THE OLD GOLDFIELDS DAYS

Otago Witness, Issue 3566, 18 July 1922, Page 7

THE OLD GOLDFIELDS DAYS

MAC'ETOWN IN THE EIGHTIES. THE OLD REEFS AND the old" REEFERS. SOME PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.

By

W. F. Sligo.

No. H. Charles Paten was another “corner stone'’ of early Macetown, and I am pleased to learn he is still in the flesh residing at Macetown. I am sure he must be well over 90. lie and his wife and family lived in a cottage north of the town. He was a home-loving man, particularly retiring, and a splendid example of the good oldtime pioneers of the goldfields. Ned Elliott, liis wife and two sons, were mine hosts at one of the hotels on Macetown, and a happy, homely family they wore. Mrs Jenkins wa s the proprietress of the other hotel—a. widow lady with two sons and three daughters. 1 inquired recently from a son-in-law, and was pleased to learn that the old lady is still hale and hearty. She is well over 90 years of age, and has innumerable grandchildren and great-grand-children. She must have been well over 50 when wooed and won by George Barker, a popular old miner, who took his bride to a neat cottage overlooking his claim on the river, and there they lived happily until the old gentleman passed away beloved and respected: by all who knew him. One of the Macetown stores was owned by Mr Jenkins, an Arrowtown merchant, and the Macetown business was managed by Mr Wm. Reid, who later became the pioprietor, and shortly afterwards entered into partnership with R, M‘Dowell, who at tl'i time was working a team of horses over the mountain track. The partners were energetic workers and undertook some ?ig ventures. They put a svphon or pipe hre from Rule Britannia Hill over the Arrow River to the Eight-mile Hill, and secured good results, and later brought water on to the high ground at the back ot Macetown. I believe each of" the partners is now farming, and in comfortable circumstances, and well they deserve it after ihe hard, strenuous days on old Macetown. when men lived and worked hard and put u j with many privations and discomforts uncomplainingly. in those days the Macetown Reefs were hives of industry. A good many Australian quartz miners were there, attracted by higher wages and better working conditions than obtained in Australia. The Tipperary mine, situated in Scanlon’s Creek, about two and a-haif miles above Macetown, gave remarkably good yields in the early stages e. development. One of the oarlv crushing* ga.e a return of 130 oz from 50 tons of ore, and the mine continued to give good yields for some considerable time. When the pay snoot was stoned out above the low level an effort was made to work the stone below ,! e level :'> shafting, but the results were disappointing. Lhtle or no provision was made for developing ihe mine on sound lines, and it was closed down. In 1888-89 an c t tempt . was made to form a compiny in London to exploit the -oK? era v . anc * Premier mines, and about 1890 capital was provided. Most of this money was sunk in plant and development on the Premier mine. In 1892 a further ot " £i.0.000 was raised in London. In 1080 the Glenrock Consolidated Company purchased tne Premier and Sunrise mines, and a good deal of money was spent ori more expensive developments. The Tipperary Gold Mines Company was reconp radon in 1396. A low level crosscut was driven, some 2000 ft, and sCoft of driving on tne line o* lode failed to find payable ore. ,t to return to the earlier period of the mines history. the ore was giving an average return of about ljoz of gold to tne toil Larry Resta, an Italian by birth, v.as the nimp manager, and Anthony, his 1 rother, was in charge of the battery. The oto was hrought in drays from the mine to the miii. a distance of about a mile and a-quarter. Ihe battery was driven bv a low-pressure turbine. 1 he next mine of importance was the Homeward Bound. John Alwent Chapman was then manager, and William Patou was nime manager. This lode was discovered in *876 by ( narlie Barclay and a mate whose name I forget. Barclay told the writer that when he first camped or. the lode, keas cause 1 endless annoyance by "burglui ising” their tent and eating their provisions, candles, etc. One day Charlie and his mate sp.v: from a ridge opposite Several of these bold raiders bu y attempting to remove the lid of their camp-oven wherein was stored a roast leg of mutton. Charlie used to declare the mischiefs not only succeeded in removing the lid, but actually rolled it down the hill. This mine was splendidly situated for economical working. and was the most compact in that respect in Macetown. The lode was patchy,

