THE THAMES GOLDFIELDS

NZ Truth, Issue 58, 28 July 1906, Page 7

THE THAMES GOLDFIELDS

Reminiscences of the Early . Days.

ROBBERIES AND JOBBERIES.

' The Thames goldfield should remain fa- ( mous for ever, because it produced the richj est gold mine ever found on earth, the mine which for the time paid bigger dividends than any other ever did before or since, and because it was the birthplace of more wildcat swindles, robberies, and numerous jobberies than any other place, excepting perhaps the great cities under the glorious banner of the Stars and Stripes. When the Caledonian in 1870 traced that wonderfully rich chute of gold to a depth; when the £5 shares rose within a week to £45— and the wiseacres warningly declared that now it was too late to buy; when within another week they rose to £100, £150, £200,, and finally £270; and the company declared regular weekly dividends, ranging between £5 and £25 on each share, an immense rush set in, and the town became crowded with men ready to invest their cash, sharpers on the lookout for openings, and big bearded miners from all parts. Among the investors were many who had never seen a goldfield before, while "experienced" miners up to all kinds of smart or shady tricks, commonly practised on the diggings, were even more plentiful. • » * . * 'All the hoary old dodges whjch for years had done good service in Victoria and N.S.W. were renovated on the Thames,; and answered admirably. . Owing to the excitement created by quite a number of .really good mines, which at the time gave excellent returns, it was easy, enough to dispose pi a property or float it into a company, provided the owners eoujd.siiow that it contained a sufficiency of the yellow metal, for everyone was thirsting for scrip. Women who had fat stockings carefully hidden for a rainy day now invested recklessly their last shilling. Ministers of the Gospel, who on the Sunday denounced gambling as an awful sin, were often detected on the Monday in one of the numerous sharebrokers' offices seeking advice where to lay out their money to best advantage. It was Scrip, Scrip, Scrip, and all wanted it. Hence old miners had a large and varied field to operate upon, and took full advantage of it. * * * Some friends of mine, and very "experienced" men they were, too,. were sinking onj a reef up in the mountains, which occasion- : illy showed a little gold, a#d had : placed it: under offer to a speculator for a month, the price being £10,000. /They were raising a trial crushing of 40 tons, and if that proved as anticipated, the deal would at onoe be completed. In due time the stone was carted to a battery, closely watched by the intending purchaser, and the crushing started. But somehow the show on the plates was not as good as expected, and when half the stuff had passed to stampers, the men insisted on stopping the battery and examining the boxes. The result was disappointing, for when all was clean'ed up it amounted only to a few pennyweights instead of ounces to tfae ton. "I towld you so, I towld yer, and ye won't listen," shouted big Pat to his mates. "A. coffee mill; a coffee mill, that's what it is, and yer would send tbe stuff here.*' Then> pointing- scornfully to the tailings, "That's where you'll find the goald. We crush no more in his mill." And the remaining 20 tons were removed to another battery where th* yield proved excellent, which led to the negotiations being completed with satisfaction to all concerned. * " •• •* .... s In a deep and rugged gully, some distance east of the principal workings, a party of six, belonging to various nationalities, had pegged out a claim which they called the Missouri. , They were driving on a big reef that crossed the gully at right angles, and its outcrop could be plainly traced along the surface of the mountain. The ground was hard, progress , slow, and for several months the prospects had shown nothing but a few colors. They were growing disheartened, and some talked of giving it up very soon. • • • On a certain Sunday one of the party, an old Yankee, took his gun as usual to go shooting, but instead of following the gully as he was in the habit of doing, he. crossed it, and mounted the spur opposite. When about half way up the hill he sat down behind a bush and took observations. Then he drew the charge of shot from his gun and replaced it with an ounce of scaly gold, tome of which he had brought from the west coast. Taking steady aim he fired, lodging the gold in the cap of the lodie which he had clearly identified. He repeated the operation, and fired another ounce hitting the outcrop fairly a little higher up. He then continued his excursion, und returned to camp late at night laden with game. Next day he went to work as usual, but when some of his mates again began to grumble, he proposed that before slinging it they should examine the cap of the reef and search for some indication that better stone would be struck further into the mountain. All agreed, and with pick and hammer overhauled the outcrop closely, but without better results until they reached the spot where the Yankee's shots had taken effect, and gold could plainly be seen embedded in the reef. Then there was jubilation. A survey was made, and they found they would have to drive at least another hundred feet before they could strike the golden chute. They now went to work energetically, and the Missouri was soon talked about as something uncommonly good. Speculators came round anxious to secure an interest, but nobody would sell. tin the course of time, however, the Yankee expressed a craving to see his people in the old land, and finally sacrificed his share at a i stiff figure. Just before the departure of the 'Frisco steamer from Auckland, he told his mates, who had come to see him off, how he worked the oracle, and urged them to follow his example. They all disposed of their interests quietly, and disappeared. The dodge practised in this case was as old 1 as the hills, and yet good enough to deceive old and experienced diggers. * * * The reef in the Caledonian mine was about 10ft wide, and in places cqntained 'literally as much gold as stone. The gold was, however, heavily alloyed with silver, and was worth only 25s per ounce, but as the quantity was there that did not matter. Old Billy Rcwe, the manager, was a pious man and one of the pillars of the Methodist Church on- the Thames. He was also a thorough patriarch, and would employ nobodv but his own countrymen. It was open] * stated, and stated as an undisputed fact that the whole of those 300 Cousin Jacks working in the mine, and all the men handling the stone outside, were making for tunes by filling their billycans with some of the richest specimens when leaving shift but no one interfered. For shareholders %vere drawing big dividends and were satisfied, while the directors were playing a deeper game in conjunction with the manager, of which I shall speak f urtner on. Every time the shift changed the bracehead was besieged with burly miners who had followed the diggings from the* early days of Bendigo and Ballarat, had braved the hardships of Otago and the west coast, and were now eagerly offering their services in this rich mine, but invariably had to leave disappointed which was hard for those old stagers. * * * In the rear of the solitary long street, which, stretching along the. beach, formed

