New-York tribune., 1903-01-25

10, in the first place this kind Of money making
q independent of the bugbear capital Rich men
5srtske il. bat they are no surer OF success
,ssn the veriest hesear who has a stout pair of
-ns And lei say that there is not for all
,,n,s something Of the very essence Of delight in
s.,ling al first hand with elements so beautiful
srrin gold and running water
For water is your placer miners chief ally and
,ouo-le- Indeed. man. is the new hand, joining
!, the game late hour in the geologic day: but
eater is old il and sccomplisfet beyond the
..linz Water began long ages ago this process
.x SELECTING. testing. sorting holding high
,syman fashion. the rich rocks travelling by.
,-ng out their pockets, soundly beating the close
s+.5 ores forcing their fingers open by one.
.iu they let fah every nugget and every grain OF
Measure and went their way poverty struck and
,-oken-they that ha6 started on their journey
nth pockets fun Of gold
And all this treasure the water so long as it
,,,e6 in that channel never ceased from rolling
obo,,t washing clean Of each lingering particle OF
quartz bealing with hammers OF flint and granite
:, snxils of ohsdian and syenite welding into odd
.b.nes haT-ruarl1ing with strange stamps. and
boarding away. any miser might in the of side
:, little runnels laid out neatly along river bars.
- tDcked securely inside the elbow OF winding
cream Just out Of reach Of the stronger current
reckless spendthrift that would scatter The hoard
broadcast again.
The earliest modern version of the golden story
ts the less romantic one called panning- The
--osrector takes shovelful Of sand out Of the
,ysi1abe vessel whether shallow. round bread pan,
~ even the camp irving pan freed Of grease, and
10 h-ns 81 with and washes the dirt clean.
ss they say Then. with the pan in both hands, the
miner gently agitates il with circular motion that
little by little. each turn Of the wrist. eXpels
norton OF the muddy and some Of the lighter
partices Continuing this action. he finds that the
srecifc gravity OF whatever metal had been in that
shovelfLl q sand his being LEFT at the end
ot this simple process with all the heaviest stuff,
magnetic iron pyrites gold. collected together in
the bottom of the pan. As gold is the heaviest OF
sU These that again would be separable from the
hsser metals by continuation Of the process.
or i gold is very fine. scale or fake" or
'so;i-' the final separation is facilitated by few
drops quicksilver in the pan, which amalgan1ates
with col5-Nith silver. too-and turns cold
shoulder 10 everything else 1t is easy enough after
ward 10 drive off the quick by heat and leave
the miner with z little cake Of precious metal at
bottom of his retort Failing retort the miner
simply takes the quick that has been mpregnated
with gold and Squeezes il through bit Of thick
Grill or blanket huckskin, the last being the
hest and in general use in northern camps. When
the liquid metal has been pressed out in thousand
eIohues tand carefully saved for next tineD there
viii inside the buckskin a squeezed up like
soft silver This eEnptied out shovel and held
over the camp fire Will sort itself-the
naming quick being expelled by the heat and
going of in vapor; the tried gold steadfastly
naming
But though man in this fashion may get any
thing from one or two "colcrs'' gold specks) TO
So day, panni1g is looked upon Chiefly
as means Of prospecting. II the prospect is
proved by this simple means 10 warrant a more
thorough investigation. the placer miner, taking
leaf ont Of the book of the river. sets himself TO
revise and ahridPe the work done ages before he
saw the light. Where he best secure good
head az water he roughly knocks together line
Of sluiCe boxes Each box averages one foot by
twelve. On rude rrestles they set end to end,
in cont iinuous line. inclined little. 10 give the
water sufficient power 10 carry away sand and
little stones and much of the gold The
hex is simply a river channel in miniature BY
az of TIE sluicegate the head Of the first box
the water pours merriIy down the new course, not
across heeccs nov, bur over "rif1es'-slatted or
cross latt!ced wooden frames-ftting neatly along
the bottom and easily removable when they have
served their purpose. Usually at the lower end OF
the sluice is one box fitted with arnalgam plate
q sheet OF copper covered with quicksilver The
miner STANDS near the head of the sluice. and as
he shoveIs il the gold shorted sand he finds the
water has lost whit OF its ancient cunning.
Within the narrow confines of the new channel the
tiny stream starts away on its ancient occupation
with taunty up-todate air, carrying through with
concentration ard dispatch that leisurely old bust
ness sending the rightabout all pauper stones
snd beEgarly sand while il caresses and keeps
hack the gold, cunningly hiding away the lighter
particles between the Stats OF the rifles, just as 1t
did in the old days iE gully and by river bar, and
making exactly the same joyful demonstrations OF
dancing eddies round the early arrested nuggets;
wherein We why the upper courses of gold
Fearing streams are likely 10 be more 'nuggety.
though not always richer. the whole. than the
lower reaches and why it is well to have an ANAL
gam plate al the bottom OF the sluce-
was on terms of comparative intimacy with
racer mnng when ] in my teens. having first,
watched that fashion Of gold getting in the Rocky
Mountains. not far from the source of the Rio
Grsnde del Norte. whose water washes a deal OF
eold on SIS way down TO Mexico. But this mode
of mining ore OF the things that exercises per-
ks1ent charm on the spirit Of the wayfarer as 81 1
s-o'ereQ Nnen saw ~ sucn q ne. f eroro Inc
same unchanged process gong on hot Tar from 'e
than the President Of the Philadelphia Geographical
society. Professor Angelo Heilprin. that out OF
mems ~ SF+- f-li Ge T1is method had never
seen in operation 1in landed at Nome. Instead
q catching the gold in fleece they eaten II IN IN
: hit Of woolly blanket upon this wise: A common
deal box OF packing case lmounted rude rockerst
has been divided horizontally into two secuons
pate pierced through with quarter M, ~ a.
The lower section is covered for two feet OF Is
outer end with amalgsm plate Above this; ana
Dt@een u and the pierced bottom o. me G
,2opper. secured dagona!ly TWO bIankei or
ne hopper. water is played upon it; and the boH
srooked' back and forth The heavier gold SINKS SINKS
= one other Of the aprons. When these goden
gathered a. III hofto-n Of the pail and the miner
.esrns 10 tell 4 q glance about how fnlch OF
Gresus ne is The amalgam plate is not cleaned SO
citen. but process is practically the same as II
ne miner had been panning ana hao usea q l!t,I @
ellck 10 save the more impalpable or refractory
The hrst .clean-up" that l in the North
niles across the tundra from Nome behind that hill
CONTRAST with the leagues leagues Of frozer'
.sd norass men have called IL a mountain man al,
though II Or. Johnson's phrase II IS merely d
considerable protufyera nce' crowned by rock
shaped By erosion and rough weather very like
N snvn. out Of The little creek the far side.
80 called Anvil. handful OF pefnlless pioslec ~
,eTs had taken in little over two months some.
5ang like nnc 1t. I'D and elghty-hYe thousaho
No 9, above Discovery is not the most valuable
y ne claims. but il has made half dozen men