The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-08-18
What is Placer Mining?
How the Miner Washes the
Flakes Of Gold from the
Earth.

placer miDiOg, take ouSDei OF coarse
sand mixed With gravel, bushel OF
earth. considerable proportion of clay,
little cement, a double handful Of
shot varying in size from the smallest
bird shot to the end of your little 6u-
ger. and imagine ali the stuff to be
mixed thoroughly together. How
would you 60 at it to extract the shot
10 the Isass possible time and at the
least expenditure of labor !? If you had
beard of placer mining you would wash
the earth away and save the shot.
All you need is pan and plenty Of
water Aoy sort Of fat vessel. from
soup plate to dishoau, will answer
the purpose. The mioer's pan is shaped
like a cakepan with fat bottom.
When prcspector starts out be will
take one made Of copper. Gather With
your hands or pick or
shovel a quart of this mixture of
of soil jnst described and put it iu the
pap nearly foil of water. The earth
will be softened into mud. Add more
water Then tilt your pan over very
little and the soft mud will run out oyer
the top of the pan. Contin-
ue the operation, and in ten or fifteen
minutes the earth has run OF aud all
that you have lef, in the
pan is the shot, which, being heavier
than than the earth, have sunk to the
bottom. together With any gravel you
may have thrown 10 originally. The
work OF separating :he shot from the
gravel after she earth has been washed
away is veryeasy.
Substitute particles Of gold for your
lesdea g!obrlee, aod the widest kind Of
a mouetain coua,ry for Chicago. and
you know just waas the NEE in tee
C!oadyks region have been doing all
winter ttat has electrified the world.
Ia the manoer above described
they bave been washing the
precious me,a! fsom earth foucd on a
very roogb. broken region larger than
the city Limits of Chicago The
miners have had 90 other appliances
bot the pan aud sbe creeks flowing
through the Kloodyse district What
c,ases the authentic reports frcm Alas
ks so startling is the extraordinary
yield Of gold to the pan Nothing like
it or aesrly approaching it has ever
been heard of before. 10 the creeks
beds they nave picked up chunks Of solid
gold as large as your hand, single
nuggets worth $1,000 or more.
In the language Of miners, the earth
frou which gold is extracted is called
dirt Aoy earth which yields ten
cents OF gold TO the pau is known as
pay dir,;" fifteen to the pan is .'good,
aud twenty cents is rich. A miner
woakiog 10 dirt that runs six to teo
cents to the pan earns from $3.50 to
So so day. as he is able to wash
about forty paufuls day, the number
depending 90 the character of the dirt
In Klondyke the lowest yield to the pan
reported is thirty cents This would
give the miner not less than $40 day
for his work Some panfuls yield 500
in precious metal. The gold that re-
mains in the pau after the earth has
been washed away is called ''dast.
Some Of it is 6ne as the 6nest saDd,
some the size of pinbead and some as
! large as pea or the end Of your little
finger; but it is all known as dust
Lumps the size of hazel nut, wal
out and larger are called ruggets.
The gold itself is the measure of the
days, or the months. or the seasons
peo6t. An ounce Of it worths, barring
fractions. $50 aoy place 10 civilization
You can buy as 1sucb Of anything you
want for an ounce of the dust as you
can for $40 gold. piece. All stores
in mining districts are provided with
gold scales, and the miners gold is ac-
cepted as so much coin of the realm.
The quantity of gold it takes to make a
dollar is surprising to one not accus-
toned to handling the metal. So much
dust as you can hold 90 the largest
table of your pocketkDiie is worth S. to
$3.50. When you couside. that this
small q1an,ity is the yield Of thirty or
forty pans, you may imagine how little
bulk there is to the gold saved in one
pan. A coined gold dollar is smaller
than silver dime. Nov, if miner
eau save in one panfu! of dirt the tenth
part of gold dollar be is making fair
wages.
Some of the gold is in such foe par
ticles that it 6oass and does not sink to
the bottom like shot. A considerable
portion of such aoatiog gold runs over
TIE top Of the pan and is lost. It is
estimated that in the Grst placer mining
in California abont one fourth of the
gold was thus lost. To this day China
men are engaged In naming the refuse