Golden Progress (Otago) Traditional Cache
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Golden Progress Quartz Mine is in Central Otago's Ida Valley, close to the town of Oturehua, home of the Brass Monkey motorcycle rally and one of the coldest places in New Zealand during winter.
Access the mine from Ida Valley-Omakau Road. Turn into Reef Road. The entrance to the site is well posted. Park at the sign and follow the well-marked track to the site. It is a historic reserve and there are several information boards explaining the site. The track crosses private farmland and is CLOSED FOR LAMBING DURING SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER. Dogs are strictly forbidden at all times.
Golden Progress is notable for having the only intact poppet head on the Otago historic goldfields. A poppet head is a lifting tower positioned over a vertical mineshaft and was used to lift miners, equipment and spoil from the shaft. There is also some old buildings and steam boilers that used to power the equipment. Two of these stand near the poppet head while a third is further back on the track where the stamping battery used to stand. This is long gone but its concrete mountings remain. From the battery to the poppet head the track follows the line of an on-site railway that ran hoppers filled with spoil from the mine to the stamper.
The mine first worked from 1868-1896 and then again from 1928-1937. The poppet head was erected in 1928 and has survived because it was constructed from Australian hardwood and thus hasn't rotted away like others.
The vertical shafts at the poppet head have been sealed off with mesh and appear to have been partially refilled (whether deliberately or by nature I'm not sure) but you can still peer into them and a torch may be useful for this. A horizontal shaft runs into the hillside behind and above the poppet head for about 20 metres and can be entered. However, it is unsupported and entering is probably not a good idea. Signs warn of the presence of other shafts at the site so take care, especially if you have children with you.
There is a large number of poplar trees along the track and these look fantastic in autumn.
The cache is a 1 litre black-painted snaplock. It is NOT at ground level and is invisible from 0 metres. Beware of some vegetation with tiny thorns in the vicinity of the cache. Gloves could be useful but not essential.
Much of the information on this page was found in "Guide to the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trail" by Gerald Cunningham (2004). It is an excellent and relatively inexpensive book for anyone interested in Otago's goldmining history.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ba n fznyy furys, nobhg purfg urvtug, oruvaq n fznyy pyhzc bs gubeal irtrgngvba.
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