The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1915-10-30
PLACER MILL IN
LIMERICK CANYON
EQUIPMENT HAS BEEN IN
STALLED TO RECOVER GOLD
FROM SAND

A re-birth of a placer mining era
in the Rochester district, famous
for the golden days of the eighties
when a flood of the yellow metal
poured from American canyon, is
possible as the result of a new gold
gathering device that is now being
tried out in Limerick canyon. The
presence of gold in a number of
canyons heading near Rochester Hill
is an established fact. 1t only re-
mains to develop the proper method
of recovering the values.
The present experiment being con-
Quoted neal McCarthy's Springs in
Limerick anyon a mile below the
mushroom city of Panama, is under
the charge of F. o. Sterett, inventor
of the Sterett placer mill, which is
said to combine all the latest princi-
piles of gravel separation and min
eral concentration. Should It's try
out prove successful there are said
to be hundreds of acres OF ground
in Limerick canyon that can be
worked at a profit.
The new plant which has been in
stalled at a cost approximating $8,-
900 under the direction of Mr.. Ster-
EFT, backed by Chicago capital, is a
compact and simple device combining
sluicing and concentrating. 1t was
due for a trial run about the first
of this week, but reports of success or
failure are not yet forthcoming.
With a capacity of 100 tons a day
and driven by a 10 h. p. oil engine,
the machine elevates the gravel to a
revolving grizzly, which separates
the mater ial into three parts under
a strong spray of water. After be-
ing washed the waste rocks are cast
aside, the sand going into the con-
centrating tank ana the secondary
portion through a sluice box con-
tanning rifles and a specially de-
signed quicksilver :e,-ptacle.
The concentrating tank is the
most important AMI most interesting
portion o. the plant, and upon its
successful operation q, ponds the sue.
cess of The eXperim snt.
A tn 'eH y II t;tE table, or err
rugated rubber belt, turns under va
ter in opposition to the direction Of
the sand, which is spread out and
separated, the waste portion going to
one section of the tank and the 20
c~entrates to another. Both are then
elevated to ~discharging chutes, the
concentrates being saved and the
>ynctn 0nnc tn tho foi1inoc Ir~n
Once conducted, the operating
cost of the mill is practically nothing,
and from all appearances it should
prove successful. 1t will mark a big
advance in placer recovery in Neva-
da, for it is believed hat it may be
profitably employed as a dry washer.
If this be true it will mean the work.
ing of many thousands of acres OF
placer ground in this state that have
only awaited the practical invention
to yield up their riches.
Limerick canyon, which heads
against Rochester Hill and for a por-
ton of it's length parallels American
canyon, has long been known as the
depository of placer gold. When the
Cinnamon were taking the millions
out of American canyon thirty years
g Limerick was p%rospected and
from time to time during later years
a beer successfully worked. With
in the past yea similar plans have
been successfully operated and it is
said that values run as high as $50 a
yard.
Gold is found in the gravel from
the surface to bedrock, but it's origin
is a mystery, as were the placers of
American canyon. The unuuestion-
ably came from somewhere in the vi
cinity of Rochester Hill, bearing out
the theory of mining engineers that
Rochester will eventually be found to
De a gold camp.-Lovelock Review
Miner.