in capacity. It bears some resemblance in shape and size to a child's
cradle, and rests upon similar rockers. The cradle-box is about forty
inches long, twenty wide, and four high, and it stands with the upper
end about two feet higher than the lower end, which is open so that the
tailings can run out. On the upper end of the cradle-box stands a
hopper or riddle-box twenty inches square, with sides four inches high.
The bottom of this riddle box is of sheet-iron, perforated with holes
half an inch in diameter. The riddle-box is not nailed to the
cradle-box, but can be lifted off without difficulty. Under the riddle
is an "apron" of wood or cloth, fastened to the sides of the cradle-box
and sloping down to the upper end of it. Across the bottom of the
cradle-box are two riffle-bars about an inch square, one in the middle,
the other at the end of the box. The dirt is shovelled into the hopper,
the "cradler" sits down beside his machine, and while with one hand
with a ladle he pours water from a pool at his side upon the dirt, with
the other he rocks the cradle. With the water and the motion the dirt
is dissolved, and carried down through the riddle, falling upon the
apron which carries it to the head of the cradle-box, whence it runs
downward and out, leaving its gold, black sand, and heavier particles
of sand and gravel behind the riffle-bars. The man who rocks a cradle
learns to appreciate the fact, that the "golden sands" of California
are not pure sand, but are often extremely tough clay, a hopperful of
which must be shaken about for ten minutes before it will dissolve
under a constant pouring of water. Many large stones are found in the
pay-dirt. Such as give an unpleasant shock to the cradle, as they roll
from side to side of the riddle-box, are pitched out by hand, and after
a glance to see that no gold sticks to their sides, are thrown away;
but the smaller ones are left until the hopperful has been washed, so
that nothing but clean stones remain in the riddle, and then the
cradler rises from his seat, lifts up his hopper, and with a jerk
throws all the stones out. The water and the rocking are both
necessary. Without the water, the dirt could not be washed; and without
the rocking, the dirt would dissolve very slowly, and the gold would
most of it be lost. The rocking keeps the dirt in the bottom of the
cradle more or less loose, so that the particles of gold can sink down
in it, whereas if the cradle stood still, the sand there would almost
immediately pack down into a hard floor, over which the gold would run
almost as readily as over a board. The whole business of washing with a
cradle, is a repetition of the process already described--some dirt,
about one-third or one-fourth of what the hopper would hold, if full,
is put into the hopper, and while the cradle is rocked with one hand,
the other pours in the water. The cradle is cleaned up two or four
times in a day. The cleaning up is done by lifting the hopper, taking
out the apron, scraping up all the dirt in the bottom of the cradle
with an iron spoon, putting it into a pan and washing out the dirt, so
that only the gold will be left. This last process is called panning
out, and will be described in the next section. Most of the gold
collects above the upper riffle-bar, including all the larger lumps. If
the apron be of rough woollen cloth, some of the fine gold will be
caught there. In diggings where the gold is very fine, the hopper is
sometimes placed over the lower end of the cradle, and the apron is
made twice as long, and with a lower inclination than in the more
common form of the rocker. The water for the cradle should be supplied
by a little ditch, with a reservoir at the head of the cradle, to
contain five or six gallons. The dipper should be of tin, shaped like a
basin, hold about a gallon when full, and have a handle an inch and a
half in diameter, and eight inches long. The difference of height
between the upper and lower ends of the cradle should not be more than
two inches: a steeper inclination will make the current running through
it too strong, and the gold will be carried off; and, on the other
hand, if the cradle be nearer a level it will be hard to rock, and the
dirt in the bottom will pack more rapidly. The amount of dirt that can
be washed in a day with a cradle, varies from one to three cubic yards.
