Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand/Chapter 11
MOUNT RANGITOTO.—A SEARCH FOR SILVER.
CHAPTER XI.
ARLY in 1870, the reported discovery of a silver mine at Mount Rangitoto, in the Totara district, created quite a furore in Hokitika and throughout the whole of the southern portion of the West Coast. It had been reported that a rich lode of silver had been struck by some lucky prospectors, that a small quantity had been forwarded to Melbourne for assay, and that the reports received were of the most glowing character, far exceeding all expectations. For some time the excitement regarding the discovery was intense. Here, it occurred to me, was an excellent opportunity for an exploring ramble to the mountain-top, another holiday exploit on the Golden Coast, in search of a second metal—silver. Not that there was apparent reason for doubting any portion of the statements made by the prospectors in respect to their discovery of a silver mine, but simply from a feeling of curiosity, and a belief that an intimate acquaintance with the facts and circumstances to be obtained by a personal inspection of the ground would be more convincing than the most reliable testimony of those who might be more directly interested in the value of the discovery than myself, I resolved upon visiting the then newly discovered Rangitoto silver mine.
Meeting the prospectors, James Palmer, James Bevan, and Edwin Kenway, on the Hokitika race-course on the 13th of March 1876, I arranged to start for the mine on the following morning, in company with any of the party who would consent to take the part of guide. Palmer, who had already been designated by his working mates as the captain of the party, accepted the position, and we closed an agreement of partnership for the limited term of one week, more or less, with the several conditions that, provided always, etc., the creeks and crags, and all manner of things adjacent thereto, which were described as “middling rough,” and that such means and ways as are regulated only by the ethereal elements, should favour so early a dissolution between us. This we concluded, not by affixing our autographs or seals, but in presence of two attestors, with whom we retired to Hansen’s booth, after losing a sweep on the previous race, to pledge in wine and words, if not in deeds, the fulfilment of the contract. The two witnesses to this agreement were Peter Adamson, formerly of Okarito, and Robert Acres, or better and favourably known in those days as “Waitaki Bob,” both of whom subsequently became our travelling companions, as well as our sleeping partners, as will hereafter be narrated. Next morning found Palmer and myself, true to our pledge, on board the Ross mail coach at nine o’clock. After leaving the Post Office we were driven round to the Cleveland Hotel, in Revell Street, where our party was further augmented by the presence of Mr John Hudson, making our number five in all, two of whom had their own steeds to carry them as far as the Waitaha River.
Between Hokitika, Ross, and the route thence by beach to the mouth of the Waitaha River, a distance of about thirty miles, little of special interest is presented. The only good view of scenery worthy of record along the twenty-one miles of coaching, is met with after crossing the Hokitika River by the Kanieri punt, upon ascending the hill, where the river, and the Kokatahi, and Hau Hau districts are brought in sight, furnishing one of those pleasing landscapes with which the coast so abounds. A geological curiosity on the way is the Half-way Stone, being an enormous block of granite standing above and closely adjoining the main road. A similar boulder, measuring, at a rough guess, about 100 ft. in circumference by 50 ft. in height, is passed at the Waitaha Bluff, close to the surf. The presence of such prominent objects in these positions can only be accounted for by glacial influence, as they are dissimilar in vein and grain to any of the stones in the surrounding neighbourhood. Such stones are not unfrequently met with at higher levels on both sides of the central mountain range of this island, but the deposit of these at such a distance from the great mass of primary rocks would seem to prove that glaciers in past ages must have been more powerful and far-travelling forces than existing samples of the coast would lead one to suppose. However, as the theories thereanent have been exhaustively discussed by Dr Hector in a paper read before one of the London Societies, there may be better opportunity for settling the birth-place and early life of these monster blocks by perusing his paper than by depending on any of my crude suggestions. Apart from such occasional curiosities, the drive along the Ross road is only remarkable for its extreme monotony, reminding one of Punch’s panorama of a voyage across the Atlantic, in which the stern of the steamer is exhibited as the one visible object. The traces of the coach got unhooked two or three times and dangled against the horses’ hind hoofs, but the horses preferred stopping until the matter was rectified, rather than furnish even a “hairbreadth escape” paragraph to enliven the journey. A short stay at Ogilvie’s, and the gratuitous supply of a basket of fruit to the passengers by Mrs Muir, as we passed her garden a few miles from Ross, the apples and peaches furnishing ample proof of the adaptability of the soil and climate of the district, were the only incidents on the way until we reached Ross, which but a few years previous was the most thriving place on the coast, yielding from its rich soil thousands of ounces of gold per week—where so recently the banks by day and the casinos by night were scenes of money-changing and “bustle”—and which presents now a very different picture. Had we entered the town preceded by two black in place of brown horses, and at walking pace instead of under full whip, and robed ourselves with white hat-bands, we should have been more in uniform with the appearance of the main street on the 14th of March 1876. But surely there is on the face of the Totara horizon indications of a brighter lining to its long dark clouds. With the prospect of the completion of the Mikonui Race, which is its greatest hope, its downward commercial course should shortly present a turning point. The working of the great mining claims, which are expected to be in full operation in a few months, should give dividends to its shareholders for many years to come. But I am diverging somewhat from the narrative of my trip.
