85

the pay gravel into the working chamber and transported it thence to the
creek for washing. The working chamber is in hard glacial gravels and
clay and is still intact. The new company extended the Hard-up tunnel
to a total length of about 480 feet and made an upraise for an air-shaft at
the end of it. At 190 feet from the portal a blind shaft was sunk 11 feet
to bedrock. At 150 feet a branch tunnel was run directly upstream for
100 feet and thence away from the creek and under the high bank for
about 500 feet, there being a rise of about 60 feet at the end. At the bend
a drive was also made upstream towards the old Heron workings and
about 50 feet from the bend an upraise of 80 feet to the surface was made for
an air-shaft. These tunnels and prospect shafts and drives were made in
search of the Heron lead. It was held that since there is a 7 per cent grade
in the old channel from the lower part of the Heron ground into the Hard-up
ground and as the pay found on the Hard-up was much less than on the
Heron, there must be a higher channel. It was finally determined, how-
ever, that there was only the one channel, and that it was not very well
defined. The old driftings on the Hard-up extended upstream and down-
stream from their hoisting shaft, but were mainly downstream. The new
company drifted the channel for a width of 30 feet in places and upstream
to a point 60 feet below the old Heron workings. Rod-holes were made
into the old workings and caused an inrush of water and slum, which
flooded the workings. A tunnel referred to as the Wendle tunnel was then
run from a point, at the creek level, 250 feet downstream from the old
tunnel, but it was not low enough to reach the bottom of the channel, and
a blind shaft was sunk to the level of the old workings. The driftings were
carried downstream about 150 feet from the old Hard-up hoisting shaft.
At the lower end the bedrock was found to be very soft and to be pitching
downstream. An incline was run down the slope for about 30 feet, but
the soft bedrock caused caving and the work was abandoned. The best
pay found by the new company was about 30 ounces to the set, but the
average was very much less. The gold was practically all in crevices in
the bedrock. At places where the bedrock was soft and where the channel
was narrow there was no gold. At one place the channel was only 4 feet
wide and the bedrock smooth limestone.

Another tunnel known as the Frenchmen tunnel runs into the right
bank from the creek-level, 100 feet downstream from the Wendle tunnel.
It is about 450 feet long and ends beneath a small pond. Its course for
most of the distance is shown by cavings at the surface. It is said to have
been on bedrock for a considerable part of its length, but to have passed
over undulations in the bedrock. Apparently no pay was found. There
is an old shaft in the bed of the present creek just below the Frenchmen
tunnel. It is said to have been 18 feet deep to bedrock and is probably
the Water Witch shaft (page 82). Another tunnel was run into the low
hill on the right side 200 feet below the Frenchmen tunnel, but nothing is
known regarding its extent or the results of the work.

The Glascow shaft (Figure 11) is said to have been 34 feet deep, but
little seems to be definitely known regarding its exact depth or the results
of the work. A shaft referred to by some of the prospectors as the Cale-
donia shaft, although it is not on the Caledonia ground, is located alongside