Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-11-08
SCIENTIFIC MINING.
Moo ern Methods OF Getting
at the Gold.
A RIVER TURNED OUT OF ITS BED

To Uncover the Pay Gravel. and a Prob
able bonanza Discovered-Ihe Opera
tionS on Feather RIVER. California,
Dess,ib' d and Their R->aIt- dedicated
A Yield OF Ten Million Dollars
Loolsrd For--Very Rich Developments
at the start.
SAN FRA Cisco Nov S.-No mining
event aimee tue ,ii-covery OF the Ii . Boz
nanzi On the Constock has so interes' ed
California miners as tha final turning Of
the water from the Feather river bed, by
which the pay gravel is brought to light.
For m,,aths he eyes of al miners in the
state nave been directed to the Golden
Gate mine operations, by which the
Feather river was diverted from its course
and tn rich river bed laid bare Yester-
day it WAS learned that the pay gravel
was tested with results that show that
the mi ne viii vie d many millions Nearly
all miners declared the scheme imprac-
ticable but a few days ago the work was
finished
The Red of Feather River.
The bed of the river appeared ss a deep
rocks eighty feet high. Above, sweeping
through an immense fiume. the waters of
the Feather glide at velocity of seven
teen feet per second. From the hume it
Is estimated that 10. COZ tons Of water drop
every second. This $500 yards Of river
bed pre- sents an interesting study. When
the water was turned into the fiume two
Ia
miniature lakes In the bottom of the
stream and these were augmented by the
seepsge of water from the big dam. The
seven huge water wheels which hang
across The fiume We're connected b. wire
cables TO great pumps and these working
night and day began to pamp water at
the rate of 900 miners inches a minute
dischar ying into u sub flume
Working by Electric Lights.
When the water was pumped out it was
found that there was ~ vast amount of
unexpected debris TO be removed before
uncovefine the pay gravel Several hun
dred men were put to work to strip the
debris from the claim, and, il possible to
get uown to pay gravel. At night the
scene is worth going mites to see A line
Of electric lights are hung along the fiuIne
that skirts the walls of the river. At 6:S9
each evening the dark ravine, buried in
deep shadows. is suddenly illuminated by
the white glare of electricity. which turns
the gloom TO day. and the night shift
men begin work where the day crews left
off an hour before, when the dinner signal
sounded
Here's Richness Thought the Major
AT point where little streak of ton
val Iii Nj
gan pan ming Five cents TO the pan is
considered very rich for good dirt. but this
top gravel ran = cents, and little deeper
it went = dollar 5 Ich richness At the
top would Indicate richness at bedrock
far exec ediEg expectations. Pan after
pan OF DIRT was worked, and il was the
same everywhsre. gold in everything and
plenty O. it. When the richest of il is
being worked it will simply mean 500
and upwards to the pan.
Five Thousand Dollars a Minute
The pay gravel will be s1ovelei up into
siuices 80 rich is the gravel now known
to De that much of it Will be worked by
rockers Estimating 81 to the shovelful,
and that every man lifts ten shovelfuls a
minute. with 500 men at work &. 90 per
minute will De aiken out in gold. This
gives an idea of the immense returns
which come to the successful river miner
The Golden Gate IS now being worked for
all it is orth in OF der to make a clean IN
before tn. winter rains set in. IL is merely
question OF weather. and every Gear dsy
Is lnyalua ble to the stockholders in the
mine. VIII CHI is believed to be the richest
river mine ever laid bare in the world.
Bow 1t VIII BE Worked.
At the first sign of rise in the river
from the mountain rains, the sub fumes
derricks, pumps. sluices, etc, Will be Re-
moved, the waste gates opened, aud
everything placed ia readiness for the
mountain foods, which for several
months will seId Niagara over the
heavy deck apron which now shields the
big dam from the mountain torrent As
soon as the water Subsidies in he summer.
work will be begun, as early probably as
July. as the great dam and fume are al
Ready in place and the work of removing
the gold will be carefully done 1t is ex.
pected that the mine will yield 800 900,
rs the river bed has caught all the tailings
OF the rich placers that yielded millions in
the sos