Volume 035-3 - July 1981 (8 pages)

with sides 4 inches in height, having a sheet iron bottom perforated with half inch holes. On the bottom of the box were fastened two rockers like those on the baby cradle, and the whole had a piece of board or other solid foundation to stand on, the whole being set at an angle to allow the gravel to work off at the lower end with the water. A cleat was fastened across the bottom to catch the gold, and this was frequently examined to see how the work was paying, and taking out such coarse pieces as could be readily seen. To work the rocker a pan of dirt was placed in the square screen box and then with one hand the miner rocked the cradle while he poured water with the other from a dipper to wash the earth. After he had poured on enough water and shaken the box sufficiently to pass all the small stuff through, he stirred over what remained in the screen box, examining carefully for a nugget too large to pass through the half inch holes. If the miner found that the dirt did not pay, he took his rocker on his back and went on in search of a better claim. Another way to work the dirt was to get a small head of water running ina ditch, and then run the water and gravel through a series of boxes a foot square and twelve feet long, using from one to ten boxes as circumstances seemed to indicate. At the lower end of these boxes was placed the “‘long tom” which was about two feet wide at the lower end, and six inches high at the same point. The side pieces extended out about 3 feet longer than the wooden bottom, and were turned up to a point, some like a sled runner, and this turned up part had a bottom of sheet iron punched full of holes, the size of the sheet iron being about 3 feet by 16 inches. The miners shoveled dirt into the upper end of the boxes slowly, and regulated the water so that it dissolved the lumps and chunks very thoroughly before it reached the long tom where a man stood who stirred the gravel over, and if nothing yellow was seen, threw the washed gravel away, and let the rest go through the screen. Immediately below this screen was placed what is called a “riffle box’”’, two by four feet in size with bars 4 inches across the bottom and sides, and this box was set at a proper angle. Now when the water came through the screen it fell perpendicularly in this box with force enough to keep the contents continually in motion, and as the gold is much heavier than any other mineral likely to be found in the dirt, it settled to the bottom, and all lighter stuff was carried away with the water. The gold would be found behind the bars in the riffle box. These methods of working were very crude, and we gradually became aware that the finest dust was not saved, and many improvements were brought into use. In my own mine, the tailings that we let go down the mountain side would lodge in large W C.BVTLER $C. 6-F piles in different places, and after lying a year, more gold could be washed out of it than was at first obtained, and some of it coarser, so that it was plainly seen that a better way of working would be more profitable. There was plenty of ground, called poor ground, that had much gold in it but could not profitably be worked with the rocker and long tom. The bed rock was nearly level and as the land had a gradual rise, the banks kept getting higher and higher as they dug farther in. Now it was really good ground only down close to the bed rock, but all the dirt had some gold init, and if a way could be invented to work it fast enough, such ground would pay. So the plan of hydraulic mining was experimented upon. The water was brought in a ditch or flume to the top of a high bank, and then terminated in a tight box. To this box was attached a large hose made by hand out of canvas, and a pipe and nozzle attached to the lower end of the hose. Now as the bank was often 100 feet or more high, the water at this head, when directed through the nozzle against the bank, fairly melted it away into liquid mud. Imagine us located a mile above the river on the side of the mountain. We dug at first sluices in the rock to carry off the mud and water, and after it had flowed in these a little way a sluice box was put in to pass it through. These were made on a slope of one in twelve, and the bottom paved with blocks, 3 inches thick, so laid as to make a cavity or pocket at the corner of the blocks. After passing the first sluice box the water and gravel was run into a bed rock sluice again, and then into another sluice box and so on for a mile, passing through several sluice boxes on the way. Quicksilver was placed in the upper sluice boxes, and when the particles of gold were polished up by tumbling about in the gravel, they combined with the quicksilver, making an amalgam. The most gold would be left in the first sluice boxes, but some would go on down to the very last, where the water and dirt were run into the river. They cleaned up the first sluices every week, those a little farther on every month, while the lower ones would only be cleaned up at the end of the season. In cleaning up, the blocks were taken out of the boxes, and every little crevice or pocket in the whole length of the sluice cleaned out, from the bottom to the top, using little hooks and iron spoons, made for the purpose. The amalgam thus collected was heated in a retort which expelled the quicksilver as vapor, which was condensed and used again. When they 19