and a good deal of face gold was in evidence. The opening crushing of 500 tons gave a yield of about loz to the ton. Adjoining the Homeward was the Laxly Fay re mine, from which some fairly rich stone was crushed at the Maryborough battery. Archie Cameron, a Highlit ndman, was in charge of the mine. The ore was lowered by a gravitational tram to Sawyer’s Gully, where it was loaded in drays and taken to the Mill. When the easily worked shoot of payable stone was holed to the surface the company was soon in difficulties, and very little was done to ascertain whether the gold lived down. The Golden Link, afterwards renamed the Treasure, adjoined the Lady Favre, and on the opposite side of Sawyer’s Gully, on the same line of lode, were situated the Gladstone, Premier, and Defiance mines. Jack Williams, a Welshman, was in charge of the Gladstone. This was a particularly good mine, but had a rather limited area of ground. One of the early crushing's yielded over 300 ounces of gold trorn 80 tons of ore. The mine was well and systematically worked Williams had considerable experience of lode mining. He was on the Bendigo mine, above Cromwell, in its palmy days. Jack was a particular friend ot Tom Logan, George M ‘Gavin, and other wellknown mining magnates and speculators. There was no one better known or better liked in reefing circles in those days than Jack Williams. lie and some mates had the Invincible mine at the head of Lake Wakatipu on tribute, and at the same time worked the old Bendigo mine on tribute, and did very well. He went to Nenthorn when that place was booming, and from there he found his way back to Arrowtown and Macetown. Some time later he met with an accident through some dynamite exploding in a warming pan. This led to a general breakdown in health, and a lew years ago the dear old chap passed away, leaving many kind memories of a big, kind heart. The Premier adjoined the Gladstone and was supervised by John Elliott, father of Thomas Elliott, a well-known Dunedin business man. This mine produced more ore than any other mine in thq district. The shoots of stone W iiliams worked in the Gladstone, on at least two almost parallel fissures, continued oil into the Premier mine, and a lot of stone worth about an ounce to the ton was mined above the Premier low level. The shoots of pay ore dipped to the north-west .at an average of 40, and from the outcrop on the Gladstone oro shoot, which was followed first by overhead stoping and later by an incline drive to a total depth of 3300 ft. For several years hydro-electric power and up-to-date methods of treatment were employed, but the high cost of timber and mining requisites, taken in conjunction with the necessarily expensive system of mining stone from an incline level, finally compelled the abandonment of the mine. The Sunrise mine, owned by the same company, is situated near the top of Advance Peak, about 5000 feet above sea level, and, as may be expected, quite a depth of snow overlies the mountain, particularly on the Sawyer’s Gully side, for quite a third of the year. In 1880 Tom Harvey and Sam George, two intrepid miners, camped on the summit all winter. They were quite isolated for several mouths. During the time they were there they drove a short tunnel into what is termed the main lode, a huge fault line traversing the peak. Several hundred feet below, on the Sawyer’s Gully side, is the Sunrise line of lode. It was first discovered by Jim Partridge, Charlie Barclay, and one or two others, who took out a trial crushing and packed it on horses to the Maryborough battery. Later ihe Sunrise Lease G.M. Company mined about 1200 tons, which yielded nearly an ounce of gold per ton No ill. _ In 1898 the Glenrock Company did a good deal of exploiatoiy work on the lease, but failed to locate stone of sufficient value to pay the cost of mining and transport under such difficulties as obtained at such an elevation. The stone Partridge and party sent down to the mill was quite oxidised and broken up by pressure. Most people who have been on Advance Peak and know anything of the gold discoveries there arc lii inly of opinion that there are great possibilities of ihe existence of rich shoots of gold still undiscovered. A crosscut giving, say. seven hundred to a thousand feet of backs, driven from Rogers’s Gully, on the Arrow River side, would give the reefs syst in of tile peak a good try-out provided capital was available to prospect the lodes as they were cut. Tom Harvey, to whom reference lias been made, was manager cf the ' Maryborough mine, situated several thousand feet abovo the level of Sawyer's Gully. As some very good ore had been won from the surface down about 60ft, it was decided to put in a low level tunnel to cut the lode about 150ffc below the floor of the old workings. A small party, including Tom Harvey and the writer, wintered it there, and a very severe three months were experienced. We put up snow poles from the camp lo the mine. On one occasion the snow drifted

