OTAGO GOLD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22261, 8 November 1935, Page 10

OTAGO GOLD

YIELD OP RICH CLAIM £IOOO FOR 20 DAYS' WORK SLUICING ON ARROW RIVER ONCE WORLD'S RICHEST CREEK [BV TELEGRAPH—OWN CORRESPONDENT] DUNEDIN. Thursday ( Memories of the famous discovery of gold nindo oil the Arrow River by Fox in 1862 were revived to-day, when two men walked into the Otago Daily 'limes office carrying an old shopping bag. "Wo've got some gold here," said one, and forthwith produced from the depths of the bag a large pickle bottle twothirds full of gold. Again his hand dived into the bap;, and then he brought out a round tobacco tin full of nuggets, the largest of which weighed 2oz. 2dwt., and was 2}in. in length. This pile of gold, 118oz. 16dwt. in all, was the result of 20 days' work on a sluicing claim on the Arrow River. In those 20 days a paddock less than 20yds square and at its lowest point 35ft. deep had yielded a return of approximately £IOOO. It was from this same terrace that over 70 years ago Fox and his comrades, working in the greatest secrecy, took in the space of little more than a month 2221b. of gold. Hope for 100 Per Cent Dividend There is always an atmosphere of romance about gold mining, but in the operations of the Golden Arrow claim, which in 1935 has produced such sensational results, there is a link with the most colourful episode in New Zealand mining history. The Golden Arrow Mining Company, Limited, some months ago completed its first year's operations on the Arrow. As the result of these 12 months of work the company paid a dividend of 50 per cent, and this .year it is hoped by shareholders that the return will justify a 100 per cent dividend on the original capital. Most of the shares are held in Palmerston, and the capital invested amounts to £llOO. The company holds .an area of over 20 acres of the bottom of the gorge along which runs the Arrow River. That narrow strip of ground was pos-< sibly the richest in the world when Fox and the miners with him waded up the turbulent stream and started the rush which made the Arrow known as "the world's richest creek." Only Two Acres Worked After that thousands of miners, followed by the careful Chinese, worked the bed of the stream and the terraces which rise steeply from it. But that they had not exhausted the field has been conclusively shown by the return won by the present company. So far the Golden Arrow has worked only about two acres of its claim, and shareholders are looking forward to anything up to 20 years of profitable j mining development. The last wash-up, which was made j on Monday, and yielded the gold lodged | in the bank this afternoon, was the j best so far experienced, though a pre- j vious one produced 112oz. That the richness of the ground is ! not confined to the Golden Arrow claim is shown by the returns of two other : companies working along the Arrow. 1 Hamilton's Company washed up on Saturday for a return of 360z. and the Junction Reward's wash-up on Sunday produced 42joz. Vision That Faded As an illustration of the uncertainty attending these mining ventures in which the Golden Arrow Company has drawn so rich a prize, it may be mentioned that this afternoon the chairman of directors was presented by another mining man with two gold-bags, which were made for the Vogel's Vision Company at the time of the Kawarau boom some years ago. When the gates of the dam were closed the Vogel's Vision Company anticipated taking gold from the bottom of the river in such quantities, it is stated, that 1000 gold-bags were ordered to convey the returns to the bank. The first use to which any one of them will be put will be when it is required to bring down to the bank gold from the next wash-up of the Golden Arrow.