Starting for the beach, we passed through Donoghue’s, and had an opportunity of seeing the extent of damage done there by the recent flood. Long stretches of fencing have been carried away, and numbers of gardens have been laid waste. The loss must be considerable to many who had made their houses comfortable, and who were previously, to all appearance, in no danger of either flood or tide. Passing along, we crossed the Mokinui by boat, and shortly met a drayman, who informed us that a party of surveyors had preceded us, bound for Mount Rangitoto, for the purpose of surveying some of the other sections adjoining that of the prospectors, applied for at the last sitting of the Lands Board. Upon reaching the Mokinui River, Mount Rangitoto presents itself in a line directly behind the Koh-i-noor claim, and from that point we have the first opportunity of contemplating our next day’s journey. Along the beach there are a number of small farms, and some dairymen settled, and apparently contented. The Waitaha Bluff is passable at any time, and at low water drays frequently traverse it. A short distance beyond Bald Head, or nine miles from Ross, Allen’s homestead is reached. Here we settled for the night. Mr Allen has a very large and comfortable accommodation house, besides several extensive paddocks under cultivation. No settler in the southern part of the Province has worked harder during the past ten years to get around him a comfortable home, and he appears at last to have achieved his object. Horses and cattle are to be numbered by the score around the buildings, and with a probability of an increase of population near the locality, his perseverance should meet with the reward it deserves. Extensive improvements have been made on the farm, and the clearest evidence is given that farming and squatting, if conducted with care and attention, along the many rivers on the southern beaches, should prove to be a remunerative occupation here as it is elsewhere.
We made a start from Allen’s on Wednesday morning about eight o’clock, equipped with provisions sufficient to last us for several days. In addition to our own party, there were other five in company at the start, but the heaviness of their swags, as compared with ours, compelled a separation before we had gone far up the first hill. Four of these belonged to the survey party, and the fifth was a traveller from Reefton, whose precise mission was unknown to us. He stupidly left without change of clothing or any supply of provisions whatever, and, but for the kind attention bestowed upon him by the Samaritans among the mountains, he would have fared badly indeed. From Allen’s to the Gorge, a distance which occupied about two hours to travel, each of our party, with the exception of Palmer, had the benefit of a saddle horse. Palmer might have availed himself of like service, but he was indifferent to a ducking. I shared my nag with Hudson, and we jogged along in this way, alternately in single and double file, singing airs appropriate to the situation, and all joining in such a chorus as “Marching through the Waitaha,” or listening to a Scotch solo from Adamson upon those who were wont to “paidle in the burn.” We had to cross the river in all seventeen times. There had been very little rain for some days, and consequently the river was at its lowest. About two and a half miles from Allen’s, and after crossing the river the sixth time, the Main Ross and Bowen Trunk Road is met with. My innocent impression of the so-called “Main Trunk Road” was, that it was a dray road, that any machinery requisite for the development of silver mines could be conveyed with ease and certainty thereon, and that a branch road would be all that would be required to make a complete thoroughfare. This is not so. The road is a mere foot track, barely worthy of the name of pack track, and at present its termination is like that of a telegraph wire or lightning rod, simply running into the hill, and presenting an appearance as if the workmen had gone to dinner and forgot to return. The land in this direction is very lightly timbered, and good soil is to be seen along the river bed all the way. The last two crossings are tolerably deep with rough bottom, but the current is not so rapid as to involve any danger, unless the river is flooded. Reaching the landing place at the Gorge, we sent our horses back with Allen’s man, arranging with him that he should meet us at two o’clock on Friday