A VISIT TO THE SOUTHERN GOLD FIELDS.
FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER>
No. 4.
We will now return to the crown of the great reef, and take a concise review of the operations carried
on upon the northern slopes of the hill. The descents are steep, and the reef, true to its northerly
course, makes directly for the valley. The first claim we notice on the crest of the range is that of
Thomas Jenkins and Co., sixty feet, purchased from Don Francisca Carreas for £1800. The character of
the lode continues the same as that already described in the claim of Baker and Company. The surface
reef was rich, but after the decomposition ceased it became less productive, and, at a depth of 112 feet,
they are working through a vein of barren white quartz, the depth of which is at present undetermined. This
claim has already produced over £4000 worth of gold, and the proprietors have about 150 tons of quartz
raised, a part of which, it is expected, will yield five ounces per ton, and the remainder something less. The
width of the reef continues to range from three to four feet, and it is probable that it will become narrower
but more valuable a few feet lower down.
The succeeding claim is that of Edwards, Brothers, about twenty-five feet, exchanged for a half interest in
the Victoria Crushing Mill; the reef contracts in this claim and narrows to from seven to ten inches; it was
payable at the surface, but as it descended it became less rich; the yield was at the rate of three and a half
ounces, and they have about forty tons ready for the mills, which are expected to turn out four ounces per
ton.
Ainsworth and Co., thirty feet, are next on the reef, which continues narrow and irregular in its descent,
varying in width from twelve to six inches; the surface quartz was very productive, decreasing downwards,
and the claim is still yielding payable quartz.
We now arrive at the third claim of Mr. William Williams, who has had the honour of giving a name both to
the hill and the neighbouring valley. He owns fifty feet on the reef at this spot. The lode now expands to
from two to three feet in width; like the preceding claims, the surface was rich in gold, obtained both from
the decomposed mundic by washing and from the quartz by crushing; as it descended, the yield became
less, and at 100 feet the dreaded white reef is making its appearance, holding out a gloomy prospect of
much work and little pay. Two men realised over £300 beyond their expenditure in this claim by two
months' labour. About 150 tons have been crushed and roasted.
The next three claims something less than 100 feet, have been purchased by Thomas Jenkins, and
Company, at a cost of £2800, after quartz to the value of several thousand pounds had been raised by the
former owners. The width of the reef was irregular, ranging from three feet to nine inches, and the yield de-
creased from nine or ten ounces under the gross, to three ounces, when it entered the modern granites,
at the respective depths of 110 and 130 feet. They are, like their neighbours, working through the
barren reef, with symptoms of an improvement coming in on the western wall, and strong in their hopes of
the future.
We now have arrived at the original inspecting claim first granted to the discoverers of the reef, Thomas
Williams and his mates, who were conducted to the source by the rich surfacing on the slopes, and enticed
to break up the reef in their pursuit of the gold found in cavities of the quartz mingled with the earths
and oxides. They washed out a part of the gold and sold the claim, with the quartz they had raised, for
£1200, to Messrs. Coneras and Ryan. This quartz alone subsequently yielded £5000 worth of gold
when crushing mills became established. The upper portion of this extensive claim has been subdivided,
and has passed through several hands, but Don F. Coneras, or Mr. Don, as he is called by his old mates,
still retains his property in the lower sixty feet; the yield has been very rich, but, like all the rest, most
valuable at the surface; the auriferous character of the lode decreasing with the descent, while in places
the reef expanded to the width of four or five feet. At a depth of seventy-five feet the miners fell in with the
hateful white reef, and now at 105 feet they have hopes of being nearly through it, the vein contracting from
three feet to ten or twelve inches. Blue quartz appears on the western wall -- a bare streak at first, but
gradually swelling into the lode, the sulphurets and arsenates become more abundant, streaking the quartz
like the fat and lean in Wiltshire bacon; and as the mundic reef cuts out the white block, the prospects of
the miners brighten. A recent crushing has averaged three ounces.
We now pass to the claim of Rutter and Company, sixty feet, who, at a depth of 145 feet, have
passed through fourteen feet of the white reef, and are now again on payable quartz. A mass of black
schist here splits the vein, and the walls become irregular; in some spots nearly closing the fissure. The
quartz from this claim has produced about five ounces of gold per ton; and a large pile at the shaft mouth
awaits the operations of the crusher.
The last we will notice is the claim of Robertson and Co., sixty feet; the surface reef here was replaced by
the granite elvan, but at sixty-five feet a vein was opened which has produced about, thirty tons of quartz,
not yet sent to the mill, which are estimated to contain from three to four ounces to the ton.
For 1500 feet lower down the slope claims have been taken up, and a line of shafts have been sunk
to depths varying from 90 to 130 feet, with no success.
A chronicle of the labours of the miners further on the line of the reef would be but a story of delusive veins
which only appeared to run out, of unrequited labour, of privations, of hope deferred, until many a poor
fellow, after eighteen months of persevering toil, finds himself pennyless, physically exhausted, and nearly
heartbroken. If the general body of miners on the reef had the power to assess the claimholders to the
extent necessary to make such examinations as would conduce to the general advantage of all those
interested in the reef, how much labour that has proved unprofitable would have been saved. For one heart
that rejoices on a gold-field, there are a hundred crushed and broken.
"The smiling there, like light on graves, Has rank cold hearts beneath it."
Here closes the details relative to the great reef of the Adelong, and those who have had the patience
to wade through them will be able to form some estimate of the enormous expenditure of labour and
material by which the gold already obtained has been procured, allowing that 750 men have been
employed on and in connection with the reef since June, 1857, and that 60,000 ounces of gold are the
result of their labours. This valued at £8 10s. an ounce would give £210,000. From that has to be deducted
£14,500 for crushing, machinery, and quicksilver, &c.; and £20,000 for powder, tools, and cartage, which
would leave just two pounds a-week for each man for the entire period. But then comes the distribution.
Fortune has been I unequal in her favours, and the number of blanks bear no proportion to the prizes-they
are fearful to contemplate.
This fact is suggestive of the most gloomy reflections ; it becomes a serious question, how far a new
country is really advanced by such an expenditure of its chief resource, its labour, of which we have yet no
surplus. A few individuals have improved their position, but they bear no proportion to the number who this
day find themselves in a much worse condition than when they came into the district two long years since.
The wilderness is unbroken; no lands have been cleared; no happy, smiling, home- steads have risen in
the forest, and the country has derived no permanent advantage from the labours of these men, as they
have eaten and drank the value of all that they have produced. A few publicans have been enriched, and,
through through them the public revenues have been benefited, but better that the one should continue to
eat the bread of honest labour, and that the other should be in a less prosperous condition, than that we
should waste the real wealth of our people in the vain pursuit of a shadow. Follow these reflections out,
and then turn to the gold-producing regions of the earth -learn from history what they have been, and see
what they are.