# Charleston: Its Rise and Decline/Chapter 24

Chapter XXIV.
METHODS OF GOLD-SAVING—BATTERIES AND COMPANIES.
GROUND Sluicing: In this primitive and earliest system of gold-saving where running water was available, the wash-dirt was thrown by hand labour into a stream running through a claim, whence it passed over catchment tables in the tail-race. The race that brings the water to the claim is termed “the head-race,” while the race that takes the water, etc., from the claim is the “tail-race.”
Hydraulic Sluicing: An improvement upon ground sluicing, consists of a powerful stream of water being forced against the “face” of auriferous earth and carrying the debris over the tables. Labour was saved and a greater quantity of dirt worked.
Hydraulic Elevator or Blow-up: This, as the name implies, is a method of sluicing in which the wash-dirt is forced, or “blown up,” from a low level to catchment tables on a higher level.
Messrs. Lavery & Butterworth established a two-man elevator close to Constant Bay. In January, 1897, Messrs. Powell & Co. started to establish a large elevator just south of the Totara River—an extensive and ambitious undertaking, with about six miles of water-races (from Croninville) two miles of heavy piping, and a highly expensive plant. The construction occupied fifteen months, the water (about 10 heads) being turned-on on 28th March, 1898, the cost having been £2,000, which was later increased to £7,300. The spread of tables was 102 feet, which required 816 square feet of copper plating. It worked about 300 acres on and adjoining the Nine--​mile Beach, and during its 22 years of operation won about £100,000 worth of gold. The method at first employed was the old “blow-up” system, but later a hydraulic-pneumatic process invented and patented (N.Z.) by Mr. G. M. Powell, which greatly decreased the working cost while increasing the amount of dirt washed. This process was, in 1920, patented in the Federated Malay States also, and is still being used there.
Beach Combing: As the name suggests, this is a “combing” or sluicing of beach sands, water being brought to portable tables by means of calico hoses, and the sand shovelled into the hopper box, to be sluiced over the tables by the stream from the hose.
Stamper Batteries were mechanical means for crushing the “cement” which was then carried by a stream of water over tables, usually of copper plates, but sometimes fabric-covered. The batteries had varying numbers of stampers, heavy iron weights that fell upon the blocks of cement placed under them. The stampers were operated by an eccentric shaft revolved by water-wheels (usually overshot) which caused the weights to alternatively rise and fall. At first steam power was used but this proved to be too costly. The batteries replaced the primitive methods of pulverising by hand, or by horse-power, or of burning the cement to disintegrate it.
Fly Catching was the placing of tables in the bed of a sludge-channel, i.e., a stream into which the discharge of “tailings” was permitted. It is estimated that not more than sixty per cent. of the gold was captured by the claim owners, forty per cent. escaping with the tailings into the sludge channels. Much of the escaping gold was caught by the fly-catchers, the remainder being carried into the Nile River and thence to the sea, from which it was washed by the tides on to the nearby beaches to be gathered by the beachcombers.
The principal fly-catching stream was Darkie’s Creek, where table-rights were held by Gregory & Horner, George Moore, Joseph Warne, Roger Walker, and G. R. Brown; the latter better known as “Parson Brown,” because an enthusiastic church-worker. Brown later sold to Laurenson, who sold to Magnus Mouat, from whom Brown re-bought. ​Laurenson lost his life while fishing from the rocks at Little Beach. His companions, William Harper and Duncan Johnson, received the Royal Humane Society’s certificate for their endeavours to rescue him.
Butterworth Bros. had a few tables in Broomielaw Creek; and Messrs. S. Turner, M. Sullivan, W. Ferguson, and T. Enright had tables in Argyle Creek.
Several experiments have been made in New Zealand to extract from sea-water the gold held in solution, and many castles-in-the-air built upon the possibility of the process proving profitable; so far such castles are still in the air. Many old-timers pictured the sea-bed near to river-mouths as being a golden carpet that but required to be shaken, or that fabulously rich reefs existed there, from which the constant action of the tides ground gold and cast it ashore; they had vivid imaginations, these old-time picture builders.
Gold Dredges: The idea of dredging for gold originated in New Zealand, also the idea of working dredges by electric-power. The first gold-dredge was built and operated by a Chinaman, Sew Hoy, of Dunedin. It was on the Shotover River, at Wakatipu. In 1906 there were 40 dredges working on the West Coast, and their returns for the financial year 1905-1906 amounted to £103,277/17/4. To-day the only really large returns on the Coast are from dredges, which work as much ground as could hundreds of men in the same time by the old methods. Mechanical inventions are very labour-saving. Turbine engines generate up to 300,000 horse-power—three million times the energy of a man, on an eight-hour basis.
