AT WANGAPEKA

Colonist, Volume XIII, Issue 1285, 18 January 1870, Page 2

AT WANGAPEKA

[bt the editob.] Visitoes from the city to the reef had better not take a trap. It is true, a vehicle can be driven from Nelson to. the edge of the bush, about thirteen mile's from the township of Blue Creek, but, after passing Wagstaff 's Bellgrove Inn, the road is decidedly better adapted for equestrian progression than vehicular. The Upper Motueka Valley Road Board are certainly doing a great deal of good on the road, gravelling,' re-forming, and making new parts where these were greatly wanted, and when these improvements are completed, it might fairly be said that a very tolerable carriage way exists up to the Tadmor river, making allowances of course for the steep declivities of Spooner's range. Doubtless, greater scientific skill in forming roads is desirable, for, if in gravelling, fine metal is used, instead of larger stones being placed at the bottom, and if in the process the gravelling cart creates ruts that form inevitable mud-nnd-water^ courses, it will be admitted that there is room'for improvement in this direction. The Road Board already alluded to seems alive to this fact, for in a notice stuck up at Newport's accommodation house asking for tenders for certain repairs, it is intimated in unmistakeable English that " the hollows must be filled up with gravel, not with mud!" Spooner's range and the Tadmor range are severe pulls on the horses' powers of dragging, and the soft ungravelled roadway becomes worn into deep chasms, the rains transforming into these what originally were simple wheel ruts. On the Tadmor ranges are to be met some unique things in roads. Tree stumps have been left in the centre of the path, which, having been worn by use, has gradually been lowered, until the stumps now. form serious obstacles to attempts to navigate a trap with safety. Excepting those two mountain ranges over which it passes, and two or three rises on the banks of the Waugapeka, where as yet only a horse-track, and a frightful one, exists —the road from Nelson up to the Wangapeka diggings is practically level, and where still unformed or wanting repair, would not require a great outlay to complete a practical dray road all the way to Blue Creek township. At -present from the edge of the bush to the town, there is but a horsetrack through the bush, and such a track! Shade of Macadam, shadow of General Wade! (and " wade" it is to the knees in thick viscid mud and pea-soupy water) those who hereafter " remember the road before it was made," will have reason to bless the maker afterwards. It passes along the bank of some precipices, where the footing of horses is far from secure, and for hundreds and hundreds of yards in various places, it is nothing less than a level ladder of mud holes into which the horses' feet plunge and flounder. There are, however, no difficulties to overcome worthy of the name, and it is not a pleasing thought to entertain as one journeys slowly along through these utter bogs and sloughs, and amid the gnarled and twisted roots of old trees—that for half the coet of the recent long Enquiry, and for a tithe or a twentieth of the loss of money and damage to trade, caused by the terror of selling auriferous land, a splendid macadamised road might have been made, where at present only a painfully laborious track exists. There is a good deal of flat well timbered land in some places along the track. There is an ample supply of accommodation houses on the line of route. After leaving the Forest Inn, which offers the " flowing goblet" to the thirsty soul, and is some eighteen or nineteen miles from Nelson, there is another hostelry, curtly called Gawk's. Tiien a few miles further on the traveller arrives at Wagstaff's, formerly Hooker's, at Bellgrove Inn. Then we begin to ascend Spooner's range, which seems nearly as long as the almost forgotten " long range" of Warner; and, after skirting the base of the hill for several miles, enter the upper part of Motueka Valley, and reach Newport's, a new house, on the right bank of the Motueka river. Next we come to Knyvett's, another new house, about four miles further on, close by the crossing of the above-named river. By and by comes Fowcett's, where large improvements and additions have been made to meet expected advance of population. We then cross the Tadmor, and ascend the range of that name, steep in many parts, and literally " gorgy," with exaggerated ruts. At the other side of the Tadmor range we reach Phillips's accommodation house, nicely situated, and consisting of various separate buildings, like some Indian bungalows. A few miles further, and the Sherry is reached, a stream so called because of its color, which is always like pale sherry, and was so on this occasion, as it was when I crossed it a couple of years ago. At the end of the bush is still another place of refreshment for travellers, which yields architectural evidence of the near presence of what is termed a "new rush." Further up, five miles through the bush, is Chandler's accommodation house, a welcome resting place to weary-footed passengers. Near Chandler's, the waters of the Dart fall into the Wangapeka, and here about is the point where the.line between Mount Arthur and Mount Owen will probably strike the land, as Mr. Moss some time since predicted it would do.

