CLARKS DIGGINGS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 42, 19 November 1869, Page 3

CLARKS DIGGINGS.

(From a Correspondent.) The workings on these diggings are in gullies. In No. l°lTully I found Goggarty and Greer's party, whose premises consist of an iron store and dwelling-house, and a comfortable sod hut. There is also a Chinese store in course of erection. Population : Europeans, 25 ; Chinese, 100 Average wages, from 50s. to £3 per week ; day wages, lis. per eight hours shift. Sufficient labor on the "spot. The average earnings of Europeans and Chinese appeared to be tolerably #ood. There art; exceptional instances 'in which as much as £6 to £7 per week is being obtained. The total length of water races on- these diggings is sixtyfour miles, of which thirty miles belong to Goggarty and Greer, and seven miles to White and party. Gully No. 2.—Grayson and party, who hold twelve miles of water races and employ five Europeans. Grully No. 3.—Quifie and party,possessing twelve • miles of water races in two races. Their party numbers eight. At the foot of this gully, where Sergeant Garvey unfortunately lost his life, a cairn has been erected to mark the spot. This is about eight miles from No. 1 Gully. Robinson and party are also cutting a race, but it is extremely problematical if it will turn out a profitable speculation. It is being cut from the east side of Mount Kyeburn, but from the altitude of the country, races cannot be relied upon to furnish a sufficient supply of water to admit of miners being continuously employed ; for, although water is running freely enough at present, a very few days' dry weather would cause a great reduction in the supply.

Wood is obtainable within a radius of two miles, and any quantity of peat is to be had close to No. 1 Gully, and of first-class quality; and the* other gullies are equally favored in regard to fuel. V . Visiting Messrs. -Ooggarty > and Greer's claim, I found that the action of water power had sluiced the surface and gravel to a depth of between sixty and seventy feet. The strata appeared to be water-washed gravel, laminated j —the watershed falling from the north into the Waitaki, and from the south into the Taieri. Provisions:—Mutton, sd..iper lb; flour, 265. per cwt. ; tea, 3s. per lb • sugar, 7d. per lb. ; 411), loaf, Is. 3d! Everything else at the usual rate, and not dearer than at Naseby. In fact, but for the severity of the climate,' darks would be a most desirable spot to reside at. Erom a range about six miles away, the Waitaki Eiver can be seen, and its course viewed to the sea ; but I did not travel so far, the country beinoparticularly rough, and I cannot; therefore, vouch for the correctness of this statement. But a gentleman who undertook the labor of the journey a short time since assured me of the fact, and I believe him. ' v_L

iightful one, and from my not having seen these diggings for some years, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It "brought recollections of old Victorian times to mv memory, and. J. recalled manv a happy scene in that favored land " "