There is not, nor has there been, any dredging around Charleston.
There were not any Chinese residents about Charleston, though the Warden’s report of 1884 records the arrival of thirty from Inangahua, also that “they soon left—dis-heartened.” Elsewhere on the Coast a fair number engaged in mining, and a goodly sprinkling still remain, eking out a living by re-washing the white man’s leavings. They were a wily race. An old tale goes that on one of the first railways on the Coast, two arrived at the station and were carrying ​another on a stretcher—“welly sick.” They bought three passenger tickets.
Upon their arrival at their destination the sick man proved to be a corpse. The rate for a corpse is 1/- per mile, but for a passenger only twopence per mile; so the difference was demanded. The two blandly declared that their mate had been alive when they started, and had died when only a mile from the end of the journey—they proffered the difference for this mile, tenpence. “No pay, no have,” said the official. “No can do,” they replied, “better you keep him”; and left. Later the official had to entreat the wily ones to remove free the “perishable goods.”
BATTERIES AND WATER-RACES.
The mining venture that, because of its great dam and water-race, had the greatest and most lasting effect upon the Charleston field, was the “Argyle Goldmining and Water Supply Company,” registered in 1873, with a capital of £8,160 in 816 shares of £10 each. It paid over £1,000 in dividends during its first year. This dam, of about 300 acres area, was at Deep Creek, near the Four-mile, and was the highest in the district with the exception of the Progress dam, also near the Four-mile, which was thirty feet higher, and had a greater area but not such a plentiful supply of water. The Argyle dam was built by a party comprising Charles Haines, W. G. Jackson, Wm. Pearson, and W. McEwen, who sold to the company. The first manager of the company was Charles Haines, who was succeeded by Philip McCarthy, of Candlelight. Some of the early shareholders were W. G. Jackson, Joseph Henry, W. McEwen, James Egan, Joseph Dromgool, and John Woodcock.
Early, a water-race ran from the dam to Candlelight. This cost £800, and as a further £1,300 was required to extend it to Argyle Terrace, the Government was appealed to, and it granted monetary assistance. The race carried about 25 heads of water, sufficient to keep a large number of miners regularly employed.
The remains of Rahui School, Nine-mile Beach. Now (1940) used as a cowshed.
On 3rd April, 1882, Mr. Doyle reported, inter alia, that “good prospects had been spoilt by the dam breaking away on 11th May, 1881, and that this had been the driest season for eight years.” He also mentioned that in 1873 the dam had run dry “through long drought and it took eighteen months to get it up again.”
In April, 1884, the Warden reported: “The Government race heading from the Argyle dam at Deep Creek, has been extended to Argyle Terrace. The further extension of this race along the line of terraces ending at the Nile River, is much needed. The extensive water rights held by Mr. James Butterworth on the Four-mile Flat, and in Whiskey Creek neighbourhood, have been largely used by the miners; and this race, standing as it does, at a higher level than the Government race, commands a greater area of working.”
On 10th April, 1884, Mr. Doyle reported that “results had not been as satisfactory as expected, owing to alterations, and to three parties taking water from Butterworth at a reduced price per head—this was a loss of £250 for the year.” He mentioned the extension of the race to the Back Lead, and that the dam wall had been raised three feet, also that “every dam in the Charleston district was dry when he wrote, and no sign of rain, so all the men are nearly idle for the want of water”; adding that they “had had no rain since Christmas excepting for some slight showers.” He gave the receipts and expenditure as: Sale of water—£324; maintenance of race—£371; average net earnings per man—£3 per week; number employed—12; gold obtained—600 ounces.
The extension of the race to Ballarat Terrace, Sardine Terrace and the Back Lead, was costly, the total expense of construction, alterations, etc., being over £15,000. It involved the erection at Ballarat Gully of a siphon 22 inches in diameter with a “lead in” 30 feet high. The engineer for the siphon construction was C. Y. O’Connor, and the contractor, Isaac Hardley, the contract price being £2,000.
​A dray-road had been made to Ballarat Terrace in 1870. Later, the dam and water-race were taken over by the Buller County Council, who raised a loan under the Local Bodies Loans Act to provide the cost of purchase and of bringing the Four-mile Creek into the Argyle dam, thus augmenting the supply. The Council struck a special rate to meet the interest, etc., but this proving insufficient, it suffered a loss. However, the field undoubtedly had its life lengthened by its main water supply being extended and continued to a greater extent than a private company could have afforded.
