The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1931-09-04

day-and they're out in the sun
shine and living a life that many
would regard as a vacation. More
over, nuggets Of gold are by no
means a thing of the past in gold
bearing streams. Nuggets have
been found, worth all the way
from 10 cents to hundreds of dol
lars, and 1t may be any gold pan
get.
Old Fields Repanned
In Central California near where
the original gold strike was made
in 1849, a lot of jobless gold pan
ners are working the moss in the
bottom Of streams and r max
ing the equivalent of good wages.
Someone discovered that the moss
had virtually converted stream
into placer sluice boxes. In var
lous other parts of the west where
gold-bearing sands occur in RUM
ing water, amateur prospectors
have set up homemade sluices,
hoppers and small scale places OPP
erations. Quite a lot of amateur
placer mining is being %profitably
done by men who have been able
to procure some lengths of old
pipe. Mountain streams are u.s.
ually short and swift, and by plac-
ing a pipe in the stream at a
higher level they develop a head
of water for %placering gold-bearing
sands into their sluice boxes. And
others have rugged up old automo-
bile engines and centrifugal pumps
with which they are operating
what are virtually inexpensive,
small-scale, gold dredging opera
lions.
Several years ago the Saint
Francis Dam in San Francisquito
Canyon, a part of the 2S6-mile Los
Angeles aqueduct system, collap-
sed. A flood of water tore through
the Santa Clara Valley to the sea,
scattering death and destruction
before it. 1t was one of the major
tragedies of the past decade, but
1 tragedy that has since been a
blessing to many jobless men.
Many of there men were desti-
ute. Now they have a source of
that will last as long as
hey need it, or until such times
S returning prosperity gives
hem work with wages. There are
thousands of other 1oca-
ions where men who are willing
0 work a earn from 25 to so
ents an hour for every hour
pent shaking the gold pan. AS a
esult, much of the western states, :
nd particularly California, Arizo- :
a, Utah, Colorado and Nevada are :
experiencing something of a gold :
Ish. :,
Why Prospecting Languished In
Why is it that prospecting, and s
'actically every phase of mining tt
II precious metal, has been at a fl
W ebb for more than a decade? in
Old, being the monetary standard
the nation, retains a fixed val m
!. During the World War, and al
r some years after the war, &C
nerica was prosperous. Jobs CT
ire plentiful and wages were dI
Oh. The value of gold remained
2 same price while the price of :,
'or, machinery, transportation g,
d everything entering into the ~
st of bringing gold out of the -,
10y sal
. Only the richest gold mines 30,
I'D be operated at a profit. -,
st mines shut down, and there ~,
s little or no incentive for pros -
tors to seek new discoveries ~,
minerals incapable of profit -
e development. 49,
However. conditions h a e cut
nged since 1919. We have Cd
had idle factories, business sew
ression and jobless men. Gold the
remains the monetary stand bac
Mines operating with low and
de ore have recently found it ana
sible to resume operations, and thr
ing the past few months there Wa
been a definite revival in min TOR
prospecting for there is little han
ger of oyer-production Of gold. "a
man who is not physically j,
.pacitated and who is willing -.
work can make a living pros -,
ing if he can get the financial :
ting for a grubstake and out e.,
The prospector or gold panner aoo,
goes out on his own needs -
0ahnplns ouI- inch
a few simple tools, and gro nj
IS sufficient for the length of =
lme one expects to spend in Iono
.~ineralized regions, are about oro,,
me needs. Travelling for SER cove
prospecting is best accomp- Of i
d with burros, and a pair can . 20,
licked up almost anywhere in TO Le
west Tor five or ten dollars. of -
81 Two OF tnree days open
water, and can usually tbo
enough to eat where a horse hov
anal would o+o,ro