Page:Downey•Quartz·Reefs·West·Coast•1928.pdf/95

 shareholder in the company, who for a number of years subsequently spent a considerable sum in prospecting it. In 1894 a parcel of 155 tons of quartz was crushed for a yield of 44 oz. gold, and in 1907 another of 100 tons was treated for a return of 18 oz. 13 dwt. 2 gr., while in the following year a further 100 tons, taken from a 3 ft. reef, gave 16 oz. 5 dwt. gold. None of these crushings were payable.

For the purpose of testing the reefs at greater depth a shaft was sunk in 1912 and 1913 to 250 ft., and a crosscut was put out to the west from the bottom for a distance of 500 ft. At least two reef-tracks were cut in this crosscut, one at 320 ft. from the shaft and the other near the end, but they contained no stone worth mining, and operations were suspended. Nothing has since been done on the claim.

This series lies a little south of Lee’s line, and auriferous stone was first found on it shortly after the discovery of the Sir Francis Drake shoot in 1888. No reef of any size was located, the find consisting of a belt of country in which numerous stringers, leaders, and veinlets of quartz occurred banded with sandstone. On the O.K. Claim, this belt was about 60 ft. wide on the surface, and in No. 1 adit of the Golden Lead it is said to have been 80 ft. in width, but its average width was very much less. Along the line it was picked up at spots nearly 3,000 ft. apart. So numerous were the veinlets, and so rich did the gold in them appear to be, that it was thought the whole formation would pay to crush; but this expectation was not realized, bulk parcels of the material yielding only from 3 dwt. to 4½ dwt. gold per ton, and the leaders were too small of themselves to be worked profitably. Nevertheless, work was carried on for about fourteen years on the field, mainly on the Golden Lead, A1, and Merrijigs Claims.

Golden Lead Mine.—The original claim of this name lay immediately to the west of the Cumberland Claim. The leader formation was first found on the O.K. Claim, near the Merrijigs Claim boundary, at a point about 20 chains south-westerly from the Golden Lead, but it was soon traced north-easterly into the latter, and south-westerly into the A1. In 1890, when the Golden Lead Gold-mining Company was formed, it absorbed the O.K. and Northumberland Claims, and during subsequent years carried out much active prospecting on them. Prior to the formation of the company a tunnel had been put in on the Golden Lead Claim, about 70 ft. below the outcrop. In this the leader formation was said to have been 80 ft. wide, but other reports seem to indicate that this width included a 30 ft. horse of mullock. The adit was driven over 400 ft. By way of trying out the average value of the formation in it, 100 tons of material taken from the ore-dump at the mouth of the adit were crushed, but the yield was only 4½ dwt. gold per ton. After the amalgamation, another crushing of 52 tons, from which as much as possible of the sandstone was picked out, was put through the battery for a yield of 25 dwt. per ton. In 1891 the Golden Lead Company erected a ten-stamp battery, and a second adit was driven for 700ft., at a depth of 150 ft. below No. 1. Subsequently, two other levels—No. 3, 120 ft. below No. 2, and No. 4, 250 ft. below No. 3—were put in. In neither of the latter workings was anything of value found. No. 3 was a crosscut for the first 150 ft., then it followed the leader zone for a further 200 ft., but the formation at this part was not payable for working. No. 4 adit was started in 1902, and