Canowindra had a brief gold rush in the late 1860′s at Belmore (now Moorbell).
The rush was short lived and by 1877 the mines were all abandoned since greater finance was needed to develop them. in 1879 mining began again. Belmore was made a reserve for miners’ leases of 10 acre lots, which are a feature of moorbel today. In 1885 the most famous mine, The Blue Jacket was re-opened and continued as a rich producer of gold until it closed in 1914.