Sydney to Croydon (Northern Queensland) / An Interesting Account of a Journey to the Gulf Country with a Member of Parliament - Saltbush

I also had a look at the “Ironclad” and “Mark Twain” P.C., a crushing of 95 tons from the former realised 254ozs., and from the latter 174 tons turned out 324ozs., the reef averaging from 2ft. to 5ft. in thickness and going down perpendicularly, so that there is not much likelihood of the claim being worked out in a hurry.

The “Croydon Queen” is also a main line of reef, some saying it is identical with the Croydon King, and if such is the case it extends for miles and must prove one of the backbones of the field, as the P.C. crushed 200 tons for 787ozs., whilst many of the numbers also have given good returns, causing the line to be blocked off for a considerable distance, on which claims sinking is vigorously proceeded with. Last, but certainly not least of the claims I visited is the “Iguana Hill,” a splendid property judging from all appearances, situate on the border of the township and just above the Company’s mill, to which the stone could be conveyed at a minimum cost by means of a tramway. There is an immense quantity of stone in sight, the shaft being down about 170 feet on the underlay with a grand reef varying from two to five feet in thickness, showing gold freely, the country being easily worked, which materially reduces the cost of raising stone and makes this particular claim, from its proximity to the mill, body of stone, and other advantages, in my opinion, one of the most valuable mining properties in the North.

Appended are the returns of the crushings from various claims to the date of my visit.

CROYDON GOLD RETURNS.

Complete returns of the crushings from the Croydon Reefs, from the opening of the field to the end of August, 1887:—

CROYDON QUARTZ-CRUSHING COMPANY’S MILL.

Date.		Claim.	Yield.
1887.			TONS.	OZS.	DWT.
January	3	Caledonia No. 1 E.	136	630	0
	14	Highland Mary	183	460	0
	20	Caledonia P.C.	154	1,073	0
	25	Highland Mary, No. 18	153	328	0
February	5	Sir Garnet	176	525	0
	12	Lady Mary P.C.	164	824	0
	15	Harp of Erin P.C.	96	586	19
	22	Come at Last	140	98	8
March	11	Iguana Hill P.C.	254	685	8
April	1	Alice	360	484	17
	5	Better Luck P.C.	46	160	0
	6	Day Dawn	30½	51	0
	9	Iguana Hill, No. 1 E.	65	196	16
	13	Croydon Queen, No. 9 S.	44	56	6
	15	Highland Mary, No. 1 N.	69	105	0
	20	Burns’ Croydon Queen	15	61	19
	25	Lady Mary (surface)	33	47	19
	28	Miners’ Right, No. 1	21½	29	3
	29	Highland Mary, No 2 S.	211	831	5
May	6	Better Luck, No. 1 E.	55	55	18
	10	Little Wonder	11	14	0
	10	Lady Norah	12	37	1
	13	Lady Mary, No. 1	201	1,180	0
	13	Salamander	40	31	0
	23	Frost’s Claim, Springs	19	28	0
	27	Sir Garnet	150	348	18
	28	Just in Time, No. 1 E.	63	112	14
	28	Alice, No. 2 S.	10	16	11
	29	Post Hole	36	227	17
June	8	Black Snake	40	190	0
	8	Miners’ Right P.C.	30	38	8
	10	Croydon Queen P.C.	200	787	3
	11	Alice, No. 1 N.	25	45	3
	17	Nancy Lee P.C.	30	28	3
	21	Lady Mary, No. 1 S.	25	27	19
	23	Post Hole	6½	8	5
	26	Lady Mary P.C.	279	535	1
	28	Banner of Freedom, No. 1 S.	24	22	7
July	14	Chance P.C.	45	131	5
	15	Just in Time. No. 1 W.	62	61	17
	16	Morgan’s (surface)	10	21	0
		Total	3,724½	11,183	10

Average—3oz. 0dwt. 1½gr.

BIBBY’S MACHINE.

Date.		Claim.	Yield.
			TONS.	OZS.	DWT.
1886
December	9	Mountain Maid P.C.	187	245	0
1887
January	3	Mountain Maid No. 1 S.	74	169	0
	7	Sovereign P.C.	58	214	7
	12	Stephen’s (surface)	16	62	17
	18	Alice No. 1 (surface)	121	140	19
	24	Pride of the Hills	78	93	5
	28	Post Hole	42	547	14
February	8	Iron Duke, P.C.	122	253	9
	17	Croydon Queen No. 2 S.	98	666	4
	24	Mountain Maid No. 1 N.	107	177	12
March	9	Phœnix P.C.	54	106	5
	9	True Blue P.C.	53	77	5
April	25	Homeward Bound No. 1 and 2 S.	95	262	9
May	3	Sir Walter, P.C.	100	673	5
	8	Waterfall, P. C.	85	335	15
	17	Sir Patrick, P. C.	56	75	0
	17	True Blue No. 1 S.	54	136	0
	18	Caledonia (surface)	9	26	12
	23	Rainbow No. 3	8	5	5
	23	Haythorn’s (surface)	14	13	0
	24	Chance, P.C.	28	28	0
	27	Homeward Bound, P.C.	58	171	0
June	3	Rainbow No. 1 N.	104	101	1
	9	Lady Catherine, P.C.	87	52	2
	20	Banner of Freedom, P.C.	137	122	17
	22	Babe, P.C.	96	102	7
	25	Mountain Maid No. 3 N.	86	68	13
July	2	President, P.C.	44	62	17
	2	Sunset, P.C.	162	125	0
	30	Babe No. 2 S.	16	18	16
	30	Babe No. 1 S.	55	55	5
August	8	Mountain Maid No. 5 N.	115	156	5
	20	Golden Gate P.C.	214	183	16
	Total		2,633	5,529	2