IN" THE LAND OF THE KAKAPO. ITS PROBABLE RESOURCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2260, 24 June 1897, Page 53

IN" THE LAND OF THE KAKAPO.

ITS PROBABLE RESOURCES.

11. — BIINING, MINING ENTERPRISE, AND PROSPECTS. — (Continued.) Cuttle Cove is assuredly the basis of operations for the western districts of Preservation. It is a snug anchorage, with a headland at the outer edge sheltering, or rather landlocking, it from the fetch of waves coming in seawards. The country on the upper side is undulating — sufficiently so to afford comparatively easy access overland to Isthmus Sound and upper reaches -of the harbour. On the lower side a nice strath of flat land leads through between Cavern Head and the Superior Range to Te Whara Beach ; whence accses is obtained to the Neck, Gulches Head, Southport, and the lower branches of Chalky. The cove will eventually become a place of importance. When fiords fisheries develop into a steady trade it will be the moat convenient place for collecting and shipping the harvest of the eea produced by this and the adjoining sounds. It has a few I acres of flat ground good enough for tewnship ! purposes. The bills behind are high, but not ' steep, so that when occasion demands the town- ] ship could be extended in that direction. The ! native name is Eakitumu. It is one of the oldest whaling stations on the coast, aud fragments of the whaling days are still being un- [ earthed. Of these days and their dcinga more ! will be told anon. ! The earliest record or relic we have of gold- \ mining in this quarter is a good-s'zeu qnartz specimen picked up 31- years ago by Sir Jame3 Hector, a portion of which is still on view in j the Colonial Museum. Sir dame?, then entitled 1 Dr Hector, was in the emplojment of the Provincial Government of Otago. With the laudable object of utilising thesefiords on their merits, which object cantrasts favourably with the indifference since displayed, Sir James Hector was commissioned to visit, explore, and report upon them. I have clcsely examined the stove and compared it; with samples got from the reefs in Cuttle Cove. They are strikingly alike, both being of bluish texture, fairly well laminated, and highly mineralised. A portion of Sir James's find essayed to 370z per ton. Naturally enough the question will be asked, How doea it come to pass a discovery so promising was not heard more of ? Older residents, now rapidly assimilating themselves to mother, earth, will be able to understand me when I Bay this omission was due solely to provincial jealousy. Southland as a province was simply a bite out of the vitals of Obago. Territory belongiog to the latter surrounded Southland on all sides — seaward excepted. It was accordingly 3een that while Preservation remained attached to Ofcago auy material development of which it was capable would, commercially speaking, benefit Southland. lam speaking of a period when thsre were no through roads, aud when the New Zealand coast was navigated by small sailing craft. The stories that could be told regarding the efforts made by these provinces to circomveub each other iv the matter of goidfields traffic are legion, and if faithfully recorded would read a curious page in Southern New Zealand history. Snffica to say, Sir Jatnes Hector's manuscript narrative of the find is still extant. He was good enough to allow me to peruse it, and had it appeared in print, as it Mipht to have done, I am persuaded a very d ffereut state of things would have existed at these inlets. The reef which produced this valuable specimen must run down the face of the hill at Te Whara Beach, and oub to the coast at or near Cavern Head. It certainly did not seem to me a much-travelled specimen. The matrix was strictly that of the prevailing rock, so that there is fcvery reason to conclude the find itself was neither a 6tranger nor yet a pilgrim. Midway through the strath there is a creek. If that creek were followed dqwo. to the sea, and the co^st iv the direction of Cavern Head carefully examined, I have a strong preseutiment light would be cast on this treasure trover. The best authenticited reef or reefs on this side of the inlet are those of Cuttle Cove proper. Outside the headland, at the lower end of the cove, there is a singular cave formation, which has beeu pattly traced up the side of the hill to a point beyond the cove. The reef shows ;in » large body of quartz. The hanging wall is I particularly well defined, but the footwall I cannot be so easily traced, as the lode forms one | side of tbe cave, which runs 70ft or 80ft under- ; ground, with the sea on the entrance at high w&ter some feet deep. That exposure has not only decomposed the mineral, but it has swelled -the formation, and in that way materially assisted in excavating ths cave. Although not •so obvious as it otherwise might have -been, the probable value of the lode is not altogether lost sight of. Mr Robert Hay, M.1.C.E., F.G.S., who inspected the ground, rsports as follows:—"No work has been done here o? auy moment, but the indications and surroundings are particularly good, and this lode is well worthy of further and more permanent exploration." In tbe adjoining claim, on the assumed line of reef, rather more development has been made. Two or threa leaders, averaging 7id, are exposed ; also a reef averaging 18in, although iv places it thickens out into sft. One was driven upon from its outcrop. It lies flat, the dip being lin3 or 3£. The drive, or rather winze, on this leader is m a depth of 16ft, at which distance the stone is very much improved, both as regards value and thickness. It is gold-bearing throughout, but it averages rich to very rich in jshootß of a few feet, these shoots increasiog'as the winze gets in. A working test from the outcrop returned l^oz per ton ; the last assay made from the head of the winze gave an average of soz. Three trial crushings, including the working tests stated above, were made. One parcel consisting of Bcwt, put through the stamps in Invercargill, yielded 28s sterling in gold. Another crushing of 34cwt similarly treated yielded £13 5s Bd. The third test was treated at the School of Mines, Thames, where the most complete appliances in the colony are to bs found. Thereon the director of the establishment reports: — "This ore coni=i6tß of grey and bluish grey, splintery, crystalline quartz. It contains a small percentage of iron pyrites. When dried it formed very tough, slow stamping stuff. It was dried, dry crushed, sampled, and assayed as follows :— Gold, loz sdwt sgr per ton ; silver, sdwt lgr; value, £5 Is G& per ton. The dry pulverised ore, weighing 1 ton 16cwt, was subjected to hot, raw pan amalgamation in charges which recovered 2oz 9dwt 13gr of melted gold-; 885 fine in gold, 112 fine in silver, representing 1 a saving, of 96 per cent., silver 75 per cent ; valuers per cent. The greater portion of the gold existed in particles too large to be readily acted on by a solution of potassium cyanide. The results obtained by pan amalgamation were extremely satisfactory, and showed

