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Macetown
- History
| Once gold had been discovered in the Arrow River in Central Otago by
William Fox in the year 1862, men were lured there from all over the world
by tales of the richness of this new field. |
Amongst those who arrived on the scene were the
Mace brothers, John, Charles and Harry.
They came to the Arrow from Wanaka, via Cardrona, and then to the river.
Working their way up the narrow river gorge they came to where the gorge
widened and there was a terrace, roughly three miles long by
three-quarters of a mile wide. |
Below this terrace was a beach where a creek flowed into the Arrow River.
Here the Maces established their claim.
Two other brothers, John and Joe Beale, had come over the Skippers Hill
and followed the creek down to the junction of the Arrow River. They
pitched their tent on a site where the township later stood. Next morning
John Beale went down to the creek to get a billy of water. He saw gold in
the creek and filled a pannikin with it. As he returned to his camp he saw
some men pitching a tent across the river. These were the Mace brothers.
The two parties met and came to terms which were agreeable to all. |
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They decided to call the creek the Twelve-Mile because of its distance
from Fox's, as Arrowtown was known then. The two parties worked their
separate claims and lived quite amicably near each other. Soon other
miners were pouring into the Twelve-Mile from every direction and a
township of tents sprang up. Shanties, too, were quickly opened for
business. As the township rapidly grew the womenfolk began to arrive.
Tents were usually erected abutting a chimney which had been built of sods
or stones and a fire lit in one of these places would send out a good
heat. After experiencing the severity of a winter in tents, many miners
began to build more permanent homes. At 2,000 feet above sea level,
climatic conditions were very severe in winter and mild in summer. As
there was an almost total lack of timber and an abundance of stones, solid
huts or houses were built of these or of sods.
Others had timber packed up by dray from Arrowtown by Mr J. L. Jopp, while
others again built their homes of corrugated iron which was light and easy
to transport. The population rapidly grew and at its peak was about three
thousand. Businesses became established and there were four hotels and
four stores.
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| A school became a necessity, later a post office was erected, and a
bakery was built at the rear of one store.. Later still a public hall was
erected and there was a blacksmith and a bootmaker's shop. The Twelve-Mile
had become a thriving town but was never the scene of debauchery that
Fox's was for a while. Supplies did not come up the river gorge for some
years but all had to be packed up by horse, or horse and dray, over the
Big Hill track. |
| The wagons or drays used on this track were specially designed with
small wheels. This route started at Arrowtown, went up Bush Creek, over
Big Hill to reach the Arrow River at the junction of Eight-Mile Creek,
later known as Eichardt's Flat, then along a comparatively easy three
miles to the town. In the early days there was a great scarcity of firing
and it was never plentiful. Speargrass, and the stunted native matagouri
were burnt. Later, when coal had been discovered in the Gibbston and
Cardrona districts, this was packed in and was a very expensive commodity.
Wood was also packed in. During the severe winters coal was at first
rationed and sold by the bucketful, but later on residents were able to
lay in supplies of both wood and coal well before winter. |
| Goats were introduced to provide milk for the children and then some
families acquired cows and poultry. The cows were run on "the
flat", the terrace below the town. Some miners used to gather the
"cow chips" or "Buffaloes" and burn them as fuel. When
cows became more numerous, the goats were left to roam the hills and were
soon breeding prolifically with others which had come over from the
Skippers side. Today the whole area abounds with herds of goats which are
a menace to the runholders. |
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| The first official map survey of the township was completed in 1870.
From October 27th, 1881, residents were able, to purchase the township
sections. thus changing Crown land into private property. After the first
flush,of the gold rush was over. many miners departed to other goldfields
and ventures. The population,dropped considerably and remained fairly
static at between three and four hundred for a number of years. The
businesses remaining were two stores, two hotels, a drapery store, the
blacksmith and, of course, the post office still functioned. |
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| As one by one the quartz mines ceased production the population
gradually diminished over the years until the sole inhabitant was Mr
William Jenkins, self styled "Mayor of Macetown". In 1914 Mr
Jenkins applied for all water rights and took over many of the abandoned
sections. A few years after his death the land reverted to Crown property
and is now part of the pastoral lease of Coronet Peak Station. owned by
Messrs W. and R. Dagg,. |
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| There will always be some controversy as to how Macetown came by its
name. The early name of the Twelve-Mile held for three or four years.
