ROUND THE WAIKAIA DREDGES.

Evening Star, Issue 12166, 9 April 1904, Page 7

ROUND THE WAIKAIA DREDGES.

—. »i [Bt Ovb Mixing R-epobteb.] When the dredging boom was in full •wing and claims were being pegged out in all dhectjons and in all sorts of places, mutable; and otherwise, Waikaia seems to have been overlooked. Why, it ig hard to explain, but the omission is being rectified and it can truly be said that as far as golddredging goes Waikaia is booming now. lbere are eight dredges at work in the district, one is in course of erection, one (after working for a few weeks) sank and efforts are being made to raise her, while within a week or two the construction of yet another dredge will be begun. There was also until a ; .. • or two ago the prospect ot the old Fourteen-mile Beach dredge bein<* put to work in the district, but, as she came to grief on her journey down the £y? eux .' she <*"* bo counted out. This birth of new ventures at a time *hen so many people have a tendency to destry5 try the dredging industry as moribund is a leasing and healthy sign. It may be that redging is past its prime—that question is open to contradiction—but, granted that it w, and that Waikaia is a child of its old age, then from impressions cleaned bv a ■Visit to the field one is forced to the conclusion that the infant is a lusty one, developing rapidly on sound lines. Waikaia is, roughly speaking, thirty miles north of Gore, and midway betw. en'Lumsden on the west and Heri'ot and Roxburgh Oft the east. The Garvey Mountains are away at the back of it, and the Waikaia. iwver, wending an irresponsible and con-stantly-changing course through the flits ■which form its vallc-y, joins the Mataura near Riversdale. It 'is at Riversdale that one leaves the Gore-Kingston Railway for Waikaia, which is reached by a coach service. A railway up the Waikaia Valley was projected long ago, and partly constructed; but it was not pushed far." and the rails were taken tip again. Now there are signs that the line may be resuscitated. A "ridge of a dozen or more spans is rapidly nearing completion. It is designed to camboth road and rail traffic over the river (the Mataura). Needless to say, the advent of the railway would be a great help to the dredging industry, but the completion «f the line is too indefinite at present to be taken into account when reckoning the cost of transit of material and.coal. —The. Dredging Field.— After travelling perhaps eight' or nine miles out of the fifteen which seuarate Riversdale from the township of Waikaia j the road drops down from the terrace, and the valley of the Waikaia proper is entered. In shape one may compare it about thes-j parts to an hour glass, the Winding Cre k comine in from the east at about the neck, and Waikaia township being situated just below it. Practically only tho lower half of the hour class need be "consider d from a dredging point of view. This may be, perhaps, five or sis miles long, and varying up to a mile or a mile and a-half in w'idth from terrace to terrac>\ The river winds all over this flat, while the road, keeping nearer to the western terrace, is all the tim? to the west of the river, until, just where the bottle n°ck narrows in, a bridge over the Wafkaia is crossed to reach the township. Going up this road, and while vet some four miles or so from Waikaia, "the first dredge—the Lady Annie—is s-en working in a paddock a few chains to the left- of the road. Some chains further tip, and still on the western side, is the Kia-Ora, working right under the d : ffs\ It is about here that the Muddy runs j into the Waikaia, and up the stream are three more dredges, not visible from the main road. A littb further along, at a bend of the river where it comes out of the middle of the flat fa ; rly close to the roa-fl, the framing of the Waikaia dredce is s:'en. Our party dismounted from their b;ci ties here, and walked across to tee what progress- was he'nj made. There was a little nest of tents on the bank colonised by the workmen. The first ficure on (he dredce to catch the eye was the contractor, \ Mr Knewstubb, who was perched aloft (n the tumbler framing making ready for putting the top tumbler in place. The dr-'dse. lying moored in the rivr, had then verv little machinery on board, but the exceedingly likely-lookinrr sang of under Afr Knewstubb are rapidly chancing all that, and in a fortnight's time the drodce will ! probnbly be ready for work. Further up j and more towards the eastern terrace are ' seen the Duke of Gordon and Mystery Flat, one on either sides of the river, anil just below the former a cloud of smoke inclicatep where work is being carried on in raising the New Fairdown dredge. Strakht across the flat, and burrowing into the I eastern terrace, are two or three coal pits. | The evening was drawing in, and after looking at the Wa : kaia dr dee, an inspection of the others just mentioned was deferred till next day. Approaching Waikaia, the setting sun lit up the hills behind the town to the north-east and up thp valley of the Winding Creek (or the Argyle Burn, as it is sometimes called), and showed a bar of brilliant orange. This proved on inquiry lo be the Switzers workings, a celebrated roldfields town in the early days. —Hessiy's.