Murchison River

“ The return was on the north side of the Murchison; and here a large extent of good grassy land was found, not on the bank, but a mile and a half from the river, and reaching four or five miles in width to the base of some hills, and reaching westward to the large northerly bend of the river in longitude 115 degrees 30 minutes about forty miles from the Geraldine Mine; the good land in all cases was very flat, the soil a red loam, which when dry was very open; the whole country is singularly infested with white ants, of which every tree living or dead appeared to have its colony. ”

“ PERTH TO CHAMPION BAY.
In consequence of the very satisfactory results of the exploration of the Upper Murchison River by Messrs. Gregory and Trigg in 1857, a number of settlers in the northern districts subscribed horses and equipment for an exploring party to examine the country still further to the east and north, and with the sanction of the Government, the Expedition was placed under the command of Mr. F.T. Gregory, the result being the discovery of a considerable area of available country on the Gascoyne and Lyons Rivers, as described in Mr. ”

“ Such an immense body of rushing water, receiving, as it does, the whole of the drainage of the Southern Alps, from the head of the Mueller Glacier to that of the Murchison, necessarily creates great havoc amongst the glacial and fluviatile deposits through which it descends, and, as a matter of course, all the smaller stones are hurried and rolled along to form shingle on the river-beds further down, leaving the larger ones, which alone can stand against the force of the flood. ”

“ I have been up the Victoria Nile—viz. Lake Mesanga. It is a vast lake, but of still shallow water. The river seems to lose itself entirely in it. A narrow passage, scarcely nine feet wide, joins the north end of the Victoria Nile near Mrooli; and judging from the Murchison Falls— which are rapids, not falls—I should say Victoria Lake and Victoria Nile contribute very little to the true Nile. The branch Piaggia saw is very doubtful. I could not find it, and the boatmen seem very hazy as to its existence. As for Gessi's branch north of Albert Lake, I could not find that either. ”

“ Ascending a granite hill of 150 feet elevation, the plain was observed to the eastward to extend to the horizon, only broken by one remarkable bold trap hill at the distance of twenty miles, which was eventually named Mount Gould, the main Murchison flowing round its southern base, while a considerable tributary from the north-east passed close under it to the north-west. To the north of our position the country rose into a succession of stony ridges thinly grassed and nearly destitute of trees ”

“ The Murray is a noble stream; but, at the present day, not a particularly interesting, or, at any rate, a highly picturesque river. The banks throughout are pretty, sometimes even romantic, but from the sameness of the forest trees—consisting chiefly of gum tree glades—and the expanse of flooded surface through which, at this season, the vessel passed, the scenery cannot but be regarded as generally tame. ”

“ There is a small stream flowing into this lake expansion near its head, called Wuchusk Nipishish.
For fifty miles above Muskrat Lake, the river flows between sandy banks, marked on either side by two well-defined terraces. The river valley gradually becomes more narrow and the current stronger and with the exception of a few small expansions, progress is only possible by means of tracking. There are, however, in this distance but two rapids necessitating portages. ”

“ The country, as we approach South Australia, is now improving in appearance, as the waters having receded, the forest appears more open, and even the “Mallee scrub” is less monotonous than before. We learn, however, that this subsidence has not taken place on the upper part of the river, the Murray having risen some feet at Maiden’s Punt, probably from the floods on the Campaspe and Goulburn, for as yet the Alpine snows have not contributed their quota to the stream. ”

“ Periodically it, overflows, causing wide inundations. The principal tributaries of the Murray are those from New South Wales, including the Edward River, the united streams of the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan, and the Darling or Callewatta. In 1829 Captain Sturt traced the Murrumbidgee River till it debouched into the Murray, which he followed down to Lake Alexandrina, but he was compelled, after great hardships, to return without discovering its mouth. ”

“ The Murray, thus combining within its basin nearly the entire drainage of the province of Victoria, with a large portion of that of New South Wales, and much of the eastern part of South Australia, appears to have been unknown to British Colonists before 1830, when Captain Charles Sturt, of the 39th Regiment—one of the most ardent and intrepid explorers the world has ever seen—whilst tracing the source, or rather course, of the Murrumbidgee, by order of the Sydney Government, came upon this noble river ”

“ Maiden, the proprietor of the punt and inn, bearing his name, that some short distance above his place, at the junction of the Edwards and Wakool—or rather where these rivers leave the Murray—that, at flood time, the channel of the river is lost among large reedy lakes, and that its course could not be found without native assistance—that the country is quite destitute of trees for a considerable distance. After leaving this part, the timber becomes plenty again, and continues so; the banks keep high, and continue to improve in quality ”

“ Promising quartz reefs were exploited, and companies were formed; but the success of the Murchison field was principally due to the alluvial returns. The population of the district rose to about 600 persons, and the public fondly hoped that the Murchison would produce a Ballarat or Bendigo. Fever caused many deaths in this district. The output for Western Australia reached 59,548 ozs., valued at £226,283—a phenomenal rise since 1886. The Murchison yielded 24,356 ozs., Yilgarn 21,209 ozs., Pilbarra 12,892 ozs., Kimberley 1,088 ozs., and Ashburton only 14 dwts. ”

“ It was subsequently discovered that these systems of strata, which crop out from beneath newer rocks in restricted areas in Britain, are spread out into broad, undisturbed sheets over thousands of miles in continental Europe and in America. Later on Murchison studied them in Russia, and described them, conjointly with Verneuil and Von Kerserling, in a ponderous and classical work. In America they were studied by Hall, Newberry, Whitney, Dana, Whitfield, and other pioneer geologists, who all but anticipated their English contemporaries. ”

