GOLD DREDGING ON THE WEST COAST.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10638, 24 April 1900, Page 2

GOLD DREDGING ON THE WEST COAST.

in.—A DREDGE WORKING.

VISIT TO THE TOTARA DREDGE

(BT OUR SFSCIAI4 KSPOBXK&.] HOKOTKA, April 19. After driving through miles of bnah — wbiohntfj this season of the Tear on the West Goaet is at its loveliest—with here and there small clearings and picturesque, bat from outward appearances very draughty, diggers' hut*', to come a modern dredge working in a most matter>of-fac£, unpoetieal, end business-like way, is to put it with mildness somewhat incongruous. The surroundings of the Totara dredge at present working on the Totara river, about four miles from Ross, ire sylvan in the extreme, and seem mere fitted for the habitation of those nymphs mentioned by a classical and imaginative warden in Otago recently when delivering judgment on a knotty point of mining law respecting the question of what was "effective occupation." The idea of these mythical beings disporting themselves in "tlie muddy waters of the Molyneux' , hardly satisfies one's ideas of beauty ; but the solitude of the Totara and the grandeur of the bush fit in much better.

The Totara is. however, in "effective occupation" by the dredge, and there were no signs of nymphs about when the representative of "The Press" visited it last Saturday. The eighteen miles drive from Hokitika, even though there are multitudinous beauties on each hand to enrapture the "mosttravered," is apt to become wearisome when interlarded with several sharp showers, for which the Coast is famous. It was with a certain amount of relief after about a quar-ter-of-an-hour's drive along a side road that the dredge came in sight. She was not working, as a slight accident to the bow line had necessitated a temporary cessation of operations.

The company, consisting of five gentlemen from Christeaurch, was niet by Mr S. Gibbons, one of the shareholders in the .dredge, and under his guidance were shown over it. To the person who sees a modern gold dredge for the first time it presents a somewhat peculiar appearance. All the machinery is built over and all that meets the eye is the corrugated iron walls and roof which, enclose it, the elevator ladder at the stem, the chimney of the boiler, and the "pulpit heads," where the contents of the buckets are "tumbled", into the screen. The dredge is 75ft in length and her beam is 30ft to 27ft at the bow. While the bow line was being attended to we were shown the machinery. The engine was made by Messrs Marshall and Sons of Gainsborough, England, and the nominal horse power is twelve, but at a pinch, twenty-five. The boiler was made by Crabtree, of Wellington, ami Messrs John Anderson and Sons, of Christohureb, supplied the winches and ladders. The buckets, which have a capacity of four and a, half cubic feet, and other parts of the machinery, were constructed by Stevenson and Co., Duned'in. The driving wheels are about 3ft in» diameter, and the belting, in order to etand the heavy strain is very wide and proportionately strong. There & in addition a dynamo to provide tlie electric light with which the dredge is to be fitted up, Mr Horton, a,n electrician from Keefton, having arrived on the day of our visit to superintend the installation Going to the stem of the dredge the screen and the gold saving tables were next explained. The screen is a large cylinder perforated with small .holes through which the fine dirt with the gold is washed through on to the gold saving tables. This is performed by means of water continuously playing on it from a pipe running the whole length of the .screen, the continuous supply bemg secured by pumping. The water brought up by the buckets, of coud*, also helps in the process. Tie screen Iβ sft in diameter and 22ft in length. There are five tables, which are inclined towards the edge of the dredge, earih bekng three feet wide, and their total length 18ft. The dirt and gold from the screen fall on these tables, which are covered first with calico and then with coctoanut matting, and on> the top metal "ripples" which may be roughly likened to those metal mats met with now an-d then. The wa-ter washes the dirt over these, the heavy gold falling between the mlerstioes ; some of the gold may be carried cm, but it fc~caugh:fc in the tailings boxes, which have ripples similar to those in sluice boxes. Meanwhile the cylinder* has been continuously revolving, and the big stones and rougher wash fall and are washed on ! to the buckets of the elevator ladder which conveys them up 40ft and drops them behind on the -worked ground, where in time they make a large heap. All this hati been seen and explained in i much shorter time than it takes to write down, and the bow- ' line having been put right tlie j dredge recommenced working. Standing by the "pulpit heads' one got a pretty good idea of the simultaneous and various functions performed. To further specify the "pulpit heads" it should be explained that it is the name given to the upright beams to be seen standing about the middle of the dredge. From them the string of buckets descend in one continuous round, scrape up the wash and bring it np to the "tumblers,! , or the front where the string of buckets turn on. The tumblers are of necessity of great strength. On reachine them the contents of the buckets are tipped into one end of the screen, and as it is on an angle and \ revolving, the dirt and stones fall down- i wards, the water from the pipe already mentioned, washing the finer dirt and gold on to the tables. So loud is the clatter made by tihe stones falling into the screen that one has to shout in order to be heard by tb'o person he is addressing. In order that as little gold as possible should be lost there is a contrivance called a "save-all," a large

piece of curved &nd ribbed metal oo which «ay dirt which fails to fall into the screen is-caught and falls into a short tailings race, wlteraany gold is saved. In this connection it «houkl be stated that the only indication, if it can be so called, was given the representatiw of 'The Press , of tbe returns obtained by tba dredge. It is customary to ■ "wash up"—thai is ascertain the-amount of goid on tie tables and ia tftte rsoes—once a. week, and the Information -was vouchsafed by Mr Gibbons that tie proviooe week one pennyweight of gokl had been, tafcen out of the race that caught the *rtrrff from the "'save all." A mathematician mig3it be able, if he were given an idea of tie amount of staff put through the dredge, to calculate, approximately at least, her returns. "Wβ are only too happy to show visitors over the dredge, and explain her workings," was Mr-Gibbcns's remark to the representative of "The Press;" "the only tbiug we do not divulge is the amount of goJd obtained. We neither want to encourage or discourage the industry."