— Tdring the dredges in detail, there ia < ne lhat stands apart from the others in situation certainly, and up to the present, as far as can be judged, in dividend-paying as ! welL This ia the Hessey's dredge. The ! claim consists of 103 acres, and embraces part of the Waikaia River, which really ' forms its base, its length stretching along i the Winding Creek up to the foot of the ! Stewart's Argyle sluicing claim. Its width across Winding Creek varies from three chains to about fifteen, the top sixteen chains, whdeh the dredge is now approaching, being the naroweat part. The dredge wag built about two-thirds of the way rp the claim, starting to open out close und;r the bank on the left-hand side going up. She worked over to the opposite bank, and finding the claim too wide at that point to work in one face, she has continued to work irpstreatn on the right hand, or township ride. Yankee Gully comes in on that side just ahead of her, and tho claim narrows to about three chains wide, widening out but slightly thence to the top boundary. Thi? extreme top section will probably be worked in one face, except that a strip will be left for the dredge to work her way back. On her return she will complete the unfinished part of the claim here with a downward cut, until she reaches the point where she began opening out. This will account for the upper third of the claim, and the dredge-master estimates that it will be tfto years yet before it is done. The dredge, since starting in July List, has turned over j something under ten acres, and. out of this "he has taken (to last Good Friday) 1,1030z of gold, paying 6s in dividends. The dredge may be troubled with silt from the Argyle claim near the top boundary, 'but in Mr Pettigrew the company are fortunate in having a far-seeing, hard-working dredgemaster, who finds a way out of difficulties. The neck the dredge is approaching may i prove to be either rich or scoured, but | lhead of that borings show the ground to ] he good, especially on one side. So much for the top part of the claim. When that Is finished—and two years is a long time— It is proposed that the dredge shall either float or skim-dredge her way down to the Waikaia, drop down-stream to the extreme bottom corner of her ground, and work the claim np in a face. So that there are many years of life ahead of the company. The dredge is a fine machine, well kept, and anyone used to dredging who pays her a firit will not fail to note the perfect smoothness with which the machinery does its work. —Mystery FlatMr J. Hesrey, prominently associated with a' number of Waikaia ventures, in course of a conversation, described the occurrence of gold in the district as " a lead of patches," and he should know, for he has done a great deal of boring in the district. As a general rule, it mav be taken that the present river bed is- not rich—in ' some places it is distinctly poor. Perhan* siat is what kept Waikaia in the b:iek~xrand for so long. Years ago the Golden tlrown (now the Inch Valley dredge) worked the river bed in the vicinity of the Mystery Flat, New Fairdown, and Duke of" Gor-

don claims, and did little or no good. The' failure of the Dome Creek dredge, working in a creek of that name, which runs into the Wa.kaia, also did not help the district, and it remained for the Mystery Flat dred-e to prove that there was payable ground in the field. Her claim of 100 acres took in part of the river at its foot, with i ground on both sides of it. Thence to the ] m, l> , tlle ciaim mi S s tlia eastern terrace. lhc lower part of the claim is now practically dona with, and the dredge has a the flat of 90 acres yet to work, some old g-round having beer, abandoned and fresh ground taken in. Some of this new grouud was of vital importance to the company,

a= ii S a\e [iie ureuge wiut sue had not before—namely, a width, at a certain point where a spur juts out from the terrace, sufficient to allow her to work up the claim. It had been imagined that the company owned this ground, and it was only when the Masterton Company pegged off a claim alongside that its omission was found. The dredge has not yet reached that point. She is working just above a bend in the river preparatory to taking a cut up the. flat. At our visit on Easter Saturday it was at once seen that the dredge was iu trouble for want of water. She was very cramped for room at the stern, where the tailings ware very close up. The ladder hangers were half out of the water, and it was evident that the possibility of keeping or. the bottom was not great. Some surface drainage water was feeding the padJock, but it quickly drained out through Tne bank of shingle separating the paddock from the river. I'hree of the directors(Messrs J. and W. Ifessev and W. D. Houston) and the secretary (Mr W. E. C. ileie 1 ) were of our party, and they at once recognised the position." Aft it consultation with the dredge-master they decided on a permanent water supply, which would serve the dredge right up the flat. An old, disused mill race, bringing water from some miles up the Winding Creek, had previously been applied for. This was inspected next day, property-owners along the route interviewed, and within a couple of elavs men were at work on it. When this "is finished, and the drcelgo gets fairlv to work on the fiat, the rotnms,"judging' from the bores put down, should be good and steady, and in this district the prospects from bore's have been singularly b'ouie out by actual results. As it is, though her returns have been uneven, since startinc work in January, 1902, she has won 2,5160z of gold and paid 7s in dividends. —The Masterton.