Horatio Hartley

[4] 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.

[1][5] Like many Victorian miners, Hartley and Reilly congregated at the Tuapeka goldfield (Lawrence) on the Clutha River (Māori: Mata-Au), although it is likely their past experience in California and Victoria drove them to search for gold in Central Otago's interior.

[10] 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.

[12] Hartley assessed (and purchased into several claims)[13] in the Coromandel goldfields on behalf of Otago miners, expressing that he had never seen anything better in quartz countries.

[1] Hartley returned to the United States and married Mary Ann Griffin (born 1828 in Vermont) in 1869, the couple settling in Olympia, Washington.

Yours, H. HartleyHartley'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.

Though his wife survived him, having no children, Hartley bequeathed the majority of his estate (US$30,000) to the Olympia School District and just US$2000 plus US$600 a year to Mary Ann, so long as she did not remarry.

[19] Horatio Hartley and Christopher Reilly are remembered on a plaque (45°03′48″S 169°13′02″E / 45.063280°S 169.217262°E / -45.063280; 169.217262) in the Cromwell Gorge which was installed by the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust.