Missing Mine Search

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31586, 25 January 1968, Page 20

Missing Mine Search

(N.Z. Press Association) DUNEDIN, Jan. 24. Four young men plan to spend a threeweek holiday searching for a lost ruby mine near Lake Wilmot in the Fjordland National Park. The four, led by Mr Murray Gunn, of Hollyford Valley, will leave the valley—-

which is on the northern border of the park, in two weeks time—and travel by helicopter or light plane to the head of the Barrier Gorge, an offshoot of the Pyke Valley, to search for the mine. With Mr Gunn will be Mr Andrew Jackson, an experienced high country man; Mr Owen Wilkes, a Christchurch geologist; and Mr Brian Jackson, of Dunedin. They will search for the mine sunk by three men in

1872, two of whom ire said to have murdered their companion for his share of the gems they unearthed. The two men sold their gems, believed to have been high quality garnets, in London, but no trace of the mine has been found since 1930, when it was located, and then lost again, by a prospector. The only clues the four men have are a tree with the date 1872 carved in the bark, which is said to be near the mine, and the experience of an unsuccessful expedition in 1908. While searching for the mine, the party will also search for other valuable minerals; and their equipment will include a geiger counter.