THE ROMANCE OF THE THAMES

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 3, 21 July 1909, Page 33

THE ROMANCE OF THE THAMES

STORY OF THE SHOTOVER FIND, BY ONE OF THE LUCKY FOUR

(Written specially for the "Weekly Graphic")

b J f BRIGHTLY polished pick-head, f | bearing on the one side of it J the words “The Gold Discoverer,” and on the other “Mr. George Clarkson,” is an interesting momento of the early days of the Thames goldfield.- The story of that find, as related by the one whose name is on the pick-head, should be of especial interest now, when the people of Auckland, after 42 years, are only just endeavouring to combine and put in a level at a depth of one thousand feet, to try and locate these rich runs of gold in a lower stratum than has yet been worked at Thames. The story of the Thames goldfield discovery, in Mr. Clarkson’s own words, is as follows: — "There have been different statements regarding the discovery of the old Shotover claim at Kuranui Creek, Thames. Now, I will tell you the true story of that find. The Government had offered a reward of £ 5000 for the discovery of a payable goldfield about the year 1867. I was then mining at Coromandel, and, seeing that reward offered, at once came to Auckland and took passage to Thames in the old Enterprise No. 2. About 30 other diggers went down with me the same trip, but at that time I was a stranger to all on board. It was a long trip, then occupying 18 hours. Amongst those I remember as being on board

were Messrs. Allen William Hunt, John White, William Cobley, Grant (2), Woods, Barrie, Williamson, and Mitchell. We landed at Shortland at about 2 a.m., and most of us took up our abode in a large Maori hut. in which Mr. Jas. Macky gave permission for any of the diggers to stay. As I had no mate, I was forced to go about by myself. 1 went up the Karaka Creek, and found plenty of loose gold by washing, but after about two weeks prospecting I got full up of it, and got on the steamer with the intention of returning to Auckland. As, how-

ever, I found that the steamer would not start for a few hours, I strolled up to Messenger’s butcher shop, and told young Messenger that I was going back to Auckland. A man named Tom Long told me to wait a few days, as he under-

stood that the Maoris to whom the ground belonged were likely to open up another area for prospecting. I took his advice, brought my swag off the steamer, and returned to the old Maori hut once more. "Next morning, at 6 a.m., 1 took my

pick and dish, and prospected the Kuranui Creek, and got a tine show of gold. It was good enough for me, but I recognised that I must have a mate. I returned to the hut, and, sitting on the bench, started a conversation with a man whom I learned afterwards was Mr. Hunt. I asked, * Have you got a mate.’ He replied, ‘Yes; Mr. John White.’ I said: ‘ I have got a good show of gold to-day, and if you like to join me I will show you where I got it.’ Mr. Hunt and 1

started at 9 a.m. for the Kuranui Creek, and there I showed him where I had got the good prospect of gold. He tried a few dishes and got a grand show. We were so pleased that we went and pegged out our claims. Then we went back to Shortland, told Mr. John White, and agreed to show him the place next day. As we did not want to be followed, we left about 5 a.m. the next morning, and Mr. White, after trying a few dishes, said, ‘ That is a good show.’ He then suggested that we should go higher up the ereek, so we made our way to the falls, which are about 60 feet high. Then we climbed to the top of the falls, and Messrs. White and Hunt went still further up the creek. When they returned Hunt and I went down over the face of the falls again. The rock was all black, with a little moss here and there. THE RICH FIND. “At the bottom of the falls I found the reef. Mr. White was with me at the time, and Mr. Hunt was a little lower down the creek. I spotted a piece of gold about the size of a pin’s head, and shouted to Mr. White to go down to Hunt for the pick. I may say that pick was a coal miner’s, one my brothers’ brought

