The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-11-28
GOLD MINING.
HOW 1T IS CARRIED ON IN THE
BLACK HILLS.
Obtaining Placer Gold From River
Beds and Crevices-Crush-
ing Ore to Get at the
Yellow Metal.

As is wea known, placer gold occurs
IN the beds of the rivers and streams
which drain the gold bearing region ana
is free gold in form of fine dust or sand,
up to nuggets of several ounces. This
has been freed from its matrix by the
i, powerful erosive influences of ice and
water which have ground down the sur
face into boulders, pebbles, sands and
! clays and distributed them over the face
of the country below, but leaving the
gold on account of its gravity in the
crevces and bed rock bottom of the
streams.
The Big Bend hydraulic works are
about eleven miles from Rapid City and
nearly 500 feet above it. Down this
eleven miles runs the Rapid River, in its
speed and foam doing credit to its name.
The Big Bend consists of loop made
by small stream at the bottom of q
deep ravine bounded on the side by al
most perpendicular schistose rock, on
the other by rather steep slopes of gold
bearing sands and drift. To work these
placers water has been brought in. a
large sluice or f1ume from Rapid River,
nearly q mile away. The fume circling
with a gentle gradient the precipitous
sides of the mountain and ending at q
point nearly 100 feet above a great
placer slope containing millions of tons
OF gold bearing earth. At the bottom
of this slope is Constructed sluice nearly
a quarter of mile long, open at the
top, fat-bottomed FIVE feet wide with
the sides vertical four feet. Through
this sluiceway flows all the
muddy water carrying the free
gold, which drops into the crevices and
is collected once month by cleaning
them out. The water from the fume
head is led down hill in a strong sheet
iron, tapering, round pipe, to a nozzle
with six-inch opening. This nozzle is
about fifteen feet long and is so balanced
that a single miner can direct it at any
point upon the bank he desires to wash
away. When not needed for work the
water in the flume is allowed, by means
of waste gate, to Eow into the creek
bed, but when wanted for use the waste
gate is closed and the great volume of
water, with nearly 100 feet head or fall,
enters the iron pipe, which at that point
is twenty y-four inches across but grad
ually tapering, it emerges from six
inch nozzle with tremendous force,
throwing the stream fifty or sixty feet
against the wall of earth which crumbles
under its impact into roily flood, which
tumbles down the sloi e and enters the
sluice, depositing the gold which it car
ries, while the sand and red earth passes
on and is lost in the creek bed Eelow.
The difficulty of f1eighting supplies
to this region over steep and rocky
roads is very great. The life of the
miners is very hard and wearing. Wages
paid, from s. to 81. 80 per day.
In contrast with the Big Bend Hy-
draulic Placer Mine, visit was made to
Deadwood, the seat of the great stamp
mills, where gold is obtained by pound
ing into fine dust the gold bearing rock
whish forms the hills.
Of course everybody has heard of
Deadwood- gold excitement and
road agents. The railroad reaches with
in twelve miles, at Whitewood, from
which point six-horse Concord coach
taxes one over we'll graded mountain
road to the city, which lies at the bot
tom of steep gulch, which is nearly
5000 feet above the sea. The descent on
the stage to Deadwood down the mount
ain side is plunge of G0U feet and is
extremely exciting. The town is built
at the bottom all on one side of Dead
wood Creek, so called from the quantity
of driftwood brought down by the
spring freshets. The few parallel streets
rise one above another, there being no
right angle streets, and the cross ascent
is made by stairways.
Two miles up the gulch is group of
gold mines among the richest in the
world. The gold bearing quartz is seem
ingly inexhaustible in quantity, there
being enough in sight to employ the
mills very many years, although they
crush daily into fine powder nearly 5000
tons of rock. These mines were deyel-
oped by Californian capitalists, who,
assured of the richness of the deposit,
invested many hundred thousand dollars
before obtaining anything in the way of
profit. They own their own water rights,
and have plenty of it. They also own
large tracts of timber on the mountain
tops around, and have narrow gauge
railroad penetrating the wooded districts
many miles, bringing their hre|ood and
timber to mountain crest .erlooking
the mills, down which it comes in a
wooden shute lined with iron, at the
bottom bounding into the air, Gaping
the immense wood piles at the very fur
! mace doors Of tie mills.
There is one enormous open cutting,
funnel shaped, walled on two sides with
gold bearing quartz Into and through
this at several levels are driven tunnels,
into and out of viii h one constantly sees
miniature locomotives dragging trains of
cars OF ore, each car containing about
one ton. These trains enter the top
stories of large stamp mills built at
| slightly lower levels on the mountain
side. From the cars the ore is dumped
into trough-like bins. From these the
ore is led gradually into massive iron
| jaws, which crush the rock into pieces
not larger than a walnut lrom these
| the ore by gravity is fed to the stamps,
which are placed in batteries still lower
down. This stamping of rock is nothing
more nor less than poundiagu up stone in
an iron mortar with Il pestle, at the same
time pouring water every little while, at
intervals pouring off the powdered rock
with the water. These stamps are round
chilled iron cylinders attached to
vertical stem of iron and are in batteries
of five. These are placed in a
long row of 80 or lsO. A shalt
extends the whole length with
cam-like arms, so arranged as to raise