The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-01-04
srgAMBcarn.G Foa ooLD.
Getting Metal at the Rate of 800 . Day
From the isca ST "a River.

From the ksEd aE u SILVER.
E~xtravagant stories are told about the
wealth of gold sprinkiea throughout the
Snake river country III Idaho. AS d gen.
eral thing the gold is very fine. the par
ticles being Of SO light weight as TO be
elusive. Save when worked on a large
scale. it liz difficult to make good wages
in recovering the gold. Numerous bars
along the river would prove profitable
could water be commanded for sluicing
or hydraulic purposes. An adequate sup
ply is hard to obtain on account of the
slight and gradual fall of the stream and
the level character of the outlying lands.
To overcome this lack of water. as well
as insure sufficient dumping ground, a
big floating gold saving dredge has been
constructed and is now at work on the
Idaho bank of the Snake river. about 10
miles above Payette.
1t is a stern wheel fatboat propelled by
steam. Substantially constructed, 65
feet long and % feet wide, it is equipped
with a 35 horsepower marine engine and
boiler and adapted in every way for navi-
eating Idaho's great waterway. With a
slight alteration it could be transformed
into a steam dredge and used to scoop
up sand and gravel from the bottom of
the stream. That has nev been at
tempted. AS in the past. operations are
now confined to working bars out 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 bring the material to be han
died within the reach of the gold wash
ing machinery with which the craft is
rugged. The gravel is scooped up by
buckets attached to an endless chain.
There are 4S Of these receptacles on q
belt 60 feet in length, and each has a ca
pacity of about 90 pounds of dirt. which
is delivered, into a hopper. This is also
an agitator, and the process employed
may be described as q steam rocker,
with the exception that it has an end
motion instead of one sidewise. The
gold Is caught on copper plates with
quicksilver. The tailings are carried off
in sluice boxes by the force of a stream
of water of $50 mineral inches, supplied
by a China pump, run by the engine
which drives all the other machinery.
The gravel is worked so thoroughly that
no gold escapes in the tailings that are
dumped into the river. An average of
100 IONS of gravel is daily handled, and
for this work three men are employed
an engineer. n to work the scraper
and another who shovels the dirt into a
pile so that the buckets can scoop up a
full load.
The bar now being worked owe an
area of 10 to Is acres. The gold liz ON
top or close to the surface and will not
pay to handle to a greater depth than /
foot to 1S inches. This shows a value of
Ii to 3 cents a pan. A cleanup is made
every night, and the average of the runs
| for the first three days was very satisfac-
tory to Thornton Williams, the owner OF
the craft. He says he expects to take out
upward of 800 aday as long as he works,
which will be until cold weather sets in.
When he has gone over the bar which
now engages his attention. he will tackle
another Helena Independent.