DIGGING FOR TIMBER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 18, 22 January 1935, Page 6

DIGGING FOR TIMBER

RICH FIND AT FOXTON Sound lajlge totara logs The work of flood, tide, and time is being undone and a wealth of timber 1g being dug from the sand at Foxton. Totara logs, probably well over a century old and still as sound as when they were buried are being dug from ■ the flat, marshy sand country lying one and a-half miles back from the beach and about a mile from the mouth of the Foxton River, by a party of 25 relief workers engaged by the Foxton Borough Council. Chance led to the discovery of this rich hoard when post-holes were being dug on the property which is owned by the Foxton Harbour Board and leased. In an area of about ten acres there is an over-burden of about 4ft. of marshy sand, covering totara logs 80ft. or 90ft. long. Already upward of 100 logs have been re»eovered, and the indications are that there is a plentiful store yet to be won. The logs are in such positions and are so conditioned as to indicate that years ago the sea rumbled about the mark where the logs lie. Only the boles and stouter branches and roots • are left. It appears that the trees were | washed down the river into the sea and I « ast upon the old shore line, finally to l be embedded in the sands and silts ! formed from years of denudation inland and at sea. A resident of Foxton for the past 60 years stated that he never knew of the existence of the timber until the chance discovery by the fencer. A lot of sea shells have been unearthed in the process of re-

The method used to recover the timber is to locate the logs with spears and to d»g them out. When the boles are bared they are cut into three or four sections and lifted by means of a blcck and tackle. The timber is wonderfully preserved, and will serve for fencing posts and other uses.