In 1864, four prospectors discovered a rich deposit of alluvial gold in the Wakamarina River near Havelock. The news spread quickly and by May there were 4,000 miners on the location. As the Otago gold fields had begun to decline, many miners flocked to Marlborough, and soon there were 6,000 men working around Canvastown. By the 1870's the area was mostly abandoned although some mining for quartz continued into the 20th century.
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