THE DREDGING INDUSTRY. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2402, 15 March 1900, Page 21

THE DREDGING INDUSTRY. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — Being surprised at the very bold way " A Recent Country Visitor " attempts to warn the public against the Upper Clutha for dredging, let me, as a resident of these parts for over 30 years, state some facts which will help him and others to an honest conclusion. There is no one more anxious than I am to see nothing but genuine claims put on the market^ for I am at once broxight face to face with the danger of wild speculation, and would do what I could to warn investors against putting their money in claims that were "very doubtful. I wish, as carefully as possible, to put the whole case before the public, and not rush into damaging this claim here or that claim, there for a-ny selfish end. And for any man who is only a visitor passing through to air his conviction and opinions so freely is altogether unwarrantable. If we begin with the Clutha River, up at the lakes, we find fine gold in its bed ; nor conld we expect anything else, because gold has been got more or less in the hills and terraces all lound. Is it not the mining industry that has opened up the whole of the country in the Clutha and its tributary basins, which we will deal with separately, beginning at Cardrona ? Can anyone deny the gold - producing value of this tributary basin? Was the gold found in only scattered patches? No, it was not. Cardrona Valley is known to be a very rich gold-bearing deposit, from which very, very many have won large returns of gold from the first of the diggings, perhaps up to the present. Of course I cannot mention every little spot along the hills and valleys where gold has been got, but I will draw your attention to those that we all pretty well know about. Then there is Criffel Hill. Was that not very rich, too? Anyone going along either side of the Clutha River anywhere cannot but bo struck with the vast amount of mining that has been done all along its banks and small tributaries. There is hardly a gully but lias 'been fossicked ancl turned over by someone or other. Lnggate is a small stream, but old, reliable diggers tell me that even this creek, close to the Clutha, will pay well for dredging. It is hardly possible for me to describe the vast amount of mining that has really been done. We now come along to Lindis. Where was some of the first gold got? Why, at Lindis, of course. I knew some of the old diggers that made small fortunes there, and went Home, while others are still in the country. I remember Howard getting £1300 worth of gold out of the Lindis "in one little paddock in a very short time. Mr Howard is still alive, and up in the North Island. Mr Waddell, saddler, of Cromwell, could give you his address. The Lindis joins the Clutha at Bowman's Flat. Can you get any of the old diggers to say that Bowman's Flat will not pay for dredging? Why, there is not an old digger or Chinaman about that would not run down to Bowman's Flat when he was out of a job and do a bit of cradling. We will now come along to Bendigo Hill. Is it not sufficient to mention the very name when half a million of gold has been won from the mine alone? I have heard that Bendigo Hill is riddled wth shafts, and Mr Don, the mining expert, says that there are leaders near the surface that would pay a few working men handsomely yet. I would like to see your " Country Visitor, " Sir. It seems to me that he is no more nor less than a canny, well-meaning Scotchman, and it is evident that he does not speak from a practical study of the question.

The next small stream is Bendigo Creek. I would like to take your visitor by the arm and show him all the old workings in its bed. Tf he is a speculating man I would not be a bit surprised if he took up a dredging claim on it himself, and gave me a bit of a tip for taking him round.

Close to the Bendigo Creek is the old Rise and Shine. This was very rioh, too. Many of the old diggers are still alive who got a lot of gold out of it! And as I pass along further down the Clutha, in my mind's eye I can see no end of old workings, especially on the Mount Pisa side, that tells me that there must be an enormous amount of fine gold scattered in the bed of the river. No one but those that have seen the country, and the amount of mining done, can form any reasonable idea of the gold that must be in the Clutha River. There is also Quartz Reef Point, another very rich goldbearing stretch of country, quite close to the river.

I will leave your readers to form their own ideas as to the gold-bearing vplue of the dredging claims that are fed by the streams and gold-bearing mining localities I have mentioned. — I am, etc., Old Reliable.