of tho ground now in work will be finished with. Tho majority of the diggers too who hold this lead, are already regarding them suspiciously, as men who wish to obtain ''special privileges," and express their determination to oppose them tooth and nail should they make application for an ' extension of ground, or for a water race out of the swamp, as tho latter contains tho only supply for wash--ing purposes, which unfortunately is not nearly sufficient for tho number of men located there. This feeling of course is very natural, every ono fighting for his own lyaid, and is not to be wonclored at - . amongst .the diggers, than whom no class of men exists so antagonistic to unjust monopoly. /There is, plenty of timo yet for mining companies on this field, although every move in this direction should bo duly encouraged, so long as, it is not likely to interfere with rights already vested. ; I am sorry to say that, so far, tho load has not' oxtonded as I anticipated it would ; for although 'the south end has boon well tried, nothing satisfactory has resulted, tho gold having evidently scattered, and tho ground become much deeper and wetter, the little crook run ning out of tho swamp at this side tho • town being evidently tho line of demarcation between .ground absolutely worthless and that which is exceedingly rich. I certainly never saw so suddon a fall oft* in a load of gold, thero being no intermediate modeialely payable claims, the tniu» sition boing as abrupt as it is ,'completo! The Boatswain's party, who hold tho . crook' claim, aro still obtaining good vff turns, their lust paddock, 15 x 8,-yicld-ing36 ozs, and they havo still much of their ground untouched. 'The southern • bouudary of their claim is, however, ' poor, the gold having scattered into six foot of wash- dirt, which is too poor, at present, to work, never having prospected moro than 1 gr. to tho dish. A curious feature in this claim is the immense quantity of decayed wood contained in tho surface sand, nnd which seems to bo en indication of gala beneath, fov on soon H this is Joß<i tta vtfuma. fall «$,

Tbe claim next to them beach wards is also paying good wages, tho holders netting A' l2 and £15 each weekly. Broad's claim next on the lead is worked out, having paid well whilst, it lasted ; the total amount extracted from it being 300 ozs. Scotty's claim, next to it, is still paying splendid wages, givingevery, promise of a long spell of work. Big Mat and his mato wound up the Christmas festivities last week, and commenced work in earnest on Monday. Their claim is a good one, and although not much has Leon done to it lately it will soon, by its returns, make up for holiday keeping. Jones and party, who held ono of the garden claims, stripped a paddock last week, 40 feet x G feet, out of which 42 ozs of the precious metal was taken. There are one or two claims at the back of the stores, not paying quite so well, but nothing under "wages," was admitted. /This word "wages" being exceedingly comprehensive, I several limes . • requested a definiton oft it, and in •*-i.o case amongst tho lead men, did it mean less .than £8 or £10 a week per •'man. This return on the Auckland rush is considered very moderate, al- - though those men who work outside ground seldom get s # j much ; very little . of the latter- is, however, in work, -as 01 much of it is really poor, not yielding more than from £3 to £5 per week. lam not surprised at the slight estimation returns, which elsewhere would be considered us excellent, arc held in here, when the fact of so many men making from L2O to LI 2O per week is taken into consideration ; and that such is the fact was satisfactorily demonstrated to me. Such claims however are exceptional, there being long stretches of tho lead only paying moderately./ Ono of these is to be found between tho Slaughter Yard and M'Cann's claim, embracing 15 or 20

claims none of which yield more 'than L2O weekly to the share, and the majority much less ; ' but on passing' M'Canri's claim good ground is again met with. As on illustration of their worth, I may mention one, only half worked, which has already turnnd out 500 ozs. of gold dust, and in all probability will yield as much more. There are about a score of good claims here, two of which arc worked out and abandoned, nft-.r. 600 ozs. of gold had been taken out of each ; those in work will pay fi-o-.n L2B to LIOO >pyv sli-u-c weekly. Hound* Armfiold and party the ground is poorer, but still payable. It has also been much worked, some claims being exhausted and left, gross returns from each ranging from 200' to 300ozs. of gold. From Armfield's .to tho prospectors (BrigliMn and party) some five or six parties are making from ' WiFan ounce to one ounce daily. Quite half of tha projectors' claim has been turned over, and paid such wages as even fortunate gold-seekers seldom ob- ' ,tiin. On the second day of this year •* $]|py commenced work, after their holi "day time, and when they knocked oft' at? night found themselveß richer by 64 s ozs of gold than they woro in the morning. Since Christmas they have put by 400 o/s of amalgam, to hereafter go through the retorting, and smelting ' process. These lucky fellows will clear from LSOO to L6OO each. They have sixty feet ot the lead yet left untouched. Taking miners as a body, they arc ' not particularly communicative respecting their own affairs, but generally can give a little desultory information coucerning their neighbors, and from such inforumlion/I am inclined to think Coffer and party have one of the best claims on the lead. These men (whose claim is next the prospectors') use neither cradle nor sluice-box, but put their, washdirt as it comes up in a tub and submit it at once to the action of quicksilver, and although this is an cx- ' caedingly slow process, so rich is the black sand that from 20 ozs to 37 o/s of amalgam is obtained daily. There is ono vein of this sand running through tlitf claim so t'vickly impregnated with gold, that a dish of it will give '2 ozs, and out of six ba^sofsand Ll5O worth of gold was obtained. Asm instance of the'uii-

