Black Jack's emerald mine (Marlborough) Traditional Cache
Black Jack's emerald mine (Marlborough)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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An easy walk to some little known NZ history.
Jack David Wright was born to a poor working class family in London in 1815. He emigrated to New Zealand at age 16 to escape the poverty there, arriving in New Zealand aboard the Lusitania, having paying for his passage by working as a deck hand. He moved around the country a bit, never really staying anywhere for more than a couple of years, before getting married and settling down in Marlborough. He and his wife built a small two room house here in White's Bay about 1840.
It was about then that he became known for his black beard and his fiery temper when drunk. There are numerous accounts in the old papers of drunken brawls and the resulting damage. Although he only worked as a fisherman, there was never a problem paying for damages. My guess was that as long as he paid for what was broke, nobody questioned the source of the money.
It appears that Jack had found emeralds on his land, and worked very hard to keep it a secret and avoid a rush. He would take long trips to Nelson, Kaikoura or Christchurch to sell what seems to be just one emerald at a time. A trip to Christchurch at the time would take a week or more by horseback, although he did occasionally book passage on a ship (roads were almost non-existent then). I can't believe he only found one or two emeralds a year, so either he kept a stash somewhere that was never found, or possibly he sent some home to England. His family's fortunes did improve around 1850, but not so much that they could be called middle class. If Jack did send emeralds home, the family were as careful as he was.
Jack died aged 46, in 1861, from yet another drunken brawl. The emerald mine was never found. A few years later his land was bought by the government and the Whites Bay Cable Station was established.
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Okay, the mine was found. Some time ago I was crawling over the hills around White's Bay looking for interesting places to place geocaches (you may have seen that I tend not to put them close to tracks). When I came across an odd hollow. Thinking this was an interesting shape of land I checked it out and found a piece of what I at first thought was obsidian, a very odd find, given that we are a long way from any volcanoes. Cleaning it up I realised what I had, and going back I managed to find the main seam - Jack would have hit it too if he continued just a little further. Since then I got excited (as you do) and found quite a few, and totally forgot about placing caches here. I have been depositing them in special caches around the region. Some research via paperspast.natlib.govt.nz led to the history above.
This cache is hidden on the Black Jack track, which must have been developed from some of the old paths he used. The cache is not located at the mine - I'm not quite that silly! There are a few emeralds in the cache, help yourself to one or two. They are not particularly high quality - don't expect to pick one up worth a thousand dollars - that ain't going to happen!
For a change, this cache actually is located right on the side of the track. Enjoy!
Supporting the GeoKids program - my caches have treasure, makes them fun for kids to find!
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)