november

2011

quill
www.gpoc.com

THE PROSPECTORS

Hydraulic mining - the sluice and tunnel, Timbuctoo, Yuba County, CA Digital ID: (b&w lm copy neg.) cph 3a28237 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a28237 Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-27447 (b&w lm copy neg.) Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA (If you look closely on the bottom of the sluice you will see round log rifes)

Official publication of The Gold Prospectors of Colorado

PO Box 1593, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80901 Historical Review of Sluices During the 1800s
The rst in a series of articles on the sluice. By Lin Smith

volume 38 no.11

Inside
Historical Review of Sluices, continued! 2 Contacts! 2 November Calendar! 3 November Activities! 4 Prospectors Beware! 4 Prospecting the Internet! 5 Feathers Can Defeat Mercury! 5 2012 Board of Directors! 6 Wilderness Act! 6 Historical Newspaper Accounts! 6 Historical Review of Sluices! 7-16 Clicking on blue highlighted web sites will give you a direct link

Sluice boxes are one of the most reliable methods of gravity concentration and are used to work many types of gold bearing placer deposits. Sluice boxes have been used for 100's of years and because of their success rate, they continue to be one of the most popular methods in gold recovery. Their basic design principles are used in all types of equipment from poop tubes, to rocker boxes, to Long Toms, highbankers and dredges. A sluice has many advantages which

include: being hand fed, portable, inexpensive to build or buy and run, simple to operate, reliable, quiet, nonpowered and effective in their ability to retain gold. Regulations in Colorado prohibit the use of motorized equipment in many areas and may require a Plan of Operations. With a sluice many areas will be accessible to you that otherwise might be limited by regulations.
continued on page 2

G LD NUGGETS is a blog for and by GPOC members. Gold Nuggets is an informational hub for members to keep up-to-date with GPOC news and events. We encourage you to email your news items and information to the webmaster at www.gpoc.com. Join GPOC on FACEBOOK! You need your own Facebook account. Access GPOC on FACEBOOK through a link on the GPOC website.

President Ben Higley president@gpoc.com

Treasurer Bill Smith treasure@gpoc.com Webmaster Stacey Smith webmaster@gpoc.com Editor Lin Smith quill@gpoc.com

GPOC
contacts

Contact Info for all club activities Bob Hale (719)213-3383 Membership membership@gpoc.com Claims Marty Witcher claims@gpoc.com

Trustees One Year Gary Beaderstadt Two Year Diane Anderson Three Year Jim Blakenship

Vice President Wayne Wittkopp vicepresident@gpoc. com Secretary Elise Pearce secretary@gpoc.com

There are a vast array of sluices available for purchase on the market. Because a manufactured sluice will cost from $75 to $150 you will need to evaluate the cost of materials, your experience in fabrication and the availability of materials ( and whether you have health insurance or not) whether buying a sluice would be more economical than building one. Whether you buy or build your own sluice you will probably nd that you will be doing modications to your sluice depending upon the type of gold you will be sluicing. Your personal preferences, the type of gold you will be recovering, the topography, size and feed rate of material and water supply will determine the type of sluice conguration you choose.

Prospectors Quill
Editor Lin Smith quill@gpoc.com
Gold Prospectors of Colorado P.O. Box 1593 Colorado Springs, Colorado 80901 The GPOC is a 501(c) charitable organization

How a Sluice box Works A sluice box is a straight, articial waterway which contains rifes arranged in a denite pattern which create a small vortex of water which causes gold to settle to the bottom of the sluice and behind the rifes. Concentrated gold-bearing material is fed into the top of the sluice where the water ows in. This material is placed into suspension in the water and ows across the rifes and down the sluice. The rifes will cause the velocity of the water to slow allowing the gold and heavy black sands to drop out of suspension into pockets towards the back of the rifes. Lighter material will ow down and out of the sluice into a tailing pile. Water is essential in the operation of a sluice box as sluice boxes mimic the same action that occurs in a stream bed creating a suspended medium. Water, gold, minerals and other particles are suspended and then separate and stratify depending upon their relative weight. A sluice concentrates and collects gold in pockets behind its rifes and on its bottom. The chemical properties of gold will cause it to stay in this position but it can and will wash out of your sluice if you do not have the appropriate water ow, angle, feed rate, rifes or catching system and proper cleanup procedures. What A Sluice Box Is Made Of Sluice boxes are made with materials that are considerably lighter and more durable than materials that were available to the early miners. Early miners would use what was readily available. Today, sheet aluminum or composite plastic make a sluice lighter, more portable and durable. You can use wood as a cheap alternative for your sluice, however keep in mind that wood can absorb water, making the sluice less portable and durable. If your wooden sluice dries out it can warp and crack causing you to loose gold from areas of the sluice that are not water tight. The following historical account of sluices will show you the similarities and differences between the old sluices and the modern sluice. We can learn from the mistakes and successes of these sluices. continued on page 7
GPOC The Prospectors Quill Vol. 38 No.11

www.gpoc.com
The Prospectors Quill is the ofcial newsletter of the Gold Prospectors of Colorado. The opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reect those of the club or its members. The editor, club, ofcers, and contributors do not assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in the Prospectors Quill. Articles of interest are welcomed. All articles submitted for publication are subject to editing. Submission of articles must be received before the 20th of the month. Unless noted, non-prots may reprint or quote from articles, provided credit is given to the authors and publication and a copy of the newsletter the article appears in is sent to the editor of The Prospectors Quill at PO Box 1593, CS CO 80913. All pictures are the property of the photographer and are not to be copied or reproduced.
The information is provided solely for the readers g e n e r a l k n o w l e d g e . G P O C a s s u m e s n o responsibility for its completeness or accuracy. Although care has been taken to produce the information in the Quill, information is provided without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information.I want to thank you in advance for pointing out my mistakes! However, it is YOUR responsibility to research resources and make sure that you are in compliance with all laws and regulations, as well as following the GPOC CODE of ETHICS.

WE ARE ELECTRONIC at www.gpoc.com

November Calendar
For further information contact:

meetings
3rd
Board Meeting

meetings
19th
Claims Committee Western Museum of Mining and Industry 225 Northgate Blvd. CS, CO
10:00 AM-12:00PM

events
3rd
Heritage Lecture Rockefeller Plan Western Museum of Mining and Industry 225 Northgate Blvd. CS, CO
7:00PM-8:30PM

events
26th
Gold Assay Western Museum of Mining and Industry 225 Northgate Blvd. CS, CO
10:00 AM-1:00PM

www.gpoc.com
Please refer to the information below for further events.

