The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-08-16


wizard, Michael Scott.
The water ways, from the frozer
tundra Of the north to cienegas Of the
sonth, have long since given up theil
store Of yellow metal. The pan, the
longtom and the flume exploited them
after which the hydraulic recovered
fortunes from tailings or from gravel
too poor to work by the more expel-
sive method.
But the desert is rich in auriferous
gravel. There are thousands Of
square miles in the Mojave and the
Colorado that yield placer gold in
such quantities that, given water, the
output Of Cripple Creek and Tonopah
would be made to look like a grub
stake proposition.
Water is not, but there is wind.
The dry washer is merely a rude BEL
lows of the familiar blacksmith pat
tern. 1t forces a current of air
through a sheet Of muslin set on an
inclined plane and crossed at right
angles by sticks of woods called rifles,
The gravel is made to run down this
N incline, while the bellows lifts
it over the. rifles. The gold being
heavy is caught and held under the
cross pieces; pebbles and sand are
elected at the bottom.
Various forms Of the dry washer
have been patented, but the simplest
type remains the best; an old soap
box, few yards Of tarpaulin, half a
ward of fine muslin and a little bal
ing wire are all the material required
for its construction. The whole ap-
paratus need not Ugh over twenty
pounds and the prospector. can pack
it from place to place on his back.
Down in southwestern Arizona the
Mexican is credited with the inven-
tion Of the dry washer and nothing
else. It is the last resource Of the
prospector who cannot get a grub
stake. For miles around Yuma on
either side of the Colorado, one may
count on taking out an average OF a
dollar day with this crude appliance
and as S. will grub stake 3 man for a
month there is little excuse for being
flat broke.
For twenty miles north of the con-
fluence Of the Gila and the Colorado
the barren gulches are honeyeombed
with the work Of the dry washer. The
work of the white man is easily dis
tinsuishable from that Of the chula'
In places the bedrock has been e1-
posed for hundreds Of feet along the
bottom Of the shalloy gulch, the ee-
ment strata swept clean with a whist
broom, since pay dirt is found most
" at the bottom. This is the work OF
the American. The Mexican seldom
laws bare more than a square yard
and from that, so the envlous Grlngo
asserts, he gets what he is after.
A still more simple aid primitive
method Of dry washing IS indicated
bv innumerable basin-like depressions
along the sides of these gulches. From
each has been taken about bucket
full of sand which is placed, handful
at a time, in an ordinary gold pan' a
russia iron basin a little larger than
the-ordinary tin wash BASIN. -.
This, by dexterous turn OF the
wrist, the Mexican throws into the
air. at the same time blowing through
it. AS it falls he tilts the pan, al
lowing it to run in thin stream over
the edge. His bead-like eye IS caught
and sent back to the foxtail OF black
sand and concentrates on the opposite
edge Of the pan. In half an hour ne ne
IS solvent, and the placer ground Will
know him no more until run OF hard
luck at cockfighting or monte SENDS
him back to the band nature has pro-
vided for him.
It is confidently asserted through
ont the southwest that the Mexican
nossesses sixth sense which enables
him TO locate infallibly the pockets
Which white men either miss altogeth-
er or only stumble upon by accident
Men have carefully studied the
natural features Of these spots, but
are unable to discover the indications
which ,.,int them out to the nat'Ve'
T. is ma,ldening to work ten days un.
der a blazing sun for a few dollars
worth Of dust eHd nuggets, ana then
to, see lazy Mexican walk directly
to q SPOT a few rods away, pan