A VISIT TO THE WESTERN GOLDFIELDS.
BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER
No. 37.
Pursuing my journey from the Burrendong across the plains, to the banks of the
Macquarie, a short but pleasant ride brings me to the crossing-place opposite Bibby's
roadside inn. You now traverse extensive alluvial flats, very lightly timbered if not
treeless, and ascend a range of low barren hills, on the summit of which you find a table
land, on which quartz and the schistose formations reappear. To the right, in the bosom of
sterile broken ridges, the village of Burrendong has been laid out on paper; it is in its
primitive state of bush as the situation so far removed from the rich agricultural lands on
the river's bank, which are all private property, or from any main road, has not been
sufficiently inviting to attract a single inhabitant. Several forty and fifty acre lots have
been also surveyed in out of the way places, far removed from permanent water amongst
the back hills, at the base of the Mullion range in this vicinity; but as the slatey rocks
would starve even one goat to the acre, they are still unoccupied. These lots must have
been thrown into the market to stifle some outcry for land at the time; and if the object
was to shut a permanent population out of the district, it has been very cleverly contrived.
I presume that these form a part of the lands that were some time since advertised as
being open to selection in the county of Wellington.
A few miles further to the right, Eagle Beagle Creek, receiving several important
tributaries, falls into the Macquarie. In all of these gold was formerly obtained: but they
have never been much worked, and are now neglected. The gold bearing formations
prevail in the district of which they receive the drainage, and at some future time it will
be the scene of extensive mining operations. There are several minor streams in the
neighbourhood, all of the same character and all only partially prospected.
The road now rolls along over undulating wastes for several miles, with no vestige of
improvement, and no inhabitants. Here and there patches of agricultural soil are collected
in the hollow, but they are limited in extent to a very few acres, and are generally
waterless. The timber is gnarled and worthless, and the herbage coarse and sour. Passing
a tributary of the Eagle Beagle some miles further, you reach a cluster of huts in a pretty
flat on the margin of a creek. These are occupied by the gold commissioner and his staff.
The country, has been gradually rising and ridges swell into respectable hills. When
entering a broad basin, a mile brings you to the collection of ruined and dilapidated huts
known as the township of the Iron-barks, situated at the northern extremity of the Mullion
Range on its western slopes. The heads of the Muckerawa and Stoney Creek are about
equidistant in the vicinity, the former uniting in one main stream, at the base of the
eastern descents, flows directly into the Macquarie, and the latter collecting the waters of
main auriferous branches on the western face forms one of the tributaries of the Bell,
which flowing nearly parallel with the Macquarie, discharges into that river near
Wellington.
The Mullion Range may be considered as having once formed a portion of the elevated
plain extending from the main chain of the Cordilleras to the base of the Canobolas.
Through this plateau the concentrated waters from the eastward have forced a passage
trending to the north west, thus scooping out the broad basin of the Macquarie and the
waters falling from the northern face of the Canobolas, forming the Bell River, and
following the course of the limestone formations to the north-north-west have separated
them from the quartiferous schists, and defined the true termination of the plateau, thus
marking the boundary of the western gold fields.
Any given portion of the northern extremity of the Mullion Range, corresponds with the
formation of the eastern plateau at a similar elevation -- the dip of the strata is the same,
the schists maintain the same arenaceous character that they had assumed long before,
they reached the Macquarie, and below the crowning ridge on the western side, broad
irregular patches of table land stretch to the westward, whose projecting capes overhang
the basin of the Bell. The one exception to a general similarity of formation is that on this
table land the wreck of extensive fields of ironstone containing a large percentage of ore,
may be observed from 80 to 100 feet in depth, resting, upon a conglomerate of pine
quartz pebbles, much rolled and cemented by a quartose sand with oxide of iron in excess,
the whole reposing upon the regular schists, which in some instances are converted into
pipeclay for three or four feet below the conglomerate. Long narrow ridges of this
formation having a north and south direction, are frequent, and vast masses of the
denuded conglomerate also occur in their neighbourhood, and can be traced thirty miles
to the Ophir, where the highest mountains are crowned with this formation, usually
crested with ironstone, which is of the richest quality.
From some of these ridges the iron has been removed by oxidization, the argillaceous and
arenaceous matter has been also transported to lower levels by the agency of water the
subjacent conglomerate partiality, if not wholly disintegrated, in this condition resting
under a slight covering of the ferruginous debris. It has been discovered to be auriferous,
and I have observed men making good wages by washing the debris of this conglomerate
both by means of cradles and puddling machines; in fact the two parties, whose labours
were attended with the most success in the neighbourhood of the Ironbarks were engaged
in such operations. One consisted of about a dozen Chinese, who worked with unusual
skill and dexterity, and the other was a company of European puddlers.
The Mullion Range may, therefore, be viewed as a slip of table land, cut off by the
Macquarie, and carrying a chain of elevations along its centre to the trap rock of the
Canobolas, and from some cause which I am unable to explain, containing a larger
proportion of the baser metals; its eastern descents are steep and rugged, and give rise to
watercourses of greater capacity, which are favourable to accumulations of a metal of the
gravity of gold, its western slopes, broken by the table land, supplies streams of less
volume unable to remove the gold to any great distance from the line of reefs, hence the
auriferous patches on side, side are more numerous along the base of the crown ridge but
of less value.
