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 of gold right up till 1912, or for a period of thirty-seven years. No detailed information is now available as to the tonnage of quartz crushed or the amount of gold won up to the year 1887, but it is known that the value of the precious metal recovered up till that date was £120,000 and that £35,666 13s. 4d. was paid in dividends to the shareholders. The total subscribed capital up to the same time was less than £20,000. The company as originally formed carried on very profitably after this date, and up till 1896, when, owing to some of the more important blocks of stone being lost and the breaking-up of the lode into smaller and poorer blocks as depth was attained, dividend-paying came to an end.

Down to No. 7 level the United Alpine Company worked its mine by means of adits, but from this adit an inclined shaft was sunk from which Nos. 8 and 9 levels were opened. Such blocks of reef as were living down, however, in this part of the mine were fast making on their pitch into an adjoining claim held by the Lyell Creek Extended Company, which had for thirteen years been engaged in driving a long adit to catch the downward extension of the reef, which it eventually intersected at 3,700 ft. in. When the reef-line was cut, however, very little solid stone was met with; some reef was found going underfoot, but there was none in the backs. Two winzes were sunk from the adit to depths of 125 ft. and 150 ft. respectively, but the prospects got in them were not very encouraging. In 1897 the two companies amalgamated under the title of the Alpine Extended Gold-mining Company. The long adit of the Lyell Creek Extended then became No. 10 level of the Alpine Mine, and a vertical underground shaft was sunk from it, from which four more levels were opened. The Alpine Extended Company carried on till 1905, when, owing to scarcity and poverty of quartz, it ceased operations, and the mine lay idle for about two years. Another reconstruction then took place, resulting in the formation of the New Alpine Gold-mining Company, Ltd., and a further attempt was made to work the property to advantage, but success did not crown the undertaking, and in 1912 the mine was finally abandoned. No dividends were paid by either the Alpine Extended or New Alpine Companies, but the Alpine United Company paid £74,266 13s. 4d. to its shareholders. The exact tonnage crushed during the lifetime of the mine is not definitely known, owing to the detailed figures for the period 1875 to 1885 not being available, and the same applies to the yield of gold; but if the missing figures are calculated from general data that are at hand the results show that approximately a total of 146,640 tons of quartz were crushed, for a yield of 80,510 oz. gold, valued at £315,402.

In the upper levels of the mine two shoots of stone, known respectively as the North and South Blocks, were worked, the former being by far the more important. It was from this North block that most of the stone was won during the mine’s dividend-paying days, the block being of high average values and up to 50 ft. in width. This block was lost, however, about 120 ft. below No. 6 level, and was never subsequently picked up, and from the time of its disappearance the mine did little further good. In No. 7 level, which was driven about 800 ft. below the outcrop, and 290 ft. below No. 6, very little ore was developed, and in each succeeding level downward the quantity became less, only isolated blocks being found that did not live far in any direction. The section of the mine shown in Fig. 5, which has been compiled by the writer from the very incomplete plans of the mine that are available, will serve to show the position. It is clear from this that below No. 6 level the lode was seriously disturbed by