Gold Hill Police Station 955 Moreno Avenue, CS, CO 7:00 PM

Claims Committee Meeting All members are welcome to participate in the meetings. Current and future claims will be discussed as well as developing plans of operations. This can be a great opportunity to learn the process and resources for lling and maintaining a claim. Pickup Your Early Holiday Gifts For Your Favorite Prospector Prospectors Store There will be a 10% discount for everyone on hats, T-shirts, and sweatshirts. Those who have volunteer coupons can combine them with the 10% for a savings of up to 50% off.

president@gpoc.com

volunteers welcome

see info below

Reservations required 719-488-0880 see info below

9th
General Membership Meeting

3rd
Denver Museum of Science & Nature Nov. 3 thru December 1 Thursdays 6:30 PM-9:00PM Room 303 Invertebrate Paleontology $110 member DMSN, $140 nonmember DMSN The early stage in the history of invertebrates is represented by the late Precambrian and the Paleozoic, ending with the Permian-Triassic extinction. Trilobites, brachiopods, and crinoids were especially abundant. Examine the fossil groups that were most important during this early stage. There is no class on Thanksgiving. http://secure1.dmns.org/products/154invertebrate-paleontology-i-precambrianpaleozoic.aspx

Silent Auction see info below

Prospectors Store will be available with discounts on hats, T-shirts, and Sweatshirts Speaker: Cindy Moon "Lost Treasures You Can Find In Colorado"
7:00 PM 3400 N.Nevada CS, CO

Cindy Moon Guest Speaker November 9th

My father walked and prospected the Colorado Rocky Mountains for over 40 years and after his death in 1988 our family decided to do some research on many of his personal records. After ten years of research and trips into the Rockies I completed my rst of three books I intend to write. The rst book titled "Lost Treasures You Can Find In Colorado" is all new material. None of the information in the book has ever been released before the publishing of this book. The stories are about real places that people can search for lost treasures, ghost towns, mines and such. I sell my book both wholesale and retail through my web site which is www.colorado-trails.com and through multiple outlets throughout Colorado. I am currently working on two new books. The rst is about the Spanish Treasure Trail Monuments I've located in Colorado and the second is about an incredible Spanish Treasure Storage Site located by following Spanish Treasure Trail Monuments. These two new books will certainly make believers out of you! I also have completed the rst of four planned CD/ DVD's on Spanish Trail Monuments. The rst Volume is titled, "Sydney's Guide to Spanish Trail Monuments, Vol. I" where I am documenting the following of ancient Spanish Trail Monuments to hidden sites. Heritage Lecture Western Museum of Mining and Industry November 3rd 7:00 PM-8:30 PM Join our guest lecturer Jonathan Rees as he will present on the Rockefeller Plan. The Rockefeller Plan, created by John D.
GPOC The Prospectors Quill Vol. 38 No.11

Rockefeller, Jr., was a renement of employee representation plans and was developed to help calm labor relations at Colorado Fuel and Iron Company after the Ludlow Massacre.

Silent Auction November 9th

What a great way to get rid of any surplus equipment or supplies that you no longer need. The annual GPOC Silent Auction will be held during the November General Membership meeting. Bring in your clean items where you can either donate them to the club or you can earn money you can use to invest in even more equipment! The Gold Assay Process: Magic or Chemistry? November 26th 10:00 a.m. & 1:00 p.m. Join us at the Western Museum of Mining & Industry to discover how ore is processed to extract gold. Hands-on learners of all ages will crush and classify ore as they learn the basics of gold ore assaying--determining the value of gold in the rock. This fast moving, interactive assay demonstration will overview the math, mechanics, and chemistry of this exciting process. Customary admission applies, and reservations are requested. Please call 719-488-0880 or email us at RSVP@wmmi.org
3

WE ARE ELECTRONIC at www.gpoc.com

NOVEMBER ACTIVITIES Bighorn Sheep: The Rut and Winter Survival Event
November 19, 2011, 8:30 AM 4:00 PM $70 Rocky Mountain Nature Association Field Seminars Center 1895 Fall River Rd., Estes, Colorado Fall is a time when bighorn sheep gather in the lower altitudes to mate and survive the winter. View sheep during the rut, and learn about their behavior. This seminar will take place in the Estes Valley/Rocky Mountain National Park area. To register for this or any other educational adventure please call 970-586-3262. To register on-line please visit www.rmna.org.
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Boulder Walking Tours

November 11, 2011, 2:00 PM Meet your guide outside the Hotel Boulderado, Corner of 13th and Spruce, Boulder Colorado $15 adults; $13 senior (65+ yrs.); $13 youth (11-17 yrs); $5 children (5-10 yrs); no charge for children under 5 720-243-1376 Visit Website Boulder Walking Tours take locals and visitors alike on innovative and exciting tours through Boulder's eclectic neighborhoods and historic districts. Our fun walks explore the excitement, history, food, architecture, neighborhoods, parks, fountains, artwork, and just plain weird places in Boulder, Colorado. Our guides are locals who love the City, its history, lore and legends...and we're ready to share it all with you. Join us for a walk along the streets, sidewalks, and byways more
k the ly than for sincere like to bership would al Mem I er ons its Gen tributi nd con OC and a GP support eir all of th year. the past h all during ing wit to work rward look fo g year. I comin in the of you ly Sincere tler Bob Bu

Bob Butler Buena Vista, Colorado 719-395-2003

Free First Sundays

Sunday, November 6, 2011,12:00 PM-4:00 PM Boulder History Museum 1206 Euclid Avenue Boulder, CO 80302 Free admission though donations are appreciated. In addition, our 2-dimensional collection of over 200,000 photographs and 700,000 historic documents is housed at the Carnegie Library for Local History where it is available to the public and researchers.

Royal Gorge BLM Ofce Road Conditions Information on current road conditions and special closuresis available 7-days a week,24hours a day,by calling our ofce at 719-269-8500!

Prospectors Beware Gas driven equipment is not allowed along Clear Creek in Adams County. Some prospectors have been seen highbanking and dredging in this area. Also, our claims in the Leadville area are only open to panning and sluicing. At present the club does not have a Plan of Operation in place which would permit other forms of prospecting.

Trout Unlimited has contracted some work in Clear Creek Canyon Park for the building of sh habitat structures within the creek. The contractor has reported a problem with gold prospectors tearing apart the structures after the contractors crew completes them. Jeffcos Colleen Gadd has instructed her Park Rangers to write tickets to anyone caught destroying these structures. In addition the prospectors equipment may be subject to conscation.

