DAMMING SHOTOVER

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 105, 31 October 1923, Page 17

DAMMING SHOTOVER

PART OF "KAWARAU" SCHEME KEY OF GOLDEN TREASURE HOUSE EARLY HISTORY OF FAMOUS FIELD. If we were asked for the ground of the faith that is one regarding the future of mining in the Shotover should the proposal of the Kawarau Mining Company to dam the mighty rushing torrent be carried out, then it would only be necessauy to tike our questioner on an excursion, in retrospect, down the long vista of years to the time of the early gold discoveries to find answer (writes the Queenstown correspondent of the "Otago Daily Times"). The history of that colourful period is rich in the proof it holds of the astonishing returns which rewarded the enterprise, the grit, and the hardihood o£ the intrepid goldseeker of the "sixties. The largest rush that ever occurred in Otago was that which found its origin in the discovery of gold in the Shotover. What was designated the "Wakatipu Goldfield" comprised three districts—namely, Queenstown, Arrow, and Upper Shotover. The latter again included Maori Point and Skippers. It had a resident Warden and Clerk which was a cause of great satisfaction to the miners, who were previously compelled to traverse the rugged mountains to Queenstown in order to obtain settlement of their disputes. The population at that time ran into some thousands, so it is easy to conceive of the necessity for making provision of this kind. "A TIN DISH FULL OF GOLD." According to the records of Vincent Pyke (Goldfields Secretary, and later Warden at Wakatipu.), the first prospector of this locality was a man named Thomas Arthur, who, with three mates, obtained 200oz •of gold in eight days by washing the sands of the river beach at what is known as Arthur's Point. He showed Mr. Pyke a tin dish full of gold which he had lying under his stretcher in a tent in the November of 1862. Mr. Rees, of early Wakatipu fame, stated that Arthur (who was one of-, his shearers) found gold on the Shotaver one Sunday afternoon, washing out 4oz with his tin dish in three hours. So rich was Arthur's Point that Arthur and his mates secured £4000 worth of gold before they had been at work two months.' No secret was made of the discovery, and the 'rush" set in immediately. Ow. ing to the remoteness and inaccessibility of the district provisions were extremely scarce and dear. Fortunately for everyone, the Nokomai rush proved a failure, so the drays carrying provisions to that field pushed on up to Kingston, and supplies were then brought across the lake. Mr. Rees had to pay £100 per ton for 'flour for the diggers, and he often had 200 to 400 men waiting for his whaleboat to come up from the foot of the lake to provide them with a few pounds each. It appears that before the arrival of the police Mr. Rees was the general custodian of the gold—as much as 5000oz being'often left in his charge, without weighing and without receipt! It was in this famous whale--boat that the first escort of 25,0000z of gold went down to Kingston, and for some time after the gold produced was conveyed in the same way." . FOUND BY A DOG. The passage up the Shotover beyond Arthur's Point was found impracticable owing to the lofty and precipitous nature of the country which walled it in on both sides. But, undaunted by these difficulties, the diggers traversed' the ranges that hemmed in the golden torrent, descending to the beaches whenever a break occurred in its rocky margin. Many rich claims rewarded the enterprise of these hardy adventurers. One of the most remarkable of these, wrote the late Mr. Pyke, was that at Maori Point. The discoverers were two North Island Natives, Dan Ellison, a half-caste, and Hakaria Haeroa, a fullblooded Maori. The latter narrated the story of their find to Mr. Pyke, and it makes interesting reading. He stated that with two other miners they were travelling along the eastern Bank of the river, and they found some Europeans working with great success in a secluded gorge. On the opposite shore was a wide beach of unusually promising appearance, occupying a bend of the stream, over which the rocky cliffs rose perpendicularly to the height of'more than 500 ft. Tempting as this spot was to the practised eyes of the miners, none of them would venture to breast the impetuous torrent. The Maoris, however, plunged into the river and succeeded in reaching the. western bank; but a favourite dog that had followed them was carried down by the current, and drifted to a rocky point, where it remained. Ellison went to its assistance., and, observing some particles' of gold in the crevices of the rocks, he examined the sandy beach beneath, from which, with the aid of Hakaria, he gathered 251b weight— 300oz—of the precious metal before. nightfall. Many other beaches and gullies were subsequently opened up. The chief of these was Skippers, which yielded enormous quantities of gold from the gully, of that name—from the once celebrated "Terraces"—and from the beaches of the river. FUTURE OF THE SHOTOVER, - The following extract is made from the official report of the Goldfields Secretary in 1863, so the information is not wild -exaggeration, but hard accredited fact; "One party of miners working in the river at Maori Point valued a disputed portion of the ground, only sft in width by 12ft in length, at £3000, and subsequent results have proved that the estimate was not exaggerated. - Another party was averaging 21b weight per day from beach workings, and in a third instance one man, with.the assistance of a hired labourer, was obtaining 4oz per day from the river bed by the crudest appliances. At Carmichael's, above Skippers, 61b and Boz were obtained from a single dish of wash-dirt; and a solitary miner, working with a, cradle in ai rotten state, informed me that he could get from six pennyweights to half an ounce, and occasionally an. cmnce per day by that process." Many other facts relating to the r«turns from' the Shotover could be given, as well as much interesting matter bearing on methods of mining, the daily life of the miners, and the social side of "their existence. For the present, however, ■what has been written will suffice to show that those who have a strong faith in the future of the Shotover have g<xid cause for their optimism. What applies to the damming of this mountain stream applies in like manner to the kawarau. Gold there is in undreamed of quantities in the beds of both rivers, but there is one way only oi recovering it from ths rocky crevices, and that is by holding up the waters of each. From the beginning oi the history of river workings it lias been recognised that the only effective •way of forcing the streams to give up

their golden store is to divert them from their natural courses. That has been tried over and over again, but without success. As much as £11,000 was spentin this direction on the Shotover in the early days of mining, and it was just like putting £11,000 more gold into the torrent. The proposed dams are the only solution of the When the day arrives that will see such a scheme carried into effect, then—and not till then —shall we have the history of the fabulous finds of the early 'sixties repeating itself. All good people who' have the welfare of the province at heart will welcome that day of days.