99 
•WfW 
smaller lumps of 700 and 312 ozs. respectively were obtained from the same 
neighbourhood. (I am indebted to Mr. F. D. Johnston for the above 
information.) This shaft was situated on the south side of Urquhart-street 
between Ascot and Ripon streets. On the east side of Pleasant-street, 
on both sides of Sturt-street, auriferous quartz reefs were met with in the 
Sir William Don and Great Republic companies’ alluvial workings. These 
reefs, although low grade—3J dwts. where tested—were worthy of further 
exploitation. Again, in Sturt-street the Township reef yielded auriferous 
quartz in the early days of quartz mining in the district, but no work was 
done to prove it at a depth. 
The following extract is taken from Woods’ appendix in Brough 
Smyth’s Gold-fields and Mineral Districts of Victoria , page 485: — 
11 During the time the Allied Armies Company were driving for the Inker- 
man lead, they discovered a quartz reef but did not work it to any extent. 
In October 1862 a company was formed, under the style of the Emerald 
Company, for the purpose of working the reef. At the outset they obtained 
some very rich quartz, but the yields fell off, and on the whole the reefs 
were not remunerative, and the company was wound up on the 10th Decem¬ 
ber, 1863.” This appears to be the only attempt made to work the reef. 
Within the area under notice several lines of reef have from time to time 
been located but, although favorable yields have been obtained, no attempt 
to work at a depth is. apparent. 
Dealing with the second reason why the area is deserving of prospecting, 
the following information, culled principally from Smyth’s Gold-felds and 
Mineral Districts of Victoria , might be added. 
From the exposed Ordovician in the neighbourhood of the cemeterv three 
distinct leads were traced, viz., the Essex lead running away to the north¬ 
west, the Swamp lead running westerly, and the Inkerman lead with its 
tributaries running first southerly, then westerly. 
Of the first twoi leads little need be said. They appear to have soon 
left the auriferousi belt of country. They both carried gold, but water and 
other difficulties rendered working unprofitable. 
The most northerly branch of the Inkerman lead, the Ai, was opened 
in July, 1857, and returned the prospectors £3,200 after paying expenses. 
The Homeward Bound Coy., the next on the lead, returned £14,800 
after paying expenses. In the next claim a tributary lead was discovered 
which was named Bridget’s lead, and was traced from the Ai lead to the 
Cemetery quartz reef on the west side of the cemetery. The party working 
this lead obtained £4,000 clear of expenses. The next claim was the 
Junction; a party of eight men worked out this claim in ten months and 
divided £7,200 after paying expenses. 
The Haphazard lead, a tributary to the Inkerman lead, was. traced 
from its source, the Cemetery quartz reef, to the Inkerman a distance of 
1,600 feet. Some portions of it were rich. 
The Inkerman lead above the junction of the Ai lead was very poor 
but much richer below the junction of this lead. The Allied Armies Com¬ 
pany occupied Green’s paddock on the east side of Drummond-street, 
between Creswick-road and Webster-street. This company, over an area 
of 3 acres, worked the wash to a height of 30 feet from the bed-rock. 
From three years’ work the party obtained £101,350 worth of gold. 
It was during this company’s operations that the reef, subsequently known 
as the Emerald, was disclosed. The Ophir Company, the 1 next on the 
lead, did not furnish any returns of their yields. The Independent 
Company, between the Ophir and the Great Republic, divided, after 
paying expenses, ,£34,100. The Great Republic Company, which worked 