It is your responsibility to know and obey Open Space rules and regulations.Users assume liability for all risks associated with visiting this Open Space area.Responsible use protects this resource for all citizens of Jefferson County.

GPOC The Prospectors Quill Vol. 38 No.11

WE ARE ELECTRONIC at www.gpoc.com

PROSPECTING THE INTERNET Mining Equipment Manufactures and Fabricators Action Mining Services. Wave Tables, Assay Kits, etc.: http:// www.actionmining.com/ Aero Mining Technologies.
Concentrators, Wash Plants, etc.: http:// www.aerominingtech.com/ BoilerBox Mining. Manufacturer of sluices and Highbankers and more: http:// www.boilerboxmining.com/ Buckabilly Sluice Box: http://www.buckabillysluice.com/ Camel Mining Products. Desert Fox Separator, Mountain Goat Trommel, etc.: http://www.desfox.com/ Dahlke Dredge Mfg. Dredges and parts: http:// www.dahlkedredge.com/ D&K Detector Sales. Maker of Nugget line of equipment and retail outlet for a variety of prospecting equipment and supplies: http://www.dknugget.com/ Falcon Concentrators. Gravity Separators/Concentrators: http://www.concentrators.net/ Gold Dredge Builders Warehouse. Manufacturer of Dredges and parts supplier: http://www.golddredgebuilders.com/ Golden Boy, Inc. Manufacturer of separators: http:// www.goldenboyinc.com/ Gould Engineering. Gould Bazooka Trap dredges, nozzles, etc.: http://www.gouldeng.com/ Greywolf Highbankers. Manufacturer of sluices, Highbankers and more: http://greywolfhighbankers.com/home.htm Heckler Fabrications. Manufacturer of Sluices, High-bankers, Trommels, etc.: http://www.hecklerfabrication.com/ Honcoop Highbankers. Manufacturer of High-bankers, etc.: http://www.honcoophighbanker.com/ Jobe Wholesale. Manufacturer and Distributors of a wide variety of mining gear they do not sell retail:http:// www.jobewholesale.com/ Keene Engineering. Manufacturer of Sluices, dredges, pumps, High-bankers and a Variety of other prospecting equipment and supplies: http://www.keeneeng.com/ Kendall Mining & Equipment Co. Manufacturer of small smelting furnaces, etc.: http://www.kendallmines.com/ Lost and Foundry. Manufacturer of small smelting furnaces, etc.: http://foundry101.com/ Oro Industries. Manufacturer of a wide variety of mining equipment: http://www.oro-industries.com/ Proline Mining. Manufacturer of the Proline sluices, dredges and Highbankers: http://www.prolinemining.com/index.html Wild Boar Prospecting. Manufacturer of the Javeline Trommel: http://www.wildboarprospecting.com/

Feathers Can Defeat Mercury World Placer Journal 2008, volume 8 page 45
Can mercury be eliminated from the nal cleanup? Indeed it can. Across Mongolia and the former Soviet Union it has already happened. The author was astounded to see, as a matter of daily routine, placer gold concentrate being cleaned using a combination of steady gentle blowing by mouth, coupled by gentle stroking with a hand-held feather. Observation and inquiries show that the blow+feather technique is daily routine at virtually all the 135 placer gold companies in Mongolia at their >200 placer gold mines, producing over 10 tons a year of clean concentrate that is smelted to make ingots of dore gold for sale against assay to the Central Bank and commercial banks. The procedure is rapid and straightforward. A table in a gold room is scrupulously cleaned and if desired is covered in a layer of greaseproof paper using paperclips. More greaseproof paper is bent and clipped to create a three-sided open top tray. Alternatively a smooth clean aluminum tray is used. Overhead illumination is very bright. Perfectly dry concentrate is added to the tray and the operator blows gently to dislodge some of the unwanted particles. A weak hand-held magnet may assist. However the most important activity is the stroking of the concentrate with the vane of a feather. There is no preference in type of bird, but the feather of necessity is quite large and commonly is a ight or tail feather. The stroking action separates the dense gold particles from the lighter particles. Experienced users tilt the feather and make use of the extreme end of the feather. This blow-and-feather routine is ubiquitous in the gold rooms of the placer mines in Mongolia. Enquiries conrm it originated in the Soviet gold mines in Siberia and plausibly may be of great antiquity. However it probably became routine following Order No. 124 of 29th of December 2988 by the Chief Department of Precious Metals and Diamonds of the Mistry Cabinet of the USSR that prohibited mercury in dredges, wash-plants and placer mines generally. Mongolia followed suit shortly thereafter. From the moment, all Soviet research into amalgamation technology ceased. The monthly issue of mercury by the Soviet authorities to the placer mines abruptly terminated. The blow-and-feather technique became routine. Yet the blow-and-feather routine seems conned to the former Soviet Union and Mongolia, and seems to be unknown in the Yukon and Alaska where placer mining companies and recreational miners struggle to create a clean smelt-able concentrate and resort to all manner of gravitational devices and convoluted chemical methods to achieve the same end result.

In this newsletter, GPOC provides links and references to other websites. GPOC has no control over information at such sites hyperlinked or referred to. These links and references are being provided for the convenience of the readers, and GPOC does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for the content, nature, or reliability of any linked or referenced website or any link contained in a linked or referenced website. GPOC takes no responsibility for monitoring, updating, supplementing, or correcting any information on any linked or referenced website and makes no representation or warranties regarding such information.
GPOC The Prospectors Quill Vol. 38 No.11 WE ARE ELECTRONIC at www.gpoc.com 5

Newly Elected GPOC Board Members for 2012

San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act This act could affect areas you can prospect in. Udall, Bennet re-introduce Wilderness Act (10/05/11): Late last week, officials from San Miguel, San Juan and Ouray Counties, commended Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) for reintroducing the San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act, which includes legislation in Naturita Canyon near Norwood. http://www.sanjuancitizens.org/wildsanjuans/ northernsjmtswilderness.shtml 3,170 acres will be added to the existing Lizard Head Wilderness Area in San Miguel County 21606 acres will be added to the existing Mt. Sneffels Wilderness Area in San Miguel and Ouray counties. 8,614 acres of the McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area in San Miguel County, located in the Disappointment Valley, will be designated as wilderness (representing the rst designation in the lower Dolores River watershed). It would also extend new protections to important wild lands: 21,697 acres in San Juan and San Miguel County including Ice Lakes basin outside of Silverton and the high alpine peaks near Ophir will be designated as the Sheep Mountain Special Management Area. Existing uses including Heliisking will be allowed to continue, but no new roads or other development will be permitted. The area will automatically become wilderness should the Heliiski company cease to operate in the area. 6,595 acres will be withdrawn from eligibility for mineral leasing in Naturita Canyon, near Norwood in San Miguel County.

