LIFE AT BROKEN HILL.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 142, 16 June 1888, Page 5

LIFE AT BROKEN HILL.

AN AUCKLANDER'S EXPERI-

ENCES.

THE EL DORADO OVERDONE.

Mr S. Dewar, son of Mr A. Dewar, manager of a mine ab Broken Hill, and formerly a resident of Auckland, has sent a friend here a very readable account of his experiences at the silver mines. The letter has been placed at our disposal and we make the following extracts :—

Broken Hill is a composition of canvas, corrugated iron, and brick. There is one well-laid-oub street, which at times presents a very lively appearance. Business is very brisk, and everything seems to be progressing. Tho large mine is a grand, affair. They are working on a big lode, and keep two smelters continually going. At night the molten ore presents a grand sight as it is being poured out on the slag heaps. As soon as one dies out, another truck is emptied, and so on from day to day, Sundays included. Long teams of bullocks may be seen continually coming in'with firewood and timber, sometimes as many as thirty in a team. The weather is very, very pleasant this time of the year, and greatly resembles your summer in Auckland. The days are warm, and the evenings cold. Water is very scarce just now, as it is a month since there has been any rain. Water for drinking- purposes has to be cat ted from Stephens' Creek, a distance of eight miles, and is sold at 12s per tank of 200 gallons. Water for mine use is conserved in large dams, and these also are getting very low. I have not drunk any water since arriving, but think it safer to take a long beer when one feels thirsty. Things at present are very lo\v / on account of the fall in shares. There arc numbers of people who have come up here on "spec." and cannot get work, and so the place has been overdone. Tlie mines arc all getting good ore, although tho share.-1 aro low, but if they rise again things will at once look better. I would not advise you to come here at present, as there are too many here already for tho size of the place. Since writing the foregoing I have been out with a prospecting party to a new goldu'elcl about 150 miles from here. We drove all tho way in a buggy. There were three of us. Two men named Logan, who are at present staying with us, were the first to receive word of it from a bullockdriver. They are old miners from the Thames. They left ab daylight Sunday morning, and asked me if I would care to join them. Of course, I was on, and father being agreeable, I took the third seat. We arrived there Tuesday afternoon, after a splendid drive through level country. and -weather which could not be surpassed. Wo had plenty of shooting on the road among kangaroos, emus, rabbits and wild turkeys. The evenings were moonlight, which enabled us to drive on until nine o'clock. On arrival at tho field, we first traced tho lode, and then pegged out three forty acre blocks ; and after taking a number of specimens, which contained a good amount of gold, we left a station hand in charge and started for home. The drive back was pretty much the same, but our horses were beginning to cave in, so we had to camp a night and a day on tho banks of a small creek to give them a rest and a feed on the luxurious salt bush. During the spell we went out for a shot, and had some grand sport among the kangaroo. At last we made another start, and arrived in Broken Hill on Sunday morning, having enjoyed the trip throughout, and felt as if I were in my old groove, camping out in New Zealand, but we were minus the yacht and the water.