The dirt is usually shovelled into a pan or bucket, from which it is
thrown into the hopper. The miners usually measure the amount of dirt
washed by the number of "pans." One man working alone with a cradle
ought to wash from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty pans in a day,
and two men will wash twice as much. A pan may contain one-third or
one-half of a cubic foot. Two men can work more conveniently with the
rocker than one. There is enough work to give constant employment to a
cradler and a shoveller. The latter has a couple of buckets or pans,
which he fills alternately, always keeping one full and near the
cradler, so that without moving his feet he can pick it up and empty it
into the riddle-box. If the rocker have only one man, he must stop
rocking after washing every pan and get more dirt. This delay is
injurious to the process of washing, because it allows the dirt in the
bottom of the cradle to harden and pack, and some gold is always lost
as a consequence. If the dirt and water be convenient, not more than
two men can work to a profit with a rocker. But sometimes it happens
that water cannot be led to the claim, and in such case the dirt must
be carried to the water, a greater weight of which is used than of
dirt. At least three times as much water as dirt is required for
washing. If the distance from the hole to the water be not over ten or
twenty feet, the miners will usually carry the dirt in buckets; if
farther they will use wheelbarrows; and sometimes for greater distances
pack-mules or waggons. The greater the distance, the more the men
required for carrying the dirt. Sometimes, too, it happens that the
claim is troubled by water, and then one man may be constantly employed
in bailing.
It is of great importance in mining with the cradle, to have the cradle
placed within four or five feet of the hole from which the pay-dirt is
obtained, and to have a good supply of water at the head of the cradle,
and then to have a good descent below the cradle, so that the tailings
may all be carried away by the water, so as not to accumulate. The
rocker washes about one-half the amount of dirt that can be washed by
an equal number of men with the tom, one-fourth of what can be washed
with the sluice, and one-hundredth of the amount that can be washed
with the hydraulic process; but it is peculiarly fitted for some kinds
of diggings. Many little gullies, containing coarse gold in their beds,
cannot obtain water for washing except during rains, and then only for
a few days at a time. In these gullies the cradle can be used to the
best advantage, for it can easily be transported, and it is very good
for saving coarse gold. While dirt that would pay from ten to
twenty-five cents, was abundant at the surface of the earth in the
Californian mines, the cradle was extensively used, but now it has been
abandoned by the whites, and is left to the Chinamen, who think
themselves doing well if they make seventy-five cents or one dollar per
day.
The great difficulty in mining with the cradle is, that the sand will
"pack," or make a hard mass on a level with the top of the riffle-bars,
and the gold then is lost. So long as the cradle is in motion the dirt
does not pack, but when the rocking ceases, the mass hardens in a few
minutes. If the miner leaves his cradle standing for fifteen minutes,
he stirs up the dirt with his spoon before commencing again to wash.
One device to prevent packing is to put a little block under each end
of the rockers, so that at the end of every motion the cradle receives
a shock. Quicksilver is sometimes used in cradles, but not usually.
_Pan._--The pan is used in all branches of gold mining, either as an
instrument for washing, or as a receptacle for gold, amalgam, or rich
dirt. It is made of stiff tin or sheet-iron, with a flat bottom about a
foot across, and with sides six inches high, rising at an angle of
forty-five degrees. A little variation in the size or shape of the pan
will not injure its value for washing. Sheet-iron is preferable to tin,
because it is usually stronger and does not amalgamate with mercury.
The pan is the simplest of all instruments used for washing auriferous
dirt. Some dirt, not enough to fill it full, is put in, and the pan is
then put under water. The water ought to be not more than a foot deep,
so that the pan may rest on the bottom, while the miner inserts his
fingers in and under the dirt and lifts it up a little, so that the
whole mass is wet. If the water be deep, the pan may be held in one
hand while the other is used to stir up the dirt, but it is more
convenient to take both. The dirt having been filled with water, the
miner catches the pan at the sides, raises that part toward his body,
and lowers the outer edge a little, and commences to shake the pan from
side to side, holding it so that all the dirt is under water, and so
that a little of the dirt can escape over the outer edge. The earthy
part of the dirt is rapidly dissolved by the water, assisted by the
shaking of the pan and the rolling of the gravel from side to side, and
forms a mud which runs out while clean water runs in. The light sand
flows out with the thin mud, while the lumps of tough clay and the
large stones remain. The stones collect on the top of the clay, and
they are scraped together with the fingers and thrown out. This process
continues, the pan being gradually raised in the water, and its outer
edge depressed, until all the earthy matter has been dissolved, and
that as well as the stones swept away by the water, while the gold
remains at the bottom. Panning is not difficult, but it requires
practice to learn the degree of shaking, which dissolves the dirt and
throws out the stones most rapidly without losing the gold. If the
shaking be too mild and slow, the process consumes too much time;
whereas if it be too rapid and violent, the gold is carried off with
the stones. Sometimes the pan is shaken so that the dirt receives a
rotary motion. This is the most rapid method of washing dirt, but also
the most dangerous. The pan must always be used in cleaning up the dirt
which collects in the cradle, in prospecting, and frequently in washing
small quantities of dirt collected in other kinds of placer mining.