President

Ben Higley Wayne Wittcopp

Vice-president

Secretary

Stacey Smith

Treasurer

Bill Smith

1 Year Trustee

Dianne Anderson

2 Year Trustee

Jim Blankenship
Dick Margeson

3 Year Trustee

Please visit the MDHTALK web site for some great information! The Quillis available on the MDHTALK site under the newsletter search menu tab under GPOCs name. http://www.mdhtalk.org/

Sluice Box and Riffles

Fairplay Flume, April 21, 1881, Front page Colonel Eddy, of Nevada, Colorado, claims to have originated the sluice box and riffles in placer mining, the first being evolved as a matter of necessity, and the latter owing their origin to accidental discover. He gives the following account of his connection with this important discovery: In the spring of 1850, when all operations were carried on by the aid of the long tom and the rocker, he located a claim in the ravine just above Nevada. There were several claims below him, the holders of which refused to permit him to run tailings on their ground. So he made a trough leading from his location through theirs to a point below. On the bottom of the sluice, where the different sections joined, he nailed wooden cleats to keep the water and gravel from leaking out. At the lower end of the sluice he placed a rocker, and for one day manipulated the dirt that came down to it. At the end of that day he found that the rocker had saved scarcely any gold. Going along up the sluice he fund behind each of the cleats numerous sparkling particles of gold that had lodged there. He abandoned the use of the rocker, increased the number of cleats, and then commenced what he said was the first sluice mining ever carried on in California, and probably in the whole world, so far as he knows. The sluice and riffles soon became popular, causing the price of lumber to advance rapidly. The Colonel says the only thing he regrets about his discovery is that he didnt have it patented, and thus win fame and fortune.

1894 News Article What! Gold right in the very streets of Boulder? Has the flood, which washed so vast an amount of sand and mud down the mountains, proved a blessing in disguise? It is said that successful sluice mining is being done at Woodburys place on Valley Road, every yard of which has paid well for the work of digging and sluicing. That veracious young man, Sam Woodbury, points to his sluice boxes with pride and exhibits some fine nuggets he declares were taken from the flood deposit in front of his fathers house Boulder Camera Fort Collins Courier December 20, 1894

Editors Note: It wasnt Nevada, Colorado as stated in this

article. It was Nevada, California.

GPOC The Prospectors Quill Vol. 38 No.11

WE ARE ELECTRONIC at www.gpoc.com

Board Sluice While the majority of historical discussion of placer mining with sluices is in California, the process was being used across all mining districts. The evolution of placer mining rst employed the traditional gold pans, then the rocker, progressing to the Long Tom and nally sluice boxes. Sluicing was done on readily accessible gold deposits that lay close to bedrock under a thin layer of gravel. It has been estimated that close to 12 million ounces were recovered in California during the rst ve years of mining with the above mentioned processes. The board sluice was developed after the Long Tom and proved to be three times cheaper than the tom to operate. An article in the Sacramento Daily Union, April 14, 1853, stated that Long Toms were no longer being used and sluices had been substituted in their place. The board sluice was a simple innovation that required little investment, transforming the mining industry and allowing even more ground to be worked. With the sluice, miners worked less independently and more in groups, revolutionizing the mining communities. With the development of each advancement in mining technology larger capital investment and the use of resources increased. Most mining techniques were adapted to a particular site and may have been dependent on the resources and capital available with creative innovations to methods being developed. One of the rst descriptions of the sluice in California was mentioned in the Sacramento Transcript of May 2, 1851, as being a new and protable process and having been in operation for 3 months.1 Some claimed that the sluice, like the rocker, originated in Georgia, and was rst used by a Dr. Kinsey, a Georgian, on Lairds Hill, Nevada City. (Nevada City, Nevada County, California) Bean discusses the sluice being used somewhere around 1850-1851 in Nevada County, CA.2 Others site a W. Elwell who constructed a sluice at Nevada City in the spring of 1850; while others point to a Mr. Eddy of an accidental discovery of the sluice method in California. He supposedly used a sluice to carry dirt and water from his claim, across the claim of a contentious neighbor, to his rocker. Ground sluicing was discussed in 1853 on Lost Hill diggings in California. While the sluice may not have appeared on the mining scene until about 1850 in the United States, the use of a sluice was discussed by Georgius Agricola (Pliny)in De Re Metallica in 1556. Pliny, an ancient Latin historian, born A.D. 33, stated hydraulic washing was known to the Romans. Plinys account describes: The gold-seekers, rst of all take off the surface soil, which indicates the presence of gold. This is put into a cradle or channel, the sand is washed, and an opinion is formed from the sediment that remains...Another task of even greater costliness is that of conveying streams of water, even 100 miles in length, to wash this rain on the top of the mountains. These they call canals; and the labour consists in this, that the water must be conveyed to a height from whence it may force its passage in; accordingly it is carried to the greatest possible heights. Dykes are hollowed out below for the water to ow into; these are strewn with a shrub called ulex, or rosemary, which is rough and retains the gold. This ulex is afterwards burnt, and its ashes are washed in order that the gold may form a deposit.3 The sluice was either man-made or natural. Historically, an account from From De Re Metallica in 1556 1867 describes sluices being made of rough sawn wood planks that would swell when lled with water. Clay would also collect in the joints making the sluice watertight. The processed dirt would pit and roughen the wooden planks which would aid in the retention of gold. Unlike today, copper amalgamated plates and the induction of mercury was frequently used to capture the ne gold. An old practice was, if during the working, assays would show too much gold in the tailings, the sluice was lengthened. It was assumed that the longer the sluice the better the gold recovery because there was more of an opportunity for the gold to settle. Also, a longer sluice could aide the movement of the tailings to a distant dump so that they would not interfere with the mine operations. Early on sluices were twelve feet long because of the standard lumber length that was furnished by the saw mills. The sluices could contain thousands of feet of lumber and could be thousands of feet long, built in sections twelve to fourteen feet long. By being made in sections, the sluices could easily be dismantled and repaired or moved to another location. The length of the sluice would vary and was determined by the physical characteristics and quantity of the gravel, the neness and character of the gold, the amount of water to be used, the amount of funds available for building and maintenance and the grade of the ground.4
GPOC The Prospectors Quill Vol. 38 No.11 WE ARE ELECTRONIC at www.gpoc.com 7