from the old home in Scotland. As soon as I got the pick I began breaking out stone from the reef. It seemed to be all gold. I took out about 211bs, and you can imagine my joy at making such a rich find. It was a rich, grand sight. We put the gold into a bag and carefully covered up the place again so that no one else might find the place before we had secured our claims. The three of us then made our way to Shortland to report our discovery to Mr. James Macky, the warden. Going along the beach, Mr. Hunt suggested that we should take in another mate. I replied, ‘ I don’t know anyone else on the field.’ Mr. White said, ‘ I know a little fellow called Cobley, take him in with us.’ So we hunted Mr. Cobley up and told him of our find, and he agreed to join our party. Then we went to the Warden’s office, which was only a large Maori whare. Mr. White told Mr. Macky of our discovery, speaking in Maori, and then we showed our gold. We then took out our miners’ rights, numbered five to nine. Mr. Macky told us not to speak about our find until he could get the ground opened from the Kuranui to Tararu Creek, as it was then not free to prospecting. Mr. Macky and his clerk, Mr. Allen, went ■back with us to see the find. The Warden broke out about 301bs of stone, and I am sure that would go 6 ozs to the pound. While Mr. Macky was so engaged, Hunt and. myself pegged out six men’s ground, which was all the warden would grant us. “We then put more moss on the reef to hide it, and Mr, Macky told us not to say one word until he could get a meeting of the Maoris. I think I am right in saying that it took Mr. Macky two days before he could get the natives to open the ground from the Kuranui Creek to the Tararu Creek. After it was opened, Mr. Macky gave us 14 days’ protection, then the rush set in all over' the field. Mr. Grant and his two mates took up the Kuranui claim, next to the Shotover. They got the tip from Mr. Hunt, and the Long Drive was the next claim to be pegged out. Two days after the opening of the ground, Mr. Dan Tookey discovered his claim. Our party went to work and broke out two tons of stone from the reef, and it was decided that Hunt and myself should take it to Auckland. We got it carted to the police station for protection, and then shipped it to Auckland, where we put it in Mr. Grant’s boarding-house in Hobson-street. THE FIRST CRUSHING “ Mr. Hunt and myself got Mr. George Fraser to build us a berdan, and we crushed our stone by hand, so yc-u can imagine the work we had. I think we got 50 ounces of bullion, anil I am sure lost 150 ounces. If that drain in Hobson-street could be opened row, I am sure there would be a rush to peg out the house. We sold our go’d to the Union Bank for £2 9/ per oz. After that

we sent our berdan down to the claim, and fixed up a long pole with i wooden stamper shod with iron. With this we managed to crush our stone on a stump. It was kept going through three shifts with three men on each shift. I he first .month we got three 000 ozs., but it was all from picked stone. After that Mr. George Fraser and Company put up a battery at tie foot of the Kuranui Creek, and we sent our stone down to it, paying £2 per ton for treatment. Of course there was no cyanide in those days, and fully half of our gold went with the tailing out to sea. “We next ordered a battery from Mr. Fraser. It had 12 stampers, also a single one for crushing the rich stone. For this we paid £2OOO. W’hile it was being put up we built a two-storey house for the men. We paid all our men 10/ per day. Meanwhile we bagged all the stone until the battery was ready, and some of it was worth six ounces to the pound. We only took out the richest of the reef to bag, and we had 44 tons out by the time the battery was got ready to start. This stone was so rich that we had to put

some poorer stone with it to get it through the battery. After we had been crushing for a few hours the battery stopped. When we took the grates off, we soon found out what was the matter. There was so much amalgam, and it was so hard, that we had to take out bucketful after bucketful and put it into a large tub. Then we started the battery again, and finished crushing our 41 tons

of rich ore. Mr. Moore of the Union Bank of Australasia, smelted for us, and we got 13,7980z5. 9dwts. 7grs. of bullion. The amount of gold we got from 1867 to 1869 was 40,428<*a5. lOdwts. The amount each shareholder received, after starting the battery, was:—J. Howard, £2862 8/; J. Dixon, £1430 8/1; N. A. Hunt, £9949 4/1; George Clarkson, £10,412 8/4; W. A. Cobley, £lOlB 8/4; T. S. White, £7234 8/4; j. Williamson, £375; and J. Hay, £998 10/. Messrs. W. A. Hunt, J. E. White W. A. Cobley, anil myself had previously received about £lOOO each from the erushing at G. Fraser’s battery before the other shareholders had bought m to the Shotover claim. We then put up a large kiln to roast the quartz, but we did not gain much by that as the gold was what miners call free gold. The Shotover reef was of a soft nature and easy for crushing, hut had we had cyanides in those days we would have got two ounces to the one we did get. We put up large Wheeler and Wilson’s pans and berdans in front of them, and we got better results; but