Amalgam can be separated from dirt by washing, almost as well as gold.
In panning out, it frequently happens that considerable amounts of
black sand containing fine particles of gold are obtained, and this
sand is so heavy that it cannot be separated from the gold by washing,
while it is easily separated by that process from gravel, stones and
common dirt. The black sand is dried, and a small quantity of it is
placed in a "blower," a shallow tin dish open at one end. The miner
then holding the pan with the open end from him, blows out the sand,
leaving the particles of gold. He must blow gently, just strong enough
to blow out the sand, and no stronger. From time to time he must shake
the blower so as to change the position of the particles, and bring all
the sand in the range of his breath. The gold cannot be cleaned
perfectly in this manner, but the sand contains iron, and the little of
it remaining is easily removed by a magnet. The blower should be very
smooth, and made of either tin, brass or copper.
_Dry Washing._--Dry washing is a method of winnowing gold from dirt. In
many parts of the mining districts of California, water cannot be
obtained during the summer for mining purposes. The miner therefore
manages to wash his dirt without water. He takes only rich dirt, and
putting it on a raw hide, he pulverizes all the lumps and picks out the
large stones. He then with a large flat basin throws the dirt up into
the air, catches it as it comes down, throws it up again, and repeats
this operation until nothing but the gold remains. Of course a pleasant
breeze, that will carry away the dust, is a great assistance to the
operation. Sometimes two men have a hide or a blanket, with which they
throw up the dirt. The process is very similar to the ancient method of
separating grain from chaff. The miner who devotes himself to dry
washing must be very particular to take only rich dirt, so he scrapes
the bed-rock carefully. He never digs very deep--not more than twenty
feet; and when he goes beyond seven or eight feet he "coyotes," or
burrows after the pay-dirt. He may coyote into the side of a hill, or
sink a shaft and coyote in all directions from it. This style of mining
is named from the resemblance of the holes to the burrows of the
coyote, or Californian wolf. Coyoting is not confined to the dry
washing, but is used also by miners washing with the pan and cradle.
One of the Congressmen elected some years ago to represent California
at Washington, was a miner at the time of his nomination, and was so
fond of coyoting, that he was generally known as "Coyote Joe."
_Dry Digging._--Dry digging is that mining where the miner, after using
the shovel to strip off the barren dirt, scrapes the pay-dirt over with
a knife, picking out the particles of gold as he comes to them, and
throwing away the earthy matter. This is a slow process, but in rich
placers may be profitable. The miner is, of course, particular to
examine all the crevices in the bed-rock; and if the material be slate,
he digs up part of it, to see whether the gold has not found its way
into cracks scarcely perceptible on the surface. "Dry digging," as a
mode of mining, must not be confounded with "dry diggings," a kind of
mining ground which has been described near the beginning of this
chapter.
Knife-mining differs a little from dry digging. In the latter, a shovel
is used to strip off the barren dirt; whereas the knife-mining is
practised in those places where the gold is deposited in crevices in
rocks along the banks of streams, without any covering of barren dirt,
so that the knife alone is used in scraping out the dirt; and afterward
the dirt, being placed in a pan, may be washed in water, which is never
used in dry digging.
