71 
not proved very rich; only a little over 1,000 ounces of 1 gold have been taken from 
them ; the largest nugget weighed about 8 ounces. 
Gold is always to be found on this field, but generally only in small 
quantities, and it is here that the diggers principally congregate during slack 
times. 
The Gorge. 
On the opposite (South) side of the river from the “ Dead Finish ” a little 
work has been done in some deep gullies, but although some nice nuggets were 
found, it was not considered rich enough to support a number of men. These 
workings are known by the name of “ The Gorge.” The amount of gold obtained 
from here is not known, but it is highly probable that it was a fair quantity. 
Mount Mortimer. 
Seven miles South-East of a hill, marked Mt. Dawson on the map, are 
situated the Mt. Mortimer diggings; here the country is very different from what 
it is further up the river, being much flatter, and the clay slates being replaced by 
more sandy and ferruginous flags.- The sinking here, as a rule, is deeper and 
much more difficult. The largest nugget found is said to have weighed lbs., 
but, as a rule, gold is not found in very large pieces, and the fact of its being 
associated with more ironstone than on the other workings places it at a lower 
value. 
The rocks consist of ckiy and chloritic slates, sandstones, and quartzites (the 
slates being often of the cleavable kind used for rooffng purposes), and are inter¬ 
sected by numerous quartz and ferruginous lodes. 
The auriferous belt of country extends from the junction of the Hardey River 
with the Ashburton, a little to the North-East of Mt. Clement, following the latter 
river in a South-East direction for about 150 miles. It is bounded on the South 
by the Barlee Range and a flat-topped table-land, which follows, at a distance of 
14 miles to the South, the main course of the river. To the North it extends 
across the Ashburton and Hardey Rivers to Mount Wall and Mount de Courcy, a 
distance in a Northerly direction from the river of from 20 to 30 miles, giving an 
auriferous area of about 10,000 square miles. 
Up to the present very little prospecting has been done, as only the rich 
patches in the shallow ground are considered worth troubling about. 
In the large plains of the Ashburton there are sure to be some very rich 
deposits of gold, as it must be from this direction that the gold was derived, 
as there is no gold-bearing country to the Southward of the diggings, and the 
gullies themselves have cut no reefs. 
Although nothing is being done on this field, it will, in the future, probably 
prove to be the richest alluvial field in the colony, as it is the only one where there 
is any extent of deep ground; but this has not yet been prospected, owing to the 
great expenses and the small areas allowed for a claim, as this deep-sinking would 
require more than one man, for which there is no provision made in the 
regulations. 
THE MURCHISON GOLDFIELD. 
Proclaimed area , 32,000 square miles. 
The principal auriferous belt is situated at the Eastern side of this area, about 
200 miles from the coast. It runs in a North and South direction from West 
Mt. Magnet to Austin’s Lake, then in a North-Easterly direction to Lake Anncen 