— The Masterton Company's claim is a flat claim adjoining the Mystery Flat, on I lie hitter's west, boundary, and'running rath'r furtlier north up to the terrace, which juts towards Waikaia township, and separates! the Winding Creek Valley from the Waikaia Valley. The claim has been bored l.v Mr J. who was largely instrumental in floating it. The prospects were veiy good; in fact, most, of that flat appears to b? excellent ground. A'dredge has been bought, and the timber is> just beginning to arrive on the ground. A contract for a dam has been let for £45, and as soon ,\s Mr Knewstubb has completed the timber work on the Waikaia dredce, which should be immediately, he will put his men to work on the Masterton pontoons. —Duke of Gordon.— Just below the Masterton claim, and on the other side of the river, which takes a bend about here, is the Duke of Gordon dredge. This is owned bv a private company, in which the builders of the dredge (M'Gregor and Co.) and Mr Gordon, who has done a lot of boring in the district, are said to be primarily interested. Returns are not published, but they are reported as very good, and all acquainted with the district like the look of the red wash she is throwing up behind her. On Easier Saturday a wash-up was in progress when some of the party visitsd the dredce. and as one had also taken place on the previous Thursday, there is some excuse for surmising that the dredge is on good gold. —New Fairdown.— The Waikaia dred-e has already been mentioned, and the li«: of ventures" which form a clump just about here is completed New Fairdown. The paddock in which she was working is just below the Duke of Gordon tailincs. The Fairdcwn dredge began at the top of her ciaim, a chain or two westi of the river, working down. As is pretty generally known she sank last Christmas Eve after only working a short time. Not much could be seen of her. The stern of the pontoons was sittin'c on the tailings, . and a yard or two of the deck showed above water there. The tumb'erframing and gantry were the only other visible parts, and from the difference iu the angles at which these stood out of the water the pontoons have evidently had what an Irishman would call 'a divil of a twisht." The ladder, elevator, screen, and buckets have all been removed, but 'the engines and winches are still on board. Messrs M'Gregor and Co. have taken a contract to raise her and put her in working order for between £9OO and £I,OOO. At Easter time three pumps had been fitted up, each worked bv a 7 or 8 horse-power portable engine. One of these led into the pontoons, and"' the other two into the paddock, the idea being to partially raise the pontoons and lower the water at the same time, until the leaks could be patched temporarily. The pontoons would then be dragged ahead on to some skids placed in a cutting made back from the face, where she could be beached high and dry. Pumping was begun at 2 ' p.m. on Easter Monday, and though one of ' tho engines would not steam properly, the i two remaining pumps took the water down about 3ft in a couple of hours. This lowering of the water level made the lift for the pump leading from the pontoons rather high, and on Tuesday morning as our party left it was to be altered. Meanwhile, the one remaininf pump did not gain an inch on the water. It amounted to pumping the Waikaia River through the narrow strip \ of shingle separating the paddock from the river, much as the oailor's description of keeping his ship afloat by pumping the Atlantic Ocean through her hatches. The water could be seen percolating freely through the aforesaid wash from the river into the paddock, and though three pumps might be able to beat it now, to lower the water level in the dam, the greater,the work for the pumps to do owing to'the bigger lift,, and also to the increased inflow into the dam due to the greater head with which the water would come in at from the river. It would perhaps be better not to discuss here the cause of the dredge pinking. It j may be only tho after-game, but several dredging men in the district say it was no more than could have been expected under the circumstances. If she is raised it is proposed to add 10ft to the elevator for stacking tailings so as to give more room. —Lady Annie and Kia-Ora.