conclusively the gold was very freo milling and easily saved." A cross cut has been driven 40ft below the | outcrop to cut tbe reef at a lower level, and ! a leader was met with nearly vertical, which | to all appearance is the same one that out- ; crops on the surface, but which on the higher | level has been pushed over by some local I dislocation of the measures, and apparently resumes its normel inclination lower down. The bearings of both the lode exposed in the cave and that at the upper workings are nearly | north, underlying to the westward, and, adds , Mr Hay's report, to which I am indebted for these particulars, " from the position as picked up out the ground there is every indication of the lode being a continuous one right through." No mean feature of: the enterprise of which the place gives promise is the hydraulic force which the neighbourhood supplies. Iv a previous article I alluded to two rock basins or mountain tarns on the hills above the cove. Of these Mr Hay appropriately remarks : " They may be utilised to develope power for driving machinery for reducing the quartz and ventilating the mine," adding by way of suggestion "that if the power be used in the way of electric transmission, the cost of cutting and maintaining water races in a bush country would be very considerably obviated." On the same line of country other two claims have been opeued— one by Robert Johnston, of Dunedin, and the other by Harry Kelby, of the Inlet. Indications of the reef have been found in each. The four claims are well situated for amalgamstion, and if arrangements of tbe kiad were brought about, they would make an excellent piece of mining prop3rly, capable of being wrought on most economic lines. It is now accepted that this is a continuation of the celebrated Biorning Star country, and that prior to the great ice age Cuctle Cove reef extended across what is now the ialet through Crayfish Island into tbe Morning Star ground at .Long Beach. I ventured to suggest that theory two and a-half yeats ago. I was simply i«.ughed at, and having no geological prestigß to fall back on. I had simply to griu and bear. Since then the Government geologist has been on the. ground, and I beg submissively to quote what he has to say on the point: — "Three distinct line*) of reef-bearing rocks are traceable" — inter alia, "that beginning at Cuttle Cove and exttndiog through Steep-to [wrongly called by the coiners Crajli^h Island] to the Long Beach and Morning Star line of reetV." That of itself is of no small importance in estimating the probable value of these reefs. The Morning Star is the only claim opened out on fairly sound development line?, with the astounding result tbafc on a naid-up capital of £2100 gold of the value of £22.000 has beea netted within the past 14- months. For these and other reasons I have les3 hesitation now than ever in saying Cuttle Cove will eventually play a conspicuous role in the material well being of these parts. In pursuance of the theory that liberated gold from the coterminous ranges must have been detained on flats with citchment sufficient for the purpose, one would expect to find the strath of country leading from the cove to Te Wh&ia alluvia! digging ground. A few holes have been sunk, but so far no auriferous indications met with. My theory is that in early geological epochs this has bsen a through arm of the sei<, with an outlet to the cove on one side, aud the beach on the other. Under prevailing winds the surf on Te Whara B^aeh breaks heavily. In that case it mint ab best have been a badly disturbed water way, and as it became more and more of an expiring fiord, we can imivgine the wateffi rushing through with all the concentrated force of a ground swell in a narrow channel. In that way everything portable would be driven aiide by these daDgerous riptides. Bo that as it may, this otherwise likely-looking ground has yieldod no adequate results to the prospect- or. To Whara Beach, at the mouths of the creeks, as already stated, proved auriferous — in some instances richly au'iferous. Of this country Mr M'&ay writes": "Tbe line of reef- bearing country begins between Cuttle Cove and Sonthporb, and forms a very considerable diapiay of reefs and leaders of. quartz on Oaveru Head, and thence, ex!;tuidiDg through Cos.! Inland, to Observation JPcinb on the mainland." Te Whara Beach ends at the neck— an extensive flat leading through to Southpoit. On the iSouthpott side the flat shrinks into a littoral morain alon? its eastern bank. From tho entrance to the port, three miles up Chalky, there is an extensive flat of made ground or terrace land. The range from Te Whara Beach ekirfc3 these flats, running out in a steep declivity to the coast at Chalky beyond the terrace land. Thence it iollows the trend of the coast to Cuuaries, until it loses itself atr.oog the tumultuous assemblage of mountains and mountain peaks running back from fiords into the Southern Alps. The terminal morain, forming the neck, and the littoral tnorain in Southport, aB also the terrace land in Chalky, afford excellent catchment for liberated gold, and it is feasible that, like the adjoining beaches, they may carry the golden treasure. The neck was undoubtedly a through passagefor the sea from Cbalky to Preservation, but from its position it coald not have been a greatly disturbed channel ; hence there is all the better chance for liberated gold findmg lodgment. The terrace country is of singular formation. It carries a light scrub and open bush, so that there would be no great difficulty getting about in it. M'Kay reports that nono of theso littoral alluvial deposits are markedly gold-bearing, but he omits to mention how it came about that Te Whara Beach, on tbe same line of country, was rich in gold. The fact is no attempt has been made to prospect these flats, and while I do not say the could be made to pay, I do say, en route to the Chalky goldfields, they are well worthy of trial. On both Coal and Crayfish Islands similar beaches have yielded well, and down towards Gulches Head the alluvium is £till worked advantageously. The foreshore at Chalky, fringing the terrace land, displays a wonderful amount of mineralisation, which, together with cave formations with which it is largely provided, would, I imagine, repay more close examination. The assistant geologist reports to his chief under dtte April 1898 :—: — "As instructed by you, attention was paid to the extent of alluvial terraces referred to by Mr Carrick in the locality of Southport, with the result that, there appeared to be a considerable area of terrace land between Reef Point and the Neck, extending back from the shore line - to the slopes of the mountains ; the distance back from the shore line being about an aver- | age distance of a quarter of a mile. On going ashore at the mouth of a small creek cutting through these terraces, and situated midway between Reef Point and the Neck, the gravels in the bed of the creek were seen to be chiefly slates and sandstones, evij dently derived from the mountains at : the bick. A short distance south of Reef Point a creek discharges into what is ! known as Anchorage Cove. This creek- cviI dently comes from a large valley running in a north-sast direction for several miles, and as | far as could be seen this valley drained practi- . caily all the north-west slopes of Treble Moun-

