OLD WAIORONGOMAI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20767, 9 January 1931, Page 8

OLD WAIORONGOMAI.

A DEAD GOLDFIELD.

SCENES OF DESOLATION.

ROMANCE OF FORMER DAYS. VEGETATION INVADES RUINS. [BY TFI/EGRAFH.—TOWN CORRESPONDENT.] TE AROHA. Thursday. Huddled at tlio entrance to a steepaided valley that gashes the Coromandel Ranges is nil that remains o! the once busy mining centre known as Waiorongomai. To the stranger this scattered group of ruins and cottages would mean lit tic more than some futile attempt at settlement on the borders of the rich Hauraki Plains, but to the miner of 20 and 30 years ago it means the trail of a golden dream. Time was when Waiorongomai seethed with life. A population varying from 3000 to 4000 thronged its streets and rumours of wild doings on Saturday nights made it a township attractive to the voting "bloods" of the more peaceful townships that were then springing up on the plains. Threo hotels attended to the thirsty neucls of the inhabitants and to the comfort of the tourist, while the constant thunder of three batteries awoke echoes from the bush-clad slopes that towered above the town. Roar oJ Batteries Stilled. Then Waiorongomai failed. The miners vanished, the larger houses were demolished or removed to the rising township of Te Aroha, four miles distant, and the roar of the batteries was stilled. All that was left was a few tumble-down cottages Still held by an occasional prospector who refused to givo in, but for the most part falling rapidly into decay. Tho old mining office, a queer square building with a j yellow brick chimney shooting abruptly from the centre of its only gable, startles the passer-by with the brightness of its torn wallpapers which stare from the broken window panes. It faces all that is now left of Adams' battery, the largest on the field —two huge wooden uprights standing forlornly in the midst of a sea of gorse. The gorge proper which holds the workings lies beyond, with the pretty little Waiorongomai stream rippling over the rocks that form its base.

The old train track high up on the Bides affords a splendid graded path whereby to enter the valley. Second growth, scrub, tea-tree and bracken offer heavy barrier? at intervals, but in no way deter the keen sightseer. A gigantic outcrop of quartz, known to the early miner as t lie Buch Reef", crcwns the northern wall of the entrance. Slips of rich red soil are frequent as the rail track ascends. Through the native bush sounds the silvery tinkle of the stream, 150 ft. below Aii occasional tui breaks the stillness. / Old Bendigo Battery.

For k mile or tnoro the track maintains its easy grade. Rounding a shoulder exposing huge boulders of yellow and white quartz the virgin native bush leaps suddenly into view. Every inch of the dizzy slopes is covered. The mountains here take a sudden leap of 1000 ft. or more from the stream bed. Here, built on a loop in the stream, the old Bendigo battery isi located. Fed by three aerial railways; this 10-headed crusher worked 'consistently for many years and is the only battery now intact in the field. Directly above the hills are honeycombed with shafts and workings.

The building itself was erected to suit the rugged walls to which it clings. Such a slant is given to its foundations as to give it a most grotesque appearance. It is constructed in the main of huge pitsawn slabs. Concrete forms a good proportion of the foundations which carry the battery heads and all the crushing devices Driving belts hang listlessly from pulley to pulley. Over the whole works there is an atmosphere of neglect and decay. Shaky flights of stairs lead from storey to storey, from the receiving hoppers to the cyanide vats in the basement. Bundles of zinc flux used to attract the gold solution in the vats lie scattered over the floor. Buckets, barrels, and receptacles: of various types lie haphazard in every corner. In the smelting house the last renderings still lie in the retort. A Hardy Apple Tree. A lone apple tree with hard green fruit nodding from the ends of its leafy boughs pushes its way through an open window. It is the only living reminder of civilisation in the wide expanse of this silent valley. Half a dozen huge storage vats of oorrugated iron border the stream. They are still in a fair statu of preservation. Each of these is at least 20ft. in diameter and stands about eight feet high. This entire battery, with all its cumbercome machinery, was turned by water played on a wheel little more than four feet in diameter. This is situated a little to the left of the main shaft and special water pressure was provided by a pipeline lead from the hills. The entiro plant was brought piecemeal by pack horses up the bed of this rugged valley. Bendigo battery still sleeps to the murmur of a mountain stream that was once turbulent witii its grey tailings, but a mile above it again a single concentrate tank marks the site of Ferguson's Folly, another crushing plant. Both met with a like fate, yet many an old prospector pins great hope to the field. Miners still wander through Llie old diggings and tell the. storj' that Waiorongomai will flourish again.