afternoon at the same place. This starting or landing point can scarcely be missed by any travellers going this way. It is on the north side of the river, immediately at the base of the mountain. In the ordinary travel of a pack horse, the distance thither should be accomplished in a couple of hours or a little more. As we wandered along the river it was observable that nature had provided in abundance many of the sustenances of life. Fish were plentiful in the river, and pigeons and ducks were in large numbers along the shore. Hitherto our travelling was all pleasure and child’s play, but from the hour of 10.45 a.m. until 5.45 p.m. it partook of a very different description. Infants will not be likely to participate in the game. Men may try it and accomplish it once; but in the absence of a gold or silver mine becoming their own inheritance at the termination of the journey, they are not likely to be caught indulging in it as a constitutional exercise. Palmer complacently chaffed us about the “gentle rise” of four hours without intermission which we would encounter. His “gentle rises” out of us were manifold. They might better be described as a succession of perpendicular break-neck hills, calculated to represent, from a draper’s point of view, at least five pounds per head, and from a bootmaker’s, twenty-five shillings. By the way, those in the trade would do well to present the prospectors with an entire rig out for themselves, wives, and families, should the present track be the only one in use for the next six months. They might petition the Government to that effect also, and bestow the same compliment on the Provincial Executive with great gain. Hudson was the first to take a farewell greeting with the lower portions of his nether garments. He strove hard to maintain the bond of union between himself and them by means of flax and yarn, but at the expiration of three hours he could compete with any of the Mongolian race for shortness of skirt. Indeed, at the top of the mountain there was no one curious enough to inquire —
“Ye gods and little fishes,
What's a man without his breeches!”
Midway up Mount Rangitoto we came on to Mr Frew, Surveyor, and his two mates, who had pitched upon a camping ground for the night. They had gone from Redman’s by the Bowen road, and struck in at the foot of the mountain. They were on a prospecting mission for silver, and intimated their intention of putting in their pegs if they met with any of the ore outside the prospectors’ boundary, in which case they would come to town to oppose the granting of the lease if the said ground had been applied for. We reached the highest peak of Mount Rangitoto, 3100 ft. above sea-level, at a quarter-past three. Here we had, in vessels more appropriate to the situation than to the conception of the poet, some of “the cup which cheers but not inebriates.” We were not by that time the possessors of any mountain dew in its fermented state. “Forward,” cried the Captain, and away we went with a fresh spurt down hill through thick scrub, intermixed with supple-jacks, lawyers, spear-grass, and patches of flax. Though bruising and peeling shins were ordinary occurrences, anything was found to be a relief from the incessant climb. The muscles of the feet and thighs became relieved by the reverse action required on the downward slope. However, this did not last long enough. Another hill or two and we reached our camping ground for the night, where the prospectors had pitched their tent. Here we arrived at a quarter-past five, after a seven hours’ tramp from the foot of the mountain. Our camping ground was 2700 ft. above sea-level. These altitudes were ascertained when Mr Cox, the Surveyor, visited the place some weeks ago. From this spot to the mine is 700 ft., down what has been called Mine Creek. We thought, however, we had done enough, if not too much, for that day, so we resolved on making the 6 by 8 tent our camp until next morning. As our Captain had nearly “cooked our goose” already, he volunteered to prepare some bacon in like manner; indeed, he affirmed that, while in camp, though fully cognisant of the fact that he stood there a man of means, upon millions of pounds worth of his own metal, he recognised and possessed “metal more attractive” in the frying pan and billy, and he could also discover without much difficulty that he was likely to be unopposed in obtaining the permanent appointment of chief cook, in addition to his other title.
Our camp was dry and comfortable. The dried ferns on which we were to sleep—“perchance to dream” of silver—presented a promise of coziness of seven hours, as against the previous seven among slippery stumps and ruts. Our cook so acquitted himself over our first meal—its preparation, not its consumption—that he was awarded a first-class verbal certificate from all hands. Shortly after supper one or two of us might be seen after the custom of the natives in their whares, whiffing our clays in front of the large fire, with a blanket as the sole outside covering, while the tattered fragments of our ordinary outer garb were also to be observed smoking on the flaxen fixing alongside. Soon we retired, to be packed like herrings in a barrel. In a 6 by 8 tent there is not much opportunity for a man of 6 ft. or more having indulgences in violent nightmare, without seriously disturbing one or other of his four mates; neither is he likely to be looked upon as a very appreciable or cheerful companion if heavy snoring is found to be one of his prevailing propensities; but one of our sleeping partners displayed a weakness in the latter direction. I happened to be comfortably ensconced as the centre man of the party, and being thus awoke before daylight, I attempted to rise to discover the snorer, but I found that my two nearest mates had each an arm round my neck. These two were benedicts, you may be sure. One of our mates again had silver on the brain while he slept. He certainly had silvery locks, but precious little on the summit of his cranium or around the brain, whether the same had been reduced by natural wear or wedlock tear. He told us he dreamt he dwelt, not “in marble halls,” but in a silver cave. He didn't cave, but dug, and not in vain, for he discovered a solid vein of virgin silver. He disposed of his plated wares, and substituted o’er his threshold the real ore instead. His better half had many domestic cups and new measures, requiring much silver. Such was his narrative.
But my readers must be wearying for an account of the mine. To it we started on the following morning. Down the creek a distance of 700 ft., half of which is covered with thick timber, the lower portion being heavy boulders, over which we had to do our spiriting with exceeding gentleness, for fear any one should lose the number of his mess. There we saw, in pleasant reality, sufficient corroborative evidence of what the prospectors had stated they obtained.
The object and terminus of our journey were reached by us on Thursday morning, at nine o’clock, and, had the weather been at all propitious, it was our intention to have visited as many of the adjoining creeks and sections for which leases have been applied as we could have accomplished during that and the following day. I also hoped I should have been enabled to have had a sufficient, though cursory, glance at the surrounding country, to have spoken more definitely of the position of the mine in respect to its connection with the Bowen road. In this, however, I was entirely frustrated, owing to the prevalence of thick fog and heavy rain during the greater part of the day, and could not form anything like a correct or reliable opinion, though there can be little doubt that a shorter course is certain to be found than the round-about and rugged track we had just traversed. After descending, as I have already stated, 700 ft. of Mine Creek—which creek, during ordinary weather, is a very small tributary or waterfall, emptying itself into the left-hand branch of the Waitaha River—we reached the outcrop of the galena ore. Here it appears cropping out of the mountain with a thickness of only two or three inches. From that point the vein is easily traceable without any break for a distance of between 40 and 60 ft., thickening gradually as it is followed, until it reaches a thickness of nine or ten inches. A few feet from where the vein is first visible, it appears to have an inclination of dipping from east to west, at at an angle roughly of about twenty degrees to the westward, but on proceeding further along the line of the ore, and reaching what we may term for the present the main lead—that is, where the vein is nine and ten inches thick—there is a fall in the lode, and the dip appears to be tending southward, at a much greater angle—an angle of about sixty degrees. The vein disappears into the hill, and at the thickest portion a large quantity of débris has fallen apparently from a recent land-slip. Palmer informed us that under this débris the vein was exposed at a thickness of 3 to 4 ft. I should have no reason to doubt this statement, but judging by the manner in which it is dipping and gradually thickening as it goes into the hill, should accept such as highly probable, more particularly as I found in every other respect that the statements of the prospectors were fully verified. To ascertain this, however, would not cost the shareholders or a company any large amount, as the whole of the débris, I dare say, could be sluiced away by hydraulic power, and this is one great advantage for the future working of the mine, that a plentiful supply of water can be obtained from either of the two creeks, only a few yards apart from each other, and which unite close to the mine. The vein of galena, containing the silver and lead ore, is imbedded in a layer of ferruginous quartz in clay slate. Below and above the vein the reef is soft, and offers little or no resistance to the extraction of the metal. Even at the present time, without any other than the common appliance of a pick, a man could knock out two or three hundredweight of the metal in a few hours. We contented ourselves with half a dozen specimens each, which were obtained with the greatest ease, and there is no necessity for, or apparent benefit from, picking the pieces, as all along the thickest part of the vein there is little or no dissimilarity in its parts. Above the lode, about 50 ft. or so, is a thick reef of white quartz, and beyond that again, to the summit of the hill, is the granite rock. In the course of a few minutes Palmer took out about thirty pounds’ weight of ore, which he brought to town. I may state also that there are from three to four tons of the ore already heaped up on the side of the cliff, ready at any time to be taken to town, or to be smelted on the ground, whenever means or ways are provided for ascertaining its value, or reducing it to pounds or shillings sterling. To the right of the creek the prospectors have put in a tunnel of 16 ft., thinking to catch the lode, but in this they were not successful. They subsequently sunk a shaft of about 10 or 12 ft. in the same direction, and have cut the vein about the same thickness, thus proving that the metal exists on both sides of the creek, besides being visible in another vein in the bottom of the creek.
Being satisfied that the ore in quantity is there, so far as can be judged by the amount of work yet done, my next desire was to become equally convinced as to the quality. With that view I took half a dozen fair-sized pieces promiscuously from the mine, not from one block, but from various points along the lode. Each specimen I carefully marked and brought to town.
There are four distinct galena reefs exposed on the prospectors’ ground within a distance of three to four hundred yards, and there are likewise indications of copper in two places on the same lease. Three or four samples of the copper ore were taken down by Palmer, and were left at the office of Mesrs Pollock & Bevan, in Wharf Street. I took down a small sample of the copper ore, and likewise one showing a large quantity of malachite on quartz, found about a hundred yards from our camping ground. In the galena there is evidently a large proportion of sulphur. We put one of the pieces on the fire at the hut, and it gave forth a blue flame with a suffocating sulphury odour. The bed of the creek at the mine smells strongly of it for some distance.
While I left my four companions for a time examining the silver mine, and each picking out a few specimens for his own particular purpose, I went on a Pickwickian ramble among the rocks examining the little pebbles in creeks and crevices, in the forlorn hope that a ruby or an opal or some precious stone might meet my view. For the period of fifteen minutes, more or less, I desired to be a prospector and a discoverer. I felt as if I could be contented were I happening to stumble on a small diamond field on my own account, or were I to be confronted by a female moa feeding about, followed by one or two of its offspring. Gold and silver will be so common in Westland, between the Taipo and Mount Rangitoto discoveries, that we shall be obliged to quit these regions or prospect for something new. Diamonds and moas would afford novelty and variety. Whilst I was thus meditating, my mates were doing the baptismal honours to the mine, but as I was not present, I am unable to furnish a reliable report of the ceremony. I was informed, however, on their return to the tent, that they scooped out a silver cup and christened the mine after the manner of men, in pure water, bestowing on it the name of its parents, the Prospectors. Hudson, I was told, assumed the clerical office for the time, and dilated somewhat after this manner. He addressed the assemblage—they were three in number—by the name of “brethren,” and he regretted to think that it was out of his power to request them to partake of any other than of the pure ethereal. They had been Good Templars by force of circumstances, and no one regretted this more than himself, unless it was “Waitaki Bob.” He directed their attention to the great moral set forth in the mine, the mountains, and the kilts they stood in. He thought these presented evidence of the magnificent and munificence of nature, but of the insignificance of art in that neighbourhood; in short, in their shorts, they must feel the need of a tailor on Mount Rangitoto. They might be compared to the “three tailors of Tooley Street,” and well they could in one sense, for their views were the views of the whole mountains and the people thereof, but again in another sense they had not a needle amongst them. They were welcome, as did their fathers of old, even before the days of Lazar, to take pieces and shekels of silver, and they were to drink, but he defied them to become drunken. In the name of Palmer, Bevan, and Kenway, he then christened the mine, and shortly after the echoing chorus was sounded of “Home again” while the party were seen scrambling up the creek.
