MUDDY TERRACE SLUICING COMPANY.

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 28

MUDDY TERRACE SLUICING COMPANY.

A HUGE PROJECT COMPLETED

In October, 1906, the Muddy Terrace Srluieimg Company was formed, since which date the directors have been occupied with the responsible task of directing- operations — laying out the race, or^anWinq, financing, and constructing, — and^ it i« confidently expected that their efforts will be fiuitful of good results. The power for shifting: the «vash and overburden on a large scale will be so ample, so thorough, and so elastic that even on moderately rich ground the returns should prove remunerative. The company's claims are situated on the • Muddy Terrace*, near WaJkaia. The Waihaia field was known in the. early days as Switzei3, and the Muddy Terraces me a

continiuo/tion of the lerraoes which oamprisod that well-known field. It is ground that has nie\er been properly worked, in consequence of the great expense of bringing wator to bear u.pon it, and it is this ■waiter difficulty which the directors of the Muddy Terrace Companj have now over- ( coma by the oonsiraction of a race syphon , a.nd pipe line totalling about 18 miks in length. | There have been as many as 17 dredges a.t work on the flats, whioh stretch around the terraces. These dredges worked the breakdown of an old moraine winch has been spread out on the plains in ages past by the Waikaia River, while erosions from the terraces, have also taken place through t.ho action of other water in the district — a district that has been one of the most important dredging centres in Otiago The r* cords show 'that thousands upon thousands of pounds have been won im gold in th ; s field, but it is the opinion of experts who have examined the field that gold lies awaiting the winning in greater quantities than has ever been taken out. There are good rensomo for this conclusion. The Mud.cly Terraces are a continuation of the line of the main glacial moraine. The terrace top lands and slopes 'a-re capped with alluvial deposit, varying from a few feet up to f)Oft or 70ft As the terraces are isolated and out off by a low saddle from the higher western hills the physical features have hitherto prevented any greater approach of water than' that accomplished by a race of small dimensions, led at a leveL of about 90ft above the flats. The company, recognising the absolute necessity of a plentiful supply of water on its claims, decided to obtain the supply afforded by the Dome River, and. having been successful in this object, the initial difficulty was at once swept away. Dome River is credited as averaging, nominally, about 45 to 50 heads all the year round. During 1907, a veTy dry year, the creek never went below 25 heads, but in other years it has seldom run lower than 40 heads. During the spring and autumn months •it may be safely calculated to run 60 heads. This estimate is generally considered within the mark, and the company's inspector of works, when engaged in ovarsseing the erection of the intake weir at the head of the new race, reported that there were then 60 heads running in the creek, despite the dry weather. The company holds tiia rights to the Dome— the only and sole existing rights —namely, first right, 30 heads ; second right, 25 heads; or a total of 55 hoads. As no room is now left for anyone eke to take water at such a level as is imperatively n-3oassary to command the whole field, it became both more economical and advisable to construct a. race of suoh dimensions as would carry the average normal supply— namely, 50 heads. The company accordingly had a race laid off by Mr AMan, C.E. The race as laid off is about 16 miles long. It is 3ft deep, with a width of 6ft at bottom, and slopes of i in 1, giving a carrying capacity of 55 heads when it has settled down to its permanent section. The syphon is 18 chains in length.. The race follows the river bank for about eight miles, -and then turns south-east along the western slopes of the Garvie district, and terminates at the penstock, a mile and ahalf from the company's claim. From this point the -water is conducted by a pipe lins 30in in diameter in a direct line to the company's workings. The line of race was for the most part through easy country. No flumes have been used, etone walling bdfetg in every case resorted to — a capital feature in the question of upkeep. Tbe race is cut out of rock and day, meetly wibh rook bottom. From the point \vhere the main pipo-line reaches the claims a pipe of the same dimensions and gauge w continued right uip to the top lands of the terrace. To meet these requirements the company has made un over two miles of 30in pipes, which will deliver the water of tba Dome on to the famous Muddy Terraces. This was the problem tihe company set itself out to solve— how best to deliver the greatest volume and efficiency of water on to the top land gravels of fehe Muddy Terraces. The problem has now been solved, and the efficiency should register 55 heads on the elevating plants on the flats end gullies with a pressure of 340 ft, givingan equivalent of ZOOO horee-power, and on the top terraces and slopes the register should show 34 heads/ dJelivared with a pressure of 88ft, with a tail delivery fall of over 200 ft. Thus thro company gains a complete command of the terraces, flats, and gullies. , - - These terraces have been worked on tne^ lower slopes and gullies for the last 40 years, but hitherto flo party has put up the capital to bring water on to the main field of these higher gravel deposits. Now it has been delivered 180 ft above any water supply that has ever been used on the terraces, and it is to be used with telling force. The area that this magnificent water supply will command is from 1200 to 1500 acres. The company's claims cover over 200 acres, and include flats, gullies, slopes, and top lands of portion of the terraces M<.' C. C. Rawlins, the company's engineer, reports: "The flats, pullies, faces, slopes, and top lands of the claims show abundance of auriferous wash. Here we have not occasional outcrops of wash in a terrace, but a great mas 3" of wash with occasional outcrops of lock and overburden. The old workings of the Chinese parties in the gullies and faces and* the tunnels and shafts driven and punk, 3till standing and open to view in the company's claim, show to the most casual observer the alluvial deposits available for hydraulic and gravitation sluicing. The lower flats and gullies have been worked during the past 40 years to a false bottom, so far as the water supplied by a small water-race would allows This work was aecomplished_ by three genera- j tions of Chinese, who in their turn, so it] is said, lived well in the district, and, having accumulated wealth, left for the j Flowery Land. Messrs Gordon Ross and j party, from whom the present company ultimately purchased the claims, bought out the * last Chinese party, thinking to ] elevate on the Chinamen's elaim3 with the water then -available. Gordon Ross and party erected a small hydraulic elevator plant, but the pressure from the small , water-right proved insufficient for the de- | velcpmenc of the field. What they did accomplish, however, led to the discovery that the Chinese had not gone down to the real bottom, where rich wash was ; found, and the party then extended it 3 j holding to embrace the claims now transferred to the company, and projected the larger undertaking of bringing on to the terraces the waters of Dome River. The Muddy Terrace Company has felt justified in expending in construe! ive works a sum of over £26,000. This it waa enabled to

