The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-05
SAVING CAPE NOME GOLD.
Surprising Results Of Tests Made
With q New Apparatus.
EXPERIMENT WITH SURF SAND.
Only Nins Gents to the Cable YARD
round In the Tailings, AithouEh
Rustea Gold was Injected Into
the Materials Used to Render the
TEST DiaouIt = A Detailed DEE
scription Of the Invention.

rest DinouIt = A Detailed Dee
scription Of the Invention.
During the few days past experiments
have been made with : gold saving ma
chine, the results Of which would seem 20
insure revolution OF placer mining metn-
ods throughout Alaska and the. Northwest.
ana more particularly in the Cape Nome
ana other beach diggings. Tho nnal and
critical test OF the apparatus was made
Thursday, and the comparative and an
aIytical work concluded yesterday.
lor the determinative experiment just
finished. genuine Cape Nome SURF SAND
was procured at San Francisco from the
ballast Of the Aloha. With . quarter OF
ton Of this material was mixed eight pen,
nyweights of gold dust pretty badly rust
"a. The plan was to make certain that
the sand to be treated contained at least
some gold. the given quantity and' quality
mentors. In attendance. besides the IN
ventor and the washington gentlemen
backing him, were G. r. Bogardus and
Cart H. p. Hill. mining engineer and
metallurgist, representing j. N. Dawiey.
The eight pennyweights Of rusted gold
were mixed carefully with the quarter Of q
ton OF sand used. When all was ready for
saved Of the materials thus prepared, and
w.4en the treatment Of the residue was at
An end samples were taken from the tall
ings Yesterday tho laboratory experts
made the comparative analysis determine
ting the value Of the cleanup and the re-
suit was extraordinary.
Finding the Gold values.
The sand. before going into the re-
cetver Of the machine. showed value Of
d. Al b. A,,t.f orA- AZ
$1950-or $z5.ss to the ton. The tailings
revealed. on the other hand. the incred-
IDLY small loss Of 9 cents to the cubic
yard. or sc cents average to the ton Of
sand handled.
Deducting the $s12 worth Of rusted gold
injected. and this Of the qualify Of placer
gold most difficult to save. It will be seen
that the cubic yard value Of the sand was
$So77. and the ton value $3.50 Unques-
tionably the lost value Of cents per cubic
yard represents rusted particles added to
the original materials, inasmuch as in
previous case where so worth Of clean gold
dust was injected into ordinary sand for
trial, only two minute colors were taken
from the mass Of tailings.
The apparatus, which Ii known as the
Swain amalgamator. win be manufactured
IN Seattle by the Nome Gold Mining and
Development Company, which embraces
In it, directory Capt. l.. b. Hastings, of
manufacturer OF the same city: H. e.
Pratt. formerly of the North American
Trading and Transportation Company. and
G. n. Swain, the inventor who Is
trained mining man Of varied placer and
California days Of -. 1t Is not stock
selling concern. This private capital en-
ables them to put the invention to prac-
for sale They own Cape Nome property
on which they will utilize 1t on large
scale next summer.
Description of the Machine.
The apparatus will be made in a small
men. one OF whom operates 1t with crank
that works with surprising facility, while
the other shovels the dirt or sand into a
feet above ground and Is perforated
plate with elevated frames on three sides,
the fourth. being open at the bottom OF
1t may be described, therefore. as a hop
per, as 1t Is In constant motion during the
operation OF the machine.
q dual nature By means Of an " eccentric
everything about the machine except the
frames is set into reciprocal niotion-an
passing through it's channels. At the same
time belt connection starts an improved
Chinese pump, of the pattern well known
TO placer miners, the waters Of which
pouring into the hopper wash the fine
materials through the plate perforations,
while the coarser sift off down the inclined
plane and apart from the tailings.
penditure Of energy any robust boy could
supply. furnishes the necessary water for
sluicns and the reciprocal action Of tho
average capacity would be about ton an
hour for two men.
From where The Amer materials. carrying
the hopper. they sift downward vertical
distance of three feet and one-haf, over
six silvered copper plates set In slots re-
Imagine zig-zag mountain trail. anu you
have an idea of the drop, with the differ
ence that at each acute turn It Is a jump
the plates is carefully calculated that by
the time the materials have reached the
bottom, to get further purging in the
straightaway sluice. most OF the gold has
An Easy Way to Clean Up.
These six plates may be taken out and
cleaned after the manner that you would
take baked pie out Of an oven, to allow
the substitution OF one that needed bak-
The straightaway sluice, also in constant
motion, Is eight feet long. and consists
three stretchings OF cocoa mating. Three
plates In combination alternate with a
fnatting-saver, SO that by the time the
crossed the tailngs threshold Of the sluice,
the particle OF gold escaping thereby finds
itself a pretty lonesome bit of the worlds
uncaptured reserves. A recapltulation will
show that the small apparatus now de-
termned to be a success is about six feet
IN height at the elevation of the pump,
less than four at the hopper and about
eight and one-half feet long in the ground
6luice.
Machines on a larger scale, to handle
1000 tons of sand in twenty-f hours,
are designed. These will require small
donkey engine. and 1t may be found ex-
pedient to equip them with centrifugal
pumps Of recent pattern.