THE DREDGING INDUSTRY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11452, 17 June 1899, Page 5

THE DREDGING INDUSTRY.

3PRACTICAL, ECONOMIC, AND.GENERAL ASPECTS.

(Br Our Special Commissioner.)

Vn.—THE MOLYNEUX RIVER,

THE CHICAGO OR ALEXANDRA GOLD DREDG'

ING COIfrANY,

This company, in more respects than one," is historical, and there are other points of interest centring in it that have more than ordinary bearing upon the dredging (industry. The dredge at work upon the ground is, as already stated, one of those brought down from Wakatipu : and though one of the smallest now afloat, it has done remarkably" good work in gold-getting as well as regards the quantity of" ground turned over. The beach now being worked wa.s, prior to the great floods of 1873, a cultivated homestead, and farm, and that flood washed-off not only the fences"1, houses, etc., of, tli? settler^: but even removed .the very soil down to the gravel. The soil being a fine-;silt or loom it did not cause the flood much .trouble to convert a farm of questionable value into a gold .dredging claim of great" "richness.

The dredge with biickets of only 2£ cubic feet capacity, has turned .over a. quantity of ground variously estimated at from 20 to 30, and .even;.4o acres in the. short space of five, years, removing ground exceeding 20ft in height: above water level and going down 25ft below it.'" Everything was taken in a face as, it came,, nothing was rejected, and; rib .blanks or ground barren.? 0f%61d was met with. ;

The ground worked■': extends about 200 yards-across the river. It mnst, however,' not, be "surmised: that' this represents" 'the width of the "gold, for on either,, side'the gold extends,into the' Hanks' without any aecrease ih-;quantity. In fact it was proved that the -best- ground ;goes into ■ the banks, of the river. The whilom farm was literally" turned upside down, and stacked" up in tailings heaps, from 12ft to • 14ft high above water level, the golden harvest find-" ingUts 'way-info the/pockets of the sinilinoshareholders. ; . ■■ .*''..' -

Mr W. - Hansen, the dredge'master," who was one of the old Dunedin dredge., men, is'ih -charge of the' boat and works,"and"is, a thoroughly practical man, 'having beeri^ at.'■■■ dredge. Ayork■ for 'many' years. -"i^The ■ dredge is: now altogether out of date, and' alongside its 'neighbour, the, Earnscleugh' No. 2; looks' .a. mere toy. Its death khelf lias been; sounded, and contracts for a:new and thoroughly up-to-date dredge costing £10,000 have-teen let!' [: ■ \ ■':. °

- The company is a private one, and nothing; definite as to ;the returns has leaked out. , However,' it'is well known that very rich ground lias been worked, and I have heard it-is estimated -that-the gross getting for the : five years', work tots up to between 8000 aricT;lO,pOo ounces..: ' ■::, . '■ '■

It is" in 'the- neighbourhood of this claim, where some-of the'most promising claims join. ■ These are the New Alexandra; the Chicago, •:■ Earnscleugli ■ No. 2 and No. 3: ,{th& latter to be driven by! 'electricity)', Sandy Pointy: and ;.Perseverance-^all-'^oin : ing and doubifcbankinV one another. These claims are all size, up tp 100 acres in extent. Th,ey'sare nearly all successfully floated, and the majority of theni have completed negotiations for-the building,of. new and powerfultdredges.■': Were.it -not for the-block-in the foundries and niacljine shops in ■ Dunedin, and:thevscarcity of horseflesh for transport,., several of the • above companies :would before.-now have', begun ■with' actual'...;dredge-building operations. £?■- : .-.'■. DOUBLE-BANKING OF CLAIMS. I The, storm has come. Almost anything can; t be at, the'present time. Any claim near a paying one, or with the name off a paying claim, distinguished merely by a number-•from- the 'original;'-quite indepen-* dent of its locaiioiv and;/surrbtind.iiig cir-; cumstances, goesVdbwri' with the public. In this manner-;dauble-banked claims have j been marked off and-floated, and promoters are now- going in for ; treble-banking. ,The reason; of. this double and treble-banking, is that it isnow pretty well established tltat j the .-runs of .gold in the r'Molyrieux'd6 not follow.,.the, course .of;.:the river,-t.'-bufc;cut across it at-.■lesser > or. greater ; diagonal lines.: This: system; .of marking, out; is .lnade pos-i: sible- by r the ; defihitiofi'.'ibfl claims as pre-' j scribed by the;;Minih'g Act.' A' claim under, the: act1 must?; be defined in width at the;-! high water mark of the claim. This" naturally excludes the banks of the river, which, lying as they do, beyond high water mark) may. be pegged off as special claims.: It so ha.ppens that .high water mark in-" eludes sufficient - ground to civb'-offVic'cfess, from the river', to the bank lying beyond the lateral boundaries of .the river; claim. ::