In 1906, the County Council gave a lease of the race for a term of five years, to P. Walsh and party, at £45 per annum with right of renewal. They sold water, and also worked old tailings on the Back Lead. This race has not been in use since about 1910, and but little trace of it now remains—it is but a memory.
Other large water-races were James Butterworth’s at Four-mile and Whiskey Creek, and one owned by “The Charleston Water Race Company” which had a capital of £5,000, some of the shareholders being Philip McCarthy, of Candlelight, Thomas Sexton, of City Hotel, Joseph Henry, Chas. Woodcock, Thos. Bowling, W. Henry, W. Hartill, James Parsons, C. Gasquoine, E. Drennan, M. E. Gardner, Walton Pell, R. Warne, T. Crumpton, Bridget Power, Duke Ballam, Robt. Shepherd, Arthur King, Edwin Perrett and James Walker.
The Dublin City: 1868. On Back Lead. 12 heads of stampers of 135 lbs. each. Area 13½ acres. The face was from 7 to 9 feet high, from which a tram ran 36 chains to the shoot. The water-wheel (claimed to be the largest in district) was 30 feet in diameter with 3 feet breast. It crushed 19 cubic yards per day of 9 hours. The water was brought from the upper reaches of the Nile. It was, about 1888, re-built and enlarged. Owners—M. Twohill and party; Kirwin and party; T. J. O’Leary, E. Whelan; P. O’Conor; Wm. Norris.
Pakihi Cement Crushing Company: 1867. Capital £1,500. Owners—Chas. Haines and party.
Nee’s Battery: 1867. On Buller Road. Owner—Charles Nees.
​Steel and Party: 1868. On Back Lead. Capital £1,200 Water-wheel 20 feet diameter.
Nile Cement, Gold, and Water Company: 1868. On Darkie’s Terrace. Capital £3,000. Owner—Wm. Marris.
Cosmopolitan Cement Crushing and Water Company: 1868. On Back Lead. Capital £3,500. Owners—Duncan McLaren & Co.
Nile Cement and Crushing Company: 1868. Owners—J. P. Sweeney, John King, J. W. Rowe, and others.
Southern Cross Mining Company: 1868. On Darkie’s Terrace. Capital £3,600. Henry Evans, Clarke Curtin and others.
Hope Goldmining Company: 1868. On Back Lead, Darkie’s Terrace. Water-power. Capital £2,800. Owner—Wm. Hunter.
Maori Chief Cement Crushing Company: 1869. On Back Lead. Worked by steam machinery at first, but changed to water-wheel. Owners—Wm. Wilson and others. Chas. Godso, Manager. Capital £5,000. Area, 5 acres.
Progress: 1869. On Victoria Terrace. Drew water from the highest dam in the district, which was 30 feet higher than the Argyle dam.
Galatea Ground Sluicing Company: 1869. On Stony Lead, Candlelight. Roger Walker and others.
Prospect Goldmining Company: On Dawson’s and Boatman’s Terraces, near to Charleston. Owners—John Shearer and others.
Deep Lead Sluicing and Goldmining Company: 1869. On Candlelight Flat. Owners—James Henderson & Co.
Charleston Goldmining Company: 1869. On Candlelight Flat. Owner—John King & Co.
Neptune Goldmining and Sluicing Company.: 1869. On Miller’s Terrace, near Brown’s Terrace. Capital £980. Owners—J. W. Rowe and others.
Enterprise Goldmining Company: 1869. On Sardine Terrace. There was another of same name on Darkie’s Terrace.
Three Friends Company: 1869. On Second Bay Flat. Owners—B. Cunningham, A. Quinn, P. Daley.
​Munster Mining Company: 1869. On Fenian Flat. Owner—James O’Keeffe.
Independent Company: 1869. Charleston Flat. Owner—Cornelius O’Connor.
Perseverance Cement Crushing Company: 1869. Sardine Terrace. 6 acres. Owners—Wm. McKay & Co.
D. & T. Murphy’s: On Ballarat Hill. 2 acres. Owners— D. & T. Murphy.
Queen’s Own Goldmining Company: 1869. On Town Lead. Capital £1,200. Owners—Wm. Marris & Co.
Homeward Bound Cement Crushing Company: 1869. On Back Lead. Capital £1,500.
Criterion Goldmining Company: 1869. On Victoria Terrace, Candlelight Flat. Owners—James Parsons & Co.