_Puddling-Box._--The puddling-box is a rough wooden box, about a foot
deep and six feet square, and is used for dissolving very tough clay.
The clay is thrown into the box, with water, and a miner stirs the
stuff with a hoe until the clay is all thoroughly dissolved, when he
takes a plug from an auger-hole about four inches from the bottom, and
lets the thin solution of the clay run off, while the heavier material,
including the gold, remains at the bottom. He then puts in the plug
again, fills up the box with water, throws in more clay, and repeats
the process again and again until night, when he cleans up with a
cradle or pan. The puddling-box is used only in small mining
operations, and never with the sluice, or in hydraulic claims.
_Quicksilver-Machine._--The quicksilver-machine, or Burke rocker, is a
cradle about seven feet long, two feet wide, and two feet high. In the
bottom are a number of compartments, all containing quicksilver. One
man rocks the machine without cessation. A constant stream of water
pours into the machine at its head. The riddle extends the whole length
of the machine; and the stones, after being washed clean, fall off the
riddle at the lower end. One man is employed constantly working with a
shovel to keep the dirt on the riddle under the stream of water, and in
throwing off the big stones. If the pay-dirt is very convenient, two
men can shovel enough to keep the machine in operation. The Burke
rocker was extensively used in California eight and ten years ago, but
now it is a great rarity.
_Tunnel-Mining._--A tunnel, in California mining, is an adit or drift
entering a hill-side, or running out from a shaft. Mining-tunnels are
usually nearly horizontal--those entering hill-sides having a slight
ascent, for the double purpose of draining the mine, and to facilitate
the removal of the pay-dirt. In a few hills the tunnels run downward at
an angle of twenty degrees or more, to avoid veins or ledges of rock,
which would have to be blasted through if the tunnel were cut
horizontally; but this can only be done with safety in hills which are
drained by older horizontal tunnels.
The mining-tunnel does not run through a hill, but only into it. The
length of tunnels varies greatly; the longest are about a mile. The
usual height is seven feet, the width five feet. Ordinarily the top
must be supported by timbers, to prevent it from falling in, and not
unfrequently the sides must also be protected by boards. The cost of
cutting a tunnel varies from two to forty dollars a longitudinal foot,
according to the nature of the ground, the cost of getting timbers, &c.
Tunnels are usually made by companies of eight or ten men, of whom
one-half may be merchants, lawyers, physicians or office-holders, and
the remainder laboring miners. The latter class do the work; the former
furnish provisions and tools, and a certain amount of cash weekly until
the pay-dirt is reached. Two or three men work at a time cutting a
tunnel; one or two to dig the earth, and one or two to haul it out. The
dirt of the first fifty yards is hauled out in a wheelbarrow; beyond
that distance a little tram-way or railroad is laid down, and the dirt
is hauled out in cars, pushed by the miners. It is not customary to use
horses. It is common to have two relays of laborers--one set working
from noon to midnight, the other from midnight to noon. Work in a
tunnel is as pleasant at night as in the daytime. When a company is
rich, or has many laborers, it may have three relays, each to work
eight hours in the twenty-four.
It is not uncommon for two companies, owning adjacent claims in a hill,
to unite and cut a tunnel on joint account along the dividing line.
They go in until they reach the pay-dirt, and then a surveyor is
employed to run the line between their claims, and the tunnel is
continued through the pay-dirt. The dirt from the tunnel is washed for
the joint account of the two companies. After the dividing line has
been established, each company keeps on its own side, and each has its
time to use the tram-way. They may also have a joint-stock sluice at
the mouth of the tunnel--one company having the privilege of using the
sluice one week, and the other the next. All the dirt brought out in a
week can readily be washed in a day. The work of taking out the
pay-dirt after the main tunnel has been cut, is called "drifting;" and
the holes made by the men engaged in it are termed "drifts." The drifts
are usually not so high as the tunnels. The large stones and barren
dirt obtained in the drifts are piled up here and there to sustain the
earth overhead. Sometimes wooden posts are likewise necessary.
