THE RECORDS OE GOLD-WASHING. 33
In 1880, of the 13,430 gold-miners in the colony of New South Wales 11,403 were engaged in alluvial mining.
The
Barrington field, on Back Creek, is about ten miles from the town of
Gloucester. The principal gold deposits occur amid steep ranges,
covered with thick forests and dense undergrowth. The creek has been
worked for gold, but the results, though profitable, have not been
remarkable. The water supply is very uncertain, and in summer the
creek ceases to flow.
The
Kiandra gold field, on the table-land of Maneero, is situated about
five thousand feet above sea-level, close to the highest mountains in
the colony, around which are extensive deposits of auriferous gravel.
Near Mount Table-Top the alluvions have been covered with basalt, and
up to the present time this main deposit has been worked only to a
limited extent.
The
chief localities in which gold-mining has been carried on are those of
Nine-Mile Diggings, New Chum Hill Diggings, Scotchman's Tunnel Claim,
Bullock-Head Creek, and the Eucumbene River ; also Township Hill
Diggings, Eight-Mile Diggings, and Fifteen-Mile Diggings. Recent
surveys show that water can be brought on certain of the Kiandra
diggings, and here hydraulic mining is possible on a. very limited
scale. The rich placers developed by the sluicing operations toward
Mount Table-Top have been compared by some writers to the gravel
deposits near Placerville, California. Lach-lan district was partially
developed in the rush of the first mining excitement, and it is
believed that only an insignificant proportion of the ancient river
deposits was worked by the early miners.
Mount
Werong is the site of one of the recent discoveries. The auriferous
alluvion is said to be widely scattered. The gold has a water-worn
appearance, and it is supposed that an old channel or lead formerly
existed here. But as yet the country is only partially explored.
The Tallawang field contains one of the most ancient
