EARLY MINING DAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19474, 2 November 1926, Page 7

EARLY MINING DAYS.

OPERATIONS AT THAMES. AN EXTRAORDINARY FIND. SOLID GOLD IN CLAY REEF. "I had the distinction," said Mr. Moses Elisor, the aged veteran miaer, of Devonport, in talking over his gold field recollections, "of taking out of the ground tho biggest lump of gold ever found at the Thames—a lump of pure metal weighing 51b. 60z." This happened when Mr. Elisor was working in tho old Golden Call mine, situated on the Moanataiari Creek, between the Caledonia and Moanataiari mines.

Mr. Ensor and ono "Jerry" Black, who had originally pegged out both the Golden Calf and Kelly's claims, were working together for the Golden Calf Company, at the 200 ft. level, on a reef of clayey formation-—so clayey that they had to use chisel pointed picks —when thet struck against, something very havd in tho clay. Ou being dug out, it proved to be tins lamp oi solid, gold, without any of tho usual accompanying ijuai'U. In shape, it was souieuiuig lilie a saucer, sugtiuy tiattfiued. Bttiore tlie siuit ended, otner pieces oif similar formation were unearUieu—enough to till a caudie-box. liio reel was aoout oil. thick, consisting of clay intermixed with quartz. Kigtit through it ran a vertical vyUite streaß, aud it was m this streak, apparently composed of* arsenic and pyrites, that tlie golden nuggets were met with. Mr. Ensor and lus mate worked upon Similar sUiil for months, and loui.d that the .fragments of solid gold continued right up to No. 1 level, a height of aoout Obit. The most valuable lump, however, was that found at the outset. Warden VV. Eraser, La lus official report to the Mines Department upon tho year 1873-4, referred to this curious phenomenon as "one of thsi most extraordinary finds or" gold which have ever come under my notice." He proceeded: "Embedded in the mullock of which tho lode was composed were fourd large flakes of apparently pure gold, some of which were about 3in. square and Jof an inch thick, and others smaller. There was a large deposit of this stuff foundin all about SQQoz. It required no other treatment than melting in the crucible, losing only about 41 per cent., the remainder being gold. These flakes were not, I may remark, of the usual consistence of melted gold. They looked rather as if the particles of gold in the lode were sufficiently fused to make them ad here together, but they could be separated with little force, . . . Other deposit* of this singular composition have been found, although not in such quantities as that to which I refer." A contemporary newspaper report stated that, apart from the pure fold obtained from the reef, the general stuff of the Calf averaged 2£oz. to the ton, and good returns were obtained for some time. Rich Blocks that had been Condemned.. The experience of Mr. Ensor at the Thames extended to various parts of the field, in which ho worked as tribute contractor, or wages miner. In three instances he took over tributes which were considered to have been worked out by previous parties, and immediately came upon specimen stone—in two cases in the very first shift worked, .'\nd in the third within a week. One of tho tribute blocks was in the Crown princess Mine (afterwards Saxon), which was under the streets of the town. So closo was he to tho surface that that in his workings ho was able to hear the rumble' of carts that passed along Albert and Pollen Streets. Hero his. predecessors had,.come within 2ft. of the gold, and yet had missed it. The very first shift of Mr. Ensor and his mate yielded specimens. In tho next fortnight they cleared £2O each, and for the following three months the tribute paid them handsomely. Another piece of luck carne to him in a tribute in the Una Mine, between the Karaka and Hape Creeks. There, within the first week, ho and his partners came upon ore worth from '3s to 4£ ounces per ton, and this valne lasted throughout the tenure of the tribute. Yet again, in Tookey's mine, at the foot of tho Moanataiari' Creek, he and some friends took up a tribute, block in which others had had no luck, and. continuing the old stopes above a drive from the hillside, within 30 feet of the tramline, discovered a branch of the reef which had previously b'oen overlooked, and in it good gold, which continued right up to the surface. Ono parcel of ore yielded 340z. to the ton. Some Lost Chances. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ensor lost two chances of enrichment. An old schoolmate, Mr, William Thomas, afterwards a well-known stonemason iti Auckland, was a shareholder in tho Queen of Beauty mine, then known, however, the Mount Macedon. When the first Mount Macedon crushing was going through Bull's battery, Mr. Ensor had a crushing of his own, from a claim on Hape Creek, in progress at Vickeroy's, a neighbouring mill Both parties were uncertain as to their prospects, and Mr. Thomas offered to sell abaif-share in his claim for £35, or a full share for £SO. Mr. Ensor, however, then thought as much of the outlook of his. own claim as that of the Mount Macedon, and decided to wait and see how the respective trial crushings resulted. As it turned out, the Ensor pacel proved " a duffer." On the contrary, the Mount Macedon yielded about 4oz. to the ton, and was the beginning of the remarkable returns of the Queen of Beauty proprietary, as to which it is on record that in the next few years the owners took out 135,£00 o",. gold, of the value ol' £367,900. Of course, the £SO offer was no longer open to him. Another Tantalising Case.

The other tantalising miss' occurred in connection with, the Bright Smile mine, wider the Waiokaraka Flat, next to the Queen of Beauty on the seaward side. When the profitableness of the Mount Macedon reef was assured, his friend Mr. Thomas came to hira one Sunday evenTug, and advised him to peg oat this piece of ground. Next morning Mr. linsor turned out early m order to do &o, but found that he had been forestalled. One Tom Boyle was there before him, and got his pegs in. The sequel vps tho opening of a mine from which Boyle, "Dick" JKennan, John Whitford, and. others took a large amount of gold in the next few years. Thames footballers of subsequent years will remember the shaft of the Bright Smile as that beside which, under its later name of Piako, they played their Saturday afternoon matches. The playing area is now covered by a block of dwelling-bouses. Other experiences of lost opportunities on th? sharenuu fcei were such as befef many Thames folk and Aucklanders in the times of mining booms. For instance, once he was offered share? in the Caledonian at £3 each, took a few hours to think th*> matter over, and found that before evening the news of the rich strike of gold had been announced, and shares had jumped to £49. Again, ho bought £4O of Black Angel shares at a shilling each, and parted with them, under advice, as soon as there was a rise of a few pence. Within three weeks they had mounted to £2 15s. Slides as Patch-form era.

In nearly all thfc gold-bearing mines in which he 'worked Mr. Ensor was struck with the influence of slides in the apparent causation of auriferous deposits, lie points out that most of tho historic patches occurred in the vicinity of either slides or reef junctions, and he found that this was also generally the case in refard .to minor deposits in small leaders, n common with many other old-time diggers, he holds that there is much mart; gold yet io bo found at the Thames than has ever come out of it, if only the field Is faithfully prospected on the back hills, and in lower levels that have not ytst been reached.