A VISIT TO THE NORTHERN GOLD FIELDS.
FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.
No. 6.
WE have already traced McLeod's Creek for about seven miles from its junction with the Timbarra, and will
now follow it in its tortuous course to the highest summit of the tableland. As you progress upwards,
the ridges, on either bank fall precipitously to the channel, and, at irregular intervals, deep water courses,
rocky and wild, or choked with drift, convey the tribute of the plateau on the south side to the main stream.
On the highest part of this plateau is a huge basin, encompassed with, the granitic skeletons of mountains
that have been disintegrated by the misty clouds and storms that once battled round their peaks, An alluvial
deposit, all auriferous, of from five to forty feet in depth, now converted into a bog, covers the floor of the
basin, and from it descends all the gold-bearing streams in the district, diverging as it were from one
common centre. On the western side, is Sandy Creek, with its golden tributaries; on the eastward every
opening between the stupendous granite masses give birth to a stream that, gathering as it descends from
steep to steep, finally swells the waters of the McLeod, and enriches it with its store of gold. The main
stream has always proved richest below the junction of these watercourses. They have been all worked
from the basin, until they enter the scrub that mantles round the precipitous descents. From that point they
have been merely rooted over until again emerging from the impervious shade, they hasten into the open
forest and flow between the forehills and ridges that decline towards the creek. Here they have been
worked in patches with greats success, yielding from £6 to £40 per week to the hand. As a rule, the nearer
the source the richer the drift. Many quartz reefs cross the course of these streams usually in their passage
through the scrub, and the gold found in their channel is sometimes nuggetty and frosted, at other times
shotty, but seldom waterworn. They will all repay a more careful system of working. There are many parties
scattered amongst these ravines and gorges that are not at all disposed to receive the visits of strangers
with any demonstrations of welcome; they confess to making "tucker," or about one penny- weight per day;
some of them, with a greater show of candour, will plead guilty to a pennyweight and a half. On one
occasion I thought that I had strayed into the wilds of Connemara and dropped upon a "potheen" still, such
was the consternation and so hostile were the looks. All this time we have left the McLeod, and been
rambling amongst the hills; such is the way with the diggers, sometimes on the mountains and sometimes
on the main creek, but always burrowing like wombats.
On the north bank swamps ramify between the ranges and ridges, and terminate in short watercourses that
empty into the main creek, each supplying their quota of gold. At the head of the claim where our previous
explorations ended, a party consisting of three fine specimens of our native raw material, are finding
payable drift below a surface of bog and debris from the hills, about fifteen feet in depth. On the opposite
side, still higher up, another party are ground-sluicing the banks with some success. The main channel for
a long distance, formerly very productive, is now nearly deserted by Europeans, and is being re-worked by
sundry mobs of Chinese, who will procure sufficient gold to clear their expenses.
We now arrive at Clarkes inn, said to have been built and opened with the proceeds of the claim in front of
it. For a few months this was a profitable investment, but the business has now migrated with the
population. This house may eventually form the improvement upon which a claim for a pre-emptive right of
purchase will be established by the lessee of the run.
Public-houses, or houses of accommodation, built upon public roads, passing, through public lands, often
form the pretensions upon which these rights are claimed; and an unfortunate family must not unfrequently
either submit to see the gatherings and hoardings of a life pass into other hands, or repurchase their own
property at a value created by their industry.
If the lessee of a district desires to purchase a block of land on the outskirts of his run, he has only to
induce some short-sighted person to build upon and improve it; the law gives him the same right over
property thus created on the public lands, as it he held them in fee simple, and ignores the fact of
his having hired the grass only for a term of years. There is no lack of honorable gentlemen who would
scorn to avail themselves of such a right, either directly or indirectly, but unhappily the exceptions are
numerous, and can be pointed out in every part of the colony.
A mile above Clarke's the creek, makes a detour, sweeping round Appletree Flat; here some
extensive cuttings were executed, with the object of turning the creek, which resulted in loss to the
projectors, as the run of gold passes into the bank, on either side, and has not been discovered. There is a
small store and butchering establishment on the north bank, carried on by Mr. H. Booth, who has had
recently to divide his trade with two Celestial establishments -- who, what between gambling, and opium
smoking, and retailing tea, rice, sugar, suit fish, and sundry other Chinese indispensables, contrive to pick
up their own share of the gold obtained in the neighbourhood.
