Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1904-01-13
GOLD MINING
IN THE MUD
One Of the Big Industries Of califor.
mia is Dredging for Precious Met.
al In the Rivers.
PROFITS ARE OFTEN ENORMOUS
II Takes Thousands to Get the First
Machine But After That the Out.
lay Is Small.

ullhilb III bHG WOilu 10 uSiub Noiiitu
on In the Feather River Meadows. be-
low the City Of Oroville, in Butte
county. California. 1t consists in re-
moving thousands OF ons Of gold.
bearing mud and gravel from the bot
tom OF Feather river, which In some
places is more than twenty feet in
depth, says the ChicagO-Record Her
aid.
From fifteen to twenty dredges are
employed in the Oroville district, each
having a capacity Of from 1000 to B.
900 cubic yards every twenty-four
hours. Some of the great floating
mines burrow down into the river as
lar as twenty-five feet, fifty feet from
the surface being the lowest depth at
which the big shovels operate.
For many years mining men In that
district in California, which was made
famous In the days Of '49, have been
trying to devise a scheme to get the
gold which lay far beneath the surface
of the rivers. In 1898 Captain Couch
put upon the Feather Rivers the "Pi.
%oneer," the first dredger constructed
after $4,000 had been expended in
experiment. AT the present time there
are thirty-four dredgers in the gold
streams OF California, each especially
constructed to suit the locality in
which II is to be worked.
Produce Almost 100000.
The success OF the dredgers has
been phenomenal. Last year the float
ing mines produced almost $1,000, 900.
This year the miners expect to double
that record. The ground worked aver.
ages from Is to rs cents, and often
more, per cubic yard, but the cost OF
operating the dredgers, including an
allowance for wear and tear on ma
chinery, is in many of the dredgers
only 4 cents per cubic yard, and In
none of them does 1t exceed ~ cents.
1t is only from 20 to 80 feet to bed
rock, and as this is a s~edimentary de-
post OF many years, it is easily ex.
cavated. The d~redgers at work at the
present time abe taking out $4,000 to
10000 cubic yards of gravel daily. 1t
is a strange sight to see these great
~dredgers nosing along the river like
some huge amphibian monsters, while
often the river banks are bordered by
orange orchards or waving grain
fields. A great deal of the low land
bordering on the Feather river has
been purchased by miners, and the
dredgers rapidly eat the land away
until the water rushing in reduces 1t
to a soft and easily worked mass.
Two classes of dredges are used.
The more popular form consists of an
endless chain Of buckets. These lift
the aurlferous gravel on an inclined
plane to the head OF the sluices and
concentrating tables attached to the
dredger. The machinery which oper-
ates the bucket belt also pumps the
water used in the concentration In sep
arating the precious contents from the
dross.
Same Principle as In '4s.
The principle in extracting the gold
flakes and minute nuggets is identical
with that adopted by the old placer
miner in the days Of 40, when he
washed the gold in his cradle In some
of the very localities where the dredg-
ers are now operating.
The other type Of dredgers is the
scoop dredger, in which a great shov.
ell Is directed beneath the surface OF
the water by q huge beam, which
moves up and down On a rotating ak.
is. This shovel works much in the
same way that an ordinary shovel
does in human hands. When the shov.
ell Ia filled with gravel from beneath
the river bed the bottom OF the scoop
opens and the g~old.bearing deitrus
falls upon the concentration. Attempts
have been made to work" these riv-
er beds with suction dredgers, but
these have not been successful, as the
high specific graviey or the gold en-
ables 1t to escape from the suction
when the cutter breaks down the pay
dirt.
Placer dredging is yielding excel.
lent profits. One outfit with the two
dredgers averaged a net profit Of 5000
a day for three weeks. II Is estimat-
ed that there is now invested In Cal
ifornia almost 100000 in this branch
of mining.
Ready for the Mint.
At the close of a days work the gold
dredged has all been separated from
the river bed gravel and is ready for
the mint at San Francisco. The val
ne of the ground worked is ascertain.
ed by systematic drilling before oper-
atoms are begun, and the estimated
profits on ten years operation, count
ing the original cost OF the land and
plant and making liberal allowances
for wear and tear on machinery, re-
pairs, loss OF time and other inciden-
tai expenses, are figured at rs per
cent In the first year and UP on a
steady increase to $50 per cent at the
end of ten years.
No other branch OF placer mining
has ever given such magnificent re-
turns to the average miner, and the
fact that this district Is In the very
locality where Marshall first discov.
cred gold and started the rush to Cal
ifornia in '49 promises that these
dredgers will be In operation for many
years,
In addition to the dredging below
Oroville it is also being prosecuted on
the Klamath river and some OF its
tributaries in Siskiyou county. and on
the Trinity, eBar, Mokelume and the
American ia tributary OF the Sacra
mento) rivers, All these localities
were known 70 forty.niners, but
strange to say, while the gold is found
in steady and paying quantities, few
of the great nuggets that once made
these regions famous have been dis
covered,
nvsoeusia.