DISCOVERY OF A PASS TO THE BULLER DIGGINGS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 39, 24 March 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

DISCOVERY OF A PASS TO THE BULLER DIGGINGS.

A second letter from Mr Rochfort was received by the Superintendent on Ssturday last which brought the most welcome intelligence of that gentleman having found an easy pass, as he believes, to the Lvell valley, the present site of the rich diggings on the Buller river. Mr Rochfort's letter is dated Mount Arthur Range, February 24, and says that he has found saddles connecting the Wangapeka with the Karamea and the Lyell, or some other other river running into the Buller. Two of these saddles are within about three miles of where men are now digging on the Wangapeka; the country on the western side is all bush, but the hills are less steep than those of the Buller. Ths ascent to these saddles is easy, and Mr Rochfort considers them to be about 2,500 feet above the sea level, which would give probably 1,000 to 1,300 feet above the adjoining valleys. Supposing Mr Rochfort to succeed in reaching the mouth of the Lvell by this route, and a road is made by it, the distance to Nelson will be shortened by nearly one -half. The Karamea can easily be reached by these saddles, and Mr Rochfort says he would recommend a line of communication to be cut by one of them at once, as he feels confident it will also lead to the Lyell. This recommendation we learn, will be at once acted upon. He says that the Karamea has every appearance of beiug equally rich with the Buller in gold, as all the ranges surrounding it are slate, intersected at all points by quartz reefs, and he earnestly requests that this district may not be neglected. From a range between two branches of the Karamea, which run up in a southerly direction, Mr Rochfort could see the Paparoaha, or coast range between the Grey and Buller, there being nothing but comparatively low hills lying before him to intercept his view. Mr Rochfort writes in the most sanguine terms throughout his letter, and closes it by saying that he shall prosecute his journey down the valley he has entered, which he is sure will lead him in the right direction. Whatever may be the ultimate success of Mr Rochfort's exploration, he has already made a discovery which cannot fail to to be of the very highest importance. To be able within fifty miles of Nelson, over a perfectly practicable country, to reach the large auriferous district which lies between the Mount Arthur range, the ' great backbone' of the island, and the we3tern seaboard, must leadto very great results. If this discovery be at once followed up, by improving the present road so as to lesse i the cost of carrit»ge, and if a good road be constructed over the passes we venture to predict that, before long, the numerous valleys which flow from the ranee, and which serve as feeders to the Karamea and the Buller, will be thronged with thousands of busy men, who with pick and shovel, will reap, where never before trod, a truly golden harvest; and if this again is followed up by a railway from Nelson right into the heart of the district, the Nelson of a year hence, full of life and activity, will so little i-esemble the dull, spiritless Nelson of to-day, as to be scarcely recognizable as the same spot. We wait jfeßfcager expectation Mr Rochfort's — Nelson Examiner