The daily miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1879-1885, 1882-01-01
An ovsrhauling Of Rockers, Bump
0ro, Long Toms and Other Min
ing Machinery.
ny AN ARGONACT.

by AN ARGONACT.
Those who have seen mining for gold
carried on only by the powerful little
giant" ON placera, and the costly stamp
mills Of the present day, can hardly
conceive the disadvantages under which
the early day miner Of the Pacific coast
labored. When Marshall picked up
the shining metal in digging the tail
race for General Suffers sawmill Mt Co
Iona, California, in ls4s, the astonished
pioneers knew ~ little about extracting
the precious particles from the immense
HAIRS Of sand and gravel about them as
they did Of Chinese classics. There
were millions in the beds, bars and
banks Of every stream, and the ravincs,
gulches and canyons nbOunded In treas
ure A mere accident had discovered
it's existence, but 1t was not accident
that taught the eager gold seekers the
best means Of obtaining it. The COM
mon pan was first brought into requisi-
ton, and fortunes were made in mining
with this very simple utensil. 1t was
no uncommon thing rs late as ~ and
'52 to see greaser" with his pan and
knife prying among the rocks on the
river banks for "chispa-." AS soon ms
lumber could be obtained the rocker
was made. As early rs the fall Of 40
nearly every thinning company" pos
sessed one Of these invaluable ma
<hlns,o Tho lous fr,rt,,nuta ,,.o.u x,<>,.,
PEELED to content themselves with
short log followed by an axe or burned
out with fire, under which the rockers
were rudely fastened and made to do
fair service In separating the gold from
the auriferous gravel. But the man
with the rocker made Of boards with
screen and rifles complete. WAS an aris-
tocrat in mountain mining circles, and
IL he owned two rockers he was sure to
he elected" Alcalde" Of the bar-an Off
Ger from whose decision there was no
appeal. But the rockers soon passed
their day, for early in the spring Of 80
the pretentious Georgia Bumper"
made its appearance. These were SIM
ply huge rockers with larger screen
and more rifles. The "Buinper" re-
In motion. 1t derived its name from
the fact that It's t,scillating motion was
purposely suddenly checked by blocks
Of wood placed upon either side against
which the ends Of the rockers bumped.
thus causing jar which prevented the
sand from baking" bet tween the rif-
tics. As quicksilver, which by the WAY
was worth s. per pound, was generally
used with these machines. the result
was that about rs much gold was
dumped" out with the quicksilver as
was retained in the rifles. But they
were considered in their day an I'M
mense affair, and 1t was hard tO make
the average miner believe that the own.
er of two or three bumpers did not
possess all the requisite qualifications
Of first-class Congressman.
THE LONG TOM"
In the winter of 80 and 81 an inyen.
tive miner of Nevada CITY, Nevada
county, made what was then considered
grand stride in the direction Of the
perfect in mining appliances. After
weary hours Of mental and no little
physical labor he built and put in sue
cessful operation the Long Tom
This was really an improvement over
the rocker and bumper and the latter
were never again used where the Long
Tom could be obtained and worked,
II was simple c0ntrivance, merely an
eight inches high and low cross hans two
Or three inches deep extending from one
side of the box to the other. Over ali a
perforated plate of sheet-irDn was placed
which received the yraval ond .,,,ot.