Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-20
LOW GUST OF OPERATING
Gravel Containing Less Than 10 Cents
Per Yard Worked With Profit
Failure in Yukon.
OF the success of the dredger as a gold

Iii uIeukcI DIS d 6OIAN OPPAA
ance is increasing in popularity, and
! broadening the field of it's operation. 1t
has the advantage of being able to han
die prOf1tably ground which be
| worked by any other process, for the lack
of drainage and the absence OF a grade
| to dispose of the debris. For the VIM
ming of the gold lying in the auriferous
gravels of the beds and low banks of the
, streams coursing through the gold-bear-
ing belt of this state dredging machines
are particularly useful. And the contin-
uous bucket and shovel types of dredgers
have proved wonderfully effective in their
work.
"Given a bed of gravel which is not over
burdened with large powders, lying with
in a reasonable depth of still water on a
soft shaly bedrock, either of these two
types Of machines will do the work of
lifting the gold-bearing material to the
sluices with which it is equipped satisfac-
torily. The major part of the gold con-
tanned in the material lifted while in
place is brought safely to the surface by
the buckets or shovel, n so perfect is
the system of gold-saving appliances with
which each machine Is equipped that not
even a color of the precious metal escapes
into the tailrace. They are capable of
working at a profit gravel containing less
than ten cents worth of gold to the Gu
bic yard. Indeed, dredgers are now
working on the Feather River which are
handling gravel from the banks and the
bed of the stream at a cost of only 5 cents
per cubic yard, with a capacity OF 5000
cubic yards per day.
For two years or more dredgers have
been lifting the gold out of the bed of the
Klamath River at a good profit, which no
other method of mining could possibly
have reached. Two weeks g a large
dredger was foated at Hawkinsville n
the machinery for operating it is being
put in. 1t will soon be at work digging a
golden harvest for it's owners On the
Feather River there are half a dozen
dredgers cleaning up the g~old-bearing
gravel in it's bed n turning over the au-
riferous material contained in a 3,00O-acre
bench lying below Oroville, which yields
from 20 to 70 cents per cubic yard. There
are tens of thousands of acres of gold
bearing territory in the state which 1T Is
estimated will yield from 10 to 20 cents
per cubic yard and which cannot be work.
ed profitably by any other method han
that of dredging.
"The value of the dredger as a gold
mining appliance is also being recognized
elsewhere. New Zealand discovered it's
value before any other g~old-bearing coun-
try. Montana followed. Then am CAL
ifornia. Now the dredger is lifting the
auriferous sands of the Snake River in
Idaho. The Fraser river and some of it's
tributaries in British Columbia are also
giving UP their gold through it's agency.
1t has been introduced on the Colorado
river. One New York corporation has Sc
cured control Of $50 miles of the river
from Dandy crossing on the north to
Lees ferry on the south, which is to be
d~redged. One dredger has been working
satisfactorily for a year. Ten other
dredgers are now being built for the COM
pany in San Francisco, and it is reported
that they will be on the ground in a few
weeks.
Dredging in the Yukon and its tribu-
taries has not been successful. The con-
ditions are not favorable. Frozen
ground cannot be dredged, and the whole
of the Yukon valley is in that state. No
can any type of dredger yet invented be
operated in more than forty-five feet Of
water. A Colorado company c~ontemplates
experimenting with a dredger at Cape
Nome. An attempt will be made to lift
the auriferous sands outside the surf line.
The anc are against it's success. No
dredger has ever yet been built that can
operate in the swell of the sea. The cut
ting apparatus, whether buckets, shovel
or pillow, cannot stand the shock which it
must suffer in the rolling of the swell. The
most promising appliance for dredging
there that has yet been suggested is con-
structed on the plan of a scraper used in
the excavation of building foundations
and in the dwelling of land of uneven sur
face. This is to be anchored seaward and
operated from the shore by steam. In
theory such an appliance will work, but
an actual experiment will have to be
made with it before it's practical value
can be determined"