13 
of gold ; but when they got down 25ft. the water was too much for their resources, and from that day to 
this they could not raise money to proceed farther. The same owners have another claim, called Pender’s 
Hill, which adjoins the Isabel.' In this the shaft was sunk 70ft. and 124 tons of stone got, which yielded 
169oz. of gold. This is not working now ; as usual, no capital to proceed further. 
The Union. —These mines may be said to be amongst the greatest and richest deposits of gold in the 
Northern Territory. From the prospectors claim on each side there are twelve claims, north and south, or, 
in all, twenty-four claims, extending for nearly three miles. The whole of this line of country may be said 
to include good reefs of payable stone—payable, that is, in other colonies. Besides these reefs, there are 
those which lie nearly parallel on the east side, perhaps joining it at No. 5 South Union. In the commence¬ 
ment the caps of these reefs gave wonderful results from the early crushings, as usual in such cases. For 
these the reports of Chief Warden Nash may be consulted, but 60, 70, and 80ozs. to the ton have been 
recorded. It may be safely said that though this field is lying idle, or nearly idle, and the claims have been 
deserted and abandoned one by one, in no case has it been for want of good auriferous stone. The gold is 
there and it can be confidently asserted that the resources of the mines have been comparatively untouched ; 
but they present a sad prospect now with all their treasures almost abandoned. 
When the Europeans began to give up working their claims a good many were let on tribute to the 
Chinese. The average of the crushings was nearly loz. to the ton: some of the stone was very good 
indeed, such as No. 1 South Union, 15 tons stone, 81ozs. gold; 22 tons 144ozs.; 9 tons 20ozs.; No. 10, 
South Union, 32 tons 150ozs.; and so forth. But the stone should have yielded double the above amounts, 
and for this reason the only battery on the field was almost useless and wasted half the gold. Before this 
was understood the Chinese went to work merrily, and for some time the stone was raised faster than the 
battery could crush it, but the results discouraged them. The wretched battery could not properly crush 
the stone, or could not deal with it. Thus, between waiting and disappointments, the margin of profit from 
the gold dwindled away, and one after another the tributors gave up. 
It is worthy of remark in connection with these mines that the stone and the country, and indeed their 
whole character, is exactly like Sandhurst, in Victoria. The gold, however, on the Union reef is not so good 
as on the rest of the Territory. Not so the Lady Alice ; there the gold is very pure ; yet the latter reef 
inclines in a southerly direction towards the Union, and ultimately joins it. The Union mines may be truly 
called the Sandhurst of the Northern Territory, and probably will be found little if at all inferior to Sand¬ 
hurst as a mining district. 
Pine Creek. —This is another large mineral district, about ten miles south of the Union, and the terminus 
of the railway. Like the latter, as like all the mines in this country, it is a series of quartz reefs in slates 
having almost a meridional direction; but the ranges here are not truly meridional. They run almost north¬ 
west and south-east. The quartz lodes arc the same. Amidst the quartz lodes there is a variety and extent 
of minerals which has few parallels in other countries—gold, silver, lead, tin, and copper; the latter in a 
good lode four miles further south. Once this district attracted much attention, and a comparatively large 
population—large that is for the Territory, and very large to what it is now, for there are only four claims 
working, those of Messrs Mullen and O’Donohoe, both are giving excellent stone. Mullen got 360ozs. of 
gold from 30 tons of stone. This will give an idea of what the country is. Since the Eleanor has been 
worked by Mr. Jansen, about five years, he has got about 9,000ozs. of gold from it. He has a battery sup¬ 
plied with water from a dam, and even as late as the end of August he had still water to keep the mill 
going for eight hours daily. 
It would take one a considerable time to specify the numbers of reefs which crop out on every side in 
this extraordinary mineral country. Here is an example. Close by Mr. Jansen’s house on the fiat below 
the range there is a silver reef just showing above the level. A small pit about 3ft. deep has been dug on 
the top of this. The assay of the ore showed silver, but no more has been done. But the whole of this 
country gives more favorable indications of mineral wealth, and one cannot speak too highly of it. It is 
useless saying more as to what the mines are to what they might be, or what the field might be if there 
were capital to work it. Some day surely these deposits of gold, silver, copper, &c., must yield up their 
treasures. It should be added that stream tin has been found at no great distance from Pine creek, and 
there are other indications of tin veins. If they have not been found it may be confidently asserted that 
they will be in the course of time. A careful survey of the field would reveal literally hundreds of mineral 
veins which are hidden now. There has been a good deal of alluvial working, but there is a large area of 
surface untouched. 
The slates about Pine creek have been formerly a kind of carbonaceous shale. In many places partings 
can be obtained as thin as paper, and on both sides are covered thickly with indistinct carbonaceous mark¬ 
ings. 1 hey are undoubtedly plant remains, but in the specimens exposed not distinct enough for identifica¬ 
tion. This discovery in such old rocks is very interesting, and may lead eventually to some accurate position 
in the geological scale for the auriferous slates of the Northern Territory. 
Mcminn's Bluff, —The road from Pine Creek by the side of the telegraph line passes along a valley 
formed b\ a flat sandstone tableland on the west side, and a low slate range on the east side. I he west side 
of the \ alley is granite, and this also forms the base of the hills. The eastern side has a much finer grained 
granite of quite a different character. This is well seen at the base of a detached series of three hills called 
McMmn s Bluff. At a place called the Rocky Watcrhole, on the east side of the valley, the rocks arc 
close grained and extremely hard. It seemed to me that the felspar is plagioclase. Probably the rock is a 
dyke or vein, and newer than the granite of the west side, which is the basal granite of the country. 1 his is so 
coarse-grained as to be more like a granite porphyry than what is usually called granite. I he crystas o 
felspar arc sometimes 3in. or 4in. long. They are orthoclase of very pale pale pink or grey or faint blue. 
The mica is golden-brow, but in masses looks black. Both these granites decompose into a white powdery 
soil, which pulverizes into the finest dust. It is important to bear this in mind when we come to look tor 
the origin of the so-called desert sandstone. 
lhe tableland forming the western boundary of the valley is at its southern end, a long narrow lange, 
covered with a stratum of stone which stands out like a rampart some 30ft. or 40ft. thick, and giving a 
castellated appearance to the flat-topped hills. As the range is followed north it is broken into three oi iour 
small outliers of white and red color. They look like ramparts and fortresses, and are of very pictuiesque 
appearance. They all have a steep incline'for about two-thirds of their height, then become niggc or 
some distance, and then suddenlv precipitous for 34ft. to their flat-topped summits. One ot these mas is oi 
fiery red on the top, and it is joined by a low saddle to another outlier which is capped with pic mosque 
No. 122. 