over the tunnel mouth, and when the relieving men came along in the morning they had some difficulty in clearing the snow away and locating the tunnel mouth. We got up a supply of provisions before the winter set in. Shortly afterwards the whole creek and surroundings from Macetown up were ice-bound. The mountain streams gradually froze up and formed huge icicles over the cliffs of rock. These gradually spread and joined up into masses of perpendicular ice. At the end of ten weeks a. ray of sun shot over Advance Peak, and a fortnight later we were in touch with tire outer World. In the meantime the low level tunnel cut the reef, but it proved disappointing. Tom Harvey left for the West Coast some time later, and when Broken Hill was discovered he received a cable from a mate to go over. He invested all the money he had in Broken Hill shares, and became wealthy, and was for many years a member of tho Melbourne Stock Exchange. He died about three years ago in his bachelor home in one of Melbourne’s fashionable suburbs. Close to the Maryborough, on the same line of lode, were the All Nations and Garibaldi. The former company boasted a small battery in Bush Creek, where some good value, stone was crushed after being packed down on horses an almost perpendicular drop of about 2000 ft. A few years ago a great deal of London capital was spent on this mine and the Homeward Bound. Mr L. O. Beal acted as engineer for the company. Ho located what promised to be a good block of stone in the Homeward mine, but it soon narrowed out under foot. The All Nations mine was further explored and a promising shoot of ore developed. A battery was purchased and an aerial tram erected from the mine to the battery. At this stage a London representative of the company arrived and took charge of operations. Mr Beal saw the futility of two heads holding divergent views trying to manage the concern, and he resigned. The company’s money was soon exhausted, and the whole of the plant was recently purchased by a Dunedin resident. In addition to the mines mentioned sample ‘crushings were taken from 'a dozen or more others. There were the Parnell Victor Emanuel, Morning .Star, Black Angel, Anderson’s, Sylvia, etc. The results in many cases justified further development, but capital was not available, and the prospectors were compelled to abandon their holdings. There were many factors opposing successful lode mining on Macetown : the rigour of winter, tho scarcity of timber, and the heavy cost of packing it to the mines, the cost of transporting the ore from mine to mill, the high landed cost of mining requisites. The lodes are what is termed fissure. The gold occurs in shoots., and frequently these shoots were narrow anl the country rock considerably tilted. Frequently a. lode was robbed of its values by rich leaders or veins of quartz breaking away into the country rock of the hangingwall. It may be that a number of these lodes would give better results at lower levels where a number of parallel reefs would junction. On the Gladstone-Treasure line of lodes there were three distinct, reefs with a mullock horse between, while: in other places the intervening country rock is hard and solid. With several exceptions those in charge of the mines had a very limited knowledge of the theory of lode formation, but their greatest difficulty was lack of funds. The directors made no provision for mine development. Apart from the Premier mine no one can claim the other mines and reefs in the district have had a fair trial. There is a big stretch of country between the Tipperary a-nd All Nations mines over which very little prospecting has been done. The same applies to ihe line of lode between the All Nations and Maryborough, while on the north-west side ox this mine, towards Skippers, very little indeed has been done to discover pay shoots on the continuation of the lode; but it is a most inhospitable place, one of the greatest drawbacks being an entire absence of timber or firing. The cost of transit from Arrowtown to Macetown was always a serious drawback to the progress of the district, and only pack tracks zig-zagged the mountain sides to many of the mines. I shall not easily forget my last visit to Sawyer’s Gully, some years ago. We had purchased the Premier-Sunrise plant, and I resolved to go up, enjoy a holiday, and take an inventory of our purchase. 1 walked on from Macetown to All Partridge's camp in Sawyer’s Gully, and, as lie was there in 1881. we soon fell into reminiscences of days gone by. In the afternoon A If informed me he had to go to Macetown on business, and would probably remain there until the following morning, and that I might make myself as comfortable as possible for the night in his hut. So he departed, and I continued with my inventory. Towards evening an irresistible feeling of solitude overcame me The high mountain peaks stood out in (he dim light like giant sentinels. There was no sound: just a depressing silence. Here and there were abandoned camps, and away on the mountain sides were others not visible, but I knew

the direction, for I had long ago been round them all, and the question forced itself on me, “Where are the boys of the old brigade?’’ Some I knew had crossed the divide; others, independent old chaps, moved down the river and eked out an existence alluvial mining; while others had journeyed back to Australia or taken u,p other occupations in New Zealand. “Yes, that is where Joe Mitchell, a Ballarat boy, camped,’’ I soliloquised. Only the sods of the chimney foundation were left. Poor Joe was killed at the Invincible mine, at the head of Lake Wakatipu. A little further down the gully was Joe Haliiday’s tent. At one time Joe partly owned the Heart of Oak mine at the Garrick. He came to Dunedin and lived at the rate of £IO,OOO a year for a while, but the mine petered out and Joe drifted on to Macetown. One Sunday morning he made a large plum pudding and tried to boil it in a leaky kerosene tin. It’s a long story, and full of sulphur and brimstone, but finally Joe kicked the bottom out of the tin and kicked the tin and pudding out on to the road. At the entrance to the gully a fexv sods remain of what at one time was the Watkins Bros.’ hut. David was manager of the Maryborough battery and Jack worked as a miner. These two were on the Bendigo mine, and in the early goldfields days they had a sailing craft on Lake Wakatipu, Here is an okl camp I remember well. B lived there. He had 'not been long in the gully when we found him out in a serious misdemeanour. There was no doubt of his guilt. Some of the miners met that evening and decided to invite him to leave the district or take the consequences. LiliBret Harte’s “Outcasts of Poker Flat,” lie was given short notice to pack up and clear out. Before noon the next day we were well rid of his company. He went through Macetown and camped at the Billy. Some months later his body was found with a broken neck at the foot of a cliff. Thoughts like these were crowding through my mind when darkness came on, and I had just resolved it was not worth while staying there all night, when I heard the sound of a horse approaching, and then the cheery voice of Alf Partridge, “Halloa, have you had tea?” I explained my misery, and he told me he had at times experienced a similar feeling of solitude. But there are others who prefer a lonely life. There is Jack Watkins. He saved enough money to enable him to live comfortably in retirement, and he chose a spot on the mountain side between Macetown and the Eightmile, and there he lives alone, undisturbed by visitors excepting a weekly call from the packer. I saw the old chap in the distance the next day as I passed on to Arrowtown. He waa walking to and fro in front of his hut, with head bowed as though intently watching the flow of the tew remaining grains of sand that measured the ebb of life. There in the wastes of the silent sky, With the silent earth below, We ©ball see -afar to his lonely rock The lonely eagle go.