At the head of Appletree Flat an outlet from one of those narrow swamps already described falls into the
main stream. This swamp had been frequently prospected, always produced a fair, show of gold, but was
found to be so deep that no party would venture to set to work on it until within the last few months, when
four men who had exhausted claims in the creek in the vicinity, and had subsequently lost several months
in walking over gold in the country for thirty miles round, at last commenced operations, and having carried
a toil race from the main stream at a depth of fifteen feet, find about three inches of auriferous drift that
produces from three or four pennyweights to an ounce per bucket; if the run continues through all the
ramifications of the swamps, there is here work for 1000 men for several months. The gold obtained is
much coarser and more nuggety than that from the main creek, which in this part was exceedingly rich
in patches, and in some places was not half worked out. There are quartz reefs in this vicinity
immediately over spots from which a great deal of gold has been procured.
For seven miles upwards of a tortuous course, a description of the creek would only be a repetition of what
has been passed over; rich claims below the mouths of small tributaries exhausted and transferred to the
Chinese, rocky bare notches, long deep runs, glassy pools, tangled brush, rich grasses, steep ridges, and
dense forests, until you, arrive at the mouth, of Gough's Creek.
Here the character of the creek becomes somewhat changed, and deposits of deep alluvium
commence, based upon coarse gravel and pebbles to a very considerable depth, forming fertile fiats on the
south bank, separated from each other by long spurs from the plateau, that advance to the edge of the
stream, and for a space restore its former character. The mouth of Gough's Creek, formerly described as
following the base of the granitic walls, and flowing through a dense cedar brush, which accompanies
it until it becomes fairly lost in the McLeod, has produced an immense quantity of coarse gold. Here
the precious deposit has been followed through the flat to the base of the hills; and the enormous
operations and expenditure of labour are attested by deep and extensive excavations. There are several
families, comfortably settled here, surrounded by a cloud of Chinamen. Nothing can exceed the beauty of
the situation, or the luxuriant fertility of the vegetation. Several parties have been working steadily here for
the last two years, and are still doing well; the general opinion of the few who understand the locality is, that
the heaviest deposits of gold are not yet touched upon, and some extraordinary discoveries in the scrub,
which has seldom been penetrated, are anticipated. A portion of Gough's Creek has been worked, but its
original course has not been ascertained. Reefs known to exist are still a myth to the mob of goldseekers,
and the upper part of the stream, with its branches, are still virgin ground. Like other places, they will be
discovered all in their tum.
Passing Gough's Creek, we now follow the McLeod in its wanderings through the narrow plains. The
detritus in its channel varies from eight to fifteen feet in depth, and the banks, of alluvial formation,
are mostly perpendicular, and being undermined by the current, frequently fall in, and alter its course. Gold
extending under the flats can be procured from the lower part of the banks on either side, but not in
sufficient quantities to pay for deep striping. Many, places in the channel have here proved exceedingly
rich, and have been exhausted; others, of fair promise, have not been worked. I saw a few claims from
which gold had been taken to the value of from £300 to £700 per man in a few weeks, and many of them
were only abandoned when the labour became excessive. The gold obtained here is shotty, something like
pin heads, and loses its scaly character.
Three miles of alternate ridge and flat bring you to King's store, on a rich flat, intersected by a rivulet from
the plateau. Both above and below this stream a great deal of heavy labour has been performed by
various parties, and the gold obtained from one claim here was valued at L1800, and yet much of the
ground is only half worked. It is still the centre of a small cluster of tents and huts. On the adjoining
flat some extensive excavations, made by large parties of Chinese have not proved remunerative. A track
from behind King's store conducts you along the crown of a leading spur for four miles, when you reach the
main camp on the table land.
Returning to the creek, three miles from the store already noticed, passing across deep flats and over vast
accumulations of sandy drift, you arrive at a gorge, where the McLeod, breaking through a range and
descending from a more elevated system of plains, enters the lower flats. In all this distance there
has been very little work done. The sandy alluvium rests upon a stratum of pebbles and heavy
boulders, which probably conceals the auriferous drift. The stream appears to have frequently changed its
course, and, although it has been frequently prospected, nothing worth notice has ever been obtained ; the
width of the flats here is unfavourable to any large deposit of the precious metal in one place.
