A VISIT TO THE NORTHERN GOLD FIELDS.
FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.
No. 18.
Directing our course to the north-east, at the base of Mount Mutton ridge, we reach the dry channel of a creek.
This stream, rising in a narrow but shallow valley of denudation, that heads below the crateriform basin formerly
described as the Barley Field, descends through a deep trappean aluvium to the granites, which it enters to
a considerable depth, and finally empties into the wide channel at the foot of the slopes that trend towards
the river. Pursuing this stream upwards, and passing immense blocks and pinnacles of granite rising through
the alluvium, we find that it has not proved to be goldbearing, until, rising above the granites, we approach
the trap-rocks at its source. Here several piles of tailings consist entirely of quartz, sand, and rolled pebbles,
many of which have been formed from transparent crystals. There are also gems in profusion, including rubies,
sapphires, topaz, tourmaline, and amethysts, derived from the surface of the granites which now disappear
under the basaltic formations. Proceeding up the valley still eastward, we find ourselves flanked by trappean
elevations, and passing over another rich patch of about half a mile in length that has been the scene of
extensive operations which were carried to the base of the rising ground on either side.
Immediately above the break in the valley where the trappean debris has accumulated, and where the creek
forms is a wide belt of quartose rock ("White Billy) stretching north and south under the traps on either
flank, and forming a bar which, from the imperishable character of the rock, will exercise a considerable
influence both upon the drainage, the lead of auriferous drift, and the degradation of the district through
which it passes, and requires to he carefully studied by the mineral prospector. This rock here protruding
through the surface at first sight resembles a white limestone or marble. Its presence is due to the action
of molten trap upon pure quartz sands when unprotected by a thick layer of shales, pipeclay, or felspathic
deposits. From the eastern side of this silicious dyke innumerable shafts have been sunk up to the head
of the valley, which terminates in a cul de sac. The success of the miners has been chequered by good and
bad fortune, as is usually the case in such undertakings. The sinking commencing at about twenty feet,
gradually deepened as it approached the termination of the valley, until it reached 140 feet, through
trap rock, pipeclay, and a pure quartz drift; in some instances veins of common sea or river sand were
passed through between the pipeclay and the wash dirt. A rich lead was discovered on the left hand side,
following a channel in the bed rock for some distance, when it was lost in the neighbourhood of a ledge
that crossed the the valley. An opening in this bar was at length discovered by driving, when the lead
was again recovered, to be again lost under the trappean heights to the eastward. Many shafts were sunk
in search of it, at a great expense, without success, including several on the summit of the table land,
through 140 feet of a hard basaltic rock. Patches of auriferous drift were reached at that depth,
but no continuous lead that would repay such an enormous expenditure of labour. Although there
are numerous ridges, valleys, and trappean knolls and crests in this locality, they afford no indication
of the surface of the granite upon which they repose; leaving the various channels and bars out of the
question, it rather declines to the eastward. Many of the present hills and ridges rise from what were
granite basins prior to the formation of the modern valleys by denudation.
A country now presenting a rugged broken aspect may, at some remote period, have formed a continuous plain,
comparatively level and traversed by ancient streams or marine currents, distributing auriferous detritus
along their channels. Subsequently, riven, elevated, and overflowed, by volcanic products. New systems
of drainage may cut up the quondam plains into mountains, ravines, gorges, and river basins, but the
ancient drifts buried under the traps will still pursue one general direction, and may be traced from
the new-born streams that cross their course up slopes to the levels where a portion of the undisturbed
deposits are still concealed. Wide tracts may have been denuded to a depth far below the position occupied
by the ancient drifts, and all evidence of their former existence obliterated, but the investigation
should be prosecuted so long as the geological construction of the district held out any prospect of success.
Thus a line drawn east and west through the Barlty-field will intersect all the richest localities that have
been discovered on the Uralla gold-field, passing through Sawyer's Gully, skirting Sydney Flat, the golden
side of Mount Jones, the auriferous end of Mount Welsh (which is a mere strip), and cutting Maitland Point
through the centre. With the exception of a narrow branch striking to the north-east across Sydney Flat,
all the other diggings in this locality, including the river, whose chief wealth was contained in that part
of its channel between Mount Welsh and Mait-land Point, have derived their gold from the narrow line of
drift indicated. This may be proved by an examination of the wash dirt containing these secondary distributions
of the precious metal, which will be found to consist of a compound of the debris of all the existing
formations that have been denuded and disintegrated in the vicinity.
The inference to be drawn from all this is, that I believe that the ancient lead comes from the east or
north-east, in which direction it should be followed under the trap of the plains, and that it also stretches
away due west, or south of west, for a considerable distance, no where more than two hundred yards in width,
and occasionally only a few feet.
