QUEENSLAND, Gympie.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 543, 10 July 1869, Page 4

QUEENSLAND, Gympie.

(From the Qympie Times.) A great many diggers have left Gympie during the past three days for the Gilbert Ranges. News from that place is much sought after, but, strange to say, the telegraphic correspondents have been silent on the subject for some days, even as regards our contemporaries. Rumors in reference to finds of gold in certain claims have been more than usually prevalent, but we do not wish to give them publicity, except in cases where they have been verified by actual observation. Some dishes full of very fine specimens have been exhibited in the Bank of New South Wales from No. 6 north, Louisa Reef, and from the prospector's claim, Otago Reef. In the latter are some specimens of gold in felspar. The Joint Stock Bank, also, has exhibited a dishful of very rich stone from the Nil Desperandum Company's claim. We are informed that the specimens have been accumulating during the working of the reef ever since last crushing. Some of them are from a new shaft in which a drive on the .reef at a 35 feet level is being put in. A parcel of gold washed but was also exhibited. The Company are now about to crush 70 or 80 tons of stone, Rider and party in No. 1 north, Warren Hastings, are now working upon a mullocky leader in a4B feet shaft. A great deal of sinking and driving has been done on this claim. In the Nonpariel (leased ground^ Walters and party are working in ' a shaft 41 feet deep and driving at a 15 feet level. We were shown some nice looking specimens. The Central Company had eight shafts in their ground ; sinking and driving is going on and good stone is said to have been struck. The party in the next claim, No 5 north, Caledonian, having obtained heavy gold ; the Central Company are in hopes nf striking the same run shortly. The following is our report of the crushing machines : — Central. — The stone from No. 2 north, Perseverence Reef, will not be finished until the latter end of the week. Stone from the Nil Desperaridutn Company's claim is also being crushed at this mill. The yield of the five tons of stone from the Unfortunate Female was 19ozs. Gdwts. 18grs. (smelted.) Victoria. — 50 tons of stone from No. 4 south, Moncklaud Reef, are reported to have yielded over 100 ounces. The crushing of the No. 7 north, Monckland Reef, is being cleaned Tip. A parcel from No. 1 north, Ellen Harkins, is going through ; and parcels from No. 4 north, Russell Reef, and the prospectors claim, Otago Reef, are to be crushed. Enterprise. — This machine finished crushing the 400 tons of stone from the prospecting claim, New Zealand Reef, last night ; a return of the yield could not be obtained in time fur publication, but it is likely to be nearly 2000oz. we hear. Stone from No. 3 south, Monckland Reef, is going through. United. — This machine has crushed 217| tons of stone from No. 3 north, Monckland Reef, for a yield of 5250z. of »old (smelted). A parcel from No. 8 south, Lady Mary Reef, is to go through next. KILKIVAN. (From a correspondent of the Maryborough Chronicle.) Glancing over all thac now remains of the once populous golden vale of Kilkivan, one cannot help being impressed — thoughtfully, if not mournfully — with the uncertainty of human pursuits. It will be remembered that early in May, 1868, gold was reported, and a prospecting claim obtained by Stewart and party, in a small creek named by the prospectors West Coast Branch. In a few days some three thousand diggers had congregated on the ground, but the known auriferous tract proving insignificantly small, and the general impulse being towards wider search, four new gullies' were simultaneously opened. These discoveries produced hope in the permanency of the field, and the population was further augmented by 1500 Gympieite3. The amount of prosperity attending the operations of 4000 persons one might think could be easily inferred from the number of ounces sent down by escort to Maryborough ; but that would be a most incorrect supposition. The experimental escort returns never fairly represented the quantity of gold produced, as besides the small parcels transmitted by private hands, the banking establishments and gold buyers of Gympie never ceased to purchase, and the lots so abstracted were incorporated witli the Gympie escort returns. Destitute of interest as these reflections on the past may appear to readers anxious only to learn of the present, it is proper that justice should be done to the. previous importance of the field, so that its present capabilities may be better understood. The operations now carried on throughout the entire extent of the field are chiefly limited to surfacing and turning up the worked-out ground, the operations being facilitated by puddling and sluicing appli- • ances. Seven puddling machines, planted at convenient intervals, occupy West Coast Creek and the lower end of Star Gully, employing in the aggregate no fewer than 70 hands, with the usual proportion of horses, carts, &c. Sluicing parties occupy the heads of West Coast Creek, and wherever water in sufficient quantity is to he found ; whilst the neveiending occupation of the fosaicker ex tends over the; entire area of the old workings. As illustrative of the more extended appliances lately instituted I may mention the tunnelling operations of Messrs Googan and party in Italian Gully. This gully, four-fold richer than any other discovered lead, was for 'more than half its length worked successfully in the absence of water. On nearing its juncti.m with West Coast Creek a heavy bottom-water interposes, rendering it incapable of being longer worked to advantage by means of the ordinary windlass. Party after party succumbed to an unequal struggle with the unabating element, until finally the ground was abandoned, when Googan and party secured an extended claim, which they proposed to work by other and entirely new means. Commencing at a point in the West Coast Creek, low enough to ensure complete drainage of the whole of Italian Gully, a tunnel was opened, and prosecuted with unremitting vigor to its present length of 400 feet. The auriferous tract so sought will be reached shortly, and it is confidently expected that the enterprise will meet with an adequate reward. An extensive surfacing area has been granted to Messrs Morwitch and party at the head of the same Italian Gully, iit tho mountain's base, and a hope

is entertained that the work now being commenced thereon will lead to the discovery of those long-sought-for reefs s\ipposedto exist in that locality, and believed to be the source of the metalic deposits in the several gullies leading therefrom. The original prospectors, Stewart and party, in West Coast Creek, have vtill six months' work in their prospecting claim ; and in this catagory may be included a large number of block claims which are likely to afford remunerative employment to their owners for many months to come. To sum up the Kilkivan here pourtrayed, 1 find from reliable sources that upwards of 200 ounces of gold are purchased weekly, and the population I have on my own observation estimated— men, women, and children— at 500.