The boards were sawn one and one-half inches thick and were four inches wider at one end than the other so that the narrow end of one box would t into the wider end of another. The bottom of the sluices were built with grooved planks secured with driving in a soft pine tongue.5 Where the boxes were joined they would be caulked with old rags and tough clay to prevent leakage. The depth was from one-third to one-half of a sluices width.6 These boxes were from 8 inches to two feet high, allowing the water to be from ten to twelve inches deep to cover any large rocks sent down the sluice. The sides were lined with additional lumber to protect the wooden sluice from the scouring action of the gravel and rocks and would be replaced when worn. These giant board sluices were operated by four to twenty men who could work two to ve cubic yards of dirt a day. A run, which was from the beginning of washing until the cleanup, lasted six to eight days in very large sluices. If a sluice was too wide it would clog with material because the waters velocity was too slow and too shallow. (Holland) The constant scouring of the wood boxes and rifes rapidly wore them out and when the sluice boxes and wood rifes were no longer t to be used, they were dried and then burned. By washing the ashes, enough gold could be obtained to sometimes afford a new set of boxes. While the supply of wood for building sluices was usually readily available, sluices made of wood did have faults. Frequent repairs were necessary because the wood would swell and warp. If the mining operation was suspended for any length of time the wood would dry and shrink, along with not holding up to being transported for any distance. Their joints were difcult to keep tight and as a result gold and mercury were lost. Rifes The most common method used to create a cavity or pocket on the bottom of a sluice is a rife. The cavity or pocket created by a rife produces an area where the energy of a sluice is reduced, allowing heavy minerals including gold to settle. Rifes came in many styles and were made from a variety of materials such as: rocks, wood, steel, iron, wool blankets, carpet, gunny sacks, grass sod, logs, and any readily available material. However, the durability, shape and size of rifes needed to be considered. Wood from lumber mills or small logs were frequently used but the scouring action of the gravel would soon wear the wood down and cost for maintenance and repair became a consideration. The kind of rife used was often determined by the building material that was readily available and not by scientic studies. Miners relied more on mercury to amalgamate the gold in sluice boxes rather than rifes. Rifes were relied upon to save the wear and tear on the bottom of sluices. In a book written in 1918 it was stated that: the operation of a rife is not well understood. They knew that the strength and shape of the eddies created by a rife were affected by the shape and spacing of rifes, their position with respect to the direction of ow, and the velocity of the current. They also understood that a rifes role was to retard the material moving over them giving it a chance to settle, to form pockets to retain gold, and to form eddies which helped to classify the material.7 A large number of variations in the style of rifes, some of them patented were introduced. It was very common for several systems to be used in the same string of boxes, thus: slats at the head, with alternating sections of block and rock pavement below. The choice of material and form was governed by cost, by the character and the quantity of the gravel sluiced and by the neness of the gold. A further discussion of rife systems will be discussed in future articles. (see rock sluice) Initially, the most common form of paving consisted of blocks of wood, made from the heart (inner wood of a mature tree) of the sugar pine, cut across the grain of the wood and placed vertically with the grain standing up. The sugar pines range is in Southern Oregon and California and it is a soft wood.8 Pitch pine made the best rife because it was long grained and broomed up which would retain the small particles of amalgam and gold. ( Pitch pine was a term applied to every species of hard resinous pine in the United States.) Gibson states that the wood was soft and brittle and found mostly in the Eastern states which leads me to question whether this was the wood being used for rifes in Western states or if it was a general slang term. The life of a block depended upon the quality of the wood, the grade the sluice was set on, the character and quantity of the gravel, and the amount of water being used. The larger the amount of water (on the same grade) in proportion to that of gravel, the less the blocks would wear. The quality of the wood varied greatly in different localities. Hard timber (such as oak) would wear smooth and was not desirable because it would not broom up. The most desirable wood was from the nut pine (Perrys nut pine,pion, Mexican Pinon)8 but it was hard to secure. Usually, the price of lumber determined the wood that was used.9
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Sugar Pine

Wood block rifes were either square block rifes or round block rifes. Square block rifes were from six to twelve inches thick and twelve to eighteen inches square, with rounded corners. The more rare, round block rifes, were blocks sawn off from the trunks of trees and set on end in the sluices.10 Wood block rifes were held in position by boards (rife strips) typically one and one-forth inches thick by two to three inches wide, fastened crosswise on the sluice bottom by headless nails, and made secure by a cleat on the side of the sluice that was one and one-half inches x three inches. The spaces in which the amalgam collected were from a fraction of an inch to four inches in width. Later, block rifes were held with soft pine wedges which were driven between the side of the sluice and the blocks.11 When wedges were used the sides of the blocks needed to be square where they joined. The cost for the wood blocks in a box fourteen feet long and thirty inches wide was four to ve dollars.12 In average mines the block rifes lasted less than one month amounting to increased mining costs. The blocks were turned after each run and reused if they were not too worn. If a block was worn to four or ve inches it was not reused. The wooden block worn down the most was placed towards the head of the sluice. Rock rifes were more durable and were substituted for wooden blocks in many localities. The primitive rifes used by the South American gold-washers, consisted of steps cut in the bare bedrock. Rock required more water and a steeper grade than wooden blocks. Their initial cost was less because they were readily available, but the cost of labor to maintain and repave them was higher than wooden blocks. The rock commonly used was basalt, but quartz and other materials were also used. Another class of rock rifes was selected from water-worn boulders or cobblestones, that might have been collected from an iron grating in the sluice, and arranged in sections of about half the length of an ordinary sluice box, facing slightly downward, with pieces of lumber securely fastened between them. Rock rifes were desirable for sluices that did not require frequent cleanups such as the tail sluice. When a combination of wood block and rock rifes were used it helped to reduce the wear of the rifes. One company, in 1854 found that attaching, at each end, a loose board onto the bottom of their sluice, an inch of space created an articial crevice between the sides of the sluice and the loose planks. The gold was deposited in the crevices along the sides and under the planks.13 The adoption of longer lasting rifes was delayed due to the abundance of cheap timber and rock rifes. Iron capped rifes were invented to add durability, and iron or steel rails were sometimes substituted. The development of these types of rifes was to cut the time required for cleanup, to lengthen their life and reduce costs and not necessarily in their efciency. In some mining districts wood was more expensive than iron or iron-capped rifes.14 Longitudinal rife bars, six feet long, two to four inches wide and three to seven inches high were placed in the bottom of some sluices. Two sets per twelve foot box were placed an inch to an inch and a half apart. Sometimes the rife bars were put in diagonally in the sluices box running from one side to the other.15

Iron-cap rife Designed by J. B.

