LACHLAN DIGGINGS.
FROM OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER
No. 3.
-- The extraordinary finds that have been made upon these diggings since I wrote last is
causing great excitement, although it must be distinctly understood they have been made
in what I may call the golden ground already opened. On Saturday out of one claim eight
(8) pounds weight of gold was obtained out of a single bucket of dirt -- this was in a
claim near the prospectors. The following finds have also been made: - Five (5) ounces
out of a dish; thirteen (13a0 ounces out of a bucket of wash; seven (7) ounces out of a
tub; and ten (10) ounces out of an oil can of wash, all out of different claims. A shaft was
bottomed on Saturday at the Southern end, and eight (8) ounces obtained out of the first
two tubs. I know of £50 being given for a sixth share, and £40 for the fourth share, in
shafts not yet bottomed. At present there is great difference of opinion with respect to the
extent of the lead. At the Northern end no other payable shafts have at present been
bottomed, although it is the opinion of a great number of experienced miners that from
the gold struck in the last shaft it is quite impossible that the lead can have given out, and
they are quite confident that it will again be found, the general opinion being that it has
taken a sudden slew. Those claims that have been fortunate enough to touch gold may be
styled jewellers' shops, for without doubt they equal Ballarat in its palmiest days --
many of the claims will turn out from £2000 to £3000 per man. In one instance a party
sold £700 worth of gold in one week, which they had picked out, not having washed a
single bucket of dirt.
At the Southern end of the lead where the frontage system has been adopted, at present
no shafts have been bottomed. Should they succeed in finding the lead it will, without
doubt, give a great impetus to these fields. The ground at present opened is
extraordinarily rich, but I must again caution diggers that at present all the great finds
have been made in a comparatively small extent of ground, and that the extraordinary
finds mentioned from day to day, are often out of the same claims. The population, at the
present time, is about stationary, although there are a great number of arrivals, but the
departures fully equal them -- those men who have rushed to this field without any
means being obliged to leave. There are many hundreds at present here who cannot
possibly stay, and without men have a small capital it is madness their coming to this
place. The Victorian so called lead is at present nothing particular, although on Saturday
it was positively asserted that a shaft had been bottomed and twelve (12) ounces obtained.
On proceeding there I found several minors whom I knew personally, and can confidently
state that such was not the case, however it may suit the purposes of some people to
circulate such reports. At present there are only two payable shafts -- the prospectors'
and another; and instead of a golden shaft being bottomed on Saturday, two blanks were.
The sinking here is about ninety feet, the miners generally being anything but sanguine of
its being a lead or a payable patch of any extent; some are of opinion that it, will join the
other lead, but in this I feel assured they will be mistaken -- the gold at present found
running in a different direction, viz., east and west, with a high, reef running on either
side of it.
The lead on which the gold is being obtained is narrow -- the richest of it not being more
than from seven to nine feet wide, the payable extent in no instance more than from
twenty to thirty feet, so that one claim is sure to obtain the whole of the gold. Many assert
that it is 80, 100, and some 150 feet wide, but from the source from which I have
obtained my information, I can positively assert that such is not the case, for were it so, it
would be quite impossible for it to have been missed at the northern end -- the claims
being here on the block system.
Several now rushes are reported in various direction, but at present there is no authentic
information.
There is still great difference of opinion with respect to the extent of the gold at present
struck, and the permanency of this yield - many being of opinion it will be of great extent,
and others the contrary; certain it is, that if gold is not struck when the shafts on the
frontage system at the southern end are bottomed, and they do not succeed in finding the
load soon at the northern end, our population will soon decrease: but if a large township
and the continual erection of business premises, in numbers and extent far exceeding
anything I have before witnessed upon any rush, are a guarantee of the permanency of
this place, this field bids fair to be the most extensive yet discovered.
At present there is very little gold offering. This may be attributed first, to the reduction
in price 4s. per ounce, and there being little or no washing going on -- for those who are
fortunate enough to have struck the gold can pick out enough to keep them going, and by
washing a bucket or tub when they come across a rich patch, for most of the claims at
present working will take out the whole of their ground before they begin to wash. I may
mention an instance of the way gold is being held: A party of men on Saturday, who have
only washed a few tubs, deposited with the Oriental Bank for safety ten (10) pounds
weight of gold.
The diggings township is to be proclaimed and named "Forbes," the first escort from
which was to have started today. The arrangements not being complete, I do not expect it
will start before next Monday.
Mr. Commissioner Keightly arrived here on Thursday last. Commissioners Bridson and
Grenfell are shortly expected.
Mr. Mitchell, clerk of the bench at Condoblin, is also on his way here, to act in the same
capacity.
Mr. Inspector Sanderson is appointed to take charge of the police.
I have also heard that we are likely to have a daily mail here from Sydney, three times via
Orange and three times via Cowra; certain it is that postal communication is much
required.
-- I have just been told by the parties obtaining it, that upwards of fourteen (14)
pounds weight of gold was obtained out of their claim on Saturday.