The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1905-09-14
sunny CALIFORNIA
Former Citizen A. Garborg Writes the Courier
Another Breezy Letter.
He Seems to Be Enjoying Life Right aud Gives Us Some
Interesting Notes. Of Ills Travels.

ALAMEDA, CAL, Aug. 25, O5.
Mr.. EDITOR AND FRIENDS:
just a few more lines from
your correspondent in the land
of sunshine and fog.
Near Fair Oak, Gel, in a COR
ner of a vineyard a boat is being
built which is to float back and
forth through the solid ground.
1t is a ''gold dredge" and it will
scoop up the dirt, gravel and
stones, take the gold out of the
same and when it is finished
there will remain instead of the
green level field only some piles
of cobble stones and gravel. The
former owner of the ground
received more dollars for it
than he would ever get out Of
the grapes he could raise on II.
the owners of the ''boat" will
have some more thousands to
their credit in the bank; and there
will be few more acres added
to the desert area of Cali.
fornia. The gold dredges
have here been at work for
some. years. Ground that was
worked over in the early days
is now profitably worked again
by means of this improved ma
chinery. A gold dredge resem-
bles a threshing machine on a
huge scale. The one l visited
has "stacker" 40 feet long
which carries the stones, vary
ing in size from 2 pebble to a
watermelon up to the top of the
pile As feet high above the water
An endless chain of baskets each
of them weighing 1900 lbs. (the
baskets, chain and ladder weigh
ing 100 tons) dig up the gravel
clear down to bed rock-some.
times 80 feet deep and dumps it
on the sieves where jets of water
play upon 1T and wash the sand
and gold down onto the "rifaes''
while the pebbles and stones roll
along to the stacker. The rifles
are made of iron and contains
mercury which attracts the fine
particles of gold. A cleanup"
is made twice month but the
public is left to guess as to the
amount of gold cleaned up. The
boat is ITO feet long and IS feet
wide. A pit is dug when a new
boat is to begin work; then it is
built and rugged up; water is
pumped into the pit from the
river through a large iron pipe
until it floats and starts out up
on it's slow but profitable jour.
ney. The above mentioned boat
has made over a mile in a year.
1t works day and night with
three shifts of men. The men
have an easy time while the
machine runs smoothly, but if
it breaks down there is no rest
for them till it is started again.
for time is GOLD. Wonder if
the gentlemen who own these
dredges would run all California
through them and leave it q
rock pile, if such an operation
should result in a net profit in
the precious yellow metal? Or
would they leave an osasis for a
home for themselves and their
immediate friends?
Over at Fair Oaks and Orange
vale are two pretty colonies
where people, mostly frem the
east, have pleasant homes among
their fruit trees. In July there
was a hot north wind which
dried up part of the grapes. The
north wind here is scorching and
the south wind is cool. Califor.
MIA is truly a land Of surprise to
the ''tenderfoot. On this trip
to Orangevale you can see acres
of watermelons. sections of
grapes, countless windmills and
one can sail through a green,
level empire of agricultural land
Ion the Sacramento and San