Tocompfeie tihie rather disjointed description of the working of a dredge, it should be mentioned that the time ta&an for the string of bucketa to make a complete revolution is four or five minutes, and in that time about 150 cubic feet of dirt has been raised, provided the bucketa come up full, but this is, of course, not always the ease. All the time the dredge h working she is being slowly pulled forward by the winch round which the bow line is wound. At different periods, as she works deeper, the ladder of the buckets ia alowly lowered, and as occasion requires hoisted up. The wonderful thing about it all is the smoothness, comparatively speaking, with which all these operations are simultaneously , performed. Monding by the pulpit head's a bump is now and then felt as the bucke-ts encounter a stone, the dredge rolls and one almost j ima-gines he is on sliip board. But when I the wash is free from large stones there is hardly any perceptible motion. A few-remarks' respecting the history of the ' Totaru dredge and the company of gentlemen who have brought- the venture to its present .stage will not be inappropriate. The dredge commenced operations in earnest on March 13th, when Mr Anderson, representing Messrs Cutten Bros., tlie designers of the dredge, started her. Though she had been working for four weeks at the time of our visit it was estimated that only about j one week's real work hud been done, much time being lost in removing the large stones from the buckets and the dredge was stopped for ten days for alterations and improvements to the machinery. To begin at the the beginning, however" the first steps were taken by the promoters as far back as January, 1898. when five prospecting shafts were put down by the seven gentlemen who comprise the company, which is, of course, a private one. This meant that from £400 to £600 had been spent before the venture took definite chape. A month or so afterwards the machinery was ordered and the pontoons put in hand. It has practically taken all the intervening time to get the dredge put together. Aβ to the measure of success which has attended the working of the dredge, none but the mystical seven w-ho are chiefly in-.. terested really know, and it is not then , intention evidently to enlighten a curious public. All that could be got from Mr Gibbons was that tihe shareholders were highly aatiafied with the results, and judging ! by the cheerful look on liie face and on tie faoe of 'his fellow shareholder who is on the ground—Mr James Mayo—there is no reason for doubting the absolute truth of his statement. JV&en it is stated that the weekly expense of running the dredge is £35, it is lard to conceive <J£ anyone, even were io dowered with the glorious optimism of a Mark Tapley,. to look pleasant if no return was coming in for such, expenditure. Every week about thirteen cords of firewood, at 7s per cord', is consumed by the dredge. As to the nature of the ground , dredged, it appears to be a fair sample of what will liave to be contended with by the West Coast dredges. On the deck of the Totara dredge were to~be seen very large stones, the weight of w3*ich, roughly guessed at, 'Was between six or seven hundredweight. These had been brought up by the buckets, and had not damaged them. In order to deal with iarger stones it ihas been suggested that there should be a moyeabie crane, which would haul \hem out. The present system is calculated to considerably damage the deck. Since the'dredge started three of 'her buckets have had their ftps torn off by the buried timber, but this difficulty, it is stated, has been successfully coped with in Australia by means of grabs specially constructed. These are fastened on toy the timber, and are pulled out by steam power. In working the Totara, River claim the ground- 'has been found very rough from six to ten feet down, after which depth has been reached fire stones met with are comparatively small. The bottom ranges from 20ft to 25ft.

Mr "William Robertson, who has had previous dredging experience on the Matakitaki, Cocksparrow, and Buller dredges, is the dredge master. There are six dredge hands, and the work is divided into three shifts "iff eight hours each, two men to each shift, 'Midi no two men have the same shift on consecutive days. The total capital of the companiy is £6000, divided amongst seven shareholders, and practically it has all been expended in. the dredge and machinery. One shareholder possesses two shares in the venture. The shareholders reside at Palmerston North and Marton, all the business in connection with the inception of the company was done in the latter town.

The dredge has become a favourite resort not only for visitors to the district but also to the residents of Ross and: vicinity. Since she started work it is estimated; that over one hundred: visitors from other parts of the colony have inspected her, whilst on Sundays twenty or thirty visitors from Ross walk out t& see her. ( The visitor who wishes to see the dredge working will do well not to fix on Sunday as the duy to see her as she does not work on that day. One comes away from a visit to the Totara dredge considerably encouraged as to the future of gold dredging on the West Coast. It is, perhaps, too soon to form a definite opinion on the snbject—a hundred and one contingencies undreamt of at present may be encountered, but speakiog generally and with the reservations above mentioned and provided the average dredging claim is not much rougher than, that of iihe Totara, there appears every reason: to believe that the problem of the successful gold dredging of the Coast rivers has been at last solved.