The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-05-21

out A muddy stream runs from the omen end
Of the cradle The gold remains on It's bottom.
Va, n,,ist uour water win one hand while YOU
rock with the other. II Is most perplexinR ex
,rcise until one learns the krack, inasmuch as |
10 po,iring h nd Will at tfst Insist ON perform
ing ihe rocking motion, and the iocking hand |
" tun Ihen we wash down" to find now II |
pays. Digging and washing SOJ buckets involves
IWm ut me cradle did not "put through" dirt |
enoush Deposits aver cling. perhaps. n quarter |
If a cent to the bucket would not way for rock. |
ING something must he Invented which would |
.e.n n, re- arr in given tme Man then went |
e. nature tor % moueL lie found one In the |
| ,tvrr before aim. The rains from year year |
| were .hoVeiliug gravel from inc mountain sizes |
| mo the stream. the current bore the lighter |
soil way to form the "tulC" land delta OF the
Sacrament M sun Joaquin. The heavier pet |
| hle grams and gold Remained behind and, work. |
| ing lower aud lower down IA one freshet after
another agitated the gravel, were gradually de
D. .itcd va cicyiro, ns-urs OF Dot hole IN the bed
| rock out Of the river deyel ped the idea
~ the 81 lee. A string Of trougbs. slightly in
| cI ed, are set. one npt ing into another faise
bottoms bored fun OF holes are I'll ccd IN them.
Thee are the artificial crcviccs. Through all is
TUNED stream OF water. rhe dirt is sim "
shuVclcd Into the truughs. Mud, gravel, anu
cohple stone. 90 rushing and rolling toward the
lower end. TOa tyrO IL SCENE most reckless
way Of catching gold. But the grains 90 to the
bottom and fall into the holes. In the miniature
sprinkied. THIS catches the hner gold, forming
an amagam. The friction OF the moving VT vel
speedily wears out the sluice bot toms. IL planes
and rasps them away to mere nlm OF board.
"nYDRAuLIcKiSa."
The sluce did not wash dirt fast enough
| There were found mountains OF gravel, winch
would yield only n fake II gold TO the pan.
"Many a mickle makes a muckle." great
many Of these grains would make pile. How
could thousands of cart loads Of pay grave Ue
washed through the sluices In a dav2 They
went to work anu tapped the mountain rivers
| eighty or hundred mites distant at their
| sources among the perpetual snow banks aud
clouds, and made canals along the mountain
/ sides. Where the granite urcciuices rose per-
pendicularly for thous nd feet they built their
| Il rix or haI .H f.d In "A
| the mountain side high above toe valley. They
| we're wears buiiding these rivers. They rouaht
| Sierra crest. rs bare OF soil ma our Guys pave.
| ments, where acres of forest spring up IA II
| were from the solid rock. uown from perpetual
| winter TO the almost perpetual summer of
the foot hills, ana when the stream sur.
range they turned II loose upon It's
bise, concentrating its force through a three
incn niue with pressure 81 one hundred two
hundred, three hundred feet. This stream,
playing night and daS. bored great holes Into
the doomed mountain: the holes wore into each
other and formed cherns the found ations 81
the mountain were undermined millions on
min Ons u tons Of sjil. rocks and great trees
| cane crashing down, Outlines burytng piue,
| hose siuice, and miner. Hut the giant ie 5
played steadily upon the fallen deoris the dirt
to pieces The larger stones were fiung aside ;
| We ty year the ountain was hone, comned {;
BED rock and great heaps II boulders. A few
pocks Of gold dust are In somebody's pocket.
the rivers che Ike up with red mud. guIcaes are
| 49, ~ t'hNf ASNN
tmltnEs.' and the face OF nature Is peeled
bare and SCARED. This is " hydraucking."
hut none Of these methods can ave the nne
flour" gold. After washing pan OF cert lin al
luviai In my claim. hundreds Of the minutest
particles might be seen upon the bottom. A
MICROSCOPE would reveal hundreds more as
ilue as the dust On the buttorhy's wing. The
whole would not weigh half cent. Combined
Win quicksilver IN analgam, these atoms may
be squeezed through the pores Of "A nurk-k In
6aT, rms d1s lis, is to9 nne to sink Millions OF
Great quantities OF quicksilver are also lost
through the me IN. amer. The creyices ana pot
holes IA the bed rock Of the collaborating rivers
are full OF this mineral Every particle OF Roid
now taken out Of them ia quicked" or silveIed
with IT,. have seen II haled from pot hole by
the half pint. This Is the result OF twenty years
dlsch rye Of upland tailings into the mountain
streams. The river miners USED to complain Of
II bitterly. 1t mas the peculiarly, where here
is any current. OF working through any mud
dam. thereby causing destructive leaks.
