New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-06-09
THE MONSTERS MAKEUP

THE MONSTERS MAKEUP.
In the now inclosed area a wooden barg.
from so to 12O feet long 80 to 40 feet wide ana
7'to feet deep is built Into this barge suitable
machinery. immense and massive strong and
tough. is crowded. At the bow is provided a
continuous bucket chain. on a long and power
full steel ladder. which can be raised and lowered
by steel ropes-aIl as in ordinary dredges Of thu
bucket chain kind only much stronger. AT tha
stern is located strong steel framework or
stacker, also TO be raised or lowered for either
belt conveyor or for another chain OF buckets
The front bucket chain is for scoopins out and
hoisting the gravel; the stacker at the rear Is
for conveying away and emission upon the
dumps of the waste material
Amidshps the grizzlies" either Of thu
perforated revolving cylinder or OF the shaking
grill types 10 screen the hoistings so that the
gold bearing finer portions may fall through
upon the gold saving tables and sIuices. while
the rematnders move on. Below the screens ara
these tables and sluices. where the usual meth
DDS of anlalgamation are resorted TO-
The power used averages ninety horsepower.
and in California. wherever available is electric.
The current IS conveyed to the district By lou.
transmission and enters the dredge from a local
switching station. through surface cablex which
enables utmost freedom OF movement
When all is ready water is conducted into TIA
Enclosure by ditch by pumping and thu
monster, aloat. begins its voracIous existance
Its long proboscis penetrates the bank IN 'front.'.
its mighty tail is lifted up IN the rear Then.
with an appalling roar. II attacks the shore
Like huge. unca1ny beast. with raging appe-
tite. 1t eats out the gravel moving from side to
side OF its pond. and advancing slowly ahead
The gold. which is its food. all else being elected
and emitted is appropriated IN IT'S ztzzard
screens and sluics entrails.
rms fearful creature, more terrible far than
any geologic nlegalosaurus or rnastodon nav b
seen by the visitor at its dread work rarcbs5
perhaps far above him on a slope or down be-
neath-perhaps in the streets OF q village or
city. II may be with ghoulish hunger gorgine
itself on some once honored graveyard It's baI-
low always heard for miles
A POWERFUL DIGESTION.
In steady stream the hoisted dripping gravel
rises IN the buckets and tumbles over the Eriz-
zlies. and passing along the stacker fails IN
cataract upon the dumps. The processes q d.
gestion are apparent only 10 the visitor Who
enters the bowels OF the beast So raver1us IS
this huge glutton's appetite that often il breaks
its teeth on powders. chokes up its throat and
suffers from dire attacks OF enteritis AT least
one-eighth OF the time it is under the doctors
care. and II seems customary now 70 erect a
machine shop near by for frequent surgical
operations. And long before the carcass OF
good Oregon pine shows signs OF decay, us
organs must be entirely replaced
But IL does its work. sooner or later. and its
owner grows richer. II is wonderful creation
OF human ingenuity. The viewer feels at once
the omnipotence OF the human intellect. the
omnivorousness OF human greed and the mag
vellous precision OF modern science IN its prac-
teal applications In front is the orchard. the
vineyard. the grass. the howers-the village lana
or the city street-and behind IS an awful DESC
lation Of heaped rocks
A recently built dredge OF 400 available horse
power. and requiring when in full operation go
horsepower. and averaging 40 horsepower.
cost OF only four and a half cents yard
While dredge mining IS undoubtedly a menace
TO the future prosperity Of California. far. as
gravel deposits that. be thus worked ara
concerned. that area. il must be remarked Is
very limited. Only twenty-five thousand acres
are now marked for destruction, and. il We may
trust the state mineralogist. the extreme limit
OF possible exploiting Is less than fifty thou
sand acres Lewis L. Aubury. the state min
eralogist. estimates the loss TO California
through the devoration of the regions now
worked. at not more than 81 100000 but rs
claims that the return and in the future
does and will justify the sacrifice. He predicts
that from the thorough exploiting OF these dis
trtcts gold worth S165OO0OOO will be secured
and to this estimate he adds the employment OF
thousands OF people for the twenty years that
VIII be REQUIRED TO complete this undeEtasins.
and the cost OF construction and maintenance
OF the dredges In money TO be expended mostly
in the state.
Moreover, he AYERS that the loss is not SO
great as II seems. and may not be permanent
withdrawal OF tilable land This Is an age OF
concrete and crushed rock is likely 70 be -
great demand even into the remote future IL
is possible that the powders unearthed by the
dredges. which are extremely hard, may. an.
by these very monsters. be broken into stone o.
concreting size and used In building. EVsn
agricultural reclamation is among the poss.
bilities- In New Zealand experiments with ,
view to conversion of the dumpings into forss.
land are reported hopeful. and at OroInnes
similar experiments are not discouraging-'
Norden Magazine.