Double-banking- having been successful,; treble-banking begins to be practised, and; 'as,,the' banks- of the Molyneux provide1 plenty of rooiri for the, extension of the! practice, it is time that the process should be explained to the public. • ' ,-..', .'•'

It may fat: once; be stated that there -isj nothing wrong in all this.. The experience* of every dredgemaster in the neigbbouvhpod. of Alexandra confirms the opinion that 'the' gold ,is -deposited in runs, 'that'strike' in their course across the river. Further than the opinion goes, the-fact' that the runs: have been actually traced into the banks upon-the. opposite sides of the river, and if these points' of./entrance were mapped: it would be found that they correspond in■: their.position, and form straight .lines.i i Now, a claim one remove from the river may present ;no great "difficulty in-beings tapped and worked, but when it comes: to two or three removes the owners are Inthe position of the man who, wishing to sink ■;■&'■ well, contemplates ■ starting at i!he^ bottom. . :■"'"■ -• r-.-— -—"-

• No doubt there is a way, or perhapa inqie ways than one,, out. of; the difficulty •■that is to say, out of the double-banking business, if not out of the well; but in either case there is; always a difficulty-.to face. This series of articles. eschews everything of too technical a character, but while on this ..subject 4t is well, once for all, to put the matter plainly and as fully as its importance demands. . '-"■

'■'.-*'■ THE 'DTJJfSTAN FLAT. This" flat comprises the whole of the ground lying /between the ] Maimlierikia. River''and the Molyneux, forming' a triangle, tlie. lines of which may be estimated at six, ten, and six miles': or, roughly stajted, at; 20,000 acres. It would 0 be absurd to accept the statement, .that tie whole ■of this area; is payably auriferous, but it' is positively true that quite a number of runs of gold disport themselves in this flat, having their inlet from the Manuherikia River and-their outlet into -the Molyneux. :The latter river' may, therefore, be considered as the key to locked-up wealth, which is of; siiclr proportion's as to incite the cupidity of man to discover means to get at .it. The most direct way, no-doubt, is to float -a claim,-get public money, .to prospect it, and try experiments at the cost of confiding shareholders. If the. thing succeeds, the promoters participate proportionately, in the success ; if it fails, the-promoters get. off. scofe-free, and the contributors' of.the cost of the scheme have the experience.

The Dunstari, Flat riseWfrom 20fVto'perhaps 150 ft.abov- the present-level of the Molyneux, the whole depth of which would pay to dredge- where runs of gold exist, and-put-through the screen, provided there was a way for stacking .the tailings, and that,access to the claim be afforded from the Molvneux. The only, or at least the chief, difficulty, .is the absence of means of. stacking the tailings "to a sufficient height to afford the dredge the required working,, room. At v present • the most that lias been attained in this direction is to-be met with on the Golden Beach claim, where .tailings coming out of a' face: 25ft .deep .ire stacked to a height of 40ft.' Taking this as a key to the solution of the difficulty, it shows that if .it takes 40ft •to contain the tailings of a face 25ft deep ft face of, say, 100 ft deep would require to have the tailings stacked -160 ft high We are still a long way off' such a consummation, however devoutly it may be wished for.

THE KARNSCJ-jETJOH FLAT. The Earnscleugh Flat is situated on the opposite bank to Alexandra, and, if somewhat less in extent than the Dunstan Flat il -of equal importance' as regards its richness in gold. Here the same conditions obtain as in the Dunstan Plat. Claims are marked off upon the Earnscleugh Flat per-haps-half-a .mile away from the river, and quite away from any running stream. It is proposed to work these claims by dredges, the water to be procured from the Fraser River. ' ..."

In all-these-schemes there is nothing impossible or visionary, for it may safely be accepted that means will be found to work- .both, the Dunstan and the Earriscleugh Flats even to their greatest depths, but the time has not come yet, and it is necessary that intending investors should know it. ..

There are at present, arid to come, quite a sufficient number of good legitimate ventures before the public 'without" anticipatory . inventions, and advancement in dredging processes that "may be delayed felon indefinite length of time, or may perhaps never come. ■ '

There is still another point ,to be alluded to, and that- is that if doublebanking becomes a recognised practice it throws-the door open to imposition, for claims may be double-banked where-there is absolutely not the remotest show for any payable wash, or, if there be, there may be other reasons why the spec may not pay...' - *.. ._ * ~..

At present, and as the case stands, intending investors must guard against beinoimposed upon, and make sure that if they put their money into double-banking claims there, is the right of .free access to them from the Molyneux. ~