NOTES ON DREDGING ON THE CLUTHA RIVER.

Clutha Leader, Volume XVI, Issue 832, 27 June 1890, Page 6

NOTES ON DREDGING ON THE CLUTHA RIVER.

{By P. 0. Grant.)

(Continued.) I wag recently at Tuapeka West and was glad to see tliat Messrs Cowan and Co., from the Beaumont had brought down theiv dredge to the beaches in tho Blue Mountain Gorge, where we were ao unfortunate with our spoon dredge. They wore doing well, and I have no doubt they will have ground there that will last a life-time, and pay well too. They richly deserve this, as they have been for years porsovering against adverse circumstances, up and down the river from Beaumont to the island at tho head of the Blue Mou,ntain Gorge, without milch, success. I believe they would have been working theso beaches lons* ago only that there are two nasty rapids in succession about a mile below the island, and it was , no small undertaking to lower a heavy dredge, 60ft long, over them. It is to bo hoped they will find plenty of ground to employ their.' there, without having to return to their old claims again. Where dredges are at work up at Roxborough and Miller's Flat, all tho claims have been dredged over and over again and are still doing well. Then hovr much hotter ought dredges to do below the Tuapeka and Waitahuna Crocks, and also the Pomahaka River, where the deposits of gold have been accumulating for ages and never boon touched by the hand of man. It is a well-known fact that tho j best of the gold is always loft on the bottom by the bucket dredges. As the wash is carried up in the buckets, the heaviest and best of the gold naturally sinks to tho bottom and finds its way into tho crevisea whero it is impossible for the bucket to reach it, but should the Well man, or a dredge of tho suction principle, become workable in the Clutha, the gold in tho crevises would bo drawn up with th<s rest, and far richer deposits come to light than ever have been dreamt of. lam only an amateur in mining matters, and a poor one at that, but from the little experience I have got, and from the very small quantity of gold that is said to bo payable by the latest and most approved appliances, I have no hesitation in saying that there is not a mile of the river between its mouth .and the Tuapeka Creek but will become a profitable speculation for dredging at no distant date. So much for tho Olutha. I will now pass a fow remarks as to tho Pomahaka. I have had considerable experience on tho Pomahaka, and have been mates with old diggers who have boon working on the Pomahaka oIF and on for over 20 years, and from what I know of that river I boliovo there are parts of it where ono mile of its channel contains more gold than 10 miles of tho Clutha. But whether it ever will become practicable for dredging purposes is questionable, as tho wash h generally pretty shallow, varying from lft to 3ft — that is, where the richest deposits of gold aro. It is also intersected with very largo boulders varying from lewt to 8 tons weight, so that any dredgo that would likely become serviceable on tho Pomahaka, so far os I am aware, would bo a small spoon dredgo. Tho advantage in working such a dredge on the Pomahaka, as compared with that of the Clntha, is that tho former is shallow and fordable, and such boulders could be blasted or otherwise removed, while the depth and strong current of tho latter would prevent such a proceeding. Prom the Pomahaka bridge on Clydevale station up to Mr Rodger's station there h gold all along its banks and channel, payable for cradling purposes in all its primitive simplicity, and I and mate have for weeks at a time during the summer season, when the river was low, brought up and cradled from sdwts to Bdwts per day, shovelling our wash out of 2ft and 3ft of water. The Pomahaka gold is also a better sample than that of the Clutha. There is. what is known as the Pomahaka Flat, tho property of the N.Z. Land Company. This flat is only an old bed of the river, and consequently is all auriferous/ and at a place whore the river emerges out 'of the gorge below Rodger's station tho old bed of the river can be plainly traced with the eye. If a syndicate were formed to purchase this land, cut out tho old channel of the river afresh, and turn the river from its present course, the original capital required for such a scheme would j soon be repaid. Tho gold found in cutting tho old channel would' more than pay for tho undertaking, and a veritable gold mine would bo found in 'tho - present' one. * • ' We have not to go far for an example to encourage such an undertaking and one which is a credit to the Colony— namely, tho Island Block, which not only employes a large number of working men, but although it is only a little over 12 months since the work first commenced, it ia already giving good indications of returning a handsome dividend to the shareholders. (To be continuod.)