But we have wandered from Saw-pit Gully, to which we must now return. On that extremity of the gold-field
the holders of many of the claims in the deep ground realised small fortunes. The general yield on the
lead ranged from five to seven ounces per load of two or three inch wash-dirt, to obtain which from three
to four feet of headings had to be excavated and raised from beneath trap rock perhaps 100 feet in depth.
In other parts of the gully the produce did not exceed two or three ounces to the load; and a few
parties who are now at work amongst the old shafts expressed themselves to be satisfied if one ounce
from the same quantity of drift rewarded their labour. These men, amongst the most intelligent that
I have met with on any gold field, were confident in their belief that the run of gold passed away to
the eastward under the thick trappean crust of the plains, as a proof of which they mentioned two
or three areas of depression or denudation due east, where payable surfacing existed, but no water,
and stated that nothing but the want of sufficient capital for so heavy an undertaking prevented their
making still further efforts in that direction.
Ascending now to the summit of the trap ridge that, terminating the gully, raises us io a level with
the plains, and looking over the Bandara country, with its maze of hills, following the course of the
Gwydir as it rolls along towards the untraversed plains of the Far West. Behind us we have the Bailey Field;
on our left, Mount Beef, with circular knolls, and richly wooded slopes, descending deep into the granites,
which peep out here and there through the foliage that mantles round the lower hills. To the right is a
projecting arm of the plateau, about two miles in length, stretching westward, and delining slightly in
elevation as it advances; its flat top is covered with a stratum of nodular trap eighty feet in thickness,
beneath which granite boulders and ledges crop out on the southern slopes, marking the depth of the valley
below the auriferous drifts, and the extent of denudation that has taken place since they were first disturbed.
This fragment of the plateau has followed the direction of an ancient channel in the granites, and its
protection from degradation is, perhaps, due to the wall of the basin, which may be observed along the
declivities beneath the drift, pipeclays, and traps, which constitute the higher formations. Within this
granite wall the richest deposits of gold have been obtained.
Following a track along the summit of this wreck of the plateau for about a mile, you arrive at a slight
elevation known as Mount Shicer, where some extensive operations have been carried on, and many shafts
on the descents have penetrated to the granite. Proceeding onward we cross a slight depression, and
stand on the celebrated Mount Jones, the south side of which is pierced by a thousand shafts ranging
from 80 to 120 feet in depth. Innumerable piles of snow white drift, raised from the bowels of the mountains,
are scattered around, mingled with heaps of ironstone, trap, and pipeclay. The labour expended on this part
of the ridge has been enormous, but the yield has been proportionate. The low crest of the hill to the
right of the shafts is still virgin ground, as it is said to be barren; payable driit appears to have
been confined within the limits of the old channel, which can now distinctly be traced by the workings
from Sawpit Gully to Mount Welsh; on the northern side is Sydney Flat, a wide shallow basin, nowhere
towards its eastern extremity 100 feet below the crown of the ridge, by which it is bounded, to the
coast, and north-east. This has evidently been the bed of one of those lagoons so frequently to be
met with along the summit of the main range; the waters of these mountain lakes can have had no part
in the original accumulation of the golden drifts reposing beneath the basalts and other volcanic products,
but they may have exercised a considerable influence in the redistribution of such portions as they have
assisted to denude. As destruction advances upon the perishable formations that rest upon the granites
of this region, the barriers of these lakes are broken down, affording an unobstructed passage to the
streams that once filled them. No very deep or extensive lakes have ever existed on the plateau,
but most of the treeless plains are traversed by streams, and it only requires the reconstruction of
some ridge that has been cut through by floods to convert them again into large sheets of water.
Sea drift, shales, pipeclays, and fossil woods, interpose between the granites and the nodular and
prismatic trap rocks on Sydney Flat; and while the bed rock declines to the eastward or towards
the summit of the range, the surface slopes to the westward and terminates in a watercourse,
which sweeps round in a southern direction, breaking through the range and isolating Mount Welch.
The lake on Sydney Flat during seasons of flood must have discharged a great body of water,
and has thereby effected the destruction and removal of that portion of the range which connected
Mount Jones with Mount Welsh, obliterating a portion of the ancient channel below the trap rocks,
and redistributing the gold bearing drift along the lower slopes in its passage to the river.
The elevation of which Mount Jones forms a part with Sydney Flat may be considered a portion of the
plateau rather than a range, as the southern slopes alone present the appearance of a mountain
which is quite lost on reaching the summit. The sinking on Sydney Flat is about fifty feet to
the westward, gradually deepening to the east and north-east until it reaches 100 or 120 feet.
