Page image
Page image

C—3

146

Moonlight. Moonlight No, 1 Sluicing Claim, Moonlight, Queenstown. —Sanders and another have taken this claim on tribute, and are taking a deep cut into the back of the terrace with the object of proving its value. The ground is deep for the water-supply available. Three men are employed. Moonlight No. 2 Sluicing Claim, Moonlight, Queenstown. —This claim was shut down when visited. After considerable expenditure in bringing in water and getting plant on to the claim, the results from the first paddock were discouraging. The claim was then run for a short time by the mortgagee, but with unsatisfactory results. It was then finally closed down and the plant offered for sale. Shotover. Stevenson and Aspinall's Sluicing Claim, Skipper's Point. —The water-right of this party is not a very permanent one. Water is brought in from Brown's Creek and stored in two dams, which hold only three hours' supply. The back face of this claim is 200 ft. high, but there is now a fair amount of comparatively shallow stripped ground to sluice away. An open tail-race discharges into Skipper's Creek, while the other fall is towards the Shotover River through a tail-race tunnel. This tunnel has a fall of lin 10 for part of its length and lin 9 for the lower part. When a large block occurs in the tunnel tail-race it is cleared by running a service-pipe line up from the lower end of the tunnel; the water is turned on after the men have left the tunnel, and the block is sluiced away without risk to life. The bottom layers of wash in this claim carry very large and heavy stones. Two men working in the claim. Skipper's Sluicing Company, Londonderry Terrace, Skipper's Point (J. Corbett, manager).— This claim is situated on Burkes Terrace. The face is very high, but has been sloped back for a depth of 70 ft. from the top. Owing to the irregularity and extreme hardness of the rock bottom the manager has put in a " shooting gallery," lifting about 8 ft. perpendicular, in order to clean up the present piece of bottom. About eight heads of water are brought on to the claim under a pressure of 100 ft. ; there is about 10 ft. of gold-bearing wash in the face. The wash contains a large quantity of black sand. The tail-race tunnel is working satisfactorily now; as the work is being carried on some distance away, the amount of material discharged through the tunnel can be regulated. A box having a middle hinged door for signalling purposes is placed in the tunnel where a block is most likely to take place —that is, where the fall is lin 12. A rise of 6 in. of the material in the box swings the door, which is connected with a wire, and raises a flag in the claim. By turning away the nozzle the flow of material is lessened and the obstruction is cleared by the force of water alone. Bobert Johnston, Pleasant Greek Terrace, Skipper's. —This claim comprises the terrace ground between Stony Creek and Pleasant Creek, the water being brought in from the latter creek; water is dropped over the face to sluice off the top layers, and the bottom layers are blown down with hose and discharged into Stony Creek at its junction with the Shotover River. The water was off at the date of inspection, and there was no one in the claim, which is not being worked in a vigorous manner. Davis's Sluicing Claim, Skipper's. —This claim is situated on Stony Creek Terrace, Skipper's. A race six miles long brings in twelve heads of water from the right- and left-hand branches of Stony Creek. The face is about 300 ft. perpendicular, and carries gold in several layers. The top material is broken down for some distance by water running over the face, then a nozzle is played upon the face about midway. When the face is well sloped back a paddock plant is put in position, and work can then be carried on without any risk from large falls from the face." The total length of open tail-races in present use is 1,800 ft., and the whole distance is paved with about 40 tons of steel rails. These rails are laid lengthwise, and, as the tail-races have a fall of 8 ft. in 100 ft., no trouble is experienced in getting rid of the tailings. The gold varies in quality from very coarse to fine, the saving of the latter being hindered greatly by large quantities of black sand. There are over 2,000 ft. of pipe-lines on the claim. Upper Shotover. Davis Bros.' Claim, Skipper's Point. — Four men are employed cutting in a race three miles long to work the ground on Bill Guy's Terrace. Owing to the rough nature of the country this work has already occupied a year and a half. (Information obtained from Mr. Davis, Shotover Quartz Reef, Skipper's.) Muddy Creek Terrace Sluicing Company (Limited), Skipper's Point (J. Collins, manager). Water is being brought in about a mile and a half from Stockyard Creek to work deep terrace ground above the sandhills. Good progress is being made with the construction of the race, and a start should be made sluicing this season. Divan, Gummings, and Costello. —Sluicing terrace ground high up the Shotover River. Peat and Helm's Sluicing Claim, Skipper's. —The owners are working with Smith's hydraulicsuction system. Half a head of water is brought in from the Sandhills Creek and stored in. the dam. The plant consists of 4,000 ft. of 8 in. piping. 21 ft. of suction-pipe is used with aIJ in. jet. About two heads of water are brought on to the claim under about 200 ft. of pressure. Bogers and Johnston, Skipper's. —This party are using water brought in from Ballarat Creek to work the shallow river-bed by the hydraulic-suction system. The plant consists of 11 in. and 8 in. pipes. The top stuff was being sluiced off before putting on the plant. Lynch and Hamilton. —This party have acquired Messrs. Lister Bros.' plant at Sawpit Gully, near Arrowtown, and are shifting it on to their claim near the Sandhills. This forms part of the claim formerly worked by the Riley Electric Gold-dredging Company. William Palmer, Shotover. —Ground-sluicing. One man.

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert