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mined and treated from the claim during the whole time it was worked was apparently 1,644 tons, which yielded 1,092 oz. 18 dwt. 6 gr. gold, valued at £4,185 15s. One small dividend, totalling £104, is said to have been paid by the first Golden Arch Company.
Garibaldi Mine.—This mine was situated immediately south of the claim just described, and it is reported that in it, in the “nineties,” the brothers J. and P. Coghlan proved an ore-shoot of much the same length, width, and value as that in the adjoining claim, but very little effort seems to have been ever made to develop it.
Although reef of a value of about £2 10s. per ton for gold was left underfoot in both these mines, further prospecting on the shoots is not justified. The stone is too narrow and the rock-walls too hard to admit of profitable working, and there is small likelihood of the reef widening at depth, it being a feature of the bedded veins of the Inangahua district that they rarely alter much in width as they are followed down.
CALEDONIAN GROUP.—POTTERS LODE-SERIES.
This lode-series, situate about eight miles north-north-east from Reefton and about four miles and a half up Larry’s Creek from its confluence with Inangahua River, was the most northerly on which any important work was done in the Reefton auriferous area. The first discovery of gold-bearing quartz there was made in 1872 by Joseph Potter and Thomas Bateman, on what was afterwards the Caledonian Claim. A company was formed shortly after the find was made for the purpose of developing it, and a shaft was sunk on the south bank of Larry’s Creek close to the outcrop. This shaft subsequently attained the depth of 183 ft., and four levels were opened from it, the first level being 70 ft. below the shaft-collar, and the others at intervals of less than 40 ft. under it. The shoot of stone dipped easterly at a high angle and had a northerly pitch of about 30°. It is said to have had an average width of 3 ft., with a length on Nos. 1 and 2 levels of 180 ft. On No. 3 level very little stone was got, and on No. 4 none was met with. In 1874 crushing was commenced at a ten-stamp battery erected in the locality by No. 2 South Larry’s Company, which held the adjoining ground to the south. The first parcels of quartz treated proved very rich, returning about 9 oz. gold per ton, but as the stone was sunk on the values fell away, with the result that the average of all the quartz crushed was about 4 oz. per ton. By 1879 all the stone in sight was worked out, and the Caledonian Company merged with the No. 2 South Larry’s to form the Caledonian Extended Company, which continued prospecting on the areas for several years and then abandoned the ground. In 1894 Messrs. B. and R. Duffy formed a party which took the claims up again, erected a five-stamp battery, and took out and crushed a small quantity of quartz the old company had left to protect the shaft. They also crushed about 900 tons of stone from the old dump, but the return from this, 90 oz. gold, was far from payable.
In 1896 the claims were purchased by David Ziman and transferred to the Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand. This company meditated the sinking of a new main shaft, but later decided against this course, and, after spending a good deal of money in cleaning up and retimbering the old workings, abandoned the property in 1900.
In 1906 the Duffy brothers again took up the ground and arranged for the formation of the New Caledonian Gold-mining Company, which began the sinking of a new shaft on the north bank of the creek. Much difficulty