Shortly after assembling together again at our Camp, the Survey party and Frew and party reached us. They were wet and weary enough, most of them being obliged to carry heavy swags. Then did it commence to rain and blow in all earnestness. I question very much, if Anthony Trollope had been there with his advice “don't blow,” that it would have been effective in saving our fire-fly. It did fly. I made a series of sublunary visions out of a small hole in the hut, and could distinguish no more comfortable reposing place than between a pair of blue blankets under the calico roof. I dropped across Lamborn’s work on Metallurgy stowed away in a corner. From it I made myself acquainted with many descriptions of ores, their various assays and treatment, and I learned something respecting the valuable constituents of silver and lead. To silver miners and prospectors who may not have read this work, or that of Dr Phillips on Mineralogy, I would recommend their perusal. Dr Phillips says that we are not sufficiently advanced in our knowledge of chemical geology to warrant an attempt to form any general theory of the formation of mineral veins. We need not attempt, therefore, to lay down the theory whereby we may condemn or uphold the value of the discovery of Mount Rangitoto at this early stage. But I cannot refrain from noticing that, in respect to its position on the west side of the mountain, and in regard to the other details of colour, structure, and composition of the rocks and the mineral itself, it compares pointedly and exactly with the descriptions given of many of the oldest silver mines in the world. Then, as to the value of the ore, it compares most favourably, assuming Mr Kirkland’s assay to be correct, with the richest of the known mines at the present day. The most remarkable silver mines, we are told by these authorities, are in Frieberg in Saxony, Kongsberg in Norway, and Huantaya in Southern Peru. The largest specimen ever obtained was got in Peru, weighing eight hundredweight. All the silver produced in the United Kingdom is extracted from argentiferous lead, and in the North of England, mines are worked which yielded as low as 1½ ozs. of silver per ton. In the Isle of Man the average is between 50 and 60 ozs. of silver per ton of lead. In Cardiganshire and Montgomeryshire, the average is between 15 and 25 ozs. per ton. In the Kongsberg mines in Norway, where silver was discovered as far back as 1623, the mines are a hundred miles long by fifty miles in breadth. There, we are informed, the iron pyrites was decomposed and gave rise to the formation of hydrated oxide of iron, the presence of which was the first indication of silver in Kongsberg. There, as here, nearly all the ore-bearing hills run north and south. They are irregular in their dimensions, but all preserve a certain degree of parallelism with each other, and the silver is traced, as I have said, for miles on the west side. The largest silver vein in Mexico is 200 ft. in width, but the majority of the veins, we are told, commence at a few inches in thickness and extend sometimes to 6 or 8 ft. The mean average produce of the Mexican mines, as estimated by Dr Phillips, is a little more than 50 ozs. per ton. The average richness throughout Saxony is 60 to 70 ozs. per ton. Though I do not profess to know aught of geology to determine—what, indeed, would be an exceedingly difficult problem even to modern geologists—the relative ages of the rocks on this coast, or to assign their position in the geological series, I feel assured if a geological report were given by some competent person, it would be shown that similar formations and indications exist here to those of most of the silver-bearing countries mentioned. The first great question to determine with regard to this new discovery is, whether these similar veins are thickening still further in the dip, and whether they will become concentrated in one enormous ode. Such were my meditations until I became entranced by the captivations of Morpheus. On Friday morning, our Captain acquainted us with something respecting the moon’s quarters. He meant that we should no longer have quarters there. He said one thing appeared clear, if not the hills. We were all in a fog. During the night, I may mention, we heard the notes of the kaka, the kiwi, and kakapo. At early dawn we heard Mr Frew imitating every imaginable live bird and animal belonging to the farm-yard. We presented him with a tin of preserved milk, as an accompaniment to his only beverage and sole article of food—burgoo. After breakfast we christened the embryo town by the name of Silverton, giving three cheers for the prospectors. The pleasure of the homeward journey was only marred by the inclemency of the weather. In about five hours we reached the foot of the hill, where we met Bill, one of Allen’s men, who had kindly waited for us, according to promise, with four horses. At six o’clock we reached Allen’s, where our comforts were again attended to. Later in the evening Bill suggested, in honour of St Patrick’s night, that the occasion should be suitably celebrated. Allen happened to have two new-chum servants by name Phil and Peggy. Phil could cause dulcet strains to emanate from a family fiddle which had been an heirloom for three generations, while Peggy was “all there” in what she termed in other words than the terpsichorean fantasias. After our travels over the “rocky roads,” nothing would do but that we should open the ball. Peter Adamson and Peggy were our vis-á-vis. Full dress was not imperative, so we left our coats and boots to dry, while Phil
“Struck up a lilt so gaily.”
