A VISIT TO THE WESTERN GOLDFIELDS.
BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER
No. 24.
BIDDING good day to the road-makers and the wayfarers, let us resume our route. We
now pass a small farm on the right, and a large edifice, intended for an inn, on the left,
when two miles over rich flats places us at the base of Cherrytree Hill; for some miles the
summit of the range, maintaining its elevation, had become a plateau, the surface of
which, broken by low ridges, consisted of either coarse ferruginous conglomerates or
limestone, and since we passed Kane's Flat a second series of precipitous ranges resting
on these conglomerates or limestones rising on the left, first appeared on the form of
isolated peaks and rugged cliffs, and then, as you advanced to the southward, increasing
in height, formed a continuous wall, overhanging the lower range, diverging to the cast
and to the west; the easterly branch breaking into precipitous cliffs and solitary
mountains of terrific grandeur descends into the lower system of ranges at Capertee; and
the western, at the base of which we now stood, sinking, by a succession of declivities
and narrow steppes, to the valley of the Turon. These mountains are the wreck of a
marine deposit, with horizontal strata resting upon sedimentary formations; the marine
deposits have in past ages raised the surface about 4000 feet above the level of the
present valleys, and must have formed one vast arid desert; The climate is several degrees
colder on these mountains than in the western valleys, and it is remarkable that, after a
little study of the various strata, you can tell the relative elevation of any portion of the
range by its formation.
Ascending Cherry-tree Hill by a road in the worst state of repair, but for which a
handsome sum has been recently granted by the Legislature, you observe several varieties
of sandstone formation, amongst which the most remarkable is a conglomerate consisting
entirely of quartz pebbles, and a red feruginous cement. This quartzose conglomerate
presents itself again on the Cannobolus range, one hundred miles to the westward; always
at a great elevation. It must have covered an extensive tract of the original surface, but
whence derived is matter for future research. Reaching the summit, you have a
magnificent view of the auriferous west, with its lower levels and descending ranges, and
now find ironstone in abundance, and the surface is blood-red with the oxide of that metal.
You now proceed over a second plateau for two miles, when, descending again to the
level of the lower range, you cross the source of the running stream bordered by
extensive swampy flats, and passing another inn in progress on an extensive scale. Three
miles further brings you to a large farm at Round Swamp, and another mile to a
respectable road-side house, where numerous paddocks and a few patches of cultivation,
give an improved aspect to the locality. As you proceed the plateau maintains its
elevation and width for six miles, the surface becoming more rocky and sterile. It now
gradually contracts, and you find yourself on the summit of a narrow ridge. On the
right the country fails to the basin of the Upper Turon, and on the left precipitous rocks
descend to the Capertee ranges, and the basin of the Colo. The depth of the valleys on
either side appear to, correspond, and I am informed by those ultimately acquainted with
the district, that the same granitic and quartziferous schistose formations are to be
discovered at the lowest points and on the inferior ridges -- that the Capertee River
presents all the auriferous indications of the Turon, and that shepherds, after three or four
months service on the eastern stations have brought away as much as 10 or 15 ounces of
gold obtained by prospecting in the channels of streams' tributary to the Hawkesbury
River. If this is the fact, of which I have little doubt, and if a sufficiently extensive
denudation of the schistose formations has taken place to the eastward, there is every
probability that a gold-field will be found to exist much nearer Sydney than any yet
worked. I have heard of prospecting parties having been out on those waters when gold
was first discovered. They always obtained the precious metal, but not in sufficient
quantities at that period to compensate for the fearful difficulties attending the transit of
supplies. At that date, the Turon and the Meroo, with all the gold-fields on the western
side of the range were at their zenith, and the temptations were great to recross the
mountains, and abandon what was doubtful for what was sure; if the Capertee country
was now thoroughly prospected it is beyond question that more or less payable ground
would be discovered.
Pursuing the road five miles further along the summit of the range, trending due south,
the declivities under the walls of calcareous sand- stone, many of which slope gently to
the valleys, are admirably adapted for the cultivation of the choicest varieties of the
Spanish grape vine, and would produce a wine devoid of that earthy flavour which
detracts from the value of that produced on alluvial flats. The most valuable wines of
Spain and Portugal are the growth of a soil in every respect corresponding with that to be
found on the southern slopes of these calcareous ranges. The greatest mistake made by
the cultivators of the grape in this colony has been in the selection of a rich alluvial loam
for their vineyards, which, while it increased the quantity, deteriorated the quality of the
fruit. An arenacious, or gravelly soil, consisting of at least fifty per cent, of carbonate of
lime, is essential to the production of a sound, dry wine, and situations possessing these
requisites can be found on the declivities of the ranges where irrigation is practicable.
And here you approach the highest portion of the range. The ridge narrows still more, and
the road becomes excellent, as, scarped over the edge of an abyss, it carries you along the
side of the Crown Ridge, under the castellated crags which, like a diadem, rest upon its
uplifted head, and give evidence that it is but the wreck of a still greater elevation.
Immense masses of the quartzose conglomerate, intermixed with indurated schists,
indicate the breaking up of a system of silurian rocks prior to the formation of this island,
which were, no doubt, elevated by submarine volcanic action. Here heavy boulders, and
large stones, tell of exposed capes, of shallow seas, of rushing storms, and breakers
thundering along a shore; and these smaller pebbles equalized in form and size, such as
children love to gather, speak of the gentle ripple of some sheltered bay.
And now let us turn to the eastward, where undulating ridges denuded to the silurian
formations, broken by small streams, and covered with a dense forest stretch from the
base of the precipitous heights on which we stand, to where the sandstone formation
again towering upwards in rugged grandeur, present a line of cliffs whose deep caverns
have re-echoed the hollow roar of the retreating surges as this vast continent, emerging
from its ocean bed, became dry land. Oh, for the pen of the stonemason of Cromarty, the
great Hugh Miller, to trace the Almighty hand in these stupendous works!
And now, descending from our elevation, we pass another caravansary at the base of the
mountain, when we leave the lofty ranges which, sweeping to the eastward, connect
themselves with Mount Victoria and the easterly chain at the Weatherboard Hut; and
following the road over rich mountain flats for four miles, reach Ben Bullen, where our
journey terminates, and we seek the shelter of a road-side inn.