even then we were losing a large amount «f gokf. We had about 60 men at work on the reef, to keep the battery going three shifts. We found a nice mulicky »eef an the west side of the main one, about three feet wide, carrying nice gold all through it. We stoped, underhanded this reef all the way down as far as it was payable. This reef went about 3on. per ton all through. We got one large stone as round as a shot, from which we took 300 oz. of gold. The payable stone did not go down. The main working was on the right hand side of the ereek. The ■hill contained very rich leaders from lin. to 2in. Some of them were nearly solid gold, but they all took a circle back into the main reef. The reef itself was 6ft. from wall to wall. We sank the shaft to 480 ft. The reef kept the same size all the way down, but no gold was found at that depth. Finally we then put our company into 100 shares of 1000 scrip per share. We then turned and took out the large block of stone in the face, and we got 2000 answers out of it. We next put our company into 100,000 shares of £1 each. We had a long heap of stone tipped into the creek, something like 3000 tons This we picked up and put it all through the battery, and got 3oz. per ton for all the 3000 tons that we tipped into the creek as no good. We then got more than £ 2 10/6 per oz. for all the gold that eame out of the Shotover claim. “Of all the shareholders there is only left W. A. Cobley and myself, and we are only waiting to be called away. Sot ends the discovery of the working out the onee-famous Shotover claim in the year 1867. On the 10th of August of this year, will be the forty-second year since the Shotover was discovered.” Some of the Lucky Diggers. Following are a number of particulars concerning the lives of some of the men who were interested in the famous Shotover Mine: — MR. J. E. WHITE. Born at the Three Kings, and a carpenter by trade, Mr. J. E. White was attracted to the Auckland goldfields when quite a young man. His first operations, prospecting in the Coromandel district, were so unsuccessful that he returned to Auckland, and followed his trade until the opening of the Thames field. Mr. White was one of the five diggers who went to the Thames in the steamer No. 2 Enterprise, and he held a fourth share in the old Shotover Mine. His last mining venture was at Coromandel on the old Scotty’s Claim, but after losing £5,000, he had to give the mine up. Finally he fell ill and died.

MR. R. BECK. The first gold that was taken out Of the old Shotover Mine was smelted hy the late Mr. R. Beck. He made a large fortune in the early days, and established himself at Mt. Albert, where he resided until his death. MR. R. HUNT. The late Mr. R. Hunt was an engineer hy trade, but was attracted first of all to gold mining on the West Coast. At the time the Thames was opened up for prospecting he'returned, and held onefourth share in the old Shotover claim. After he left the Shotover, he took a prospecting party over the ranges from lap 11 to Mercury Bay iu ten days, but the quest for gold was not successful. Bater on he took up land below Tapu, and did a lot of prospecting in that locality. In 1874 Mr. Hunt visited the Upper Thames goldfields, but at last Save up the work. In 1886 he came to Auckland in had health, and shortly afterwards died in Sydney. MR. W. A. COBLEY. Mr. W. A. Cobley gained his first experience at the Thames in . ®"or some time he carried on a‘ r ‘y extensive speculations, selling * n Bevera l mines in the Thames 1( 1 Upper Thames goldfields. Later on Purchased n nteamgr, which ran

between Auckland and the North Shores but the venture was not a success. Farming operations at Papakura did not pay him, so he sold out and returned to the Thames, where he worked as a miner. Mr. Cobley is still living at Parnell, though he is not able now te do any work. MR. GEORGE CLARKSON. “I have been mining since I was eight years old,” said Mt, George Clarkson. “I came out to Auckland on June 22, 1865, and my first gold-mining operations were at Coromandel in 1867. I took a contract to sink a shaft for the Kaponga Company, where Mr. Reeves was manager. For some time afterwards I worked at Coromandel as a miner for the Kaponga Company. Hearing that the Thames was opened for prospecting, I made my way to Auckland, taking my passage by the No. 2 Enterprise. I held a fourth share in the old Shotover mine, and made some good speculations, selling out well. Some of these, however, turned out badly, my greatest loss being at the Shaleback Creek, where I dropped £ 10,000. I put up a batterv and gave Mr. J. Fraser £2OOO for the battery. After a time I sold the battery for £1000.” Mr. Clarkson went on to say that at Green Island, Dunedin,’ he leased 1000 acres of land from Mr. Shand for coal-mining. After sinking three shafts, he was put out by a great rush of water, after two years’ hard work. This speculation had to be given up, and £5OOO was lost. In 1874 he came baek to Auckland, but later carried on prospecting operations in the Upper Thames district for a year. His party camped at the Fern Flats, just below the present Waikino battery. From there they visited the spot where the Waihi mines now stand. They tried the reef, but it was no good to them at that time. The party then broke out, and with a second party, consisting of Mr. G. Clark, Mr. J. Hanna, and Mr. Murdoch, Mr. Clarkson made his way to Te Aroha. They were two days sailing up the Ohinemuri River, and all were enjoying a hot bath when the Maoris marched them back to the river. The natives made the party return, as no diggers were allowed, but first of all gave them a good supply of fresh food. This episode ended Mr. Clarkson’s prospecting experiences. Though still in good health, he has been unable to walk for the last two years, owing to an accident he received in the mines at Clifton, outside Sydney.