Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-09-28
Hydraulic Mining at Dutch Flat.

IHE method OF hyQrduIlc mining is
briefly this: From some lofty point a
head Of water is let on through iron
pipes Of varying diameter, and is pro
iected in thin stream against the bot
tom of hill of gravel known to con-
tain gold. The earth falls in loosened
masses, and is washed into channels
which lead to sluice-boXes. A sluice-
box is a narrow trough made Of plankS
| and provided with a false bottom
Over the upper surface the current of
earth and water passes, the finer por-
lions of the gravel, together with what
gold there may be, falling through APP
ertures upon the real bottom below.
Here at intervals are cross-pieces few
inches high, in whose angles quicksil-
yer is placed. The particles of gold
great and small, draw to this, while
the worthless earth is washed on and
out of the way. These sluice-boxes
are watched night and day, and are
"cleared up that is, the amalgam is
taken out, at intervals which vary
from ten days to three months or
more, just as the earth is more or less
rich in metal.
The pipes which convey the water
are made of thin iron, hardly thicker
than box cardbord, and vary from
some forty inches to fifteen in dame
ter. They are smooth, round, and
black as jet. They are led across de-
pressions in the ground upon trestles,
and, where the surface is favorable,
they are laid upon sleepers like the
tracks of railway. They are often
miles in length, and, though their gen
eral tendency is downward, yet they
make many rises and turns. The pipe
near by you disappears short distance
off, behind a low hillock; it comes into
view again two or three rods further
on; then it is lost for a quarter of
mile, and you see it climbing a hill
like a serpent, bending itself over the
crest, and vanishing once more; then,
perhaps, you may see it in the faint
distance, curving like hair-line, still
doing it's tremendous duty. yet with so
little suggestion of the great power
contained within it.
You bend down and apply your ear
to little orifice you find upon the up
per side of one Of these pipes, and you
hear the furious rush of the water; at
tha hot iS
your head by a back-handed current of
air that bursts from its imprisonment
within the tube. A mile farther on
you may be startled to hear loud con-
tinuous roaring and kissing. You
look about and discover another of
these pipes surcharged with water,
which seeks to escape from every Joint
and pin-hole in the entire length. The
ground is wet beneath it, little pools
! forming here and there, while lets of
spray shoot in all directions, catch
ing the rays of the sun most delicately.
The water issues from the pipes at
the place where the mining is carried
on with astonishing force. Lofty hills,
broad plains and long cliffs are washed
away, and their ruin completed by
nothing else than a shaft Of water a
| few inches in diameter thrown violent
| ly and persistently against them.
Nothing can withstand it; trees,
gnarled stumps, rocks of prodigious
size, are whirled hither and thither
like bubbles in the wind, and the softer
earth is melted like frost before fire.
A stream having fall Of 200 feet, and
being forced through a two-inch pipe
at its head, is a weapon of appalling
force. 1t will cut into banks of packed
clay that a pick-aX cannot penetrate,
and tear out of their Businesses rocks
half as large as railway car, and
whirl them about as easily as garden
jet does its silver globe. Were it to
strike a man it would literally tear
him to pieces; not stun him, or simply
kill him with the shock and the suffo-
cation, but it would rend him limb
from limb, as an explosion would. :
Albert f. Webster, in Appletoa1s' Jour
nal.