Duke of Edinburgh: On Brown’s Terrace.
Morning Star: On Victoria Terrace. 4 stamps. Owners—Collins & Co.
Enterprise: On Back Lead. W. Norris and party.
Co-operation Mining Company: On Jones Terrace. Owners—J. E. Gillespie & Co.
No Name: On Candlelight Flat. Owners—John Woodcock & Co.
City Sluicing Company: On Township Lead. Capital £700. Owners—Chas. McCarthy & Co.
Who’d Have Thought It? Cement Crushing Company: On Charleston Flat. Capital £1,500. Owners—J. G. Jackson, G. C. Bowen, and others.
Mitchell’s: On Brown’s Terrace: Owner—Frank Mitchell.
Tom-tit: Back Lead.
Corn in Egypt; Kohinoor; Fiery Cross; Metropolitan; William Fox; Hagendorn’s; Venture; Tuscarora; Colleen Bawn; Hurburgh and Craddock’s: 1899. 4 stampers.
Mr. William Dickson, of Back Lead, was the designer of many of the batteries, and Messrs. Hurburgh and Craddock undertook much of the building.
In 1868 was formed “The Charleston Prospecting Association” who employed practical miners to go on “prospecting tours of the back country within a radius of five miles of ​Charleston” to find new ground. None was found. Mr. R. G. Neale was the Secretary.
THE GENERAL EXPLORATION COMPANY LIMITED.
From about 1897 until about 1900 an effort to resuscitate mining about the Charleston, Addison’s Flat, and Buller districts was made by a highly-capitalised venture, The General Exploration Company Limited, which obtained many properties around Four-mile, Addison’s Flat and Mount Rochfort, and of which Mr. Pielsticker was general manager and Captain Dencker, engineer.
At the Four-mile were three, with an area of 259 acres, the claims being known as the Empress, the Aurora, and the Four-mile. These were under the management of Mr. E. C. Braddon who, in a report in 1897 stated: “These properties contain large deposits of cement. The gold is very fine, and has a coating of oxide of iron which makes amalgamation very difficult.” The company also took over the Four-mile water-race, and a number of areas adjacent to Charleston.
The first claim worked at Addison’s Flat was the Bendigo, a sluicing claim below Bald Hill, containing 140 acres. It employed 120 men. Much capital was spent in constructing a tail-race tunnel, a mile and a-half in length; in widening the water-race from the old Fairmaid dam for 2$^1$⁄$_2$ miles with tunnelling; also on water-races from Reid’s Creek, Island Creek, Back Creek, and Waimea Creek.
Their mining operations were started in earnest about July, 1898. They also installed a large hydraulic elevator, or “blow-up” at Addison’s Flat.
The claim at Mount Rochfort was known as The Rochfort and was of about 100 acres. It had previously been worked for years by four partners. Much money was spent in enlarging the dam, bringing in another creek, and supplying 1,700 feet of piping. The new tables had a spread of 200 feet. The manager was Mr. A. G. Hill, who came from Wakamarina.
By 1898 the company had constructed 2,500 feet of water--​races and about 11,000 feet of tunnelling, and the average number of men employed was 218.
On 16th February, 1898, Mr. Braddon, the Attorney, notified that the various concerns were working, and that the company was contemplating a further expenditure of £5,000 in lifting the Wareatea water supply, also that “at Bendigo Terrace, Addison’s Flat, extended water supplies had been brought in from Nine-mile, Twelve-mile, and Thirteen-mile Creeks, and that if sufficient inducement offered a supply would be brought from the Ohika River at a cost of from £50,000 to £80,000.”
In addition to tunnelling and water-races there had been constructed 14,000 yards of dam embankments, and the company had used 230,000 sup. feet of timber, 3,120 feet of 18 and 24-inch piping, sunk 5,180 feet of shafts, and built 8,200 square feet of catchment tables. They were using about fifty heads of water and could extend this to one hundred heads or more.
The profit and loss accounts of this company are not available, nor is the date upon which it ceased operations. It is still spoken of on the Coast as “The big German Syndicate”; why, is not known. It is on record that when its coming became known, there was a rush of applications for areas about the district, in the hope that those so obtained would be purchased by the company; perhaps some were.
In 1896 a Warden’s report made reference to the coming of a wealthy syndicate prepared to expend vast sums in the provision of machinery, etc., to work the low-grade deposits of the district, and prophesied the resuscitation of mining on a large scale. The syndicate came, spent much money, but was not long-lived.