The channel under the trappean crust at the eastern extremity of Mount Jones bends to the north-east,
and crosses the upper portion of Sydney Flat, declining and occasionally expounding in its course
until it reaches the opposite side. The richest deposits were obtained near the bend of the channel,
which became less productive as it approached the opposite rim of the basin. As on the south side of
Mount Jones, the labour that has been expended upon this flat is incredible. The surface is honey-combed
by shafts from one extremity to the other, and huge heaps of dazzling white drift and pipeclay, mingled
with shales and lias, indicate the extent of the operations carried on below. Many of these shafts
yielded no remuneration to the miners for their long and severe labour, but several on the channel
were passing rich. The evil of small claims is here apparent in the evidences of unprofitable and
wasted labour, which surround you on every side. But we will not now discuss these small claims,
nor the consequent waste of labour, nor how they have helped to recruit the ranks of our gamins,
or find tenants for those filthy dens of vice and profligacy so graphically described in a late
report, which, moreover, publishes the statistical fact that we have about one child out of every
ten in the capital in training for the brothel or the gallows.
On ascending the marginal ridge we find that many shafts have been sunk, soģe to the depth of
150 feet where the mines passed through the same formations as on the flat, found the drift to
be still auriferous, and the bed rock to be a continuation of the same level. Somewhat further
to the eastward a shaft has been put down to the depth of 189 feet, where water, bursting
through, the pipeclays, has obstructed the operations. The bed rock seems to dip here suddenly,
and it is probable that a rich lead will be discovered, provided that the sinking can be continued;
on the flat the works are dry. There is a possibility that the silicious dyke that crosses the valley
at Sawpit Gulley, continues along the head of Sydney Flat, and diverts the sub-drainage to the north-east,
which finds a channel through the silicious belt in the neighbourhood of the deep shaft above mentioned.
If this is the case, it is in favour of the recovery of the lead at that spot, which will probably be
in connexion with the diggings at Sawpit Gulley.
We now, crossing the flat, follow Mount Jones to its western extremity; here, on the declivities,
several secondary deposits of gold have been discovered. They are patchy, and have been derived from
the ancient channel in the granites above them, which in this locality has been ruptured and fissured
in several places; descending these slopes, we reach the creek formerly described as draining Sydney Flat;
this stream contains no gold. On the opposite bank we commence the ascent of Mount Welsh, and about
100 feet above the stream arrive at a bench which was formerly the bottom of the valley. Here an exceedingly
rich strip has been exhausted. The gold obtained was removed from that portion of the range which has
been destroyed, and the washdirt consisted of the debris from the upper formations, thus proving its
secondary deposit. In some instances as much as two ounces of gold was obtained from a bucket of stuff.
Climbing the northern end of the mountain, which on this side is steeper than Mount Jones, we find that
several patches of rich surfacing have been worked on the declivities, below the trap rocks. All these
patches run out under the traps, and some of them were exceedingly productive. Picking our way upwards,
amidst the abandoned shafts, we at last stand on the summit, which is a dead level. The operations here
are chiefly confined to a narrow strip on the north end, which crosses the hill, and bears due west of
the rich channel in Mount Jones, and due east of Maitland Point. The level of Sawpit Gully, the channel
of Mount Jones, its continuation through Sydney Flat from one extremity, and through Mount Welsh
from the other is all the same, as nearly as can be discerned by the eye. On Mount Welsh the trappean
crust is the same thickness, and the fossils, pipeclays, and drifts, of the same character, but somewhat
coarser, and with this difference, the latter is mingled with large blocks of yellow feruginous quartz
derived from ancient veins through schist, or porphyritic sandstone; these appear to have been completely
protected from the action of the heated volcanic products above them. A large quartz reef crosses
this hill under the trap, stretching N.N.E. and S.S.W.; it has been traced several miles in each
direction. There are also several large parallel reefs in the vicinity unexamined by the reefers of the
present day. All the remaining portion of the summit of this hill, amounting to about four fifths of
the whole, is said not to be auriferous, and to contain no drifts. The southern extremity overhangs
the Wallaby rocks, and exhibits on its slopes many favourable indications which have not yet attracted
the attention that they deserve.
Descending the western slopes we find that the granite rises in the hill on that side, we are soon
below the trappean formations; and passing over a modern granite drift, with no further indications
of hill diggings, in about a mile we reach the banks of the river.
Having endeavoured to convey an idea to the reader of the character and formation of these diggings,
we will next proceed to examine the workings and the river, and put in a word or two about the
people and their prospects.