Sydney Morning Herald 5 March 1860

A VISIT TO THE NORTHERN GOLD FIELDS.

FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.

No. 10.

FEW parts of New South Wales present such a rugged and broken aspect as the country intersected by the Lower Touloome, having its source in an irregular mass of minor hills at the base of the great Macpherson range, a little to the westward of Mount Lindsay. It flows through a comparatively level conglomerate district for about eighteen miles, when it meets the advanced ranges from the westward, formed by the upheaval of the schists and flagstones; through these its waters have either excavated a deep channel sixteen miles in length to the Clarence River, or followed the course of a natural chasm trending north and south. I rather incline to the opinion that the bed of the stream has lowered with the degradation of the carboniferous formations further north, and that the deep chasms and stupendous ravines with which the district abounds are chiefly the result of fluviatile action. If such is the case gold may be looked for on the slopes of the ranges, at that point where the inferior sandstones and the schists come into contact. At the spot where the stream leaves the lower series of the carboniferous formations, it makes several remarkable detours round mountain masses, not gaining more than a mile of southing in a course of six miles. It is at this point, on the verge of the open country, that the main camp is situated. After entering the schistose formation, the stream holds its way over a channel, obstructed by huge fragments of the rocks in situ, and crossed by ledges of flagstone, the joints of cleavage and stratification dipping from ten to fifteen degrees to the southward are against the stream, which affords the floods an increased facility for breaking up the rocks and re-moving obstructions. The channel is flanked sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other by mountains cleft to their crest, the precipitous elevations of which exhibit a section of the various formations with their planes of upheaval from the metamorphosed schists at the base to the partially-transmuted sand- stones on their summit. Opposing these precipices, at intervals, are mountains, having a steep, graduated slope to the edge of the stream; and the line of steeps on either hand is broken by gorges and deep ravines, which pour their tributary floods into the main channel. Gold is found in the Tooloom from the first appearance of the schistose rocks, and exists all along its course from that point to the junction of the Clarence, the largest accumulations having been discovered in the banks below the places where the tributaries fall into the main stream, but chiefly in long shingly bars, at the base of the sloping mountains. Hugh McLean's claim, one of the richest on these waters, was situated on one of these bars, with the advantage of a mountain stream coming in from the west side immediately above him. His ex- perienced eye detected the double chance in his favour, and the result proved the soundness of his judgment. Ignorant men would attribute his success to luck, but luck often gets a reputation for results that should be placed to the credit of sound judgment in many other matters as well as gold digging. It is singular that this same man, never opened a bad claim. The drift is composed of fragments of flagstone rock, metamorphosed schists, sandstones, and trachytic pebbles, derived from conglomerates higher up the stream, mingled with soil and clay from the ranges. The gold, for the most part nuggety, is chiefly obtained by breaking up the rock upon which the drift rests. It keeps exclusively to the west bank until you reach the Eight Mile Rush. The auriferous range then seems to cross over to the east bank, and the gold from that point to the junction is found in the long wide bars on that side of the stream. Quartz is rarely to be observed, and when it does occur it is exhibited in irregular veins in the wreck of the sandstone formation at a considerable elevation, resting on the transmuted schists and flagstones. The general formation here differs in nothing from that in the neighbourhood of Pretty Gulley. On the west side of the range is a concourse of mountain streams, and a long tract of broken country falling into the Clarence, which must contain many auriferous patches, and has as yet received but little attention. The chain of auriferous elevations appears to continue from Pretty Gulley until it is intersected by the Clarence River, then to follow the east bank of the Touloome Creek as far as the eight mile rush, where the stream makes a sharp angle in its downward course round the rocky base of the culminating point of the district: there the range crosses over to the west bank, along which it continues at various altitudes in a direction a little west of north, until it becomes lost in the high lands at the the base of the Macpherson range to the eastward of Maryland. The auriferous country that has been discovered in this district, therefore, appears to be confined to a single north and south chain of upheavals stretching from a point to the eastward of Maryland to the vicinity of Glen Innes. All the gold-fields that have been profitably worked within the Clarence basin are situated upon its flanks, and gold can be procured from every watercourse descending from it. Its length cannot be less than 150 miles, including