Rock Sluice Initially, rocks were placed in a random manner in the bottom of sluices imitating the bottom of a stream. Stone, in a regular pattern, was later used to pave the sluice and was more Rock riffles held in place with cleats on the side. durable than the wooden false bottoms. Wooden rife bars were rapidly worn and could cost $20 to $30 per day to replace. It was also felt that rock sluices were better at catching ne gold than wooden rife-bars. The stone bottoms, instead of wooden rife-bottom sluices, made it more difcult for thieves to steal the gold. With the rock-sluice the amalgam was buried by sand between the stones and had to be washed to be removed. However, the rock sluice was more difcult and tedious to cleanup, costing more man hours to maintain. It was recommended that the stones weigh twenty pounds each so that they would not be dislodged by the force of the water. Ten feet of a double sluice could weigh 8 tons!16 The stones were hard, oval and attish and six to eight inches at their widest diameter. Sometimes squared granite rocks would be used.
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The time consuming task of laying the stones would take one man one day to pave eight hundred square feet. Another publication stated that it could be rapidly accomplished by one man paving twenty-ve boxes, fourteen feet long and thirty inches wide in one day. Once the sluice was in operation the stones would be secured by the sand that collected between them, or strips of board ve and one-half inches wide were nailed on each side of the box and a crosspiece was wedged under the strips at the end of each box. Cleanup, after ten to twenty days, was accomplished by loosing the stones with a pick, washing them off by allowing ten or twenty inches of water to ow through them, and they were then laid out while the boxes were washed down and cleaned.
Rock riffles ready to be placed into a sluice.

Double Sluice Double sluices were double the width of a regular sluice and were constructed from two sluice-boxes side by side. The double sluice was used so that the operation would not be interrupted or by two companies working side by side. They would wash one side and then the other without having to stop operations for cleanup. They could be used where there was a large or small supply of water. In the winter, when water was more plentiful, both sides were operated and in the summer when water was scarce one side would be operated. By using a double sluice expenses were less. (refer to tail sluice and fantail sluice) Tail Sluice (tail race) The tail sluice was used to wash tailings from other sluices and was sometimes used to open railroad cuts. It was also used in areas with a rapid descent. Tail sluices could collect an even greater percentage of the gold from the waste material than a regular board sluice. It was a large, long sluice paved with cobblestones, or wood placed on end, and was run for months without cleaning up. The paving stones in a tail-sluice were larger than those in a regular sluice. A tail-sluice was placed at an angle of one inch per foot.17 It was placed in the bed of a creek and was left alone until cleanup time. Because the tail-sluice was fed dirt and water from other sluices emptying into it, it could produce large prots. Some tail-sluices were described as being twenty feet in width! The Teaff sluice in Dutch Flats, Tail Sluice in Brown''s Flat, Tuolumne County, CA 1866 Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher California was 5,500 feet long. 2,500 feet of the sluice was ve-half feet wide and twenty-six inches deep, and 3,000 feet of this sluice was six feet wide. It was paved with boulders fourteen inches high. The boulders were worn away at the rate of two inches in three months. The Teaff sluice took over four years to build and cost $55,000.18 The currents velocity in the Teaff sluice was capable of handling boulders ten to twenty inches in diameter and could move them at the rate of ten miles an hour. A grating would capture large rocks where they were examined for their suitability as pavers. A standard unit of measure for mercury was the ask which was equivalent to 76 pounds of mercury (quicksilver). Fifteen to twenty pounds of quicksilver were used on a daily basis to aide in the process. It was claimed that the mercury was recycled, which is probably true due to its costs, however, how much was lost? One tail-sluice by the Palmyra Mining Company in California was 6 miles long!19 Fantail Sluice Modications to the tail sluice were made to capture ne gold. The sluice was divided at the center of its length, shifting the lower part on one side a distance of half its width, and placing another sluice of the same size beside it, so that the two tail-sluices, cover equal parts of the lower end of the sluice. A grating was placed at the end of the single or head sluice to prevent coarse gravel from washing into the double or tail-sluices. It was found that be dividing the stream of water after it left the head-sluice its velocity was decreased aiding in capturing the ne gold. The fantail-sluice was a similar design, subdividing the tail-sluice with a second grating, further reducing the water velocity and depth.20 The design of the fantail sluice is used at the head of modern sluices to control the velocity of the water.
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Ground Sluice-Bedrock Sluice The ground sluice had been used in California since about 1852.21 The ground sluice was used in natural and articial (tailings) placer ground. It was applied where the water had a rapid descent. The ground sluice had no box, the water ran in a ditch or on the ground. The unpressurized water was sometimes used to cut the ditch down to bedrock. The ground sluice was a ditch in a gully cut into the mining ground (sometimes 60 to 70 feet deep22), sometimes cut to the bedrock, sometimes not to the bedrock, in areas where the dirt was too poor or shallow to pay for washing with a board sluice. The most favorable conditions for ground sluicing were found on the benches and upper reaches of the creeks. It was also used where the surface was too steep to use a board sluice. If the sluice was to be constructed in a hydraulic operation a giant (nozzle) was used to make the bed for the sluice. This was more economical than creating a bed by hand. The results were determined by the amount of water, the character of the dirt and the grade (incline). Ground sluicing required more water than regular sluicing, sometimes its cost prohibiting ground sluicing. Natural erosion of the banks would occur as well as being assisted by miners. Miners would extract the dirt from the banks which would fall into the ground sluice. A sluice fork was used to remove some of the rocks from the ground sluice, while some rocks were left to help catch the gold. A sluice fork was like a manure fork with ve blunt tines, three inches apart, about a foot long, of equal width all the way down. The blunt end of the fork prevented the tines from catching in the wooden sluice, and the equal width prevented rocks from being caught in the tines.23 A November 9th, 1854 ad in the Sacramento Daily Union listed a sluice fork for $60 to $65. The ground sluice would be worked for several weeks or months before it was cleaned up with a board sluice. It was claimed that part of the cutting of the Sacramento Valley Railroad was done with a ground sluice where the ground contained gold and paid for the labor. It was also purported to be used to sluice the streets of Forest City of deep snow as well as cleaning streets of mud.24 Another description of a ground sluice described diverting the stream into a ume that was built on a trestle. Because the bottom of the creek was free of water, boulders were piled along the banks creating a channel that conned the stream and increased its velocity aiding it in moving material that otherwise could not have been moved. At times, the water was again diverted into the ume so that rocks could be removed. The gold was concentrated on the bed rock which was cleaned up with board sluices. An account in Placer Times, July 20, 1849, described several of these umes on the American Forks. A vast quantity of earth has been washed here by the hydraulic method. One of the principal claims is owned by Mr. Laird, formerly of Georgia, who has made an extensive excavation backwards in the side of a hill formed of the drift. In washing this earth, the ground-sluice has been extensively used. They are cut in the surface of the granite and converge from the base of different parts of the bluff until they all unite and deliver the water into a board-sluice below. These ground-sluices are said to catch and retain the gold more effectually than those made of boards. The gold is, however, not so readily obtained or "cleaned up" from them. The operations in Nature the concentration of gold in the beds of streams, from a wide areais thus imitated by these ground-sluices.25 Early in the development of mining in California, ground sluicing produced some of the largest amounts of gold, however advancements in hydraulic mining superseded the method because it could produce higher returns at a lower cost.26 As rich ground became exhausted the ground sluice became more protable. 27 No mercury was used in ground sluicing and it was not done during times when heavy oods would sweep away the sluices or gold, nor was it done during dry seasons when the wooden sluice boxes would warp and crack. The ground sluice was constructed on the sound theory that gold concentrates onto the bedrock of a stream. Booming or Gouging Booming was a variation of ground sluicing in which water stored in reservoirs was sporadically released in large amounts. It was supposed to be an improvement on ground sluicing. Booming was effective in areas where the water supply was insufcient. A dam would be placed across a stream to store the water. A oodgate on the dam could be opened and would produce a torrent of water that would cut away the stream banks and move large rocks or boulders. Ground sluices would be used in the nal process. In one operation described in the Mining Press, Vol 17. Page 50, six thousand inches of water were released every few hours carrying huge boulders and trees along with its force. The method of booming was considered wasteful because ne gold was lost because of the velocity of the water. Large lakes and dams could develop in some streams which would give way, carrying with them life and property.
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The Romans in the rst centuries BC and AD used a process that was later called hushing to mine gold. They would store a large volume of water in a reservoir above the area they wanted to mine. The water would be released quickly, removing overburden and exposed bedrock, allowing gold veins to be mined after which water power was used to remove debris. The method is well described by Pliny the Elder in Book XXXIII of his Naturalis Historia from the rst century AD. It was used during the Roman period for hydraulic mining of alluvial gold deposits, and in opencast vein mining, for removal of rock debris. He describes how tanks and reservoirs were built near the suspected veins, lled with water from an aqueduct, and the water suddenly released from a sluice-gate onto the hillside below, scouring the soil away to reveal the bedrock and any veins. A second mode of obtaining gold is by sinking shafts or seeking it among the debris of mountains. The persons in search of gold in the rst place remove the "segutilum,"4 such being the name of the earth which gives indication of the presence of gold. This done, a bed is made, the sand of which is washed, and, according to the residue found after washing, a conjecture is formed as to the richness of the vein.