After this it was officially known as Macetown and recognised as being
named after the Mace brothers who had become so well known as cricketers
in the Otago Province. A miner would say that he was going up to work at
the "Maces' town". However, it was not until the Maces had left
to reside on the West Coast that it became known as Macetown. The late Mr
Kingsley Butler of Arrowtown always declared that it was ' named after
Mason Melody, who was an early publican at Fox's' He said that the early
name of Mason's town was shortened to Mase's, town, and then to Macetown.
However, as Mason Melody did not have any connection with the Twelve-Mile,
it is doubtful that his name would have been bestowed upon it. |
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| Still, today there are many people who contend that as the Beale
brothers were first on the spot it should have been named after them. On
most maps both of early and recent origin, the Twelve-Mile Creek is marked
as the Goldburn. This name would seem appropriate for the creek which
yielded so much gold. The cricketing prowess of the Maces and the fact
that they were prominent citizens who took part in all the social doings
of the town and were highly respected during their few years there, seems
to be the reason the town became known as Macetown. The first official map
survey, in 1870, called it Macetown. |
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| Gold was always the backbone of Macetown. A very large quantity of the
mineral was taken from the area over the years. Alluvial mining was the
first to be worked, and then the miners forsook this to try quartz mining,
leaving the Chinese who followed in their wake to work over the claims.
Macetown was one of the few places where the Chinese were able to work new
ground as well as old. The Macetown goldbearing lodes were most
productive. The gold, which was of a very high grade, was readily visible
m the stone and coarse in character. |
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| The most extensively worked lodes were the Premier and Tipperary mines.
Next in order were the Gladstone, Homeward Bound, All Nations. Victor
Emmanuel, Maryborough, Garibaldi, Sunrise, Golden Treasure, Balchs,
Hamilton and O'Neills and Andersons. Warden Stratford reported that the
reefs at Macetown were first tested about the year 1876.. the three lines
of reefs first worked were the Homeward Bound,:the Maryborough line and
the Advance Peak fine. The Homeward Bound Line was opened up in February,
1876. by Mossrs Raven and Barclay who won 551 ozs of gold from 542 tons of
stone while opening up. |
| On the same line, to the north-west, were situated, the Lady Fayre,
Gladatone, McKay's, and Premier claims. no Maryborough was also opened up
in 1876, and from five tons of stone crushed from a foot-wall leader, 23.5
ozs. of gold were obtained. On this line were situated the leases of the
Garibaldi Company, Duke of Wellington (No. 2 South), Victor Emmanuel (No.
3 South), and Finn's lease (No. 4). The All Nations line was parallel to
the Maryborough, about five chains to the southward. From a leader between
these two lines, 345 tons of quartz yielded 39 ozs. of gold The Tipperary,
Geraldine, and Caledonian leases were continuations of the All Nations
line, while the Canton and Ancient Briton claims were trending south. |
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| With regard to the Main Lode line there appeared to be three parallel
lodes trending northwest. Several rich leaders radiated from these lodes,
as high as five ounces of gold per ton being obtained from them. The
Katherine was a rich leader from the north-east lode,. Development work
was carried on and in 1878 a public crushing plant was erected and quartz
crushed from various reefs. Some of these parcels which were said to be
well representative of the quartz crushed from various reefs, gave rich
yields. One shoot of quartz containing rich stone was worked down from the
surface, through the Gladstone and Premier quartz claims, to a depth of
3,300 feet from the outcrop. At that, depth the working expenses were so
heavy, mainly for maintenance and timbering, that.further following of the
shoot at greater depth was abandoned. This shoot was worked first from the
surface, then by adits. and finally by a dip-drive on the floor of the
shoot. |
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| The mountains being very precipitous, there was every faciiitv for
mining by driving adits. In some places half a mile of driving would give
2,000 feet of backs. Great facilities were also afforded for the use of
self-acting aerial trainways to get the quartz down economically and
transport the timber to the mine for maintaining the levels and securing
the stopes. Water-power was plentiful for working the batteries by means
of water-wheels. Numerous leases were taken up in the district.from 1878
onwards, but operations were not successful in all cases. Capital was