tains. From Anchorage Cove a continuation of the aforementioned evidently extends as far as Rocky Head, but above that point precipitous country comes right to the shore-line, and as far as could be observed from the boat very little alluvial terraces would be looked for in that direction." When the sounds come to be populated this will form an important thoroughfare between Preservation and Chalky, and these flats, beaches, and terraces may yet come to sustain an all-important part in the developments. These are. the leading features of auriferous belt No. 1, so far as has been ascertained. It will of course be observed that the shore-line has simply bsen traversed, aud that- the internal organisation extending between the sounds and up to the Trebles remains still unexplored. It is a difficult country to prospect. Besides being bushclad, the surface is covered with a soilcap of decayed vegetable matter and fungus, thereby obliterating surface indications that would, under more favourable circumstaucep, lead to a solution of problems regarding the true character of the strata. The difficulty is thus recognised by Mr H'Kay in carrying on his researches :—": — " The tracing of definite synclinal and anticlinal arrangements of the strata proved, over such rough aud. thickly bushclad country, a practical impossibility." If in this way synclinals and anticlinals were obliterated it is easy to understand how much more complete the obliteration would apply in the case of surface leaders, stringers, outcrops, and quartz blow. As thiugs are, the only ohance of avoiding the difficulty is by penetrating into the interior through the creeks and water ohannels. Even then the difficulty simply assumes another phase. Prccseding, as most of the these drainage gystems do, from high, precipitous ranges, they form a succession (A leaps aud bounds fit footing only for ihs manoeuvres of a monkey or the enterprise of si steeplejack. I have already alluded to one of these channeis, which occupied four days in getting over as many miles. Toilsome as the journey was, as I have already explained, it w&s not barren of results. At least three distiiics lines of reef, the smallest stupendous in size, were opened out, the incision or oleavaga wrought by hydraulic force acting on erratic and other boulders. Many such will be found throughout the length and bf.eadlh of this siugular belt of country, and as it was, is, and ihall be, some of these will ie*d to fortune, others to disaster.