Sloans Flat, Skippers, Queenstown-Lakes District, Otago Region, South Island, New Zealand
| Latitude & Longitude (WGS84): | 44° 48' 49'' South , 168° 43' 54'' East |
|---|---|
| Latitude & Longitude (decimal): | -44.81361,168.73185 |
| Köppen climate type: | Cfc : Subpolar oceanic climate |
Alluvial gold in gravels.
Patrick (Paddy) Sloan was active as a miner in the upper Shotover area from 1874 to 1891. He is noted for a number of court cases.
Sloans Flat is 7 kilometres north of Skippers, on The Branches pastoral station road. The flat is between Ashworths Flat, and the Sandhill cut to the south. His place of residence is noted as Sandhills, which was often the general term for any placed 2 kilometres up or downstream from the Sandhill Cut. He is noted as mining in several locations in the area, possibly also on the flat itself.
In 1875, Redpath and Anderson took Sloan to the warden's court claiming Sloan had flooded their mining claim. In a case that took the whole day, Redpath stated Sloan had done earthworks for the Deep Level Company, of which Sloan was a shareholder, causing water to flow down Redpath's tail race and across his claim. He was suing Sloan for damages. After much legal argument it was discovered Anderson did not hold a miner's right. Sloan's lawyer argued that Redpath should have sued by himself, and the fact Anderson was included invalided the claim. This has been seen to happen in other warden courts elsewhere around the globe, but in this case the warden ruled against Sloan regardless, and was ordered to pay Redpath 5 pounds damages.
In 1883, Sloan made himself unpopular with other miners in the area who were opposing J. Aspinalls freehold lease application for pastoral purposes. They were fearful it would block any applications for mining claims. Sloan stated he had found no gold on the land in question, and Aspinall had always been generous in allowing him to prospect on his land. This was later used in the Warden's Court case against the miners.
In 1891, Sloan is declared bankrupt. This was a time when store owners accepted promises to pay by miners at a later date. The theory was they would pay when gold was found. This was assuming any gold would be found, and money from it not spent elsewhere. Also Sloan owed wages to three employees. His total debt was 239 pounds, the merchants as far away as Bendigo (N.Z.) and Mount Ida, indicating possibly he needed to go outside the district to make purchases due to a bad name.
His assets were 2 acres at Sandhills, possibly on Sloans Flat, with a water race and dam, valued at 100 pounds, and mining plant valued at 20 pounds, leaving a deficit of 139 pounds. It is noted in the court case he had received very little employment the last three years, had sold his horse and bridle gear to pay debts, and was getting 10 ounces a year out of his claim.
In 1894, he applied for a timber cutters licence in the area.
No minerals currently recorded for this locality.
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
| Late Pleistocene 0.0117 - 0.126 Ma ID: 1355317 | OIS4 (Late Pleistocene) outwash deposits Age: Pleistocene (0.0117 - 0.126 Ma) Description: Unweathered to slightly weathered, loose, sandy to silty, well rounded gravel usually on large outwash plains. Comments: Late Pleistocene river deposits. Age based on C14, U-Th dating and stratigraphic correlation Lithology: Major:: {gravel},Minor:: {sand, silt, clay} Reference: Heron, D.W. . Geology Map of New Zealand 1:250 000. GNS Science Geological Map 1. [13] |
| Triassic - Permian 201.3 - 298.9 Ma ID: 3189657 | Paleozoic-Mesozoic crystalline metamorphic rocks Age: Phanerozoic (201.3 - 298.9 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Haast Schist Comments: Caples Terrane Lithology: Metawacke; greenschist/almandine amphibolite grade metasedimentary/metavolcanic schist 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] |
| Triassic - Permian 201.3 - 298.9 Ma ID: 1309452 | Aspiring lithologic association Permian-Triassic TZIV schist Age: Phanerozoic (201.3 - 298.9 Ma) Stratigraphic Name: Torlesse Supergroup Description: Pelitic and subordinate psammitic schist (TZIV); including areas and bands of greenschist or amphibolite, and minor marble, metachert and serpentinised ultramafics. Comments: Eastern Province (Rakaia Terrane) Rocks Lithology: Schist, greenschist, amphibolite, marble, metachert, ultramafic igneous rock 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
References
