HOW WE FIRST FOUND GOLD ON THE THAMES.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1801, 30 April 1874, Page 3

HOW WE FIRST FOUND GOLD ON THE THAMES.

There were eight in our party, and after having a good look round the Shortland portion of the goldfield, we determined upon selecting Tapu creek as the locality for our operations, five of our number pegging out a reefing claim on No. 2 creek, whilst three of us took up an alluvial claim in gully No, 3. Nothing came of the reefing claim, but we soon found payable wash dirt in the creek, and at the end of the first day's sluicing we found the returns showed at the rate of £3 a-day. This was encouraging, and we worked with a will, the gold beginning rapidly to accumulate. One evening, about a week after we had commenced operations, a miner came up from the adjoining claim to borrow a long haudled shovel. Tnis, of course, we lent him, and, after a short chat as to how his party were getting on, he returned to his work, shovel in hand. A dog which belonged to one of our party, followed him, probably to see what could be picked up in the shape of eatables at the neighbouring _ camp, returning, shortly afterwards, with a parcel in her mouth, which bore a strong resemblance to a man's dinner, wrapped up in a red handkerchief. One of our party, noticing the result of the dog's errand, remarked, " Pan has sprung a plant," and we all laughed at the dog's smartness. Noticing, however, that the parcel, whioh the dog had commenced to uutie, appeared to bo remarkably heavy for bread aud meat, the first speaker left the sluice-box where lie was working to see what the dog really had found, and the next moment hi 3 exolamation, " Boys, look here!" also callod us to the spot. Wo found him with a sardine box full of bright, clear, nuggety gold, whioh had evidently been discovered by the dog in its hiding place, the smell of the box having led her to believe that she had come upoa something of an edible nature. Of course we returned tho precious parcel to the owners, after having chuffed thorn on the subject of "some people having more gold than they could take care of," &c, &c, and we then returnod to work. Dinner having been duly discussed, we vere quietly inhaling the fumas of the fragrant weed, when one of our party suddenly oxolaimed, "Boys, we must leave this, and find, qui; wlwra that gold

cnme from." We did not see the force of abandoning a claim which was yielding at the rate of £18 a-week, but the first speaker, who knew.thoroughly what ho was about, pointed out to us that, from the shape and general appearance of the gold in the sardine tin, he was convinced that it had been carried down into the creok from a reef at no great distance from where we wem sitti&g. and that we should have no difficulty in finding the spot. We yielded to his arguments, and started at once to prospect the neighbouring spurs, and the same evening, just as 1 the T white mists were creeping along the gullie3, whilst the wreaths of smoke which commenced to curl up from the camp fires, dotted here and there through the hills, and the "coo-e-e" echoing at intervals from the distant claims, reminded us that it was time to abandon our efforts until the following day, we came upon the object of our quest. A rich "mullocky loader" cropping out on the orown of a spur, about 300 yards from the creok, presented itself to our delightful eyes, and we. felt that we had indeed struck the right thing at last. A claim whs pegged out for the entire party, which gave the whole of us a very good rise, for. after obtaining a dividend of about £120 per man, we disposed of our shares at prices ranging from £500 to £800 each, all due honour being paid to " Fan," who had been, the means of our making the fortunate discovery.— Poverty Bay HemM