"do by the assistance of a Government advance under the provisions of the Minings Act, thus supplementing the capital sub* scribed by shareholders. The works are pronounced by expert engineers and • ex--perienced mining men to be upon a scale? of magnitude and thorough equipment 1 quite unapproached hitherto in alluvial! "gold mining and :t: t is claimed that the[ one great element for success lies in the' fact that the works have been specially de-> signed and constructed to treat the large* bodies of gold-bearing wash in the claim* on a huge scale, at a minimum of expense.The company starts with the best wishes _. of the mining community and investors generally Its success will encourage tihe starting of other undertakings on a simi* larly large scale, for there are,, others waif* ing development, all telling, it is hopedV for the encouragement and benefit of th© mining industry in Otago. Among the virtues claimed for hydraulic sluicing and elevating are its capacity and. tborough- . ness for quantity and quality of work, its completeness in treating Ifoe gravels put through, the fact that the only limit placed on the quantity of work it accomplishes is the limit of water brought to bear on the ground, and the im- . portaat fact" of longevity. The terraces in the - Waikaia district are expected to give work for generations to come. Scattered throughout Otapo," especially, in the flats and terraces in tbe Molyneux Valley, there are fields for operation, waiting development on a large scale, and which will take generations to work out. The Muddy Terrace Sluicing Company's works will keep fully 30 men employed all tLe year round, and as the terraces will, it is estimated, take over 100 years to work out, the imnortance of successful results may be easily appreciated and genuinely hoped for by all and sundry.