certainty of gold digging, and the mistakes made by miners, this claim, which has since proved so rich, was originally pronounced a duffer ! two holes having been sunk upon it, and through an extraordinary fatality, missed the goUL/ The claim also next the prospectors on their south boundary was, left in the same manner, or rather sold for a song, LI being tho price paid, and as some demur was made even at that loav figure, a new long-handled shovel was thrown in as a make weight. The claim north of Coffers is also first rate, a strip across tho lead, fifteen feet wide, yielding 90 ozs of gold. Between this claim and Bill Hides, the lead is excellent, though patchy, some of the claims not giving more than wages, while others again are very prolific. Those worked by M'Bride, Smith, Ingles, Ilincs, and their respective parlies arc amongst tho best, paj ing from L2O to L4O pur man weekly. Gibson's claim, next to Ingles, is worked out. It yielded 300 ounces of gold. Bill Hide and mates, after thoroughly enjoying the Christinas recess, arc again at "work like .tigers. There is not tho slightest diminution in tho .returns from their claims, fromSO ozs.,to 100 ozs. of clean gold being the usual weekly return. This party sluice their sand, eschewing the use of quicksilver, but tho process of panning oft' afterwards is so exceedingly tedious that they were compelled to amalgamate to save time, two claysbcing occupied in washing off their week's sluicing, and then not more than seventy per cent of the gold was retained in the "-^"(Ush. There arc very few claims on the lead equal to this one, and yet, strange so say, the one on the north boundary is poor, only giving moderate wages. Hence to the Waimcatholcad is very fair. In no instance did I hear of loss than L 9 per man a week being made. Douglas' 0 claim, and tho claims on each side of it, pay from L2O to L-iO a week, and a few claims farther to tho north thoro is one,

out of which will bo taken LSOO or LCOO V yy m.an, A^OUt- ft cma.i% of a, mjfo

from tho AVfiiniea there uro two distinct leads, one running close to the swamp; the other a claim nearer to the sea. They are of cour.se nothing but auriferous layers of Mack sand clipping to tho sea, which, as tho dip is followed, gets pooi 1 , and in tho other direction runs out as the surface is approached, tho centre ground being the best. Tobin's claim on tfic outer lead will pay £20 weekly each man, whilst oul of Kelly's, which is working close to tho swamp edge 8G ozs was obtained out of a paddock 1 1 x 20. The latter party nro working on a, firm clay bottom, tho only one met with on the lead. As the "Wliimca is neared, the flat assumes ,tho form of a ridgo clipping sharply into the swamp, and gradually towards tho sea. The load has been worked and abandoned close to the silver for a distance of 100 or 150 yards. % This is «i brief and necessarily condensed report of ono of . the richest portions of the Wcstliuid beach workings, and although it may bo inferred (and rightly so) by a casual reader that the Auckland lead will soon bo exhausted, yet it docs not follow tin* locality will bo deserted by its present population, Every miucrwith whom I conversed on this subject expressed tho utmo.it confidence in its future prospects,' find that the swamp and country between the latter and the range would be found to contain heavy deposits of gold. As for the swamp, 1 do not think there can be two opinions concerning it, for gold lias already been traced into it," improving as it was followed down, but the water was so troublesome ns to compel a postponement of any further search in that direction, until the lead proper is finished, when tail races can be constructed, and the swamp drained. At present such a proceeding would not be permitted, as the swamp water is depended on by the diggers for washing purposes, but in the course of a fe\v months I trust to see llie question satisfactorily solved. The patch of ground in work between the swamp and range is paying as well as fjomo of the best claims on the main lead. It has, however, not extended, being intersected at either end by the , swamp. Some very creditable buildings have been erected in the township, which present a striking contrast to the one Ot % two old tumble downs that originally graced the sanely beach. Provisions aro very little iv advance of Hokitika prices, the packing only being charged for, or a very slight per centage over it.