ALBUM - REEFTON - a town built on mining/early Reefton

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DescriptionReefton came into being in the early 1870s. It was a service centre for the people mining the vast quartz reefs in the surrounding hills. The town was popularly known as 'Quartzopolis'.
The original gold seekers in the valley dug and dredged gold from streams that ran into the river. Quartz mining involved digging out and crushing gold-bearing rock and was a different process. It needed a large amount of capital, clever engineers, skilled miners and some heavy equipment.Date of Photo1870`SMap^[1]ContributorTony Kokshoorn

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Location (city or town)Reefton

Category Information

Category TagGoldmining

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Date Created12th March 2023CommentsMarlene Boyd
Thank you for sharing this!

Ian Borlase
Awesome thanks so much .

Alan Beck
Grandmother, Celia Smith nee Hawker, (Cobden, Greymouth), was born at Globe Hill, c1895. Father a hewer and M Union. Was quartz drilled for gold bearing potential?

Anne Conaghan
I lived in Waiuta for 8 years and it was the thrill of my life to come to a BIG town like Reefton.Looking at all the exciting shops.

ELEVATED PIC
John Rosanowski
Darrell Latham dated it as "about 1875." Could be a little later.

Allan Archer
John Rosanowski spot on 76-77,,,,,BNZ in centre ,Oddfellows dominant roof opposite it, Brewery camouflaged by some large Birch that probably ended up in the boiler to make a brew and importantaly at least 10 hotels in pic

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