C.— 13. 
14 
thence through the granite gorge to and along some parts of the Brown Grey, gold has been 
obtained from the modern gravels of the river-bed, but no continuous workings of consequence 
have taken place. This is imputed to the difficulty of prospecting, and the distance of the auriferous 
localities from settlement ; but this may be doubted, as in many other parts of the Coast far 
greater difficulties in the way of getting forward provisions have been overcome, and the failure 
to prove the Upper Grey Valley a rich goldfield has rather been the lack of payable gold in the 
alluvial deposits than the impossibility of working these, or the transport of provisions to where 
the gold is said to occur. The above remarks apply also to the Upper Ahaura, and in this latter 
case even with greater force, since the Upper Ahaura has been from the early days of settlement 
on the Coast a route of travel to the East Coast, whence, sheep and cattle were driven from the 
pastoral districts of south-east Nelson and Northern Canterbury. 
Little Grey Valley. 
In Snowy Creek there is a large extent of ground, chiefly on the south' side of the stream, 
that comes under this head, and has been worked for gold. The gold- workings extend nearly three 
miles up from the junction of the creek with the Blackwater. The gold has wholly been derived from 
the high-level terraces of the Big Grey, formed at a time when this ran at a high-level, and when 
its junction with the Little Grey was where the junction of the Blackwater with the latter stream 
now is. 
In the Blackiuatcr the recently-formed and low-lying flats are auriferous for about seven miles 
above the Greymouth-Reefton Road. The principal workings are confined within the distance to 
which the “ Old-man bottom ” extends up the valley, and these beds are therefore the great source 
of the gold found in the Blackwater Valley. Above where the gravels of the “ Old-man bottom ” 
cease and slate-rock makes its appearance there is a sudden and marked decrease in the area 
of the gold-workings, though these yet continue along the banks of the creek to the distance 
stated. 
In the Big River, a tributary of the Blackwater, the alluvial workings have been carried 
almost to the source of the stream, at and near the Big River Quartz-mine. The source of the gold 
in these up-stream workings is evidently the Maitai slates, which appear at the surface over this 
part of the country. 
In Adamstown Creek the alluvial wash along the bottom of the valley has been almost wholly 
derived from the gravels of the “ Old-man bottom,” which form the hills hounding the valley as far 
as this has .yielded payable gold. 
In the Valley of Antonio’s Creek the recent alluvial deposits of the low grounds along the main 
stream have been derived principally from the gravels of the “ Old-man bottom,” but also to a 
considerable extent from the slate country towards the source of the creek. The Pliocene gravels 
do not reach further up the main stream than four miles from the Little Grey Valley, but above 
this point there have been extensive gold-workings on the slate bottom, where also the hills bound- 
ing this upper part of the valley are composed of Maitai slate and sandstone. In the smaller 
tributary streams, more especially those draining from the south, the narrow gully-bottoms have 
been worked for gold a mile or more distant from the main valley, and in some cases almost to the 
watershed leading into Adamstown Creek. 
In Slab Hut Creek there has been a large amount of ground turned over, both above and below 
the gorge. Above the gorge some of the lesser creeks have been worked to their very sources. The 
beds of these show the presence of Maitai slates, but on the tops of the hills towards Antonio's Flat 
the “ Old-man bottom ” is present, so that both these formations may be a source of gold to the 
recent alluvial gravels along the course of Slab-hut Creek. 
East side of Inangaliua Valley. 
In Devil’s Creek and Maori Gully the alluvial gold of the recent gravel deposits is derived 
partly from the Maitai slates and partly from the “ Old-man bottom,” also partly from a series of 
high-level gravels that cap the hills in the vicinity of Merrijigs, and thence extend along the plateau- 
like rauges towards the source of Big River. Extensive mining in these beds has taken place in the 
creeks mentioned and their various tributaries. 
In Soldier’s Gully also the recent auriferous gravels of the creek-bed have had their source 
partly from the Maitai slates and partly from a development of “ Old-man bottom ” lying at the 
source of the creek, on the water divide between this, Liverpool Bill’s Creek, and a tributary of the 
Devil’s Creek. 
In Rainy Creek, in Lankey's Gully, and along Murray Creek the recent alluvial auriferous 
deposits have derived their gold partly from the auriferous Maitai slates that occur within the water- 
sheds of these creeks, or, and this to a considerable extent, from quartzose cements lying at the base 
of the coal-bearing series. 
In Painkiller Creek the source of the gold is the same as in the case of Rainy Creek, &c. 
In Burkes Creek the tailings swept down by the stream from the battery-sites near the source 
of the creek are being treated for gold. 
In the Inangaliua Valley, below the junction of the two main branches, the gold found in the 
bed of the river necessarily may have been derived from all or any of the older auriferous rocks 
occurring in the valley. A few men from time to time work on the beaches above the junction of 
Boatman’s Creek, but no important digging has ever been done on the immediate banks of the 
Inangahua River. 
North Branch of the Inangahua to Boatman's Creek. — There are two or three creeks that, 
taking their rise on the front range between the Waitahu or north branch of the Inangahua and 
Boatman’s Creek, below Capleston, have along their courses alluvial deposits that have been worked 
for gold. The high terraces, downs, and hill-slopes drained by these lesser creeks, of which Frying- 
pan Creek is perhaps the most important, are formed of old high-level deposits, “ Old-man bottom,” 
