The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-04
A TERRIFIC FORCE.
The Enormous Water Jets Used to
Tear Whole Cliffs Down.


In some parts of the West there are
which gold is to be found 1t is not there
as nuggets, or even as ore, but as the par
ticles that have been washed down into
the depths of the hills by the long-con-
tinued action of natural forces. l., 80
This gold cannot be obtained by the usual
methods of the miner; it would not pay him
TO adopt them, because the particles are SO,
fine and are so scattered that the time con-
Sumed in getting. them out would be worth,
more than the product. .n.tsr
To the successful working of these great
pebble cliffs the miner has adapted
stream of water, which does the work
thoroughly. unaided by any force except it's
own.
In many directions away up on the sur.
rounding hills, sIuices and waterways are
constructed, so that the little streams and
rillS will send their waters down to reser-
voir which is built somewhere within 300 or
400 yards of the cliff that is to be worked
and 100 or $50 feet above it. The reservoir
having been built, an iron pipe. varying in
diameter from six to twenty inches, accord
ing to the work that is TO be done, is laid
from 1t to what is called the working level:
that is to say, to the point from which the
wOrkmen will direct the stream thus con-
veyed to them.
At this point piece of machinery is built
which weighs from one to three tons, and
the frame on which it rests is not only Sc
curely anchored in the ground, but is
weighted down with ten or fifteen tons of
rock. And yet it is merely nozzle jointed
to the iron pipe that brings the water from
the reservoir. Why 1t is so heavily weight
ed down will soon be seen.
The nozzle, heavy g 1t is, is so construct
ed that ii may be directed at any part Of
the cliff by the hands of one man; and yet
if it should, by any unfortunate accident
get out of the mans control, and the water
be not instantly turned off at the reservoir
it becomes as unmanageable a tornado.
When everything is ready the sluice gate
at the reservoir is opened and the water be-
headlOnR force
iron pipe and out at the nozzle, which gen.
orally has diameter of about eight inches
The pipeman turns the stream on the cliff,
and pebbles and powders, some of the lat
ter weighing more than a ton, are knocked
and scattered about like corks in the fury
of hurricane.
The force of this stream is almost in
credible. 1t has no power behind it but it's
own gravity, and it strikes the cliff 1t
makes a roar that may be heard for more
than mile. 1t will wash down more 'pay
dirt" in one day than 10000 men could
handle with the oid-fashioned rockers"
AS the water comes from the nozzle, it is
like solid ice. Try to stick a knife blade
into it and the knife will be jerked from
the handle. Try to thrust a crowbar into
ting the point half an inch in, but the bar
will be wrenched violently from his hands.
Nor could the strongest man that lives
drive an AK into the stream further than
half an inch.
Sometimes nozzle will tear itself loose
from it's fastenings, and. when that happens
the stream deals destruction and death all
around it until some one shuts off the water
up at the reservoir. ss., 49,.