The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-04-04
PIEDMONT PLACER
MINE A BONANZA
Shining Particles of Gold Wash
ed Out by Hose
GREAT WEALTH IN STORE
Little Work is Required to Get Out
the Gold, and Visit
to the Mine is a
Revelation.
GREAT WEALTH IN STORE

Fruithurst, April ESPECIAL. THE ed
itor of the Fruithurst Times has the fol-
lowing to say of recent visit to the
Piedmont Placer mine:
Last Saturday, by invitation of Frank
F. Taylor, Mr.. Prebelich and l went to
the Piedmont Placer gold mine. After
seeing the sluice boxes last fall and the
many feet of hose, thought l understood
how they would work it; but alas, it is
so much simpler than l ever thought
When we were about half mile from
the mine we saw two or three men on the
side of the hill and soon we heard the
swish swish of the hydraulic pipe. Inn
agine yourself in some large city with the
hose turned on building. We could hear
it for over a quarter of a mile, and that
ten-inch hose was turned on the Williams
place at the foot of the hill under the
Dock Pounds house. 1t was in full oper-
alton. The ten-inch hose was connected
to the graduated hose down from ten
inches to two and one-half inches at the
end of the nozzle, and it came direct from
the tank on the top of the hill $50 feet
from the base of operations, and was Civ
ing 150-foot pressure; and to say 1t was
eating that hill away was putting it mild
ly-it went like dew before the sun.
The sluice boxes were at the foot of the
hill with a wide plank on either side in V
fashion, so as to conduct the water into
the sluice box, and no shoveing is needed
there. The hose brought the dirt, rock
and water down in a hurry to the sluice
boxes, one man alone holding a lever and
guiding it whichever way the engineer
told him to turn it and no work seemed
to be attached to it. The little giant noz-
zle seemed to do it all, tearing out stumps
and rocks that a man could hardly lift
at all. We supposed the dirt and gravel
would have to be shoveled into the sluice
boxes. OF course man stands there to
throw aside some of those larger rocks
before they get to the sluice box The
sluice box has cleats nailed across the
bottom of it, and just above it perforated
amalgamated copper plates the whole
length of the suice box. The dirt all
runs down over these plates in the boxes
and all sand and gold and fine gravel
goes through the copper plates in the
boxs and is deposited under the copper
plate. and the gold being the heaviest of
all goes through.
Seems to be Cut Off.
At the end of the sluice box there seems
to be a cut off where whatever escapes
the sluice box will fall through the about
two-inch cutoff and drop into the UNI
dercurrent box set at right angles with
the sluice box running off toward the
ditch that carries the water to the river.
There are strips nailed across the under
current box to catch any gold that might
miss the sluice box or be carried over it.
Then 1t must go into the undercurrenr
box. We did not get there in time to see
the cleaning up of the sluice box. 1t had
been running the greater part of the day
Friday and Saturday and we were in
formed that they took out of the dirt
that ran through the sluice box part Of
two days enough gold to pay each man to
work at least IS per day, and this Is
soil just on top of the hill. where one
would not expect to see any gold at all.
While there we panned three round
pointed spades just commonly full Two
came from the top Of the hill. where they
had been piping the dirt most all from the
rock There was so much slate rock 1t
was hard work to get spade full Of
dirt Then the third spade full was taken
from the side of the ditch. We got by
weight between thirty and forty cents
forth of gold from those three spadefuis
What lot would be in ton of dirt
The sluice boxes are about sixty feet
below where they were piping the dirt
down. One man with the pipe will work
over about 1870 yards of dirt, besides re-
moving stumps and very much bedrock.
The pipe had cut bedrock, cut the hole
60 feet to the suice box, so 1t was no
trouble to get the dirt down to the boxes.
Any of you that have seen a hose with
a smaller nozzle turn water onto a build
ing can realize how quick everything has
to give way when that piping hose $
turned on to the hill. About five or six
OF the particles we washed out had par
ticles of gold in as large as the head Of
Z pin, and every particle large enough
30 you could count them with the naked
eye.
Judge Is Surprised.
You should have seen Judge Prebelichs
eyes when he began to see the particles
of gold begin to show in the pan. He
had never seen anything of the kind be-
fore and he had been one of the unbe-
lievers. and did not think there was gold
in there in such quantities. but We knew
II. have been to Mr.. McDonalds sew
eral times. and we would go and look at
the gravel anywhere on the old river bot
tom and he would pan out from ten to
forty particles every painful. That was
long before the mine and hydraulic sys-
tenn was put in there. One man will do
rs much work there now with that pipe,
and not work hard either. as fifty men
could do with shovels
This mine Is the counterpart Of hum