Morning journal and courier., 1891-05-06
HYDRAULIC MONITORS.

The Almost Incredible Force of the
 Streams They Throw.
 From the San Francisco Chronicle
 One of the most noteworthy features in many portions of the gold region is the elaborate system of water supply for the use of the hydraulic mines and the tre- mendous changes which were the result of the two years during which hydraulicking was at it's height. So great have been these changes-hills washed away, valleys filled up, others created-that in many To- calities the entire landscape has been al tered. The old proverb ascribing the power to remove mountains to such as had faith only to the amount of grain of mustard seed has never been exemplifed, but the hydraulic miners have afforded the most ample demonstration of their ability to move mountains in the search of wealth. Lofty mountains have in fact been brought low through no other agency than the pipe line, the monitor and the sluice, and the tremendous power of water never received such an complication as in the history of the hydraulic mines of California.
 There are, indeed, so many remarkable facts connected herewith that, were they not abundantly substantiated, one might we'll be pardoned for receiving their rela- 1 ton with incredulity. One might not be- | ieve that stream of water issuing from | a nozzle or pipe six inches in diameter, and with no other force but gravity be- hind it, would have much effect at any considerable distance from the aperture, yet such an apparently insignificant stream, with fall behind it of three hundred and -k,,G q foaf will boulder weighing ton or more at a dis | tance of from fifty to one hundred feet, while at less distance it will toss such a boulder about as a boy would throw a pebble.
 The velocity and force of such stream as it issues from the nozzle of the monitor | is something terrific. The column of wa | ter is solid-so sclid that if one were to undertake to thrust any object into it it it were iron instead of liquid. If crow bar or other heavy object be thrust against l the stream it would be snatched from the hand and thrown to great distance as if it were 8 feather weight, while the man who should firmly grasp an axe an at tempt to cut through the stream would undergo an experience that he would re- member for many day.
 If 8 man were to receive the full force 1 or SuCu BCT6dn aC QlbtanCe or 6 couple of hundred feet, even though the impact be momentary, he would be killed as quickly ss though struck by cannon ball. He might escape being mangled, but the breath would be most effectually and suddenly expelled from his body. At four hundred feet from the nozzle, a six-inch stream with three hundred and | seventy-fve feet fall, swung momentarily | against the trunk of @ tree will denude it | in a second of the heaviest bark as cleanly as if an axe had been used. Whenever such stream is turned against Q gravel | bank it cuts and burrows into it in every direction, gouging out great caves, causing | thousands of tons of earth to fall, which | is in turn quickly disintegrated and | washed into the sluices. Boulders so heavy that 8 man can scarcely lift them are tossed about like chaff, stumps and trunks | of trees are thrown to one side like straws, and the work of destruction goes on at a pace that is appalling. If one who has never seen @ monitor in operation under full head could imagine the ordinary stream from fire hose magnified about | thousand tine he would be able to form
 some conception of it's power.
 | The water is brought in open ditches or fumes, sometimes from 8 great distance, around mountain sides and across valleys
 and ravines. When the vicinity of the
 mine is reached a box is put in, from
 which a pipe conducts the water to the
 point where it is to be used. It is the dis
 tance betwssa this box and the level of the