Hokitika had by far the best chance of securing the business accounts, and of this they did not fail to take advantage. Notwithstanding such odds against me, I managed to hold my own, especially in the gold purchases.
“Revell was busy throughout the day marking off sites of 40 feet frontage; he also laid out two streets and measured off the different allotments, reserving one chain frontage to the river, and 40 feet wide for the street. Several disputes have already arisen. The sea still being smooth, Captain Whitwell, master of the S.S. Wallaby, crossed the bar in the ship’s boat and took soundings. He afterwards brought the Wallaby into the lagoon and discharged cargo. To top off the day Cassius opened his store. On December 21st, Broham pitched his tent on the Camp Reserve which had been marked out by Revell and here I was generally to be found at meal times. The next day the cutter Nugget, of Invercargill, and the cutter Petrel arrived from Jackson’s Bay, with thirty-nine men who had been prospecting in that locality with indifferent success, Barrington and party being amongst the number.”
At this time gold was being discovered almost everywhere and on the 23rd—two days before Christmas—a rush set in to Saltwater Creek, which, as has been stated, is five miles south of where Greymouth to-day stands. Here over one hundred men settled down to work with good results—this field being very rich.
