Notes from Grey Valley.

Otago Witness, Issue 2317, 28 July 1898, Page 20

Notes from Grey Valley.

•IOTAHA FLAT.

July It!. — Minii'j? matters at Half-ounce (n small mining' centre within a few miles of 'J'oiai'ci Ki.it) are at, present ratber dull. lam f.ivc. to understand by a resident of that locality that, I hero aie vet v few miners at pra6snt inaJiitig anylldn*; over \v,g»?, although it is believe 3 thst things v, ill cbaigj for the beHer shoitly. Mr Thomson, an old r- sident of Half ouuee, who utu bid oub a cojisideial'la sum of mousy in opecinff wp hi 3 rl&ia), will shortly have it in wurkini? ord«r. The clfcim is to be worked by the sid of a water balance. 'L'he giouud in this claim i J , 1 hiu told, about 20ffc deep, a nd afi-er tl;e f>utf->ce ha« besn stiipned the rtiuaii.der vill be hivstcti a-nd wf'slu-d. 3Vfy iiifont.atit states th.-Ui this ground id believed to h-i highly payable. The claim i< un^er the manag-'tiient of Blr Tliotnson hinistlf. It uto be heped thah the entc-rprifcii-g propristor will ha lewsukri lian'ffcomely for hi 1 - ph;- ky v%nlu)e. All lionour to Jiiin who tii-es.

July 17.- Ahsura. one of the leading milling csutrrs in Grey Valley, is on this tfabbatb Day aliuott a tcene of wild excitement. O'ror.ps of ancient miners, mingled with n embers ot tie lining gerieiation, may be seen glniiriins; hei<3 and tl^ere, or hurrying 1 12 » find down the streets, a)i cagcily engJgtd ronveiyiig upon the one suhjecr. J,ikc the inquisitive mi; er, 1 j ined one of the groups that I niijjlil a Ccr'ain the (.rouble. Here I was informed by an important-looking individual that some lucky miners on the Ahauia river had struck s lead of gold fair in the line of Kl-Hulyke, and that they yveiv washjj'K of isaifh ac an ounce to the dull in prospects. "Yes:,'' broke in another ingenuous individual, "ai d cvpiy time they turn the water eff they can pick up rkces of gold on the reef Aveighing from holf «j penny weifrlit <° an ounce." After listetiiug to tiuti<eious such like rep> rta for Mine tirsio, I left. Alu'tira and proccf-ded to Orwell C-eek, with the /r/fentioa of visiting- the new Klvndjke as s^'X n- ;iols.'l 10.

OKVVniA, CHEEK,

Ji ly 15 —By this time I was fuliy worked up to the; highct-r pitch of exeiteineut by heading that quite- a new Kloudyke was about to be opened up on the north bauk of the Ahanrn Kivar. In company with tevejal highly piactical nunera ot tLi& pl*c>»« aimed with b'.llhook3and other implements necessary for mailcing off a claim, I a>larl.ed at siiiuise lor the locality. After two houis of tramping along a cuddy track, thicugh a dcn=e fowl, we arrive! on the noith bank of the Ahauia Kiver, about lour riiilc-a up .stream from the place where the gul 1 waa fetiuck. Here our trot) lies commenced Wt twraed at light angles to follow the bank of the liver down through nn almost frozen jungle. I nvglil state, us it may be of seme importance to your readers that at this point wo vrcro over quaitcr of a mi'e fiom the water's edge of the iiver, and that this waf considered to be the line of the gold worked en lower down the river. Fully two hours more, were taken up in scrambling ih'ough icrub ai d over fallen trees, and then we arrived half frozen at a place known as Ilasmersoii'is old claim, where we had expected to meet a number of other miners on the same errand as out stives. To our Burpii'-e, we only met with one miner. We asked him if there

wjis acy tuiih in the reports that we had heard. Being a moss rJiiblc man., h-> iuformed Ui> that Mr Dunn, piopiietov of Rasmeisou's old cliim, was on good c<"ld. lie- further stated that he hui heard that Blr Dunn had washed Coz 17dwt of gold from fight dishes of dirt takeu f'om th • f ollcn>. He had not, however, seeu the pio.'psrts w.-..htd himself, and therefoie merely spoke from hcaigay. Mr Dunn is at present unable to prospect hii ground owin* to a slip which ha 3 emotheied up the Golden Corner, Jl is expected that the slip will lc cleared in a few days' time ; theitfoie iv my next 1 may be able to give further particulars in c .liiic-i tion with this claim We nexb visited Mr BrooVs s claim, p bout a nile further down the river. Tl eie is nut tho {-lifhlest doubt bat he has aa excellent claim, 'lhe giound is about 151 1 dep and of a 6tony nature. Mr Brooka knockerl j prospect out of the face of his cldim which yielded 2gr to the di'-h. '1 he prospect was taken 2ft from the bottom One of the party informed in thal"?r to the dish was shout the aveiage pro.p p et. This pirty pays £2 per week for water, which may bo considered cheap, ps they have an excellent supply. It has been asnerted that Mi Blocks and his nutc value their claim at £500 Aa the evening was fast com iu^ onus we left the New Ivlondyke ard made for the old diggings of Orwell Ojet'k once moie, as we could see nothing to induce us to peg off a ekirn just then. 1 may rtr.te that many of the old, experienced mine s, when they heard that theie was an ounce to the dish to bo g >t in some of the claims in Ahaura River, thook their l.eiris vnowinj^y and dsdAied they would not so to Ahauia Rivfr to look for gold even if it weic teported that there was a pouudvvcight of the valuable metsl to the dish. Nolv. ithfttanding this the old miner may be wxons in his opinions.