Year: 1873

to onlya limited number. Hill and bench
mining become paying industries when
they are followed by all the appliance:
which late discoveries have brought into
use, and the true kinds Of gold-saving
Gpparatus substituted for that which has
had its day and must now be laid aside.
Many of the old theories on which mining
has been conducted in former years, are
disproved by the tests which modern in
yention has supplied. 1t is now generally
conceded a large volume of water used
in fume will save the gold better than
a small stream, which is one point of diff
ference from the opinion held few years
ago. In hill and bench mining two things
are necessary to thoroughly separate the
gold from the earth, and to give it good
chance to settle through the lighter ma
terials to the rifles. Much of the gold
lost in ground sluicing and hydraulicing
is due to the fact that it was never sepa-
rated from the earth in which it was en-
bedded, but carried along adhering to the
clayey Jumps, to the dump. This is the
reason why old tailings from hill and fat
claims will sometimes pay almost as well
to work as the original ground the
Jumps, small and large, by being long
exposed to atmospheric action, become
slackened and easily pulverized, and the
gold readily settles 10 the rifles if the
volume of water is strong enough to carry
away the lighter debris and keep the bot
tom Of the Aume or sluice clear. Gold,
having a specific gravity nineteen times
that of water, and much greater than any
of the substances with which it is asso-
ciated in the ground, cannot be easily
washed away if it is given chance to
effect lodgmeut in the rifles.


In those parts of the State convenient
to the lines Of travel which were formerly
the centers Of great mining population,
the shallow surface mines were exhausted
years ago, and the miners were, perforce,
driven to the discovery of new inventions
which should make ground available for
mining purposes which could not be
worked to any profit with the manner Of
working then in use. The result of some
of these inventions has been to work a
complete revolution from old modes and
systems by which mining had been car
ried on, and give at once a character and
value to thousands of acres of land before
accounted worthless. 1t is only within
the past two or three years that these i'm
proved methods have been introduced
into the mines of this county, and their
advantages are apparent as soon as known.
1t is safe 10 say that here, as elsewhere,
they will revolutionize the business of
mining and give TO that occupation per-
manency it has not heretofore known.
The results cannot fail to be in the end
most beneficial to the county. Already
there has been a marked appreciation in
the value Of mining property, and it will
ultimately lead to the securing of patents
to great deal of heretofore unclaimed
and unworkablo land, and the appropria-
ton Of water which has been suffered to
run to waste by the fear that paying placers
could not be found extensive enough to
justify the outlay of capital necessary to
make it available.


In all those claims in which, during the
past Winter, the improved machinery
and methods Of mining were introduced,
the success attendant was most gratifying,
particularly when the extreme shortness
Of the mining season last year is taken
into consideration. The result has been
that operations of the same nature, on q
greater scale, will be entered into the
coming Winter, and if the success is
commensurate with the expectations, we
can look for a new era in the prosecution
Of this industry which cannot fail to work
most benefcially to the advantage of every
class dependent, directly or indirectly


upon the success of the mining interest
for their own business profits. Among
other tests to which the new methods will
be put this Winter is that of trying
whether ground which cannot be worked
with profit in the old manner, can b(
made 10 pay in the new. If this tes
proves successful, as there is every reason


to believe that it will, it will open up ;


large field for enterprises Of this characte
and be, perhaps, the direct means of dis
, covering new paying leads of great value
The great drawback to profitable mining
here has been the costly, tedious and dan
gerous work of cutting bedrock bitches


but by the use of large pipe and "Gi


ant" by which dirt can be driven q hun
dred feet as easily as it could one-fourtl
that distance with common pipe, thi


costly feature Of hydraulic mining will
in great measure be done away with
All that tends to diminish the cost of ex
. tracing gold from the ground becomes G


importance in estimating the valae Of
. a mining claim, and where improved ma


chinery does away with the constant labo
y of several hands, without rapid decreas
q in value, it becomes a matter of fnancif
5 policy to substitute it wherever it can b
s done. Our miners are quick to see an
: seize upon any advantages to be derive
n from such sources, and in every instano
q thus far their enterprise has met with


good reward.


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