_Shafts._--Shafts are used in prospecting, and also in mining, where
the claims are deep and cannot be reached by either the hydraulic
process or the tunnel. The prospecting shaft is sometimes sunk into
hills supposed to be auriferous, where the shaft is far less expensive
than the tunnel. After the shaft demonstrates that the dirt is rich,
and precisely the altitude at which it lies, a tunnel is cut to strike
it. The shaft may be the cheaper for prospecting, but the tunnel is
usually the cheaper if any large amount of dirt is to be taken out.
The shaft is dug by one man in the hole, and one or two are employed at
a windlass in hauling up the dirt. Mining-shafts in placer diggings are
rarely over one hundred feet deep; but one was dug in Trinity county to
the depth of six hundred feet, for the purpose of prospecting, but it
found neither pay-dirt nor the bed-rock.
_River-Mining._--River-mining is mining for gold in the beds of rivers,
below low-water mark. The only practicable method of doing this is by
damming the stream, and taking the water out of its bed, in a ditch or
flume. It has been proposed by persons who never saw the mines, to get
the gold by dredging, or with a diving-bell; but such schemes are
absurd in the eyes of miners. The rivers in which the gold is found are
mountain-torrents, in which a canoe can scarcely float in summer, much
less a dredging machine; and any large scoop working under water would
miss the crevices and corners in the rocks, where most of the gold is
found. As the water is very seldom more than a couple of feet deep, a
diving-bell would be of little service. The flume, the ditch, and the
wing-dam, are the chief tasks of the river-miner. The ditch is rarely
used, because the banks of the mining-streams are usually so steep,
high, rocky and crooked, that a flume is cheaper. The wing-dam is not
often used, because the river-beds are in most places too narrow. The
flume is almost universally employed.
The work of river-mining can be done only during the summer and fall,
while the water is low, and while the miner can have confidence that it
will not rise. It may be as low in January as in August, but the winter
is the season of rains; and when the flood comes, it sweeps dams,
flumes and every thing before it. If the dam and flume be commenced too
early in the season, they may be carried off before they are finished;
and it frequently happens that they are destroyed in the fall just when
the miners are commencing to reap the reward of their summer's labor.
River-mining has many disadvantages, as compared with other branches of
mining. The miner cannot work at it more than half the year; he cannot
prospect the dirt which is hidden under water; he must erect expensive
dams and flumes, which can be used for only a few months; and then he
is exposed to floods which may come and destroy all his work before he
has commenced to wash. These disadvantages, and the exhaustion of most
of the river-diggings in the state, have almost put an end to
river-mining in California. In a few cases, extensive fluming
enterprises have proved profitable; but, as a general rule,
river-mining in this state has cost more than it has produced. A river
is seldom flumed for less than three hundred yards, and sometimes for a
mile; and the lumber and labor required to make so long a flume, and
one large enough to hold all the water of a river, are very expensive.
The dam will always leak, and water will run into the bed from the
adjacent hills and mountains, and this water must be lifted out by
pumps driven by wheels placed in the flume. The river-beds are full of
large rocks, weighing from one to ten tons, and these must be moved by
machinery, to allow the dirt to be taken out.
River-mining is now never undertaken by an individual, but always by
large associations, generally called "fluming companies," sometimes
composed of miners exclusively, sometimes of miners and all the
principal business-men living near the place where the work is to be
done. The lawyers, doctors and office-holders, pay their assessments in
cash; the merchants furnish provisions, the lumbermen supply lumber,
and the miners make the dam, and help the carpenters build the flume.
_Beach-Mining._--Beach-mining is the business of washing the sands of
the ocean-beach. Between Point Mendocino, in California, and the mouth
of the Umpqua River, in Oregon, the beach-sand contains gold, and in
some places it is very rich. The beach is narrow, and lies at the foot
of a bluff bank of auriferous sand. In times of storm, the waves wash
against this bank, undermine it, sweep away the pieces which tumble
down, leaving the gold on the beach. The gold is in very fine
particles, and it moves with the heavier sand, which alters its
position frequently under the influence of the waves and surf. One day,
the beach will have six feet depth of sand; the next, there will be
nothing save bare rocks. The sand differs greatly in richness at
various times: one day, it will be full of golden specks; a few days
later, at the same place it will be barren. The sand in the mean time
has been moved by the waves, and replaced by other sand.
