Transcription

336
V I C T O R I A

it is a characteristic of all the diggings on plains in the interior, such as those at Bendigo, Tarrengower & Maryborough, that water is scarce,  Indeed we believe not one half the rain falls a hundred miles & upwards in the interior  Compared with that on the Sea Coast  -  In the second season, however, the rains fill the holes, & the water difficulty is much mitigated  - 

BALAARAT
This great field still maintains its fame  -  Steady results are obtained by sinking to the beds of the old water Courses  -  It will be many years before they are exhausted  -  After that will come regular mining by Sinking on rock veins - 

TARRENGOWER
This locality maintains its reputation as a productive field.  But this, as well as Maryborough and Avoca, are yet in their infancy, even as alluvial diggings it will be at least a year before their true value is known.

BALLAN
This is another new field, it is not far from Mount Macedon.  It is nearly on the line between Mount Alexander & Ballaarat its discovery is a step towards the connection of these two great fields.

MOUNT ALEXANDER
In connection with this field an old Cornish mining Captain has given some interesting information.  For some time before he left the diggings he had
become impressed with the idea that the auriferous drift or alluvial deposits where all the gold has hitherto been found, are the debris from decomposed quartz lodes, such as those of South America, where he had been engaged in regular mining, and he spent the last week he was on the diggings to test this theory.  Observing
the lay of the deposits he pointed out to his party that the quartz lode would be found in a certain direction along the ridge of the hills.  Thither accordingly they proceeded & they found a lode with regular walls somewhere about thirty feet thick and traceable for a considerable distance.  One of these lodes at McIvor has been traced seven miles.  They examined the quartz and found gold in specks almost in every piece.  The matter is of high interest because it proves that the previous metal is not a mere deposit on the surface, which may be speedily exhausted, but is embedded deep in the rock formation & will require centuries of regular mining and crushing to extract it.

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