required as the cost of packing up equipment was very high. |
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| Even in 1884, when the river road was opened. it did little to defray
costs. A report in 1886 says "Of all the numerous goldmining
companies that were called into existence on the discovery of payable
quartz at Macetown only two remain, of which the Premier has been the most
successful.ÓDuring 1886 the Sunrise Lease Gold-mining company struck good
stone and an endeavour was made to flat a company on the London Market to
work the Premier and Tipperary mines. This flotation was completed and
British capital was introduced into the district in 1890. About this time
prospects became brighter. |
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| The Sunrise struck good stone and erected a new battery. Unfortunately
in 1891 expectations were not realised. Poor results were obtained from
the sunrise and Premier mines while operations were not commenced at the
tiperary mine. During 1892 the sunrise Company sold its plant and claim to
the Premier Consolidation Company which carried on continuous operations
during the year for a return of 945 ozs of gold from 957 tons of quartz
crushed. The, Tipperary Company was re-formed in London in 1892 with an
available capital of $20.000 so that in this mine, as also in the Premier,
development work was carried on during 1893. In that year the Premier
Company crushed 3,163 tons of quartz for a yield of 1,985 ozs. The
Glenrock Consolidated Company purchased the Premier and Sunrise niines in
1895 and preparations were made to work these properties on a more
extensive scale. The Tipperary Company was re-constructed in 1896, a new
company called the ÒAustralia and New Zealand gold-Explorers LimitedÓ
taking possession of the property. |
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| Work was continued along the usual lines for the next few years. In 1898
several well known mines -- the Victor Emmanuel. Morning Star, Black
Angel, Garibaldi. Maryborough, Homeward Bound. Lady Fayre, and Golden
Treasure were consolidated into one building as "Farrell's
Consolidated Mines". The intention was to place these properties on
the London market. Operations in the Tipperary and Sunrise mines were not
successful and the mines were closed in 1899, but the Premier continued to
be worked, 2,825 tons of quartz being treated for a yield of 1,661 ozs. of
gold during the year 1899. |
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| The Indian Glenrock (Wyaad) Company continued operations in the Premier
mine during 1902, in which year 2,178 tons of quartz yielded 1,752 ozs of
gold. In 1903 the Premier-Sunrise (NZ.) goldmining Company purchased the
Premier mine from the Indian Glenrock Company. The mine was worked
continuously during the year with fair results. The Premier-Sunrise
Company continued operations during 1904 and 1905.. In the latter year the
available stone was stoped out and considerable prospecting failed to open
up a new ore-body. Work was resumed in the Tipperary mine in, 1903 but, as
the further development of the mine necessitated the installation of
expensive machinery, operations came to a standstill. Sunrise mine was
situated near the summit of Advance Peak at an altitude of some 5,000 feet
above sea level. The quartz proved to be rich in some places and worthless
in others. |
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| Prospecting at such a high altitude was seriously handicapped by the
severity of the winters, the ground being covered with snow from June
until November. Mr W. Stanford, the general manager of the Glenrock
Consolidated Company, proprietors of the Sunrise property, reporting on
work done on the Sunrise lode during 1898 stated that "a considerable
amount of prospecting work had been done by means of crosscuts to prospect
the adjacent country. This proved the existence of two lodes, running
apart, both carrying gold wherever they were -struck but not in payable
quantity." The former proprietors of the property, the Sunrise
Company, succeeded in extracting 1,207 tons of quartz from the mines,
which yielded. in the mill 1,018 ozs. of gold, valued at $7,818. All of
the creek beds below this mine were sluiced for payable returns and much
of the gold obtained in the ripples was found to contain adhering
particles of quartz. The Sunrise mine ceased operations about 1906. |
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| Tipperary mine closed in 1899. It was situated in Scanlon's Gully, about
two and a half miles from Macetown. Scanlon's is a narrow V-shaped gully
about three miles long. When in operation the mine was worked by surface
stopes, drives, and a shaft. A low-level cross-cut 1,953 feet long, was
put in at a point in the gully three-quarters. of a mile below the mine,
but where the lode was cut it was not payable. The lode was tben driven on
for a distance of 490 feet-namely 270 feet westward and 220 feet eastward.