the mesas or table lands connected with it, and over which its distinct outline can be followed. But an insignificant portion of this great range has been examined. In truth much of it has never been traversed by a human foot, thick scrubs and precipices offering frequent impediments to the ordinary class of explorers and prospectors. The range in question is the first after passing over the carboniferous formations to the eastward, on which a sufficient denudation has taken place to expose the gold-bearing rocks to disintegrating influences. There is a parallelism in the great chains of granitic upheavals in this district, extending in meridional lines from north to south; and the main water-courses are conformable to this system. The minor hills and ranges at the base of these mountains are due to the disintegrating action of the drainage from the higher altitudes; and they, with their system of rivulets, gorges, and ravines, are consequently irregular, and their formation is governed by accidental circumstances. Thus, two distinct features, each resulting from the action of different natural laws, will present themselves to the scientific prospector for minerals. It must be borne in mind that there is as great distinction between volcanic action and subterranean upheaval, caused by expansion through the agency of heat, as there is between the boiling over of a culinary utensil, and the rising of baker's bread in the kneading trough by the agency of yeast. There is a wide extent of country laying between the Upper Clarence and the crests of the main range of the Northern Cordilleras, embracing every variety of formation already described, and which here approaches its termination in that vast plateau which, stretching through three degrees of latitude, forms the Darling Downs. Here a stupendous fault and outburst appears to have occurred from west to east, resulting in the Macpherson Range, which may be more correctly described as a confused mass of independent isolated eruptions, of which but a wreck is now exhibited in its fantastic columns, its pyramids, its castellated crags, and its inaccessible mountains of strange contour rising out of fertile plains and valleys. Amidst these Mount Lindsay stands pre-eminent, like one of those islands excavators leave to mark the original level of their work ; at a distance this mountain represents the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, with its lantern as seen through a London fog, but on an exaggerated scale. To the northward the country declines, the up-heavals thrown further to the eastward reappear, re-peating the formations exhibited to the southward, and the schists and granites are denuded in regular sequence, piercing each other occasionally -- thus presenting the strongest attractions to the mineralogist. But we are straying beyond our boundaries. We must keep within our own limits. What have we to do with Queensland beyond the collection of that small balance of account that stands against her in our ledger, and which she has given us sundry strong hints we may carry to profit and loss as soon as we see fit? We will return to the country between the heads of the Clarence and the table land. In that district there are streams approaching the dimensions of livers, and many ranges all unexplored, some of which at a future period will repay the labour of the gold hunter. And now for the Eight Mile Rush. Here two mountain streams, rising under the ironstone summits on the east bank, flow through a gorge, at the mouth of which their united waters, after crossing a deep flat, fall into the main creek. The steep sides of this gorge are clothed with tall pines and a thick scrub, the black soil and mountain debris is deep and loose and an alluvium rests upon the rotten schists, forming the bed rock to the depth of from ten to fifty feet, deepening and expanding into a basin towards the head. Through this alluvium the trickling streams descend beneath the shade of a dense foliage, their course frequently diverted by the falling in of the loose bank's. These streams have produced a great deal of gold, and shafts have been sunk in their channel at intervals until they enter the flat. The richest place has been below the junction, of the two ravines where M'Cann's valuable claim is situated, and where his party continue to obtain a rich reward for their industry, chiefly from the alluvial banks. A number of men are employed on these watercourses with average success; there is an indication of payable dry sink-ing in the upper part of the scrub. Several parties have sunk shafts in the lower flat to a depth of forty-five feet through the alluvium, but did not bottom on anything payable; there may be, however, a lead to the main creek which will eventually be discovered. In this neighbourhood are Wilson's and Frazer's Creeks, both of which afford employment to small parties of gold diggers; there is some rich surfacing on the tops and slopes of the hills, but far removed from water. Every dry watercourse contains its portion of gold. Following the Touloome from this point to the junction, its channel is broad with frequent angles, and wide bars as already described. Half-a-mile down stream is the claim occupied by Elder's party, who have been carrying on profitable sluicing operations for six months, and have twelve months' work before them. You then arrive at a succession of claims of a similar description, but