Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-05-22
MINING WITH STEAMBOATS,.
An Ingenious Method of Extracting
Gold From a Rivers Bed.

From the Boise Qllho) Statesman.
A most valuable and Interesting enter
prise in the shape CT a gold boat is now in
progress on the Snake river about four
miles below Montgomery's Ferry. on the
road from Minidoka to Albion, which IS
likely to open up a new field of operation
This boat belongs TO Louis Sweetser and
George Burroughs of The cattle firm of
Sweetser & Burroughs. 1t has been con-
structed by and is under the personal SUI
pervision of George Burroughs. This boat
and its machinery are the product of the
genius and experience Of Mr.. Burroughs.
The boat is 1o5 feet long and 20 feet wide.
the extreme length from the nose of the
suction to the end of the tailings elevator
being 80 feet. The gravel is lifted by a
rotary pump, driven by a seventy-fiye
horsepower engine. the suction pipe be-
ing 80 feet long and - inches in diameter.
There are two other engines, one of which
is used to move the boat and the other to
drive scraper and elevator, by which the
coarse material is delivered at point
some distance back of the boat. Power is
furnished by two fifty horse power boilers
The boat is worked backward and for
ton being kept against the bank of gravel
and the boat working up stream. Every
thing is taken up. The material is mostly
ordinary gravel, but occasionally powders
pounds.
The material thus mined from the bot
tom 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 eighty feet in length and four
feet wide. The gravel is sent over griz-
lilies. all the coarse material being carried
TO the end of the sluice, where it is ram
med out by series of steel scrapers run
ming 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 fifteen feet long and
three feet wide, standing at right angles
to the sluice and reaching some distance
over the sides of the boat. The black sand
and gold gathers on and Under the burlap
When the tables are cleaned up the con-
centrotes are rocked over copper plates,
the gold being amalgamated
The pump delivers 300 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
teen greatly enlarged. 1t would cost from
$4,000 to $4,000 to duplicate the plant.
The operating expenses are in the neigh
borhood of $40 day. At present the boat
runs only during tie day, but with a force
of seven men it could be kept in operation
throughout the twenty-four hours. Thir-
teen men are now engaged In gathering
fuel Some are hauling cedar, while others
are cutting and baling sagebrush. The lat
ter makes the better fire, but it costs a
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 being the only
person to make a success of any extensive
plant for saving the -four 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.