It was found to average about four feet in width and to underlie
south-east at an angle of 68 degrees, but unfortunately no payable ore was
found at that depth Killarney mine was parallel to the Tipperary and about
a thousand feet to the westward. Little work was done on it beyond a
little surface prospecting. |
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| The Premier mine was situated in Sawyers Gully about three miles from
Macetown. This mine at one time employed about three hundred men. It was
the richest reef discovered in the area and was worked more extensively
than the others. Eventually the available stone was stoped out and no more
new ore-body discovered. It was finally closed in 1906. Listed here are
the mines which operated over the years Homeward Bound, Premier,
Tipperary, Gladstone, All Nations, Victor Emmanuel, Maryborough,
Garibaldi, Sunrise, Golden Treasure, Balchs, Hamilton and O'Neills,
Andersons, Lady Fayre, Mackays, Sylvia, Killarney, Dublin, Canton, Ancient
Briton, Duke of Wellington, Geraldine, Katherine, and Finns. |
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| Due to the excessive cost of packing in equipment and the mis-management
of shareholders' money, many mines were forced to close down before they
were proved-. Various miners tried their luck at working some of the
abandoned mines and were able to make a reasonable living. Others again
were lucky,to strike some rich patches. A few went back to alluvial mining
until economic circumstances forced them to give up and move away to other
places. As can be seen, the Macetown reefs were never fully developed
although, as was proved, they are capable of yielding very high returns. |
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| Macetown is dominated by Advance Peak (5,700 ft) in the McAndrew Range
and across the river by Mt Soho (5,743 ft) in the Wakefield Range. The
residents used to refer to the "four points" as Advance Peak
(north). Big Hill (south). Mt Soho (cast), and Government Hill (west). In
the winter months the work would come to a standstill in the mines and the
alluvial claims. Many miners had their homes and families in Arrowtown and
they camped up at Macctown during the summer months while they were
working. The Arrow River would be frozen almost from bank to bank in
winter and the horses' shoes would be sharpened to a point on the heels.
Specially sharpened frost nails, which were used to hold the shoes on,
enabled the horses to get a grip on the ice. |
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| The track over Big Hill was arduous and extremely dangerous in winter.
In 1880 the inhabitants began to petition for a proper road to be formed
along the river route, even though it meant crossing the river about
twenty-three times in all. It was pointed out to the Lake County Council
that about $80,000 had been spent in developing the various mines and that
unless something was done to make access easier the prosperity of
Macetown, and indeed the province of Otago as a whole, would suffer. |
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| A belated start was made on the road on 6 August, 1881, but by 1883 it
was still not finished. This tardiness had already had an effect on some
mines and it was not long before they were forced to cease operation.
Finally in 1884 when the road was opened for traffic it was too late to
save other mines from closing, and two years later, of the original mines,
only two-the Premier and the ,Sunrise were still working. Mr George Romans
of Arrowtown, who lived to be 103, was a constructor on the Macetown road. |
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| At Brackens Creek the road is built on a dry stone wall at a height of
500 feet, and this gives an idea of the work involved in the forming of
the road. Many miles of it were built on these dry stone walls which are
now hidden in many places by the vegetation. After the "death"
of the town the road fell into a state of disrepair until the Arrowtown
irrigation scheme was commenced in 1925, and this ensured that the road
would be kept in good order as far as the intake near Billy Creek, which
is halfway between Arrowtown and Macetown. |
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| This section of the road has always been kept in order. During the
period, 1930 to 1939, the Lake County Council maintained the top end of
the road in reasonable order but once again, through not being used, it
fell into its former state of disrepair. |
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