The Jirnkee water race was started in 1889 and when finished was an incredible 90 kilometres, through some of the roughest mountain terrain in Victoria. Built to carry water from the head of the Wentworth River to the King Cassilis Mine in the Long Gully, Cassilis, the race is still largely intact though much shallower due to silt and over a hundred years of vegetation regrowth. It was mainly french investors who supplied the money for the Jirnkee Hydraulic Sluicing Gold Mining Company Limited, though periods of low water flow, poor mine equipment and over-extended expenditure caused the company to collapse after five years. Despite the regrowth, it is still fairly easy to walk most of the race.