THE MOLYNEUX RIVER IN THE LATE SIXTIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22295, 22 June 1934, Page 7

THE MOLYNEUX RIVER IN THE LATE SIXTIES

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —I recently read with interest and also much pleasure the remarks of "ExDrcdgemaster " on dredging the Molyneux. Mr P. R. Lake could certainly never have had any experience of this river during the days when beach workings were in full swing, or he would not make such statements regarding the bottom wash. I was up and clown the river for some miles above and below Clyde—or the Dunstan as it was then called—and, with no tailings in the river, saw miners working rich deposits in places that are now iu the middle of the stream, and they had no trouble with any hard layers of wash. In those times cradling was the principal method of treating the wash. A blue and, in some cases, a white sticky clay overlay the main rock bottom. There were layers of finely broken schist with a small layer of. yellowish clay mixed with it on top of that fine and coarse wash varying in thickness according to its situation. In some areas, near where Rocky Islets were situated, the bottom was often found to be much creviced, and those lucky enough to strike such places were nearly always well rewarded. People who see the Molyneui at the present time must not imagine it was always such a placid looking river From Cromwell, for about 10 miles of its course, it was almost a continuous cataract, and it was not at all safe to try to reach Clyde in a boat. Rocks were visible every few yards and huge whirlpools were quite numerous. From "Wheelbarrow

JackV garden to Cox's dairy it ran in a much smoother manner. A few hundred yards nearer Clyde was a bar of rock that ran right across the river, and when the river was at law level in winter this was an effective barrier to navigation. Below this bar was another rocky length, the rocks being so close together that miners who had no experience of pot holes put planks across and cleaned out some,of these receptacles, only to. find the inside of the pot hole quite smooth and containing some Well-rounded boulders and coarse gravel tightly packed, but no gold, tbn precious metal having been swirled out by the swift-running water. There was a long island below the bar with a huge whirlpool at the foot. Then there were a few more islets and a big island with a dozen or more small rocks jutting up here and there until one came to M'Pherson's punt. From there on the river ran lira channel free of rocky obstructions, until one got near Muttontown, where there was a small island with native trees growing on it. Then followed another stretch of clear water until the mouth of the Fraser River was reached, just below this there was another rocky island, and all was clear again to the gorge below Alexandra. How many rocky islets are in that stretch of water I cannot say, as I never examined it' in the early days. Now, as regards dredging. I was present when the first of the spoon dredges launched, and often was aboard one of tbeja and saw the dredgemaster working, a; hand winch on the deck to drag the spoon along the bottom. Another hand hoisted the spoon on deck, the wash being contained in a bullock-hide bucket. This was then washed in a large self-delivery cradle by another of the crew. Some, of these dredges were reported to be getting large quantities of gold, so that they were able at times to give each of the proprietors £IOO a man for a week's work. Four to five men constituted the crew., . The river was well combed by such dredges for two or three years, and there was little or no difficulty in reaching bottom, but, remember, there was no travelling drift in those halcyon days. Later on the bucket dredge was evolved, and every bit of smooth water was raked over by this type. Each new dredge increased the size of the buckets, and ground that was worked by the pioneers was dredged over time and again.. Later on, when the drift came down from the big sluicing claims of Cromwell and Bannockburn and subsequently from the Shotover; summer dredging was not a very Eayable proposition in the main stream, luckily for some companies, there were bends in the river that were found to be highly auriferous, and, gradually working in, they Were able to get beyond the reach of the river.'s current and its accompanying drift. This certainly gave them years of profitable work. I fail to see how dredging propositions that are now being floated are going to be such profitable concerns if it is intended to work over the ground that has had so many machines \over it in the past. 1 could quite well understand a trial being given to, some of the ancient river beds, care ,bemg first taken to test them thoroughly to see if they were existing when the "gold was laid down. The ancient glacial ice floes carved out these present river beds, but .as to the period at which the country rocks, containing the gold, were ground down and the wealth distributed as we find it to-day, only those well upiin geology can give an opinion. There has been a good deal of correspondence in your columns for some months past about putting gates; on the Wanaka and Hawea Lake s .to shut off the outflows during the winter months. Well, that is about the only method that.could be adopted in conjunction with the damming of Wakatipu and the Shotover. In favourable seasons, no doubt, two months would be about the longest period for which these gates could be closed. Now, if such a scheme were put into practice those who had secured claims would require to have plant suitable for removing the present overburden of tailings and the gold-bearing wash to a position bevond the reach of floods, in order to give them time to clean out the crevices where the gold is generally found in large quantities—at least, such was the case in .the sixties—before the drift raised the river to such a heicht that creyieing had to be abandoned. Those who at present believe that the rich deposits in the gorges can be dredged profitably had better put their money into some other sold mining proposition—say. quartz reefing, for instance. There are plenty of reefs in Otago which, with gold at its present high figure, would pay good dividends if well prospected and skilfully mined.—l am, e t c ., i Old Timer.