Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-25
MONEY IN DREDGING
Working ProfitabIy CaIifor-
MAS Old Placer "DigginS."
HYDRAULIC POWER COSTLY
New Method Employed in Getting
Out the Gold.
WEALTH IN BLACK SANDS
Supply of Platinum in the Ural
HYDRAULIC POWER COSTLY
WEALTH IN BLACK SANDS
Supply of Platinum in the Ural
Mountains Being Exhausted.
Cheap Machines Needed
RY WILLIAM Z CHRIS.

BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald
am asked to write something about
modern placer mining. which is an eX-
ceedingly interesting subject. because
there has been radical change In
methods during the last few years, ana
it is now being done almost exclusively
by dredges, which were described IN "a
letter from Sacramento published in these
columns October s last. There is more
money in dredging. because 1t does more
thorough work, but il is not any more
economical. except under special condf-
tions, than the old-fashioned method OF
melting the soil witt a stream of water
from a hose and letting it run though
suice. in which the grains of gold by
their weight were precipitated and LETT
on the bottom. To do this. however.
there must be A head of water and a
dump. and in California of late years
water h s become so valuable for irrigat-
ing purposes that the miners have found
il difficult to get enough for the neces-
sary pressure. \ dredge can Work IN
small amount of water. just enough 10
float 1t, and supply stream that VII,
dissolve the soil that is scooped up, anu
of gold can be caught by the quicksilver
that is set as a trap for them
In Colorado. Montana, Oregon. Nevada.
New Mexico. Utah. Idaho and also In
Alask hydraulic mining is carried on to
a limited extent; but the use OF the
dredge is increasing everywhere. IL Is
becoming general all over the Worid.
american dredges are being useo IN 'i ne
platinum mines in the northern ranges OF
the Ural mountains. They are being used
in South Africa also. Three dredges at
Nome and two At Dawson, Alaska ano
others will be taken up there In the
spring dredge can make money oy
getting an average of 10 cents out OF
cubic yard of earth. The ordinary cos
of operating is about > cents cuplc
yard. which; however. IS me :, es sa, as
cents a cubic yard he is making money
and 30 cents a cubic yard Is bonanza.
The California legislature has passed an
anti-debris law, which requires hyorauiic
miners to construct storage reservoirs 10
restrain the water that has been useo
for placer mining until it is Clarified by
precipitation, because when partcies VI
earth are carried into irr1gating oltenes
they sinjure the crops. This has adoeu
considerably to the expense as Well as the
difficulties of hydraulic mining and is an
other reason why it has been abandoned
for the dredge- 49,
Working Old Placer "Diggin's."
California are being worked over with
dredges; some of them for the third time.
The gravel was originally scratched. as
the saying goes. by the forty-nlners ana
The .hordes of fortune seekers who fol-
lowed them Then the Chinese came In
with their pans, and now the avaricious
dredges are eating up the earth Ioot py
foot all the way from the surface down
to bed rock, throwing out the stones ano
boulders into heaps and dlssoivins Ine
soil into a solution and letting 1t noat
over corrugated tables covered WltI
quicksilver. which catch the particles OF
gold as they go by. The rocks are
strewn in winrows, just as me Id me- 60
down in New Hampshire pile them up Tor
fences and II large quantity OF them
is crushed for road material, Sidewalks
and building purposes.
Since the San Francisco hre tnere mas
4 been a large demand for crushed rock.
which is worth % cents cubic yard'
while the average yield of gold from the
soil is not more than % cents CUBIC
yard, but even that figures up gseat
deal to the acre where the SOIL Is n1ty
and sixty feet deep to bed rock. crushed
stone often sells for more than the price
of the land, which runs from $50 TO Sooo
an acre. according to circumstances.
Very often grapevines and frult trees
are planted between the rows OF rocks.
when a dredge has finished its work IN
field the soil is in better shape Tor cuIti-
walton than before, because tne stones
are all taken out. The owners hitch
horses to a railroad rail and haul 1t over
the ground to smooth OF the surface,
then they harrow in fertilizer and let u
stand faIlow for year, after winch they
plant il with vines and trees and raise
large crops of oranges, olives, peaches'
fas and other fruits. Some of the dredg-
ing companies do a large fruit business
During the last ten years Soid dreogl n
has produced an average of about 1900
coo a year from the old placer diggin
i'm the foothills of the Sierras in Callfor-
MIA, and this has assisted to increase the
annual yield of the state from ABOUT
81 100000 to $19OOO.O00 of gold. me
quartz mines have yielded nearly ten mil
lions the copper mines about half mil
lion, the hydraulic mines a million and
a half and the rest has been scoopeu OUT
by the dredgeS.
II is estimated by the most competent
authorities that at least 5000 acres, OF
an average depth of forty-hve rect Oh
soil, are available for dredging In Cali
fornia, and IL they yield an average OF
only IL cents per cubic yard this means
nearly 5000 an acre or total yield of
about $162.OOO,OOO
No state or territory, except Alaska,
compares with California for placer
weJlth, and with the development of the
dredging industry it is expected that the
annual yield of gold from that source
will soon reach si5,O000c0. and continue
at that figure for half century
Developing the Dredge.
The dredge was invented in New Zea-
land, but has been developed in the
United States. and in California has
reached its greatest usefulness. 1t can
extract 30 per cent of the gold from any
alluvial deposit. and. as / have already
said. can be operated at an expense of
10 cents or less per cubic yard any
where there is water enough to float ii.
There Is gold in a thousand places in this
country alone which can be reached by
no other method and in thousands of
places In other countries. Perhaps some
day a dredge may be used to work over
the sands OF the Pactolus river in Asia
Minor where Midas got his gold. and
the streams from which the riches of
Croesus came. 1t is said there are about
800 dredges now engaged in all the
world. and it is estimated that they
have scooped out at least $J000O.0 600 of
treasure which could not have been rescued
from the clutches of nature by any other
process. At least $500 dredges might be
employed profitably In working over the
alluviai deposits in different gold regions
nfifbo world where bydraulic mining ha