Returning to the Ironbarks on either side of the shallow Narrangahl which takes its use at
the head of the basin, broad slopes gently ascend to high ridges, giving the locality some
resemblance to the Louisa on a reduced scale. On the crown of these ridges reefs of
quartz, all more or less auriferous, are exhibited and small streams have spread their
treasures over the slopes which are cut up in every direction. As the rock is seldom more
than four or five feet below the surface the sinking is easy, and although the area is
extensive it was speedily exhausted. The richest deposits were found on the northern face
of the southern ridge, as the descents were gradual, and the streams of little power, the
gold seldom reached the creek. The head of the basin is crossed by the head of the range,
which trending a little to the eastward at the sources of Stoney Creek stretches away to
the S.S.W.; on this crest four or five reefs, with numerous veins and leaders, having a
direction N. 20 W. and S. 20 E. have supplied nearly all the gold in the auriferous streams
falling on each side, the strip of country that they intersect does not exceed a mile in
width, and the watercourses below them are richest at their source, losing their auriferous
character long before they reach the main rivers, there are many minor tributaries having
their source lower on the range and beyond the influence of this line of reefs that are not
gold bearing or in which little more than the colour can be obtained. I anticipate that at
some future period the auriferous lodes will be correctly defined through their entire
course, and that it will be ascertained that, although by the aid of streams they may scatter
a portion of their treasures over a wide extent of country, they are confined within a very
narrow compass; that particular system of reefs under discussion will be traced from the
Canobolas along the Mullions, across the Macquarie, through the neighbourhood of
Burrendong, and up to the point where the auriferous rocks dip under the carboniferous
formations of the Cordilleras to the eastward.
Half-a-mile to the north-east of the encampment, Ginger Creek, one of the tributaries of
the Muckerowa falls from the eastern face of the range, crossing the line of reefs
previously described. From these Ginger Reef has been selected as the most suitable for
crushing operations, and about 300 yards of it has been opened in some places to a
considerable depth, and a large quantity of quartz has been raised, which now awaits the
advent of machinery, of which there is no immediate prospect. A little gold has been
obtained from the debris on either side of the reef, and more has been procured by hand
crushing. The creek has also been found rich in the vicinity of the quartz lode, but soon
becoming less productive within half a mile, ceased to remunerate the digger.
On the north bank, Messrs. Blenerhasset and Co. have opened the main lode, and find
that as they descend the quartz becomes more auriferous, particles of gold being
occasionally visible to the naked eye, interspersed through the matrix, which is associated
with but little mundie or sulphuret of iron; the traces of sulphur are more abundant. The
investing rock is a talcose schist; the casing less ferruginous than usual; and the quartz is
solid, having but few cavities, and sharp angular fragments of schist are enveloped in it
through its entire thickness; in fact, this is a general appearance exhibited by the lodes in
the district. There are various opinions as to the richness of the vein. Some selected lots
of quartz are said to have produced at the rate of eight or nine ounces to the ton, but the
general average is from one to two ounces. Quartz is abundant, the vein being from
eighteen inches to thirty inches in thickness, and the softness of the investing schists
renders the raising a work of little labour.
Three-quarters of a mile to the N.W. Poor Man's Reef, one of the same series, and
similar in all respects to Ginger Reef, with the exception that the dip of the latter is
westerly, and of the former easterly, has been opened from the base to the summit of the
conical hill which it here intersects splitting on the opposite descent. On each side of the
hill a rich run of gold has been discovered and worked, from the flats up to the lode, a
few hundred tons of quartz have been excavated, and choice specimens and gold were
obtained from the debris of sufficient value to keep the miners in rations; and the few
experiments made have proved the quartz to be but little inferior to that of the Ginger. It
is probable that neither of the veins opened are main lodes, and that the true lode will be
discovered at some distance below the surface. Six tons of quartz from this reef were
crushed while I was at the Ironbarks, which yielded better than nine ounces, but, through
some imperfection in the machine, a considerable quantity of gold is said to have been
carried away.
Following the course of these reefs to the S. S. W. along the crest of the Mullions, you
pass another rich tributary of the Muckerawa, the Curryjung Creek, which like Ginger
Creek has been exhausted. On either side the richest diggings have been on the alluvial
slopes and flats at the base of the ridge, and about two miles from the opening on Ginger
Reef you find a gap through which Splitters' Gulley, intersecting the line of reefs
gradually descends to Stoney Creek. This nearly under the course of the lodes has proved
to be the richest diggings in the district, and has been worked frequently to the deep and
narrow flat, into which it opens on the bank of the main stream. Its length is about two
miles, and gold has been found in all the little ravines falling into it, most of which have
been worked out. Crossing this gully, and still following the reefs you find that many
veins have been opened, and that all are of the same auriferous character as the Ginger.
The last, recently opened by a person named Longfield, although but a leader of six
inches in width, promises to be the most valuable yet discovered in the neighbourhood,
the proprietor of the claim talks of 12 ounces to the ton, but I expect that 4 ounces will be
nearer the result. A little beyond Longfield's claim, you arrive at an opening in the
mountains overlooking Miller's Flat, in which several small streams descending from the
range, unite, and, forming the head of Stoney Creek, flow to the west ward, the crest of
the range, then taking an easterly bend sweeps round and connects itself with the
Carragarac Mountains, trending in the direction of the Macquarie.
You now descend upon Miller's Flat, and having the reefs still in view -- cross Stoney
Creek and re-ascend the continuation of the ridge on the opposite bank, reduced in
elevation and separated from the main ridge by Miller's Flat, and the diverging sources of
the creek, on the summit the quartz lodes are again exhibited and the continuance of their
auriferous character is evinced by Golden Gulley on the eastern fall, and Rotten Gulley
on the western, both of which reach the main channel, and have produced gold in large
quantities. Half a mile in advance you lose all traces of the digger ~ the ridge breaks into
conical hills sloping into flats on table land and the reefs still hold their way towards the
Canobolas.