The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-12-22
STEAMBOAT MINING.
Rich Returns of Gold from the
Bed of Snake River.
a Novel Means of Working the Bars of
Idoho's Great Watcrway-The Gold
Caught on Copper Plates with
Quicksilver.

Fx+raya crant stories are told about
the wealth of gold sprinlIled through
ont the Snake river country in Idaho.
As n general thing. says the HeIena
Indepcndent, the gold Is very fine, the
norticles being Of 50 LIGHT wei"ht as 10
~. cIueivc. Save when worked on
I..1--., ....-il, (. f. lidi 'git a. ln - SOD
recovering t'.s.-'
o.. r,r. .loa. the river t-a-.. Pr
,,- sr-l7,ls coalt wa,sr be coIa-4-l-----
f,r sIuicinr or hydraulicing. An n-e-
o,,,t.. suDDIv is hard TO obtain, on ac-
c,uut of the slight and gradual fali OF
49,, stream and the level character OF
tle outlving lands. To overcome TINS
I,cl, Of water as well as insure sutii-
ci,nt dumping ground, big hoatlng
,,nld-Saving dredge has been con
structed and is now at work on the
Idaho bank of the Snake river about
ten miles above Payette-
II a stcrn-yvheel flatboat propelled
Iv steam. substantially constructed,
sjxtv-five feet long and twenty-five
feet wide. it is equipped with thirty
five horse power marine engine and
boiler and adapted in every way for
NAVIGATING Idaho's great waterway.
a
trl-,e ,eformcd into steam dretigc an
r-.J tn scoop lip saul 9ai .'r,-vyl 1Io
d, bottom OF the stream ih-' j
uevcr been attempted As in tbs pa
,narations are now confined to work
ino bars ont of the bed or channel of
the river. The method pursued Is to
anchor alongside one of these gravel
deposits and by the use of scrapers
-,.al 70, h.
in the reach of the gold-washing ma
chinerv with which the craft is rugged.
The gravel is scooped up by buckets
attached to an endless chain. There
are fortv-eight of these receptacles on
a belt sixty feet in length, and each
has a capacity of about twenty pounds
of dirt. which is delivered into hop
per. This is also an agitator. and the
process employed may be described as
n steam rocker. with the exception that
it has an end motion instead OF one
sidcvise. The gold is caught on cop
rer plates with quicksilver. Inc tall-
inos are carried off in sluice boxes by
the force of a stream of water OF one
hundred and fifty mineral inches, sup
piled bv China pump, run by the en-
rine which drives all the other ma
ChincrV. The graNcI IL NoIhCt S'
thoroughly that no gold escapes in the
tailings that are dumped into the riv-
cr. An average of one hundred tons OF
gravel are daily handled, and for this
yvorl, three men are employed-an en-
csinecr. one to work the seraper, and
another one who shovels the dirt intoa
nil, SO that the buckets can scoop up Il
full load.
The bar now being worked covers an
area of ten To fifteen acres. The gold
is on top or close to the surface and
viii not pay to handle TO greater
depth than one foot to eighteen inches
This shows a value of one and one-haL
to three cents pan. cleanup Is
made every night. and the average Of
the runs for the first three days was
very satisfactory to the owner of the
craft. lie says he expects to take out
onward of one hundred dollars day
as long as he works, which viii be un-
til cold weather scts in. When he has
zone over the bar which now engages
his attention he win tackle another.