"where there is myall don't look for gold, but where there is ironbark prospect."
In the immediate neighbourhood there is plenty of timber, both for slabbing and building purposes, and being so near the river water is easily obtained. On my arrival I was at once struck with the great similarity they presented to many Victorian rushes I have seen where deep sinking was in the ascendant -- every shaft working is logged up; a bark awning is erected over each as a protection from the sun, a paddock is prepared for the wash, and everyone working seems to have the greatest confidence in the place. The supposed lead struck runs almost north and south; the sinking, which is easy, varies from eighty to 120 feet through a clayey soil, with but little gravel, until near the bottom; the wash-dirt varies from one to three feet in depth. The bottom is soft slate and pipeclay. Some of the ground is rather wet, but not sufficiently so to be of any consequence, the ground being soft and what diggers call uncertain. All shafts have to be slabbed. No shallow sinking at present found. On the western side of the supposed lead, at a distance of about 260 yards, a small quantity of surface has been worked with fair result. I may here remark, that no shaft bottomed at a less depth than 100 feet is payable. The one great question asked both by diggers and storekeepers is this,"Do you think it is a lead ."
And the almost universal answer is, there can be no doubt about it. My own opinion is, that it is very doubtful. If it is a lead it is different to any lead yet discovered, the gold being, as diggers would say, just out of the quartz, never having travelled, or the least water-worn. Running parallel with the supposed lead, but not to the extent the ground at present is marked out in claims, auriferous quartz are found, some of which I was shown, and very rich it was. Three or four tons are about to be crushed, to test the value of it. At present there is no reef discovered, it being only surface quartz and small surface leaders. The opinion of a very intelligent Victorian miner I am myself inclined to think will prove correct; that is, so long as the quartz indication runs parallel with the present lead, gold will be found, and that will be the extent of it, -- and without water-worn gold is then found, or payable quartz reef discovered, it will not be an extensive field. Whatever difference of opinion there may be at present with respect to the extent of the lead, a few weeks from the present time will decide it -- from the great extent of ground being now opened and the number of shafts that will be bottomed in that time. The distance at present payable gold has been found is about 200 yards, and those who are fortunate enough to have claims are quite satisfied with the result; but I should wish it to be distinctly understood that these fields are no poor man's diggings -- no man or party of men, without being in the possession of £30 to £50, ought to think about visiting them. With respect to the size of claims the Commissioner in charge has very wisely, at the request of the miners, adopted the frontage system -- that is, a party of four men can mark out forty feet upon the supposed lead, no one being allowed to work within 200 yards on either side. Upon striking the gold, they have to take their block claim -- that is, 10 x 80; two claims are allowed to amalgamate, and six men can hold 80 x 80. After the block-claim is marked out, any party that likes can sink outside the boundaries. Considering the depth of sinking and the expense incurred, these claims are not too large; but I wish to call attention to the New South Wales Gold-fields Regulations. On Lambing Flat no four men are allowed to hold more than 40 x 10; yet at a distance of some eighty miles from it, with a protection of 200 yards on either side of the lead, four men can hold double the extent of ground. Either let the Gold-fields Regulations in their integrity be adopted on all fields, or leave it to the discretion of the commissioner in charge to give what claims he may think necessary, or else those commissioners who adopt and abide by the regulations will be in a very invidious position compared with those who make their own regulations. Many extraordinary reports are circulated with respect to the finds that have been made upon these fields. The following I can vouch for: -- One shaft obtained 22 ozs. 8 dwts. off the bottom. Another party obtained 7½ oz., out of a dish of dirt; fourteen ounces were washed out of four buckets of wash. Power and party bottomed the day I arrived. They are 108 feet deep, and out of half a dish of wash dirt I saw fully seven pennyweights of gold obtained. They have about two feet of wash. Another shaft obtained about sixteen ounces of gold one day, in pieces from half an ounce to three and a half ounces. The largest nugget at present found is about seven ounces. One party of Victorians showed me eighteen ounces of gold, that they assured me was obtained out of two dishes of wash. Another party, whose shaft I went down, pointed out a pocket in the slate from which four ounces had been taken out in one dish. With such finds as these, it is not to be wondered that hundreds of diggers from all parts of the colonies are making their way to this place. On no field that I have visited in New South Wales have I seen so great a number of Victorian miners as are here assembled, the bulk of whom seem to have the greatest confidence in the place. The population is quiet and orderly. Mr. Commissioner Brown, who is in charge of the field, is universally respected. The diggers speak in the highest terms of him. His courteous manners, the decided way in which he settles all disputes, without fear or favour, makes him a great favourite among the mining population. Mr. Davidson, of the Oriental Bank, is making arrangements for the purchase of gold. Mr. Russell, of the Bank of New South Wales, also paid a visit during my short stay there. The price paid for the gold is £3 15s., although I am inclined to think that this will prove to be above its value. With the exception of two troopers I did not notice any police upon the place. Living is very cheap -- beef from 1d. to 2d. per lb.; 2-lb. loaf 7½d, all other things in proportion.