Blanket Sluice
Black sand, gold, quicksilver and amalgam were concentrated in a sluice onto a blanket that was placed in the bottom of the sluice. The blanket would capture the quicksilver that escaped the mill and sulphurets which were heavier and richer than the rest of the tailings, but resisted amalgamation. In the Daily Alta California, March 24, 1853, a description of a complicated sluice having a variety of falls and rifes, and with some parts very wide allowing the water to spread out very thin is given. In addition, a description of the bottom being covered with old pieces of tacked down woolen blankets is given as to the effectiveness of capturing ne gold. The writer draws attention to this improvement advising other miners to adopt it. Some blanket sluices were shallow having sides an inch or two high with a small incline of six to twelve inches in twelve feet. Because they did not need to handle unconcentrated material they did not need to be as strong or as large. Their incline was less and if rifebars were used they were not as deep as in the board sluice. Two sluices could be placed side by side or one wide sluice was divided into several narrow longitudinal compartments by parallel strips of wood. The tailings from the mill and water, would ow over the blankets, which retained the gold, amalgam and quicksilver. A worker with a broom would keep the material evenly distributed and exposed to the waters current by sweeping the sluices.The operation was aided by a man with a broom, who lightly swept the sluices, keeping the material evenly distributed and exposed to the action of the current. Two or three times a day the blankets were removed and washed. The blanket sluice was used in a stamp battery. The blanket material was usually made especially for this purpose and was a strong, coarse, thick and hairy wool. They had a nap only on one side and the other side was shorn and placed against the bottom of the sluice. The blanket was about thirty inches wide to cover the bottom and to hang over the sides. There were usually several troughs abreast so that when the blankets of one trough were being washed the operation could continue. The upper blankets would be the heaviest and were washed every hour or more frequently. The blankets in the additional troughs did not need to be washed as often. Blanket sluices in Virginia City were described as having tailings estimated to be 600 tons a day. The sluices were 22,000 feet in length and cost $20,000 in 1867.28 The blankets would wear out at one and one-fourth yard per stamp per month and cost from $1 to $2 per yard.29

The Sluice Tunnel or Tunnel Sluice

A tunnel-sluice is a sluice in a tunnel. The natural rock oor of a tunnel may serve as a sluice, but more commonly the tunnels are tted with large, substantially built wooden sluices, having rock rifes of basalt, wooden block rifes, or old railroad iron and faced with iron. There might have been a lot of water running thru a tunnel and by constructing a sluice at the bottom of the tunnel the dirt would easily be removed and washed. The tunnel was cut with a small grade which allowed the water to run out. Because of the low grade, transverse rife bars were used because they did not pack as easily as longitudinal rife-bars or stones, but they did require closer supervision than other kinds of sluices. Tunnel sluices were used in hydraulic mining when the shallow placers were exhausted and a method for mining the deeper placers was needed. Tunnels and shafts were cut in the bedrock to access the gravel. The size of the tunnel depended on the size of the sluice. It was usually two to three feet wider than the sluice.The tunnel would be six feet wide and seven to eight feet high and its length varied from a few hundred feet to several thousand. These proportions permitted the proper construction of the sluice and gave enough room for the workers when cleaning up. Fifty to one-hundred feet below the under surface of the gravel was the end of the tunnel. A shaft was sunk through the gravel and bed rock, intersecting the tunnel. A two-half foot wide sluice of strong planks was built with block rifes. Once the hydraulic process started, the material was washed down the shaft into the tunnel and into the sluice. Additional reinforcement of the tunnel was done by timbers if there was to be a lot of use and wear. If the sluice was on soft ground and could be undermined the bottom of the tunnel would also be reinforced.

