74 
Mines and Mineral Slalistioi, 
The ilcv. ^rr. Clarke, refcrrinfj to these "pological features,, 
remarks : — Looking to the Colony ot‘ South Wales, we find that 
in more than one instance the present river channels have deepened 
since the drift first began to crOAvd their banks. I have traced one of 
those drifts streams, sometimes at great Jieights above the valleys, 
for more than H*) miles/' 
The riv^r tints form rich agricultural land, and have been taken 
advantage of for that purpose. 
In the creeks and gullies traversing the granite county, the 
alluvial deposits are all tin-bearing ; but, being often of considerable 
thickness — sometimes 20 feet — they are not so easily worked, on 
account of the great amount of stripping required, as the shallower 
and more recent drift along the bods of the creeks. 
At the Lady Emily Tin Mine, Cope’s Creek, the pleistocene drift, 
consisting of coarse rotmded drift and yellow sandy clay, is about 16 
feet thick ; the wash-dirt varies up to 5 feet thick, and from it as much 
as 4 lb>'. of stream tin to the dish have been obtained. 
The following is a sketch section across Cope’s Creek, near this 
mine - 
Fig. 4. 
a, recent alluvial, 8 feet thick, with 2 feet of wash-dirt, hy pleisto- 
cene drift, 16 feet thick — from 1 to o feet wash-dirt, c, granite. 
As to the permanency of the yield of tin ore from tliese alluvial 
deposits it is impossible to s])eak Avith certainty ; but even a cursory 
examination of Cope's Creek and its vicinity cannot but convince one 
that the tin-bearing ground as yet imworked will atTord continuous 
and profitable employment to miners for some years. 
Besides the allinda along the creeks, scA'oral rich patches of surfacing 
from 1 to 4 feet thick haA'e in various places been opened, the Avash- 
dirt requiring but little stripping,” and yielding from 15 to 30 lbs. of 
tin ore to tlie cart-load of dirt. Messrs. Boss, Martin, and InA'in's 
mine, near Captain Swintou’s station, Cope's Greek, and Messrs, 
Beeves & Co.'s mine, Long Gully, are instances. The richness of 
these surface deposits, together A\ith the angular form of the tin ore, 
often indicates the proximity of lodes in the underlying granite, to 
the breaking up of which the supply of tin ore is due. Owing to 
these numerous tin veins or lodes, the surface soil, where derived 
from the granite, has been found almost everywhere to contain tin ore. 
M'e may reasonably believe, therefore, that these rich patches of 
surfacing already opened are but a few amongst the many that will yet 
be discovered and profitably worked. 
