81 
The field is situated near the highest part of the range, on the North-East 
side of the Blackwood River, and between two of its branches. From the high 
peak in the middle of the field the leads and gutters radiate, but as a rule they 
are better formed on the Southern and Western sides. 
Although there is very little surface water on the field, except immediately 
after ram, there is no scarcity of it, as springs break out in several places, and it 
can always be obtained by sinking at a slight depth. This is very remarkable, as 
the country is so high, and it seems to indicate that the deposits of drift are much 
more extensive than is at present believed. There is a good rainfall here (36 
inches), which, falling on the sandy land, is held for a long time, only gradually 
sinking away into the solid rocks below, and if the trees were killed, the water 
supply would be considerably increased. The deepest shafts sunk on high ground 
have always struck water at from 50ft. to 70ft. During the greater part of the 
year the want of water is the great obstacle in the way of working, but if properly 
worked, dirt should be raised during the dry season, and washed during the wet. 
The formation, of the district is crystalline schist, gneissic, and granite rock, 
with numerous rocks of diorite, granite, and veins of tourmaline, the surface being 
mostly covered with nodidar clay stones (gravel), sand, and ferruginous sandstones, 
the ferruginous sandstones capping all the ridges, whilst the sand is found in all 
the swampy hollows often associated with a poor earthy brown coal of recent 
formation. All the rocks strike in a North and South direction. 
The tin wash of the fields varies greatly in thickness, richness, and quantity, 
running from 3oz. to 15lbs. to the dish, and in thickness from 6 inches to 20 feet; 
the low percentage washes being in larger quantities, and as a rule much freer 
than those of the higher percentage. Most of the areas are now worked on the 
tribute system, the dirt being stacked duriug the summer, and washed in the 
winter, lue whole of the surface of this field is covered with a modern formation, 
beneath which the leads run, so considerable prospecting will be necessary to 
trace them. No lodes have yet been found, but, from the crystalline and unwater- 
worn character of the tin, they must exist. These will probably be in the form of 
dock-works, a name given in many of the continental mines to a network of thin 
veins or strings of crystals interlacing through a decomposed granitic dyke, the 
whole mass of which is usually worked. The field is as yet ouly in its infancy, 
and is comparatively undeveloped, but will probably, when more leads are opened 
up, support a large mining population, especiallv if worked in claims, as it is 
undoubtedly what is called “a poor man’s field.” At the present time only a few 
areas are being worked, and in the year 1893 only 171; tons of tin ore were 
exported. J J 4 
The nearest port is Bunbury, from which a railway runs 18 miles to the foot 
ol the range, when a good, but hilly, road connects it with the field. The field 
lias telegraph communication, and a mail coach calls twice a week. 
Areas on this field should be worked by their owners, as companies will never 
pay unless worked on a very large scale, but there is a handsome thing for any¬ 
one who will work his own claim. This is proved beyond a doubt by all the com¬ 
panies closing up whilst private individuals are doing well, even when they have 
to pay a large tribute to the lessee of the area The best tin occurs along the line 
of decomposed granite, which line seems to run a little East of North ; one line 
extending from Hay s and Austin’s areas on the North side of Dumpling Gully to 
Spring Gully, and the other from the Greenbuskes Well to the township, but how 
much further extended it is impossible to say until the surface gravel is removed. The 
tin, as before mentioned, is probably derived from networks and strings of small 
leaders interlacing through a mass of decomposed granite rock. One patch of 
these leaders must exist near Mr. J. Austin’s claim. The field will provide work 
for some years, and when the veins from which the stream tin is derived are found, 
will probably become an important mining centre. 
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