Ascending the rocky gorge, you now find yourself hemmed in by steep and rugged ranges; quartz
reefs show themselves on the hill sides; the detritus in the channel again becomes deep; and the
explorations of the prospector appear to have been conducted on a very limited scale, and always without
success. As you advance, the hills close in, the roar of the waters becomes more and more distinct ;
stupendous cliffs hang beetling over a confused mass of rocks, through which weeds and briars struggle
into daylight; huge logs, covered with those lichens that love damp and shade, in every stage of decay, are
tossed about on the sharp peaks and pinacles of rock far above your head -- the relics of former floods --
and remind you how speedily the little rill would be swollen to a resistless torrent if the gathering storm
should burst over the table land. You are at the base of a succession of cataracts, over which the McLeod
precipitates its waters from the plateau at least 800 feet above. Mountains are here riven asunder, and
rocky precipices, hundreds of feet in height, distorted, altered, upheaved, and fissured, speak of Nature's
agony in times long past.
It is somewhat singular that no gold has been found in this part of the creek -- perhaps it only
requires seeking for; and it is probable that the sombre aspect of the glen, and the difficulty of access may
have caused the digger to avoid it. There are several small branches falling into the valley about this
neighbourhood, which ought either to contain some gold or to have carried it to the main stream.
Clambering up the mountains, through prickly scrub, in about an hour you find yourself upon the table land
again upon the McLeod. At the edge of the Falls, on either bank, gentle slopes descend to the margin of
the stream. From this point upwards the operations in the creek have been carefully conducted, and, at the
first glance, a miner can see that every yard of its course was valued as a prize. A list of the claim
holders wouId only be a catalogue of the names of fortunate diggers, most of whom are now scattered over
other lands; some have gone to New Caledonia to grow cotton and sugar, others have gone to England,
and more to the United States. All the minor branches on the east bank have been successfully worked
-- those to the westward have not proved payable.
About a mile further you arrive at a ledge of binary granite, which crosses the stream, on rising of
which you reach a long treeless flat shelving towards the narrow deep watercourse in the centre, and
encompassed by low hills to the westward, and nude granite masses to the eastward, forming a wide basin
through which the McLeod holds its course. It was on this flat that the discoverer of the gold-field,
sinking through bog soil and drift, obtained a rich prospect at a depth of six feet, on a soft white granite
bottom. He was induced to try this spot from its being so situated as to retain gold, the presence of which
was announced on every side by the formation, the wreck of a sandstone superstratum was everywhere
evident, and veins of sandstone could be traced through the granites, partly altered and decomposed;
quartz was scarce except in the secondary formations, but quartz pebbles were found in abundance resting
upon the bed rock, supplied by the formations that had been destroyed by the degradation of the ranges.
This place had been reached by a circuitous route of thirty miles, and was not then worked, in
consequence of the distance from supplies or a human habitation. A party of seven men, having been
subsequently informed of the character of the flat, were directed to the prospect hole, and contrived to get
and retain an extended claim of 700 yards on the same spot; they have been working it for fifteen months,
are still working, and are reported to have secured £10,000 worth of gold already by their operations.
Guided by the enormous excavations, you now follow the course of the stream for three quarters of a mile,
when you learn that every foot of the entire distance was equally rich. The flat has been turned over to a
depth varying from eight to fifteen feet for a width of a hundred yards. At the head the creek turns to the
southward and you follow it up a narrow gorge over rocks, and flanked by masses of granite rising into
peaks, clothed at the base by patches of tangled scrub and forest. At last, passing through the wreck, of
a granite range you arrive at the summit, where, entering the basin formerly described, you are at the
source of McLeod's Creek.
The highest claim round the source was amongst the richest on the creek, and was worked by
Driscoll's party. From that spot, over rooks, through narrow gorges, and along the flat to the falls from the
plateau, it was equally productive.
In various parts of the basin, known as McLeod's Table Land, operations have been commenced; but have
been retarded for months by the scarcity of water. The numerous creeks also having their source round it
have been carefully worked for a short distance, and all have paid well. The majority of these descend to
the Lower McLeod, and contribute to its riches, which are still very far from, being exhausted, and will be
renewed by every flood.
It is probable that the gold procured from this portion of the tableland has been set at liberty by
the destruction of the metamorphosed substrata of the carboniferous formations that once reposed upon
this elevated region, which were intersected by veins of auriferous quality. A sufficient number of
small, specimens has been obtained to prove that the greater part of the gold of this district has been
derived from the latter source.
I may here venture to repeat my formerly-expressed opinion, that although very rich, detrital accumulations
of gold will be found from time to time in places favourably situated, no second Ballarat will be discovered
here, as there are no indications of a trappean overflow sufficient to submerge any very extensive district of
this country.
We have now tracked the McLeod to his fountains, and will make our way to the main camp at the head of
the flat, of which more in our next.