not quite so productive, until you reach Maxwell's party, who have work for years on their bar, and are said to be making average wages. A mile lower down, passing several unoccupied flats, you reach a long alluvial spur, at the point of which the Touloome mingles its stream with that of the Clarence. Here a party of Chinese have established themselves, and have made some deep excavations. They said that there was plenty of work and little gold; beyond this party the digger has not extended his operations. Returning to the camp, we now direct our course up stream, which is no easy matter, the track leading over broken rocks, and frequently crossing and re-crossing the creek. For a distance of six miles you find but few parties of Europeans at work, but there are several mobs of Chinese re-working abandoned claims. Every favourable patch of ground appears to have been worked over until you reach M'Lean's claim ; above him the ground is now densely occupied for about a quarter of a mile; it increases in value as you approach Joe's Gully, at the mouth of which the heaviest nuggets have been found. Joe's Gulley, or ravine, about three miles long, heads in the auriferous range to the west-ward, under the lower strata of ancient sandstones and conglomerates, and before it reaches the main stream it cuts deeply into the metamorphosed schists, which give evidence of the close vicinity of the granites. The last quarter of a mile of its course has been exceedingly rich, and gold has been obtained for a considerable distance higher, but in diminishing quantities, until near the head, where it becomes barren. Some of the ramifications have been recently worked with favourable results. There is a quartz reef crossing the head of the gully from north to south, which is supposed to be unproductive, as a portion of it has been recently prospected, which is said to have proved a blank. The auriferous portion may probably have been exhausted by degradation, or its wealth, if it ever possessed any, may have been deposited in the leaders. The formation of this locality is an exact counter-part of the neighbourhood of the Burrendong reef. There is the same transmuted sandstone resting upon metamorphosed schists at a similar angle, and it is highly probable that the gold will be eventually traced from the channel of the ravine to some narrow vein following the joints of stratification at the point where the arenaceous rocks repose upon the altered slates or flagstones. It may not be more than two or three inches in width, and perhaps less, and yet may have supplied all the gold discovered in the watercourse. Such was Burrendong. It is the gold procured in the vicinity of Joe's gulley that gained for Tuoloome, any celebrity that it has acquired. Many such places may exist, but they have not been discovered. Fay's gulley, on the northern side of the same spur, descending from nearly the same source, and holding a course parallel to Joe's gully, has also been a favourite spot with the miners, but is now exhausted and nearly abandoned. The intervening slopes and the surface of the hills for some distance on either side are more or less auriferous, and only require water to become payable. Above Fay's gulley the main creek has not proved worth working. The Prospector's claim, opposite the main camp, was selected upon a half-moon bar, and is said to have been but of little value. A large collection of Chinese are congregating near the camp with some object in view, which may tend further to develope the value of the district, particularly if, contrary to their practice, they break new ground; that mob would be just the thing for Warwick, with its wide extent of poor easily wrought creeks and swamps. A word or two about the Camp, it is prettily situated on the east side of the stream, being the terminus of a reasonably good road that branches off to Ipswich and Grafton, both about equidistant; it is compact, and consists of three well-stocked stores, as many public-houses, and a few restaurants; the chief part of the population on the Tuoloome, numbering about 500, are collected at the Eight Mile Rush, and round Joe's Gulley, three miles from the Camp. At the Gulley the tents present a picturesque aspect, being perched here and there in clusters upon points and bluffs overhanging the precipitous banks of the stream. The approach is one of difficulty, as the country is rough and broken, and the creek has to be crossed three times in the track from the camp. What the general body of the diggers are doing it is impossible to say; some few are in rich and durable claims, but there are a great many doing but little, and there are still more walking about, doing nothing. Rich though the district may be, it presents an appearance so foreign to what the majority of the diggers have been accustomed to, that they become quite lost, and require to be laid on to their work. It would be perfectly easy to collect instances of several ounces of gold to the pan, and occasional great strikes, but nothing can be more deceptive, and particularly where it is coarse gold, it should never dazzle the experienced digger. It is probable that other auriferous patches will be found in the neighbourhood, but until this occurs, with the exception of a little ground on the lower part of the creek, all the known payable and workable ground is occupied, and in the hands of those who will leave but little for gleaners behind them.