— Both these dredges are privately owned. As before mentioned, they are working in tho valley, where the Muddy Creek joins the Waikaia. The Lady Annie is working a cut in a well-defined swamp, which some opine to be an old bed of the Waikaia. She has only been working a month or more orr her present claim. Formerly she was known as the Lady Charlton dredge, and as I such she did a lot of hard work for next | to nothing. Now there is a different tale i to tell. Without being informed of the ■ exact amount, we gathered that things were ! going very well. "We can't grumble," I said Messrs Guy ton and Skeet (dredge- j master and erector of the machinery), with '. broad smiles. The record return for the i district is the Mystery Flat's 970z, and they said that on some of the dredges (theirs included) the returns already got were flattering enough to rouse some anxiety among the men as to the record being beaten soon. This may or may not have partaken of the nature ol a process known as leg-pulling; the sceptical reader will probably say so without hesitation. But that was by no means the impression carried away. The mere fact of the Lady Annie Company (or j Lady Anne—we could not discover which I is the correct nomenclature) having an < option over the_ Nuggets dredge, 11 or 12.1 miles above Waikaia, with the idea of putting her on the claim as a, No. 2 dredpe spe-Jts for itself. a Mr Knewstubb's Kia-Ora dredge is some chains higher up than the Lady Annie, and is workine right under a terrace in a rather queer looking position. She was reported to have just struck good gold again, after having been off the lead for a little time. —The Muddy Creek FleetFollowing up the Muddy Creek Valley and after going perhaps a mile, the Muddy Creek, Nugent Wood, and Ganyowen dreoges are sten. All these are wanking

fairly close to th» northern terrace, and are separated by intervals of a quarter of a mile or more. All these are public companies, and their returns are published. Therefore, little need be said of them, save to cpntnidict'"'the rumor that there are but a few months' work ahead of the Garryowen. The company have about 100 acn;-s of dredgeablo ground. The Muddy Creek \yjs been working down-stream., more or less through tailings, to take up a cut which will go through ground alongside whieh good gold was got. —Home for Lost Dredges.— Near the beginning of this article Waikaia was referred to as a sort of Benjamin among the dredging fields To change the simile altogether, one might also regard Waikaia as foster-mother to a number of dredges left orphans at an early age by the death of the companies which gave them birth. Sales of the assets of liquidated companies have been many, and one often wonders what becomes of the bargains secured ai, theai. A fair number have been put out lo nurse at Waikaia, and she has adopted, them in true maternal fashion wherever they come from. The Mystery Flat dredge was her own child, but. running through a list of other dredges, itwill be seen what a large proportion are

foundlings. For instance, the Hessey's machinery was originally intended for the Pile Up Company. Tee Masterton pontoons are those built for the Golden Elbow Company, and the machinery is to come from the Aorere dredge, in the Collingwood district of the Nelson province. The Fairdown Company was originally a West Coast venture that was to use a Cardrona dredge. The Duke of Gordon dredge was built for the Duke of Wellington claim on the West Coast. The Waikaia Company's machinery also was built for the Great Lead Company, on the West while the pontoons came from the Goldon Glen at Beaumont. The J«'idy Annie, as before stated, used to be the Lady Charlton, and the Kia-Ora hails from the Kawarau, so we understand. Neither the Nugent Wood nor the Garryowen was built for the claims originally, the former's machinery, if we mistake not, coming from the Big Flat at Lawrence, and the latter'? from the Kawarau district. The Muddy Creek dredge w r as formerly on the Dome Creek ; but, if it is not straining the simih used before too much, that may merely be termed a transference, from one breast to another. -Small Capitals.— In view of the above facts, it can easily be undorctond that the companies are no, over-cnpitalisvd. Kxc-pt the New Fairdown's, possibly the largest capital is thai of the Mvsterv Flat. Nominally it is £-10,000. but. shores unissued (4,483) and forfeited (388) reduce this to £5,124. Hessey's isi £5.000, and the Masterton's is somewhere about the same. The others art very much below this figure, the Muddy Creek's being at present under £2.000. though nominally £2,5C0, while some of the private companies are worked even on a smaller basis of capital. —Mining and Agriculture.— J The question naturally arises: What sort of land is it these dredges are working in'; At present the dredges are spoiling very little good hind, but whether they will eventually do so remains to be seen. Freeholds attached to farms havo been purchased, and the impetus given by the industry to the district is shown by the prices paid. Nowadays these run up to £2O an acre, whereas a few yeain back the land could have been had for £5 an acre, or even less. Some of tho dredges are rot working arable land at all. The Hessey's certainly is not. The Mystery Flat has not been, and most of the rem;dnder of her claim is of a. very swampy nature. The majority of the other claims are in lowlying ground, but suitable for crazing purposes. In a few instances it is distinctly arable land which is being worked and which it is proposed to work. There are a good nvmv objections' which can be raised to the practice of mining on agricultural and tlv>re arp vnrious v-ays of viewin? the subject. Without wishing to take either one side or the other in the controversy, one or tM - o frc.tors- in this pnrticuhr instance may be pointed out. Tn the first plnce a dredce, bv trmintr over the CTOimd, raises its level considerably. In low-lyinc. swampy cround, wich as- a creat of this i:;. that in itself would be a distinct benefit if r>nvthinc rould be crot to stow on if. r»forwards-. In the Wu'kaia field rhr Fairdown, Duke of Gordon, and La hj are tlis moans the silt and fin.