Horatio Hartley

Horatio Hartley (1826–1903) was an American gold prospector who participated in the Otago gold rush in New Zealand in the 1860s.

In 1862, Hartley discovered gold near Clutha River with Christopher Reilly. The location was proclaimed as the Dunstan goldfield on 23 September 1862.

Early life Horatio Hartley was born in Ohio, United States, in 1826. Little has been recorded of his early life until he joined the gold rush to California in 1849. At this point, Hartley was 22 years old and it was in the goldfields of California he would befriend Christopher Reilly, a gold prospector from Ireland.

Gold rushes As much of his early life, Hartley's life during the California gold rush is equally poorly recorded. What is known is that both Hartley and Reilly followed the gold rush from California to the Victorian goldfields in Australia. Departing Victoria and travelling from Sydney to Auckland, the pair arrived in New Zealand in 1862. Hartley and Reilly worked the sides of the Cromwell Gorge for three months until they were forced to take the huge hoard of gold they had secretly amassed to the Chief Gold Receiver in Dunedin in August 1862. Hartley and Reilly's discovery caused great excitement as they deposited some 87 lb (1,044 t oz) of gold, sparking a gold rush to what would become known as Hartley's Beach. Hartley and Reilly, in divulging the location of their rich finds (approximately one mile downstream of the confluence with the Kawarau River), were rewarded with £2000 from the Otago Provincial Government. On 23 September 1862 the Dunstan goldfield was proclaimed, the selection of this name in preference to Hartley's being largely in deference to Reilly, who was 'jealous of the pre-eminence' accorded Hartley as the discoverer. Hartley assessed (and purchased into several claims) in the Coromandel goldfields on behalf of Otago miners, expressing that he had never seen anything better in quartz countries. On reaching the Awarau River, he was forced to turn back due to a shortage of provisions. |title=20 December 1893

Hartley's gold prospecting had earned him some considerable wealth and he subsequently owned a significant amount of property in Olympia, including a large ranch, but he would eventually become known as an eccentric.

Mary Ann died on 6 February 1915 and was buried alongside him. The Hartley and Reilly Dredge had mixed success; it was mining Hartley's Beach when a drunken dredge-hand let the ladder down out of control crashing through a hard pan into an underlying layer richer in gold than Hartley and Reilly's original discovery. In a single week the dredge recovered £5000 worth of gold. Unfortunately, the Hartley and Reilly dredging company went into liquidation in 1913, and the dredge was sold at auction. It sank in 1914.

Horatio Hartley and Christopher Reilly are remembered on a plaque in the Cromwell Gorge which was installed by the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust. The plaque overlooks Hartley's Beach (now submerged beneath Lake Dunstan) and reads: