732 



NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



and packed their WOLFRAM there. A few men went in search of 

 a route, and to find a port on the coast, but failed. Tenders were 

 called, and the wolfram was afterwards packed to Port Stewart, 

 a distance of 140 miles. In 1905, SUB-INSPECTOR ROLAND W. 

 GARRAWAY arrived with his black troopers and found and marked 

 a TRACK TO LLOYD BAY. For some time after that only about 

 seven men remained working the field until 1907, when on account 

 of the price of wolfram rising, a rush set in, and it was not long 

 before about fifty men were on the field, and in June of that year 

 the FIELD was PROCLAIMED and named after the discoverer. There 

 was quite a boom in wolfram, and the storekeepers gave ^150 P er 

 ton for the ore on the ground and packed it to Lloyd Bay. As 

 the wet season approached, the majority of the men deserted the 

 place, leaving a mere handful of men behind them, and from thence 

 to the present time they have dwindled down to a small number. 



" On the discovery of the Batavia River gold, this field was 

 deserted by the miners for the new rush, so that the production for 

 the year was very small, being only half a ton. Since September, 

 a few men have gone back." l 



From a telegram from the Mining Registrar at Coen, printed 

 in the Government Mining Journal of November, 1904, we learn 

 that Douglas, a member of a party which had been mining wolfram 

 at the Stewart River, had visited Bowen and reported that the 

 Pascoe was navigable for 7 miles by lo-ton craft. 



Bowden himself was for some time, during the active life of the 

 field, the principal exporter of wolfram. 



The wolfram returns from the field are tabulated in the Annual 

 Reports of the Department of Mines as follows : 



1905 

 1906 

 1907 

 1908 

 1909 

 1910 

 1911 

 1912 

 19*3 



Tons. cwt. qrs. Ib. s. d. 



12 6 o o value 778 3 10 



ii 15 3 10 990 7 2 



24 19 o o 3>o67 o o 



ii 6 o o 879 n 3 



4500 380 



3 13 o o 



O IO O O 

 O 17 2 O 



o 9 2 10 



o o 



353 o o 



41 o o 



79 J 3 9 



40 5 o 



70 



3 20 



6,609 i o 



In addition to wolfram, the field is a small producer of 



MOLYBDENITE and TIN OXIDE. 



In 1890, BOWDEN and CAIRNS DISCOVERED GOLD in the valley 



of the " RUNNING STARCKE RIVER." (SEE MAP E.) The alluvial 



in the gullies at the head of Diggings Creek supported some 200 



men for a period of six months, and a smaller number for five 



1 Warden Power's Report, 1911. 



