Lindis Valley (Lindis hotel ruins; Camp Creek), Central Otago District, Otago Region, South Island, New Zealand
Latitude & Longitude (WGS84): | 44° 41' 54'' South , 169° 29' 40'' East |
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Latitude & Longitude (decimal): | -44.69855,169.49463 |
Köppen climate type: | Cfb : Temperate oceanic climate |
The Department of Conservation states this is the site of the first gold rush in New Zealand, pre-dating Gabriel's Gully normally found in books. Because the rush was very short-lived, it has been over looked.
Road worker Samuel McIntyre, was a Californian gold rush veteran, who noticed similarities between that area and the Lindis Valley he was working in. Some investigations and he found gold late March 1861. By April 300 miners were at the location, however they were all gone by July.
The site was worked intermittently across the 19th Century, subjected to dredging in the 1890's, and was part of a government subsidy scheme in the early 1930's. Around 30 unemployed were housed in tents on a terrace above camp creek, and given a government subsidy to search for gold. The scheme ended in 1935.
The last miner was Watson (Wattie) Thompson, who worked Camp Creek, until a large flood washed debris down, covering his workings in 1971. He was later killed in the 1979 Mount Erebus plane disaster in Antarctica. His self built
concrete hut with interpretive panels can be seen a little past the hotel ruins. Fruit trees and mine tailings can also be seen.
Satellite images indicate old dredging ponds, or alluvial pits are along Goodger Road, which starts off State Highwway 8. The ponds are a further 7 kilometres along the road, next to a large shearing shed and stockyards. It is on private property. One kilometre further on, bordering the north side of the road where it forms a sharp S, is a small lignite coal pit. There is a small modern gold mining operation (probably a one man operation with digger and portable processing plant) 2.5 kilometres along Goodger Road from the highway, and in a gully 500 metres to the north.
The site is about 25 kilometres north of Tarras, and marked 6 kilometres off State Highway 8. The Lindis Hotel was built in 1873, and occupied until 1951. The stone ruins can be viewed with interpretive panels, and there is a camp site also here. Alluvial gold diggings can be viewed nearby.
Mineral List
1 valid mineral.
Regional Geology
This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.
Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org
Jurassic - Triassic 145 - 252.17 Ma ID: 3185705 | Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks Age: Mesozoic (145 - 252.17 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Torlesse Supergroup Lithology: Mafic volcanic rocks; basalt; chert,greywacke,argillite,limestone Reference: Chorlton, L.B. Generalized geology of the world: bedrock domains and major faults in GIS format: a small-scale world geology map with an extended geological attribute database. doi: 10.4095/223767. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5529. [154] |
Hettangian - Roadian 199.3 - 272.3 Ma ID: 1350849 | Undifferentiated Rakaia Terrane Permian - Triassic TZIIB semischist Age: Phanerozoic (199.3 - 272.3 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Rakaia Terrane Description: Well foliated psammitic and subordinate pelitic semischist; rare metaconglomerate; TZIIB. Comments: Basement (Eastern Province) metamorphic rocks. Age based on lithostratigraphic inference Lithology: Major:: {semischist},Minor:: {psammite, pelite, metaconglomerate} Reference: Heron, D.W. . Geology Map of New Zealand 1:250 000. GNS Science Geological Map 1. [13] |
Triassic - Guadalupian 201.3 - 272.3 Ma ID: 1310867 | Rakaia Terrane Permian-Triassic TZIIB semischist Age: Phanerozoic (201.3 - 272.3 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Torlesse Supergroup Description: Schistose (TZIIB) quartzofeldspathic sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and conglomerate. Comments: Eastern Province (Rakaia Terrane) Rocks Lithology: Schist Reference: Edbrooke, S.W., Heron, D.W., Forsyth, P.J., Jongens, R. (compilers). Geology Map of New Zealand 1:1 000 000. GNS Science Geological Map 2. [12] |
Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License