with sides 4 inches in height, having a sheet iron bottom perforated with half inch holes. On the bottom of the box were fastened two rockers like those on the baby cradle, and the whole had a piece of board or other solid foundation to stand on, the whole being set at an angle to allow the gravel to work off at the lower end with the water. A cleat was fastened across the bottom to catch the gold, and this was frequently examined to see how the work was paying, and taking out such coarse pieces as could be readily seen. To work the rocker a pan of dirt was placed in the square screen box and then with one hand the miner rocked the cradle while he poured water with the other from a dipper to wash the earth. After he had poured on enough water and shaken the box sufficiently to pass all the small stuff through, he stirred over what remained in the screen box, examining carefully for a nugget too large to pass through the half inch holes. If the miner found that the dirt did not pay, he took his rocker on his back and went on in search of a better claim. Another way to work the dirt was to get a small head of water running ina ditch, and then run the water and gravel through a series of boxes a foot square and twelve feet long, using from one to ten boxes as circumstances seemed to indicate. At the lower end of these boxes was placed the “‘long tom” which was about two feet wide at the lower end, and six inches high at the same point. The side pieces extended out about 3 feet longer than the wooden bottom, and were turned up to a point, some like a sled runner, and this turned up part had a bottom of sheet iron punched full of holes, the size of the sheet iron being about 3 feet by 16 inches. The miners shoveled dirt into the upper end of the boxes slowly, and regulated the water so that it dissolved the lumps and chunks very thoroughly before it reached the long tom where a man stood who stirred the gravel over, and if nothing yellow was seen, threw the washed gravel away, and let the rest go through the screen. Immediately below this screen was placed what is called a “riffle box’”’, two by four feet in size with bars 4 inches across the bottom and sides, and this box was set at a proper angle. Now when the water came through the screen it fell perpendicularly in this box with force enough to keep the contents continually in motion, and as the gold is much heavier than any other mineral likely to be found in the dirt, it settled to the bottom, and all lighter stuff was carried away with the water. The gold would be found behind the bars in the riffle box. These methods of working were very crude, and we gradually became aware that the finest dust was not saved, and many improvements were brought into use. In my own mine, the tailings that we let go down the

mountain side would lodge in large W C.BVTLER $C. 6-F piles in different places, and after lying a year, more gold could be washed out of it than was at first obtained, and some of it coarser, so that it was plainly seen that a better way of working would be more profitable. There was plenty of ground, called poor ground, that had much gold in it but could not profitably be worked with the rocker and long tom. The bed rock was nearly level and as the land had a gradual rise, the banks kept getting higher and higher as they dug farther in. Now it was really good ground only down close to the bed rock, but all the dirt had some gold init, and if a way could be invented to work it fast enough, such ground would pay. So the plan of hydraulic mining was experimented upon. The water was brought in a ditch or flume to the top of a high bank, and then terminated in a tight box. To this box was attached a large hose made by hand out of canvas, and a pipe and nozzle attached to the lower end of the hose. Now as the bank was often 100 feet or more high, the water at this head, when directed through the nozzle against the bank, fairly melted it away into liquid mud. Imagine us located a mile above the river on the side of the mountain. We dug at first sluices in the rock to carry off the mud and water, and after it had flowed in these a little way a sluice box was put in to pass it through. These were made on a slope of one in twelve, and the bottom paved with blocks, 3 inches thick, so laid as to make a cavity or pocket at the corner of the blocks. After passing the first sluice box the water and gravel was run into a bed rock sluice again, and then into another sluice box and so on for a mile, passing through several sluice boxes on the way. Quicksilver was placed in the upper sluice boxes, and when the particles of gold were polished up by tumbling about in the gravel, they combined with the quicksilver, making an amalgam. The most gold would be left in the first sluice boxes, but some would go on down to the very last, where the water and dirt were run into the river. They cleaned up the first sluices every week, those a little farther on every month, while the lower ones would only be cleaned up at the end of the season. In cleaning up, the blocks were taken out of the boxes, and every little crevice or pocket in the whole length of the sluice cleaned out, from the bottom to the top, using little hooks and iron spoons, made for the purpose. The amalgam thus collected was heated in a retort which expelled the quicksilver as vapor, which was condensed and used again. When they 19