Dargo - Crooked River Goldfields
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discovery of Pioneer Reef by McMillan's party.  Click to enlarge New reefs were being discovered daily and as the population increased a new centre developed on what came to be known as Mt Pleasant. The town grew so rapidly that there were disputes about frontages and which street should be the main thoroughfare. This was settled when the town was surveyed in August of 1864 however a compromise had to be reached and the town was developed around a double main street. When Police Superintendent Stall visited the town in early 1865 he estimated the population to be approximately 750 people with another fifteen hundred within a radius of eight miles. In March the name of the town was changed from Mt. Pleasant to Grant in honour of the then Lands Commissioner J. Grant who had briefly visited the town. By the end of 1865 fifteen licensed hotels had been established, there was a church, courthouse, police camp, medical hall, numerous stores and a newspaper office. Over two hundred reefs had been discovered in the vicinity and other towns grew up around the more important ones. Bull Town again achieved importance as did Hog Town. Near the Pioneer Reef a group of rough tents and weatherboard shanties was given the name Howittville Across the spur Talbotville grew to prominence, Winchester, Stonewall and Thieltown all saw hotels, stores and houses being erected rapidly giving the district the appearance of a settled and prosperous goldfield. At Talbotville a Racing and jockey's Club was formed, a flat was marked out to the north of the town and named the Pioneer Racecourse. December 1865 saw the inaugural meeting and the main race, the Mount Pleasant Cup was won by Duffer All the larger towns had football and cricket teams, but no matter what the sport, in the evenings there was always a ball and supper Wandering minstrels were a regular feature as were performances by the Grant Amateur Dramatic Society |
Companies were formed to work the reefs. In early 1865 there were eight batteries on the field, crushing for the largest mines. Smaller mines that could not afford the capital outlay required to purchase machinery would also cart ore to the batteries for treatment. This of course meant that costs were high and unless reefs were very rich small companies found it very difficult to survive. With the influx of Melbourne investors shares in the mines quickly changed hands. The temporary surveyors office was like likened to a bill posting office the future looked extremely bright. At the recently discovered Stringers Creek or Walhalla a reporter wrote, 'in a short time we hope to be able to chronicle Stringer's Creek and its vicinity as being able to compete with the more famous Crooked River. Bill Kinley's Horse Team, Grant. Click to enlarge |
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