the busiest part of the town, ran a footpath leading to fcho Caledonian and other workings^ which many miners used to take when proceeding to or from their work. Fronting this track an Irishman named D«nis Delaney had, with some second-hand timber and kerosene tins, constructed a humpy to shelter his- large and ever-growing family. Denis was a big, powerful man, known as a first-class workman, and had ofben vainly tried to get employment in the Caledonian. He was a good husband, loved his children, of whom a dozen were generally sprawling about the tenement, and he also loved whisky dearly, which resulted in the family., often going short of necessaries. One morning while the wife of his bosom waa still slumbering peacefully, he had occasion to get up, and slipping on his trousers, he stepped outside in his bare feet, where, looking up the track he descried three little men approaching from the direction of the Caledonian, each carrying a heavy billy can. He hurried inside, slipped on his iron-tipped bluchers, seized a blackthorn stick, which he had brought all the way from the owld I dart, and was outside again just as the three men were opposite his dwelling. "Sthop!" called out Denis, in a determined voice. "Sthop 1 an' put down them billies." The men hesitated. "Drop them billies at oncet, ye flaming robbers," he repeated as he raised the blackthorn threateningly, "or I have the police on yes." , That settled it. j They put down their billies and walked away unconcernedly. Some time after I was working w jj;h Denis in a deep shaft that was being sunk to catch the underlay of some of the principal reefs, when he told me that that haul realised nearly 150oz. It was all spent in a few weeks, and nearly killed him. 1! - ; ' . :. v .•• r . *. • ;•■■ •:'■■•■• * I was boarding at this time in an hotel, where quite ai/Viumber of the men working in the rich mine "were staying also, and in the course of time we became familiar, while some did not scruple to tell me all their most private business; Three or four used to club together, and when they had collected stone enough, to produce a few hundred ounces, they would have a crushing, and divide equally. The crushing and retorting always took place at a small one-stamp battery, on the far end of Grahamstown. It was a neat little concern, just suited for the purpose, ' and the property of a raacally little Dutchman, who usually exacted heavy blackmail from his customers. On one occasion a party of four had a crushing which yielded 7500z.. The Dutchman placed the [ heavy cake on a table, and the man asked [ what his charge would be. "My charge is one-half," replied tlie Dutchman. They stared at him, believing he was joking, but he;was quite in earnest. • Then they tried to barker, and then to bully, when he talked police, which settled the case. The cake was broken up and carefully weighed, the Dutchman taking one-half and the men the other. | '"."*..* * ■ I While the rich. chutes in the Caledonian I continued to yield big dividends, the directors had their own reasons not to interfere. By degrees, however, they , began to peter I out, returns dwindled, and shares came down with a run. One afternoon, just before the change of shift, four of the directors and a detective suddenly appeared on the bracehead, sent for the manager, and instructed him to call the men up. "No," said Mr. Rowe, "I cannot do that. There are certain rules in this mine which I shan't break for anyone. The relieving shift goes down before the other comes up. When you have done with me you can, make your own rules." The new shift then went down, and when the others came up they were searched, but nothing was found. Shortly after Billy Row© severed his connection with the company, and Steph. Richards, an Australian, tobk charge, when the whole regime was altered. The best of the gold was, however, gone, but for months parcels of rich speci- , mens were discovered m different parts of I the workings,' which evidently were placed in reserve ready to be taken away. (To be