Suffice it to say, for three hours Good Templarism was not the chief topic of conversation. Irish jigs, Scotch reels, and songs of all nations were only stayed in their rapid course when interspersed by stirrup-cups. Next morning Waitaha to Ross, and thence to Hokitika.
Ere next I see the silver lode,
May Government provide a road!.
At a later period in the same year, Mr John Bevan was more fortunate in regard to weather, in an excursion made by himself and others to the silver country, and in a narrative of the journey, he thus described the scenery from the summit of Mount Rangitoto:—“Every sense is alive to the beauty of the scene. Looking inland from the sea along the chain of mountains, one first beholds ‘Mount Cook,’ the ever hoary-headed giant of the south, rearing aloft its snow-clad heights, 13,000 feet above the level of the sea, the monarch of all, the greatest land mark in New Zealand, and alongside of which all others seem insignificant, but none the less grand in the glorious picture presented.
“To the south and immediately at the base of the point of observation, one sees the valley of the Waitaha, Duffer’s lake in its solitude lying still and motionless, enclosed by high mountains. The rivers ‘Wanganui’ and ‘Wataroa,’ ‘Bald Head’ and ‘Wanganui Bluff,’ the scene of many of Ocean’s mighty furies and the terror of the traveller at times, when trying to get round its perpendicular and iron bound cliffs, and as far as the eye can reach one beholds headland after headland laved by the mighty Pacific Ocean, the white fringe of its ever restless surf looking in the sunshine like a silver thread upon the storm-beaten shore.
“To the north a similar but less imposing scene presents itself. The peaceful valley of the Mikonui at the base. The river Totara, Lake Mahinapua in the distance, with a glimpse of the Hokitika River and some portion of the town, the long stretch of sea shore for many miles, a few habitations here and there, and at length closed in by ‘Point Elizabeth’ stretching out into the sea, a few miles north of Greymouth, completes the view.
“It is impossible for me adequately to describe such a glorious panorama, for the point of observation being within a few miles of midway in Westland, one obtains a view of nearly the whole of the Province. It requires the descriptive powers of a Chevalier, or a Von Guerrard, to do justice to it; and if either of these celebrated artists could behold it under such favourable circumstances—a cloudless sky, the sunshine dancing in the foliage, on the glittering bosom of the restless and azure deep, over the rippling river falls, on the still waters of the silent lake, and marking in bold lights and shades the prominent and time-worn features of every mountain in the Southern Alps,—could not fail to enrapture and create at once a response to the demands upon his talents, by repeating the scene in miniature with all its beautiful details.”
Turning from the descriptive to the practical, I regret to record that the great hopes, entertained by many, of the Mount Rangitoto silver mine, have not yet been realised. A company was formed with a nominal capital of £30,000, £19,500 of which was subscribed in shares of £5 each, the balance being apportioned to the original proprietors. The capital was all expended in prospecting the ground and developing the mine. The original lode was lost, though several other lodes were met with in the drives, carrying more lead and less silver. Eighty bags of the ore were shipped to Messrs Vivian & Son, of Swansea, and several lots were shipped to Australia. In 1882, Mr Bevan, one of the original promoters, went to England with the object of inducing English capital to be invested in the further development of the mine. He reached London at a time when heavy losses were reported to have been made in the Indian mines, and was unsuccessful in floating his projected company. Five hundred acres of freehold land, a crushing plant and smelting apparatus, are all that remain of the first silver mine venture on the coast. The strong but neglected constitution of poor Palmer broke down, and he has taken the final march, in front of his mountaineering companions, to that goal whence no one returns. The end of “Waitaki Bob” was still more sad. He died in the Sea View Asylum at Hokitika.
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