It is a very difficult matter to know where the sand is rich and where
it is not. The companies employed in mining on the beach number about
ten men; and there is a foreman who rides out early every morning,
following the beach about two miles to the northward and two miles to
the southward of the camp, for the purpose of finding where the sand is
the best. So changeable is the sand, that a new examination is made
every day; and only three or four men are supposed to be good judges of
the quality of sand, from its appearance.
When the foreman has selected a place, he orders all the men to it, and
they go with twenty pack-mules, which carry the sand in _alforjas_, or
raw hide sacks, to the place of washing, which is up on the bluff,
probably a mile or more distant from the spot where the sand is
obtained. It happens occasionally that the foreman rides long distances
on the beach, and sometimes he will order the sand to be obtained ten
miles from the washing-place. The sand must, of course, be very rich,
to pay for such transportation, but the beach-sand at times in the
sunlight is said to be actually dazzling yellow with gold. The purpose
of going upon the bluff to wash it, is to get fresh water for washing;
for the sea-water is not so good, nor can it be obtained conveniently.
The richest dirt is that the farthest down on the beach, so still
weather and low tide are the best times for getting it. When a rich
place is discovered low down on the beach, great exertions are made to
get as much of the sand as possible before the tide rises. When high
tide and storm come together, little can be done. The sand, having been
separated from all clay and soluble matter by the action of the sea, is
very easily washed, and all collected in a month can be washed in two
days in a sluice.
_Mining-Ditches._--The placer-mines of California would yield very
little gold, were it not for the numerous ditches which supply them
with water for washing. The auriferous districts are very dry in
summer, and in some places there is not a spring nor a brook within
many miles. The artificial ditch supplies the want. The ditches are
made by large companies, which sell the water by the "inch." An inch of
water is as much as will run out of an orifice an inch square, with the
water standing six or seven inches deep in the flume over the orifice.
The depth of water over the orifice is called the "head." The orifice
is usually two inches high, and as long as necessary to give the amount
of water desired. Nobody wants less than ten or twelve inches for
mining: a "sluice-head" is about eighteen inches; a "hydraulic-head" is
from forty to two hundred inches. The water, however, is not measured
accurately. Of course the amount which runs through the orifice will
depend to a considerable extent upon the "head," which is usually
greater in the morning than at night. At sunrise there may be fifteen
inches head, and at sunset only three. The water collects during the
night, and is exhausted during the day. The price of water is in no
place less than ten cents an inch per day; in some places it is forty
cents; the average is about twenty cents.
Many of these ditches are extensive enterprises, and have cost hundreds
of thousands of dollars. When they cross ravines and valleys, large
flumes--wonders of carpentry--must be built. Some of these are two
hundred feet high and a mile long, and so large that a horse and waggon
can be driven through them. In all, save length and durability, they
are as wonderful as the great Roman aqueducts, whose tall ruins still
stand in the Campagna, near the Eternal City. In some cases iron tubes
have been used, and although they are very expensive, yet they may pay
for themselves, by preventing evaporation, leaking and soaking, which
take away much of the water from flumes and ditches.
_Prospecting._--"Prospecting" is the search for gold. The instruments
used by the prospector for placer-mines are usually the pan, pick and
shovel. He should be familiar with the general laws of the distribution
of gold, and then try the dirt in the most favorable places. If there
is any gold in a district, he can scarcely fail to find specks of it by
washing dirt from the bed-rock in the ravines, and in bars. The
existence of gold in a district having been established, close
observation will suggest to the prospector where he may reasonably
expect to find the best diggings. It is usually found that placer-gold
is collected in those places where, if he had been familiar with the
ancient topography of the country, he should have had reason to suppose
that it would be.