> «-t«ff are discharged at a low level, while the co-rs-'-st'iff and Yin?h-ston»s ar. -1 st;->ck"d at- a hHi level, in uneven little bDloctts. Thi= i* exactly what nature does not want for the STDwtb of vee-'-tation. rii'mnrv, all the other Waika'a pre of the sluice-box order, and tailings deposited bv this merits are not onlv much more level, but the silt has a better chan-e of remnininrr on or neir the surface. This srives vogrtaHon a better rhanre. Already on some of the MvstTv Flat tnilinirs a snlfsewn clover is sprendine OiieVv. Tbos=» interesWl in the <?TnHnir of tailincs nuVht H>o worse than turn their attention'towards Waikaia. —Fuel.— The co«-.t of keopinsr up steam on the dredge is always a burning question in one rrenpe of the word, and the attempt to keep it. within moderate bounds and to ensure a constant supply of fuel has worried more than one dred?p-™ster and dircctorr.te. In some Kait-mfnta coal was burnt, but now the use of l'"nitc. obtained locally, prevails crcnera'ly. This varies both as to qunl : ty and re"pln.rity of smiplv. httt ps the pits become better op-ned up these drawbacks should be minimised. A visit to the coal pits had been inc'uded in the official proframme of our party, but no one framed to k"ow exactly how it could be fitted in in the time. However, it was decided on after-anal fresco bmcb nnd°r the lee of a haystack. This desirabl- haven, where the trap containing the provender was drawn up, had onlv been reached bv us from the Mystery "Flat drerle-f, a f t -f an impromptu voyage down the Waijvr'a River, during which the boat took ground several times. But the master of a craft in those waters, shod in gum boots, and appropriately named after England's greatest sea captain, piloted us s-afelv across. When luncheon and the heart-flutters attendant on such an event as the foregoing had subsided, the craving for further excitementonly partially allayed by the inspection of a sow and an exceedingly fine and numerous litter of small pics in an adjacent sty—could not further be denied. Th" river wa« lorded in a and a proportion of our number plunced into the inky blackness of a low tunnel penetrating the 'hill which rises from the bank. After paddling alon" through slush, and turning one or two cor*ners, a candlc-lieht appeared, seemingly a long way off. At the same time an apparently distant rumble of a truck made itself heard in the heavy air and then stopped Simultaneously a wav-back voice called "Danger ahead." We pulled up. and d.rected our conversation in the direction of the light, bawling out an inquiry as to the nature of the danger. There was "a smothered laugh, and then another. By-and-bye, as our eyes.became used to the" li dit and our ears to the substitute for atmosphere, it gradually dawned on us that we had been hurlincr our remarks .the full len"th (six feet) of a loaded coal truck which was right against us, and at the other end of which its two human propellers were standing enjoying the situation by the linht of a candle stuck on the end of'the truck with a bit of wet clay. We accompanied them back to the face, which was very wet There was more room here, as the men were beginning to work back from the tunnel bv taking out one wall for a fair distance The seam of lignite is about 9, r t thick—2ft of very good stuff on top a 2ft 6;n layer of poor stuff being s"ndwic'lied in between this and about 4ft of a fair quality of lignite. This pit will put out a bige-er amount than it has been do ? ng. The next pit we visited proved' much more comfortable. The tunnel was more roomy, and, being on a hk-her level and rn a sharp up-grade, it was dry. Two directors accompanied into this second pit the ! two men wdio had been half snffocLititf in the first. Before we had sone very far, though on chancing to look back, the fast retreating form of one of them was silhouetted acainst the circle of daylight showing through the tunnel's .entrance. The drive prov-d. short. It had been taken some distance at a lower level without striking the seam, so coming back some distance

the tunnel had been opened out again on a T sharp rise. The seam had just been located the day of our visit by an auger-hole in the roof of the tunnel. By the use of this instrument we screwed out a sample of fine dry lignite. By the time this appears in print the seam should be right in the fate of the drive, owing to the sharp dip of the former and the rise in the latterl The dryness of the lignite which will be .yot from this pit will be a great point in its I favor, as a great deal of the stuff •the dredges are burning is so sodden that much of its heating power is utilised in drying itself. When this pit has b come a producer the coal trouble should be less heard of. —Conclusion.— The end of tihs article has nothing to do with dredging. It is merely to mention the fact that above the township the Waikaia is a clear limpid stream flowing through a beautiful country, and forming, as wo have good reason to believe, an excellent trout stream.