New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

in theory if you find a "spot" which is not close to any other claim which is high yeilding. as a hobby fossicker do you just work this area quietly or do you get a claim. my thought on geting a claim is when u have put it in for submission it still shows on the permit map as "submitted" alerting the "spot" to every man and his dog. and probly end up with alot of people working this area while your permit is in the submission faze?

people remember this is "in theory" or is it?

Edited by user Monday, 20 June 2011 8:51:22 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I guess you have to think very carefully - here in Otago I can name opportunists who don't go seeking new places - they just put knives into the backs of others, not unlawfully but morally - One chap had a claim and it was good but he decided that because it never had any interest shown in the area prior to his claiming it he would simply let the claim lapse and just trot off to it in the weekend and work it quietly. Theres no problem in that or is there? - A certain group of lowlifes knew he was getting gold so they just stepped in front the moment he let the claim lapse and they took it! They could have gone somewhere else and got an even better spot BUT they knew there was gold there so they grabbed it in front of his nose.
We had a fellow came to us and asked if he could work our claim - I had heard about this fellow and have no hesitation to say that he was going to work it permission or no permission - we let him work it with his mates. When the claim came up for renewal he phoned me and arrogantly INSISTED we renew the claim and take him and one of his friends in as partners! I would never have had this fellow as a partner - we let the claim lapse even though there are still a couple of places on it I would like to go to. He and his amtes immediately took it even though it is well worked on many places - in turn I am not the type to ask if I can work another perosns claim and so I cannot go to where we mined for gold for thirty years.
If your spot is really good then well advised to claim it - but be there as often as possible to deter others, NEVER tell a soul what you get there or it becomes a game of cat and mouse as others try to mine it behind your back. If you claim it then downplay it.
I dont think however that the fact you put in a claim necessarily alerts others to the fact theres gold there any more than elsewhere unless they are rank amateurs. The people who now even a little about gold mining recognize it more as 'someone staking a claim' and they generally know that theres a better spot JUST AROUND THE CORNER

I am not so sure they did - if they did my great grandfather would have no need to have carried a loaded Adams revolver which he purchased in Whitfields store in the city of Melbourne and if you read some of the more honest accounts of goldfields life you will get a good idea of the 'respect' some people showed of other miners even here in New Zealand...nothing has changed...it was the same then as it is now and its the same now as it was then.
There are exceptions - my uncle found eight ounces one day under the Arrow River bridge - when his greedy partner who was on a separate goldmining holiday at Moonlight or Moke saw it he said "Half that will be mine is it after all we are partners" - He had never once given my uncle a grain of gild he had got when he was on a separate holiday but my uncle said nothing and weighted out half of it for him. It takes all sorts. My uncle also took a guy out one day to Deep Creek in Skippers and told him that everything my uncle got that day he would give to the guest - Uncle opened two crevices for two lots of 3/4 troy ounce so a total of 1 1/2 ounces of gold and gave it all away. my uncle was the best but most are not like that.
Yes indeed the greed and dollar signs do take over...I have been let down several times by people I trusted so trust no one at all now as my dealings with people have not inspired confidence.

Hi lammerlaw,
maybe i need to be reading the honest accounts of the goldfields,
Nothing as changed,not so sure.How many thousands diggers worked side by side with very little disorder.
Times have changed , and not for the better!!
Steve:)

Do you know how many of the bodies seen floating down the Clutha died of natural deaths and howe many died of foul means...no one does BUT it is known that the river was 'the' perfect means to dispose of a body murdered by foul play. The shop keeper at Switzers was shot from his horse. Alexander a shopkeeper at Gabriels Gully was shot at, Sergeant Trimbel had a shoot out with miscreants at Gabriels Gully, the Maungatapu murders, murder at Waipori (although it is possible that the doctors 'cure' was more likely to have caused death than the miscreants knife thrust) and so the list goes on!
I would think that very few miners indeed did not carry some form of protection. Poorer miners usually carried 'boot' pistols, single shot percussion pistols or boxlocks. Miners who could afford a slightly more elaborate pistol might have carried a transition revolver or a pepperbox revolver. Mainland European miners often carried Pinfire revolvers, ones with military experience carried 12mm pinfires but others carried 7mm or 9mm pinfires, Wealthy miners from the Uk might carry Adams or Tranters on oak cases with all accessories as my Great grandfather did, a British military man might have an Adams or Tranter in holster or not cased and a British miner with military experience in the Crimea might have had a Colt Navy revolver. American miners might favour the Colt, a miner who once again had military experience having an 1851 Colt navy in .36 cal and other miners a Colt pocket revolver Model 1849 in .31 cal. I know of one instance of a West coast miner carrying a Coopers patent revolver. The Colt revolver pictured in one of my gold photos was found in the roof of a house being demolished on the banks of the Clutha back about 1930.
Many wannabe criminals would have been wary of who they assaulted when they knew that the other miners carried firearms.
I can list many books which describe violence on the goldfields of NZ or cases of criminal behaviour but today most books have become politically correct and in ten years time you can guarantee that the books will have the miners having lovely chats anbd cups of tea while sitting knitting in the evenings in their huts - while sipping nothing stronger than Sarsparilla.

No truer word was spoken but theres people like me who are total aresholes who like to bait others with misleading stories to send them off on wild goose chases then sit and watch the results or tempt fate just to catch someone out because I like the challenge of confrontation to bring some excitment into an otherwise boring day knowing I am in the right! eg catching some trespasser!

On a serious note though I do agree with you - what no one knows doesnt hurt them.