Then further up, at the junction of the Rolling river with the Wangapeka, about half-way between Chandler's and the township, another shanty, more primitive than that at Bush End, dispenses tea —if that is wanted (and it is a delicious beverage in the bush) —and something. stronger; and fhe first thing that meets the eye on arriving at the township, after passing the police tent, are three large tents, where similar commodities are disposed of. Thus, it will be seen that the" opportunities afforded to the" traveller for administering internal comforts to himself, are sufficiently ample. It used to be a common thing in old times for primitive wayside inns to announce " entertainment for man and horse," but the latter noble animal has but scant opportunity of being entertained on the township at present, for horsefood was not to. be had for either love or money; when I was there, and a few paltry pickings of rarely seen tufts of native grass, and some leaves were the only "entertainment" the quadruped could get .until he returned to Chandler's green pastures and corn bin. I ought to have mentioned that at Newport's accommodation bouse a fine view of both Mount Owen on the left, and Mount- Arthur with its crater looking • chasms on the right, is obtained. Here, the " three serrated peaks" of Mount Owen, looking like the peaks of fin isolated mountain, and appearing distinctly with thesnow in several of thesmaller valleys or crevices near the summit, are clearly and massively marked against the sky, rising above the intervening ranges whose height hides from view the remaining part of the semi-circular range or mass of mountains of which the " three-serrated peaks" form the extremest summits. ' • '.'■'■"•

The township of. Blue Creek lies within various ranges, and is at present of course a canvas town mainly. There are a few. boarded or slabbed buildings, and some log houses, some of whioh have been there .for years as the habitations of established miners. Two streams rolling over masses of boulders run through the township, one Blue Creek, and the other Nuggety Creek, into which Blue Creek empties itself.

Passing along the devious tracks that wind round and among the tents, the Btranger is struck by the evidence of old established workings. Long lines of water-races, constructed with great care and no little labor, wind round the hills, and cross and re-cross the streams. These contain many thousand feet of Bawu timber, which at 30s. per hundred feet, the present price, represent a large amount of capital, and a great deal of labor in construction. There cannot we believe, be less than six or seven miles of these wcoi, and » lwge portion of them cooiUt* «f

this wooden *' fluming," as it is termed. One race belonging to David Martin, an eight years' resident on the spot, and his mates, owners of the most comfortable and convenient hut on the diggings, itself built some five years ago—is fully a mile long. It originates in a dam about ten or eleven feethigh, constructed across Blue Creek, at a spot some forty or fifty feet wide, and it must, as regards labor in construction, and the amount of timber it contains, represent many hundred pounds. It cannot contain less than twelve to fifteen thousand feet of timber. A large portion of this work, like others of a similar kind, fall within the area of the purchased land. | The reefs are of a highly promising character, and j the original reef, which has been traced to quarters not generally known, is undoubtedly rich. From among the debris that had been left after some persons had broken portions of the quartz rock, I picked up two very good specimens; and out of the body of the stone I saw knocked out " promiscuously" a little cube scarcely an inch square of pure white stone,. in which were embedded two handsome pieces of gold, an evidence of the rich character of the reef. The piece was handed to me and is now in my possession. At another outcrop of the same reef, eight feet wide and beyond the purchased area, and to reach which a somewhat severe climb through wet and close bush and across creeks on a drizzling morning was necessary, with a pick I struck out some pieces of rock. Gold is scarcely discernible in them with the naked eye, but a small magnifying glass shows numerous specks interspersed throughout, gjome of this stone has been sent to Auckland for analysis. In the same reef are various veins of galena (lead ore), apiece ofwhii-h I mined with a pickaxe. I have shown it to an unquestionable authority, and am told that it was net necessary to analyse it, and as the very same ore had been already analysed and had produced seventy ounces of silver, two ounces of gold to the ton. The cost of separation of the precious metals is, however, expensive, being an intricate chetnlcal operation. Still the silver it is understood would more than pay for the process, and there then would beleft the gold and lead, which last generally runs about 85 per cent. However, that is altogether a subordinate consideration as compared with the value of the gold in the quartz. As respects the menwho are now congregated on the diggings, about 200 in number, in addition to my own observation, I have the testimony of the police on the spot, that they never before saw so orderly and well conducted a set of men on any rush. Not a disturbance had occurred until the latter part of last week when a few notorious characters from the West Coast, known to the police, came on the ground and attempted to mark off claims, to which the holders maintained they had a prior right, and otherwise acted as if they desired a disturbance, inducing some noise among one or two of the less discreet among the peaceable miners; but judicious counsel prevailed, and the peace was unbroken, no thanks to those who desired to create a disturbance. It is true that those I have termed peaceable minei'3 prevented the survey of their claims, but resistance to that proceeding was in the mildest possible form, and was based on what they believed to be their undoubted rights given them by the mining laws of the country. Latest events, narrated elsewhere, serve to show that they had right on their side. The surveyors represented claimants who declared that the ground (with its contents) which the miners legally occupied was theirs. Miners are entitled to resist trospass on their claims by any person who shall so trespass in order, directly or indirectly, to take the gold whioh the miners' rights entitled them to mine for and to

possess. I am neither a prophet nor a prophet's Bon, but I am disposed, from personal examination, and the evidence and opinions of others, to predict a great future for the Wangapeka Goldfield.