“ He declared that it was impossible to follow the route originally laid down owing to this drought, and offered, if water could be found, to proceed to the Murchison. His proposal was accepted, and he returned to Fraser's Range and struck a course thence towards Hampton Plains, with the object of completing, as far as possible, the examination of one block of the territory the party was commissioned to traverse. But the absence of water compelled him to take a more westerly route, and he went over country (Dundas) soon afterwards discovered to be rich in minerals, and arrived at Southern Cross. ”

“ Of the climate and seasons so little is at present known that, allowing all other difficulties to have been overcome, it would be very hazardous to risk flocks and herds beyond the head of the Murchison until the country has again been visited at a different period of the year, as it is probably that it has as yet only been seen under the most favourable conditions. ”

“ Whether he will really be able to penetrate to your unvisited lake, or beyond it to Lake Lincoln, is, of course, a matter of great doubt; but it will at any rate be gratifying to you to know that support is approaching you both from the west and east. We all highly admire and appreciate your indomitable energy and perseverance, and the Geographical Society will do everything in its power to support you, so as to compensate in some measure for the loss you have sustained in the death of your old friend Sir Roderick Murchison. ”

“ Below Maruchak, where towns once crowded, it widens into green spaces, and the multiplicity and depth of the astonishing system of canals which distribute the waters of the river on its left bank leave no room to doubt the strength of the former population that constructed them. Where the pheasants breed now in myriads, in reedy swamps and scrubby thickets, there may lie hidden the foundations of many an old town with its caravanserais, its mosques, and its baths. The economic value of the Murghab River is still great in Northern 247 Afghanistan. ”

“ The Murray, fed by the lofty mountains on the east, carries to the sea a body of fresh water sufficient to irrigate the whole country, which is in general so level even to a great distance from its banks that the abundant waters of the river might probably be turned into canals for the purpose either of supplying deficiencies of natural irrigation at particular places, or of affording the means of transport across the wide plains.
The high mountains in the east have not yet been explored but their very aspect is refreshing in a country where the summer heat is often very oppressive. ”

“ He believed much in grand and sudden catastrophic changes in nature. The presidency of the British Association was given to the new scientific knight, and he worthily occupied the chair at the meeting at Southampton in 1846.
In 1848, the year of revolution in Europe, Murchison enjoyed foreign politics and Alpine geology, and made the acquaintance of most of the young Swiss geologists, whose names are now so celebrated. An essay on the geology of the Alps was written, and our hero received the Copley [303] Medal of the Royal Society. ”

“ These are denominated the Edward, Logan, Wakool, and Neimur Rivers; which, having a more direct course than the Murray itself, would, but for their unfortunate termination, after some hundred miles in a shallow creek, at no very distant period, have proved themselves of inestimable value to the internal prosperity of the adjacent provinces. As it is, nothing but a superabundant population will probably succeed in turning these streams to a useful or, at least, a navigable end. ”

“ The work accomplished is bona fide work,—actual, solid, not to be done over again,—work such as could be achieved in only the school of Dr. William Smith, the father of English Geology. I have found much to admire, too, in the sections [Pg 129] of Sir R. Murchison. His section of this part of the coast, for example, strikes from the extreme northern part of Skye to the island of Holm, thence to Scrapidale in Rasay, thence along part of the coast of Scalpa, thence direct through the middle of Pabba, and thence to the shore of the Bay of Laig. ”

“ With hearing lectures on science, scientific papers and discussions, attending evening soirées, and the opportunity of hearing and talking to men who had already made themselves famous, Murchison found enough fully to fill up his time, and to make London life a very different thing to him from what it had been in the old days, when he used to escape to town from the monotony of a country barrack. With his characteristic ardour, he had not completed his first winter’s studies in geology before he longed to be off into the field to observe for himself. ”

“ R. Murphy settled on Apple gate River about 1854 and took up a donation land claim . The stream running through the claim gradually became known as Murphy Creek . In 1872 J. 0. C. Wimer had a post office established called Murphy in honor of the early settler . MURPHY BAR , Polk County . Murphy Bar is on the south bank of the Willamette River about three miles southeast of Independence . It was named for William Murphy who lived nearby many years ago . MURPHY CREEK , Wallowa County . This creek was named for one Murphy , a pioneer trapper and hunter , who built a cabin on the creek . ”

“ Rain must fall simultaneously in the S.E. angle of the island in the inter-tropical regions, and at the heads of all the tributaries of the main stream, ere its effects can be felt in the lower parts of the Murray. If the valley of the Murray is not subject to flood, it has only recently gained a height above the influence of the river, and still retains all the character of flooded land. In either case, however, it contains land that is of the very richest kind—soil that is the pure accumulation of vegetable matter, and is as black as ebony. ”

“ McCullum’s station (Wella) , where there are 13,000 sheep, pursued our onward course towards Swan Hill.
From the junction of the Murrumbidgee, or rather of the Logan or Wakool, [16] up which we steamed a short distance, the volume of the Murray diminishes, and its sinuosity increases; but the steamer made good progress on her way, anchoring about half-past twelve a.m., on Thursday morning, the 15th September, in mid-channel, with a strong tide running. ”

“ Still the ever rich and fertile shores accompanied us, fringed with vines and alive with small birds and frisking squirrels, the edge of some farmer's field or widow's wood-lot, or wilder, perchance, where the muskrat, the little medicine of the river, drags itself along stealthily over the alder leaves and muscle shells, and man and the memory of man are banished far. At length the unwearied, never sinking shore, still holding on without break, with its cool copses and serene pasture grounds, tempted us to disembark ”