KARAMEA (WEST COAST) NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2286, 23 December 1897, Page 23

KARAM EA (WEST COAST) NOTES.

•• The Oparara River emptiw into<the Taamnn ' Sea. some two miles north of the Knrsmea. j Upon the south side several settlers ace located up to tbe month of the gorge, and along the beach to the north arc several families who run ' sherp and other stock. Three' miles from the sea the river takes & northerly course, and then again goes easterly through the gorge for one mile and a-half, when the country opens up to a. basin form. The gorge is of a porphyritic formation, bnt upon the top of the rang", on tbe south side, are immense blocks of limestone strew u and scattered about through the bush and scrub. This range is locally known as the Big Hill of Oparara, and is over 1000 ft high. All the gullies falling east into Fenian Creek were worked in the early days of the Coast. A road is fhrshed half way through the gorge, and there stops, and will probably be completed about the year 2000. Fenian is the first creek you cross after descending the hill, where two branches meet. One branch. cuts the toe of the ranges, where some of the most beautiful limestone caves are to be seen. In most of them good payable gold was got. The second creek follows parallel with No. 1, with a razorback island between, and runs very fl&b for three miles, when the . creek turns to the «ast, with many tributaries and with apparently more water in them than in the main creek. Tbe country being of limestone formation, the water percolates by some unseen channels. All tbe points of this creek have been worked and found payable. A little gold is to be got anywhei-ewhere tried. At the crossing much work has been done, and it has been worked over ' several times, and no doubt will be worked again, as all the flood water of the Fenian district and watershed mnst pass over here, bringing down debris of all kinds with a little Cold all through it. A few miners are working in this locality, and. seem satisfied, but they are ■ ©f a sort that will not work for a boss. r From here to New Chum Creek has been V pegged out into three gold-mining leases, which are at the present time being prospected with the object of floating them into companies upon the market. The ground already prospected will go Bgr to the load upon the average, with plenty of ground of tha same sort, and if a

good supply of water was brought npou these leases with proper management they should pay. Upon the eereral reaches of the Oparara is some fairly flat land suitable for settlement,, bnt at present utterly inaccessible. In the left-hand branch bearing north-east are some ■wonderful works of Nature— natnral bridges and limestone caves— and plenty of game. It is bo far one ef the terra incognitas of Nevr Zealand. After tracing this branch to its source in the dividing range between the Ko-hi-hi River watershed and the Oparara, you see the snow-clad Mount Domet, with its storm-riven and scabrous western front, over 4000 ft high, coming sheer down into the river. Sluggaids may deem it a foolish chase, „ And marvel men should leave their easy chair The toilsome way long miles to trace. There is such freshness iv the mountain air That a bloated life of case cm never hope to share. • ? The surrounding country, especially about here and in the deep gulcbe*, hai a wild and weird appearance, but, like many a beauty spot in New Zealand, as the advauca of settlement goes on, will in time, with the all-conquering bush fire?, be robbed of its pristine appearance. As seen by your corespondent before the ravaging hand of nun has destroyed it, it is one of the wonders of New Zealand. The ccenery about here is one of tbe rare glimpses of primeval New Zealand that has been seen by only a favoured few, and fully exemplifies the old saying that " Nature, unadorned ia adorned the most." The main Oparara River rises in the westerly frcnt of Monnt Stormy, an isolated mountain whose fouth-westerly extremities terminate in Little WAnganuj River and its north-easterly in the Ko-bihi River, while about its centre tbe Karatnea has bored its course through. The Oparara has many small tributaries falling into it, and a little gold is tc<tfcte:ed all over. Quartz specimens are often found, showing a reef exists somewhere in tbe locality. A terrace goes through this basin like a tongue, ] having a south-easterly trend, while along its north-easterly front it is broken by numerous gullies and creeks falling into the Oparara. All have been worked ia the early dajs of tbe West Coast rush, and found payable. It id i upon this line of country the three mining j leases are taken vp — the Fenian and New Chum Nos. 1 and 2—3002 — 300 acres in all. Water rights buva been secured by the seve-. ral companies. The New Cham have the right to the Oparara, and the Feni&n Company to the Fenian, at the head of which they contemplate erecting a large reservoir converging the tri- ( bntsties to this one p^int. The quality of the gold varies very much in this locality. Gold obtained from some of the creeks has been koown to yield . 2oz of silver to 20oz of gold. Tin is known to exist, and iv all the old- tailiDgs which the miners have left fair prospects can be got. It a. inaccessibility is its great drawback, and it costs 12s 6d per huudred weight to swag tucker to tbe few sturdy miners who seem, to pin their faith, to this, what they call the best poor man's diggings on the Coast, one of them having returned from West Australia to mine a place he left 30 years ago. The sum of £250 was placed upon the Estimates last year to continue tbe road through the gorge, but when it will be spent there is no knowiug. But the opening up of this Oparaia country will \>e xnouey well invested, and' will' prove a really reproductive work.