THE COEN GOLDFIELD 



467 



The site of the old alluvial diggings, on the east side of the 

 misnamed Coen River (which the Lands Department maps now 

 call the SOUTH COEN), lay untenanted, till in 1892 the field began a 

 new phase of existence as a REEFING DISTRICT. (Proclaimed 

 2Oth August.) (SEE MAP C.) From time to time various mines 

 came into prominence, but one at least was worked almost 

 continuously for about twenty-three years. This was the GREAT 

 NORTHERN, 1 which was alluded to in the Annual Report of the 

 Department of Mines for 1904 as " one of the greatest mines of 

 the State." 



The " Enterprise" battery was erected in 1893. 



The gold, as it occurs in the Coen reefs, is alloyed in a remarkable 

 degree with silver. The value per ounce was officially stated in 

 1904* to be 2 75. 



The population of a goldfield is naturally a fluctuating one. 

 That of the Coen has been even more subject to variations than 

 less isolated fields, as it has been a base of operations for prospectors, 

 whose success, or reported success, in other districts frequently 

 drew heavily on its limited personnel. Thus, in 1898, a large number 

 of miners left the Coen for the Klondike reefs and reefs 10 miles to 

 the south of the Coen, and at Mount Croll, and for alluvial gold 

 on the telegraph line I mile north of the Stewart River ; and in 

 1900 many left for the newly discovered reefs of the Hamilton 

 Goldfield.' 



The Wardens' estimates of the population of the Coen are 

 as follows : 



1894 

 1895 

 1896 

 1897 

 1898 

 1899 

 1900 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 



304 1904 



364 1905 



367 1906 



300 1907 



242 1908 



220 (including Rocky) 1910 



i?5 I9 11 



190 1912 



176 (including Rocky) 1913 

 185 



227 

 226 

 176 

 273 

 173 

 198 



173 

 117 



IO2 



The great bulk of the output of the Coen reefs has been the 

 product of the Great Northern. It is stated that from 1893 to 

 1916, and down to the depth of 500 feet, that mine has yielded 

 52,000 ounces of gold, valued at i 14, 400 (2 45. per ounce). 4 



Some remarks on the METHODS OF PROSPECTORS, as they apply to 

 exploration, may appropriately be introduced in this place. 



1 See Report on the Hamilton and Coen Goldfields, by Lionel C. Ball, Assistant Govern- 

 ment Geologist. Brisbane, by Authority, 1901 (No. 163 of Geol. Survey Publications). 

 a Annual Report of the Department of Mines. 

 3 The Hamilton and Coen Goldfields. L. C. Ball, p. 18. 

 " Wanderer," in North Queensland Register, I4th April, 1919. 



