The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-12-11

accept as true a theory. so reasonable.
and soon hundreds Of claims were ia
ken on the quartz outcrops which in
some districts were abundant. The
large white masses Of quartz were
the first to attract attention, but
these generally proved to be worthless.
though 1t was often found that the
slaty or schistose rock lying adja-
cent to these large masses, on one side
or the other and sometimes on both,
did contain gold in payable quantity.
Occasionally the white quartz was
found to be rich in spots, but these
outcrops soon were considered as Of
little value. Many failed, but the
successes of the few stimulated the
less fortunate and the work Of devel-
opment and mill building-particu-
larly the latter-went merrily on.
The School Of Experience.
without experience In the industry
which was entirely strange to all of
these adventures, everything had to
be learned and learned, too, in that
expensive school, experience. Tools
were costly and such as were avail
able We're not we'll adapted to the
work: labor was high; the only ex-
plosive at that time was black blast
ing powder and Roadway was, in con-
sequence, both slow and outrageously
expensive, but where one unlucky fell
low quit the game another generally
stood ready to take his place. Valu-
able knowledge was gained rapidly,
and although the same mistakes were
made over and over again, just as
they still are made today, the indus
try advanced at an astonishing rate.
The pan and rocker were In many in
stances soon abandoned for the long
tom and sluice, which afforded greater
capacity, though the pan and rocker
were still used by the smaller opera
tors and for prospecting, or where
other methods were inapplicable. The
success following the change from the
rocker to the long-tom and sluice
soon led to still more ambitious in
stallatons. The scale of mining OPP
erations was constantly being enlarg
ed. Sluice boxes gave place to the
larger and far more expensive fumes
$e1,oo0,0o0 Produced in 1852.
For the first 10 years following the
discovery of gold the greater part of
the production came from the super
fetal placers, though a very large part
came from the ancient river channels
Official statistics show that as early
as 1852 the output of gold in Califor-
MIA had reached the sum Of $S1, 000,-
900. This enormous production was
due to the fact that placers We're be-
ing worked throughout the entire
gold mining region of the state,
Crude Hydraulicking Begins.
"The first radical departure from
the earlier methods of mining gold
was made during 1852. when f. f
Mattison, a man at camp in Placer
county. called Yankee Jim, rugged up
q AtoS pant la tilc PulPoSS VI Hy
draulicking, which was an improve
ment on the method Of moving gravel
known as ground sluicing. Mattison
conducted water through a small ditch
to a pressure box, and from that car
red it in a canvas hose to a wooden
nozzle BY means of this outfit the
gold bearing dirt was washed away
to the sluices much faster than sew
eral men could shovel it. thus cheap
ening the cost Of mining
"At first canvas hose reinforced and
strengthened in various ways. was the
only kind of pipe In use, but towards
the close of 1853 iron. pipe was in
troduced and was found to be great
improvement, permitting higher heads
than were possible with canvas hose
Improved Methods Came Rapidly.
"The vigorous miners of those days
quickly passed from the stage Of the
small scale operations to those Of as
tonishing proportions. Heavy wrought
iron pipe and later those of steel and
of large diameter were utilized in the
hydraulic mining plants. Hundreds of
miles of canals were dug, fumes
built, and pipe lines laid. at enormous
cost Several Of these great water