NEW RIVER RUSH.

Grey River Argus, Issue 86, 31 July 1866, Page 3

NEW RIVER RUSH.

(from a special correspondent,) On Friday last, your special, in com- . pany with sundry others, found thenv pelves on the old well remembered South Beach, and racing along to the new rush at the Saltwater. Any stranger, on arriving on the township, even if it be his first appearance, on .the scene, can discern at a moment from the nature of flic . buildings, all new, and all being put up in , hofhaste, that here»is one of those mar- , yellbuß' creations of modern days — a d^gings township. Haiflmers noisily sounding, boards, in the hurry and haste of their; bearers, coming full butt against you, the" publicans' bars crowded with diggers eager to push on to the new diggings, with the usual ..accompaniment of noisy, boatmen and general assortment of loafers, looking out with hungry wistful eye, like Micawber, "for something to turn up.'' Messrs Revell and Bain had a busy morning's work marking off allotments and settling the invariable disputes attendant all first taking up. of sections, not the least of these being the notiin- : commpii mistake of building ujjon the street, ■" The rush I reached by boat along - the ftew River^ in abdut a distance of ll ' jnile, and at a- charge of Is @d, whicfi ' amply bears out the oft repeated experience of the cheapness of water carriage; I was '. landed on -^f terra firma." , at the entrance of a prinutive track, aiid in.the infmediate' neighborhood of an almost finished shanty, Up through the darkness of thick foliage and almost impenetrable bush I pushed 1 , and in'about 800 yards fr&m thsjdgß of the lagooii, came upon thejirst evraences of active mining industry, -not, ; it is true, the digging* proper, but their inevitable concomitants, shops, bakers, butchers/ provision dealers, whiskey sellers, 1 &c. -'■' Immediately and haatilypassingthrough this crowd, I pushed on after making some . vjjßa vu ™ es to tne neighborhood 1 of the pro-' claim, previous to reaching which I met with many men who had secured claims on. the straight line that the lead is supposed to be taking. The CornishmeirV vv prospecting claim, when 'reached,': is

I found to be well situated for 4eep sinking, | and to an experienced eye should be good ground. -Itia on the upper side of the terrace, and, at the foot of a steep rise. Thig terrace is similar in appearance to those which have proved so auriferous onthese beaches, and which in California, under the name of "slides," commanded the attention of the miners, in preference to. the more risky and- expensive river workings by means of flumes, &c. But there is one distinctive feature in the terrace which I have not seen in any other, and which I shall speak abont r . On addressing myself to the man at the windlass and asking the usual question about their prospects I was met by a direct rebuff, aftd a determination.n ot to> afford tlje slightest information respecting their actual "doings, prospects, . or even their names ; and it was only from making inquiries of some of their neighbours that I was enabled to arrive -at an approximate estimate- of what I believe to bethe truth. The depth of sinking here is about thirty feet through sand and gravel, requiring close slabbing, until about twenty : iive feet down you come upon a kind of cemented substance, composed of calcined stones and clay. This, however, is not of much thickness and easily gone through, when you again come upon sand, after sinking through which for a foot or so you s come upon the washdirt, composed of sand and gravel very similar in appearance to that of the Darkies'sTerrace and other rich and well-known beach claims. From inquiries I learned that the prospectors had not washed much, but that the claim had given them a prospect of 4 dwts. to the dish. When I Avas there I lifted up some of the washdirt, and it certainly looked very well. Each stone was thickly studded with the precious metal ; and this, as I have previously hinted, is not at all like the gold found hitherto on these terraces, light and flowery,' but several specks showed appearances of a weighty and shotty character — to an ."old hand" " prima facie "evidence of the existence of a lead. On seeing tin's gold the question ardse within my mind— -Is tKjs a stream lead or a surface lead? and as I was told that a slate bottom had been found, the first presumption arose in my mind that it was the long wanted desideratum of a stream lead. Further, inquiries, however, did not colifirm this, although no man, however experienced in gold mining, can, on a, superficial view such as 1 was then enabled to obtain, authoritatively pronounce upon the true character and formation of the lead vein or run of gold that is brought under his notice. -.1 was also told that the prospectors had washed out 12 ozs. of gold to the load, and one man~assured me that "the quantity ob-' tamed was 20 ozs. Of course I heard all sorts of rumors and reports, but, I think, the correct estimate cannot be taken as less than 42 ozs. to the 4 loads which they had washed out, and I believe that between that and 15 ozs. to the load will be found to be the correct qiiautity washed out. At this claim the ground dips deeply, and, as it has often been proved on both dips and rises of bed rock or bottom, rich patches have been found,, this may prove to be the same. It certainly is proving richer than the claims to the northward, which are shallower, and which at some little distance- from these are worked by paddocking. I proceeded hence up to these claims, and from old acquaint ances got the information that although all of them were doing well yet that none of them were upon extraordinarily rich claims. Some were hoping that as -they got further into the hill it would be better, and I am'inclined to foster their hope, from the appearance of the ground I believe the heavier and better gold will be found as they .get nearer the base of the rise above the terrace I have alluded to. It is not worth while for me here to give individual instances or names of all the t parties who are busily employed for upwards of a mile and a half above this claim, suffice it to say that in all instances where washing has been commenced it 'pays well arid often very well ;. still were more to come, no open ground- is available, and into the bush to prospect they must go if they want claims. Going back to the Corriishmen's claim again, I turned up by Hill's store, and so on to the southern portion portion of the rush, and where the ground is deeper and mostly not yet bottomed, Here one party, Brace and .Co, if I remember right, have come upon.good ground, but as they had not washed out much, only having taken,, the bottom of theirnshaft, they were not inclined to state' positively what it would" give, but with a very meaning smile said re would dp. From them I went to Luke's and' party, not bottomed ; my old pleasant laced and intelligent South Beach Scotch friend •" George^" of Mackenzie's claim fame," and a number of others, who were all busy sinking and slabbing, but whose labor had not yefbrought them the realization of a bottom washing up. All were alike sanguine, and. a few days would, tell the tale, but until that could be told by them no information they could give is of an important or useful nature to your readers. As night was approajhing, it was deemed advisable to return home, and right about face was accordingly executed. This movement brought us to the township of New River again, ihto the, centre of disputing claimants for sections, a good . humored and laughing-faced Warden, a siirveyor busy with Ms everlasting tape, and a general hubbub of "an excited crowd, who however were soon satisfied, and immediately commenced a vigorous chopping at bush and trees pre- . paratory to tent pitching and store erecting. Before leaving however Messrs Revell and Bain' had satisfactorily and summarily settled all disputes about the. new township, and we then turned homewards, which was. reached by us at a rather late hour. From the Grey the distance is 6£ miles to tke diggings. Ido not believe them to be capable of supporting even the amount of population .now present 4here, and as I have already said any more going must be prepared to find fresh ground. It is< in my opinion only one of a series of terraces that will be found to be equally rich, and if not so, at all events, so auriferous that a good uVng can always be made by steady industrious men; . _j . - "' .