| Springfield Fiat, near Columbia. IA a mile in
| diameter. The miners have dux the entire fla
down to an average depth OF fourteen feet
| Tney aug among immense rocks str ingely,
| Iancnull, shaped, as II worn ana polished by
tue action Of some mighty surf. At nrst these
we're deemed the genuine he'd rock, but were
Discovered to be massssiof gganti' boulders, In
size from sentry box to cathedral. No true
| Hut the cost Of working through marble and
water Is too great. Springfield Fiat to-day con
tains millions IN gold, but, as the Mexicans say
| 1T takes mine to work a mime silent and
deserted, IT suggests 70 the passing traveller u
| stone, cOluIed ON the surface 10y the red out
wing on 1t for ages when Clipped reveals itself
1his Hat lies on the boulder range. similar
formation extending through several counties.
EveryNhere up lii and down dale, full nalf "A
mile In width, there IL found this same bottom
loss jumbo of limestone bOulders. At Naltecit o.,
twenty miles from Springfield. the bottoms of
| the pits sank IN this range nad an unpleasant
habit OF tumhling into a subtcrranean river.
Inc Nallecito miners for years ran their talings
mo en- .sm. within It's depths could be heard
the gurgle OF running water. ne "boys" once
resolved to explore this Occidental styx. 1h,y
Quilt boat expressly for the purpose. Johnny
ward, the coolest the IN )st polite, the most
desperate gambler IN the southern mines, vol
unteered TO become the Charon for the trip
They lowered the boat into the depths, and
Johnny after 1t. lie sailed but u short distance.
| lhe stream plunged through passage like n
full sewer. Johnny was hauled up. nut the
boat was left TO rot In these unknown and awful
| depths.
Come TO Tuolumne county and you will be
shown natures great stone Golfer OF treasure,
Table Mountain, that narrow W II OF rock forty
miles In length, within which Is "a core OF gold
bearing gravel to reach which the miner In places
bores for years through twelve or fifteen hundred
ieet VI the hardest serpentine. Within he finds
petrined tree trunks Indian stone mills. and
human bones, This Is one OF the dead river
channels Of California. All II these run at rio ht
angles to the present live streams. The STAINS.
laus cuts the mountain in two as with knife.
II Is an imposing. frowning wall OF black lava, as
you ride under IL for mines along the Stockton
and sonora stage road. WITHIN and without II
tells many a story even to he ard listed or scti-
cal miner. whose occupation m axes MIN h me
Dted geolog.st. Once where stand those dark
| gloomy looking crags ran a beautiful liver lis
| banks were shaded Oy trees OF many varieties.
There came subterranean mutterngs, tremors
and shakings. Somewhere among those snow
clad splies wncn to-day you see Rising cled and
IN rp against the as ern horizon full eighty miles
! away. there burst from the earth mighty tor
| rent ot RED not lava. Mixed with mud ana
| stones II came pouring down from the Upper
| Scrr. ?. Ii found the cham Of this unknown
| and never TO he named river, and oiled II up.
| The wa,ers ned Kissing and seethlng before it,
one deuge came and p rtly cooled an Their
flowed over II. Like the white hot, half plastic
| masses of iron which men trnndle from furnace
| to steam hammer In tue follng mill. those
| gigantic, honey cOmbed burnt masses, sJuns-
| times boulder, mud and mineral fused together,
were forced along the channel by the pre-, sure
| behind, md cooled, rolling one Layer over an
9th I, mounting higher anu higher aud working
their way down from the mountains to the
| pl ms destroying scorchins, covering up crys-
| tai stream and wooded bank uutil the river WIS
eutOu bed under tbs monument u burnt rock,
sent down from the plain TWO hundred feet
| above
| When this wall was thus raised, a river, or per-
| haps several were CANNED up. here was
| formed a great lake. On the southern side OF
| Table mountain, may re seen for miles two
| straight lines, one fifty feet above the other.
| lucy are water marks. q mber up them and
You may plainly see how the waves Of this inland
| sea nave beat against aud furroNed out the
| hard, cement-hke gravel. travel hfty miles te-
| low a.d ON scores Of the IOunO, conich his,
| which border the western edge ~ the San