Adelong
Gold Fields Empire (Sydney) 17 July
1857 |
The intelligence received from the various gold fields of New South
Wales continues on the whole satisfactory. The newly discovered quartz reef at Adelong Creek, near Tumut, in the Southern
Districts, to which we alluded in our last summary, has attracted a good deal
of attention. Favourable accounts of the results of the operations carried on there have from
time to time reached Sydney; and a number of specimens of the quartz nuggets
have been exhibited. There is at present, we believe, no machinery on the
ground for crushing the quartz; so that the real extent of the richness of
the new discovery remains to be tested. As it is, however, a considerable
quantity of gold has been taken out from the loose earth lying around the
quartz. Some of the gold has already found its way by escort to Sydney; and we
may expect soon to see a large increase from this quarter. Our latest
intelligence from Adelong is to the 6th instant, and from this we learn that
the deepest shaft which had yet been sunk in the reef is about 20 feet deep,
is yielding a pound weight of gold to the tub of wash dirt, and the quartz is
estimated to be worth from 20 to 30 ounces to the ton. Most of the other
claims on the reef are yielding satisfactorily. There are at present about 300 miners on the reef and its vicinity;
there is a number of stores, restaurants, &o.,
going up, and forming quite a township at the foot of Mount Charcoal, as the
quartz range is at present termed. From another source we learn that all the
claims so far are paying well, and that the loose soil on sinking through the
reef prospects on an average 16 dws. to the tin dish in some claims. Mr. Mandleson, of Tumut, writing to his
father in Sydney, says:- "I have sent you by
this day's mail a specimen of quartz; it will clearly, prove to you that
there is no mistake; examine it well, and you will see gold all through it;
it is a fair sample; and if you were here yourself only to see tons upon tons
heaped up, and people cannot make any use of it until somebody rigs a
quartz-crusher! That is not all; the soil is very rich round the quartz, so much so,
that I enquired of one party that I saw filling into a dray, what such a dray
load would yield? They told me that 6 to 8 ozs. was the average of every
load they washed. Those men I know I can rely upon. Another young man, that I know quite well, assures me of having taken
as much as he could comfortably wag under on his back down to the creek,
washed it, and turned out 13 dwts. 10 grs. This I can vouch for as being a fact, a I bought it
when I was on the diggings yesterday; in fact, you can hear and see
more convincing proof every hour in the day - the further they get down the
better it is." Another gentleman, writing from Adelong on the 3rd instant, states
that "people are going to the reef very fast now, but not until
after the news has reached the Ovens and other Victorian diggings will, there
be any marked improvement in population. Several new claims have been struck, equally as rich as the first.
People who were at first doubtful of its success are now sanguine of its
turning out first-rate. In about another month, when those claims that are
now being sunk have struck the reef, the public will be able to see by our
escort that we are doing something heavy. All the miners feel confident of
success." It will be soon from those statements that this discovery promises to
lead to results of much importance. |