The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-03-09
r PLACER MINES.
There Arc Three Methods In Cse-ran-
ming. Rocking and Slu.cins.

StS IN IvtlINIos
There Arc Three Methods In Cee-Fan.
ming. Rocking and slu.cins.
There are three ways Of working
placer ground, as the gravel beds or
valley bottoms are called. They arc
panning, rocking and sluicing.
A pan is a broad, shallow dieh of
iron or copper. The miner throws
in a shovelful Of sand and gravel,
fills the pan with water and then
with u twisting sitting motion works
whatever gold may be therein down
to the bottom of the pan, where it
tends naturally on account ce ;ts
greater weight.
AS he Sits the miner tips the pnl
gradually and works off the gravei
and sand until he sees what is caught
in the lower edge Of the pan. The
pan is a most essential part Of the
p%rospector's outfit. 1t gives him his
clew, and it is easy to pack.
A rocker is quite too large to be
packed about when prospecting. 1t
is q labor saving Improvement on tho
pan. with greater capacity and can
be worked with an easier motion. II
is a box 3 feet long and 2 feet wide,
made in two parts. The top part is
shallow, with a heavy iron bottom
full of holes a quarter of an inch in
diameter.
Beneath this in the lower half of
the box is a heavy cloth set in an in
clined plane, sloping eight inches in
the length Of the box, or about three
inches to the foot. Sometimes there
is a series of these inclined planes,
n below the other, sloping in OF
posite directions. The whole is
mounted on rockers like u cradle.
When the rocker is set up conyen-
lent to the dirt" and the ncces-
sary water. he fills the top compart-
ment with gravel, and then rocks
with one hand and pours in water
with the other. When the washing
is done, the nuggets Will be found
in tho top and the dust collected
along the blanket.
Tho finest dust, in grainstoo small
to see, will be in the mud at tho
bottom. If quicksilver is mixed with
the mud, the gold will unite with
the quicksilver to form nmalgam.
The amalgam, which is like putty,
is put in a buckskin bag and squeez-
ed. The quicksilver comes through
the pores OF the leather and leaves
the gold in the bag. The blankets
have to be rinsed in n barrel every
low and then and the contents Of
the barrel treated with mercury.
Sluicing is the most effective way
of all. and is done always whenever
there is sufficient Roadway of water
and lumber can DO had for making
the sluice boxes.
Sluice boxes, u troughs, 6 feet by
10 by 13 inches. are run end to end,
something like stovepipo. They TIA
per a little to allow the end Of ono
to tit into the end of another, OF else
n end of each box is fitted with q
collar. The bottoms of tho boxes
have stats and gratings in them to
catch The particles CT goii.
A sluice runs from u dam down
along the route most convenient for
throwing in gravel from the pay
dirt" There is no rocking OF twist
ing Sitting necessary, as the force OF
the water stirs up the gravel suf-
icient!y to give the gold "a chance to
settle. The men stand alongside tho
sluices and throw in gravel with q
strewing swing and IT. careful to
avoid splashing.
When enough gold has collected,
the water il shut off, the gratings
are taken oit and '~c!eanuI Up
ready to begin again. Sluicing is
three times as rapid work as rock
ing.-New York Press.