The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-06-11
MINING BY STEAMBOAT.
An Ingenious Method of Extracting Gold
From a Rivers Bed.

An Ingenious Method OF Extracting OOlu
From a Rivers Bed.
A most valuable and interesting en-
terprise in the shape of a gold boat is
now in PROCESS on the Snake river,
about four miles below Montgomerys
Ferry, on the road from Minidoka to
Albion, which is likely to open up a
new field of operation. This boat be-
longs to Louis Sweetser and George
Burroughs of the cattle firm of Sweet
ser e. Burroughs. 1t has been construct
ed by and is under the personal super
vision of George Burroughs. This boat
and it's machinery are the product of
the genius and experience of Mr.. Bur
roughs
The boat is 105 feet long and 20 feet
wide, the extreme length from the nose
of the suction to the enc. OF the tailings
elevator being $50 feet. The gravel is
lifted by a rotary pump, driven by rs
horsepower engine, the action pipe be-
ing 80 feet long and 10 inches in diam
eter There are two other engines, one
of which is used to move the boat and
the other to drive scraper and ele-
vator, by which the coarse material is
delivered at point some distance back
of the boat. Power is furnished by two
80 horsepower boilers. The boat is
worked backward and forward across
the river, the nose of the suction being
kept against the bank of gravel and the
boat working up stream. Everything is
81 SC, o,,1i
nary gravel, but occasionally powders
come through, some of which weigh
30 pounds.
The material thus mined from the
bottom of the river is delivered into a
sluice on board the boat. The upper end
of the sluice is about six feet above the
floor of the boat, and the pitch is very
steep The sluice is 80 feet in length
and feet wide. The gravel is sent over
grizzlies, all the coarse material being
carried to the end of the sluice, where
it is rammed out by series of steel
scrapers running on an endless chain
and delivered upon belt that carries it
in back of the boat and drops it again
into the river.
The sand carrying the gold drops
upon burlap tables. Of these there are
eight on each side. They are Is feet
long and 3 feet wide, standing at right
angles to the sluice and reaching some
distance over the sides of the boat. The
black sand and gold gather on and un-
der the burlap When the tables are
cleaned up, the concentrates are rocked
over copper plates, the gold being
amalgamated.
The pump delivers 200 yards of gravel
an hour The boat has been built over
three times. 1t has been a success from
the start, and during the past year it
has been greatly enlarged. 1t would
cost from $15, 900 to 500, 600 to dupli-
cate the plant The operating expenses
are in the neighborhood of $40 day.
At present the boat runs only during
the day, but with force of seven men
it could be kept in operation throughout
the "a hours. Thirteen men are now
engaged i'll gathering fuel. Some are
hauling cedar, while others are cutting
and baling sagebrush. The latter makes
the better fire, but it costs little more
than the cedar.
Mr.. Burroughs says there is no other
method than the burlap by which the
gold can be saved successfully. He has
been operating on the river since the
spring of 1894 and has the credit of be-
ing the only person to make success of
any extensive plant for saving the flour
gold that is found in such abundance
along the great river for hundreds of
miles. His views, therefore, are entitled
to the greatest weight. The gravel he is
working is worth at best only 10 cents
yard, and he is greatly interested in
the other sections of the river, where
the value is said to run to 81 yard and
above. Boise Statesman.