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To prevent the tunnel from clogging up with gravel the tunnel needed to be three to four feet higher than ordinary and then it tapered to the normal height of the main tunnel in about fty feet. The shaft was placed to one side of the tunnel if the tunnel continued past the shaft. This was necessary so that the sluice would not be damaged by the shaft being used for washing the material or running waste water. It was recommended that the sluice be placed to one side of the tunnel to provide room for the cleanup. The tunnel was continually being extended as well as the shaft to prevent any delays in the washing. The shafts could become too deep in the bedrock, they could loose their grade as well as becoming too long.30

Undercurrent Sluice-Secondary Undercurrent Resources for easy placer mining became exhausted and larger amounts of gravel had to be moved, exceeding what could be handled by rockers, Long Toms and board sluices. Hydraulic mining was used to remove rich deposits of gravel washing it through larger sluice boxes. The origins of placer mining are controversial, with many claiming to be the inventor. One article claims that it was introduced into California by miners from Dahlonega, Georgia in 1850. Hydraulic mining was first introduced in March 1853 at American Hill, near Nevada City, in the Grass Valley camp. Although many people claim to have invented hydraulic mining, a miner, Edward Mattson, with assistance from Anthony Chabot, a sailmaker, and Eli Miller, a tinsmith are accredited.31 The undercurrent sluice was introduced in California as a result of the giant sluicing operations there. The undercurrent sluice separated the current in the main sluices so that the muddy coarse materials would move on and the heavier concentrates could drop through a grating on the bottom of the sluice into sluices of a lower grade furnished with fresh water. In the undercurrent, the water was shallower and was spread over a greater surface, slowing its velocity; this slower current allowed the ner gold to settle in the rifes. A grating of hard cast iron bars, with an opening of an inch wide and eight inches long, was placed in the bottom of a box, near the lower end of a sluice. Under the grating there was another sluice with a lower grade, that was supplied with a moderate supply of clean water. The grating allowed only ne material to fall through allowing gold that would have been lost to be saved. There were times when the material from the undercurrent box was fed back into the main sluice. The undercurrent sluice could be from twenty to fty feet in width and forty to fty feet in length with sides sixteen inches high. They were usually ten times wider than the main sluice. They were placed on a steep grade to one side and below the main sluice. The bottom of the undercurrent sluice was paved with stone or wooden blocks which were smaller than the regular sluice. Mercury was also used. Hydraulic mines broke down placer ores with giant monitors into a slurry. Sluices and drainage tunnels were used to process the slurry with liquid mercury which formed a goldmercury amalgam. The loss of mercury in this process amounted to ten to thirty percent per season (Bowie, 1905). The amount of mercury used varied from 0.1 to 0.36 pound per square foot. Undercurrents in Humbug Creek, South Yuba, CA Because sluices used in hydraulic mining contained several thousand feet, several hundred pounds of mercury were used at the initial startup of the sluices. During a typical operating season of six to eight months, additional 76-pound asks of mercury were added weekly or monthly. In the late 1800s Averill estimated that optimum operating sluices lost about 10% of the mercury that was added per season, but Bowie stated that the annual loss was about 25% in average conditions. This could mean a sluice may have lost several hundred pounds of mercury during its operating season.32 R.Dunning claimed to be the inventor of the undercurrent sluice and described it as: by means of two or more iron bars at the termination of a section of sluice boxes, forming a right-angle grating, a portion of the dissolved earth, ne gravel and water is separated from the lumps of hard earth, cobble stones and gravel, and drops into a set of more gently graded sluice boxes beneath, when they ow slowly off in another direction, while the body of water and coarse material dashes down a dump or fall, to be again taken up in sluices with the tailings from the undercurrent, and subjected anew to separation.

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This process insured a more thorough amalgamation and saving of the particles of gold, the most of which dropped through the grating into the undercurrent, where, being subject to a less violent motion, and passing through a greater variety of rifes, they were more likely to be nally arrested. It also allowed a large saving of rusty gold, which did not readily amalgamate. On hillsides, where there was plenty of space, undercurrent sluices were a valuable addition to tail-sluices; where the latter terminated at the rivers edge, and would otherwise discharge all of their contents into the stream. In some mines there may have been 25 undercurrent sluices being used. Secondaries Along with saving the ne gold, the undercurrent was also effective in saving rusty gold which did not amalgamate. Sometimes, the material owing into the undercurrent sluice was divided into a second system of low-grade boxes called secondaries that were advantageous in catching the quicksilver (mercury). The secondaries were about thirty inches wide and had a grade of fourteen to fteen inches per box. The water they received was less, about one-fteenth of the water in the undercurrent sluice. The grating used in a secondary was ner - three-eights of an inch wide and ve inches long. A secondary was effective in steep canyons.

Kirkartrick, T.S.G. The Hydraulic Gold Miners Manual. London; E. & F.N. Spon., 1897

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Footnotes
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. Royce, Josiah. California, From the Conquest in 1846 to the Second Vigilance Committee. Cambridge; Houghton, Mifflin and Company, The University Press, 1886. Page 308. Bean, E.F. Bean's History and Directory of Nevada County, California. Nevada; Printed at the Daily Gazette Book and Job Office,1867. Page 12. Hargraves, Edward Hammond. Australia and Its Gold Fields. London; H. Ingram and Co., 1855. Pages 139-146. Rose, Thomas Kirke. The Metallurgy of Gold: Being One of a Series of Treatises on Metallurgy. London; Charles Griffin & Company, 1894. Page 49. Bowie, Augustus Jesse. Hydraulic Mining in California . Printed for the Author, 1878. Page 22. Hittell, John Shertzer. Mining in the Pacific States of North America. San Francisco; H.H. Bancroft and Company, 1861. Page 134. Peele, Robert. Mining Engineers Handbook. New York; John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1918. Page 783. Gibson, Henry H. American Forest Trees. Chicago; Hardwood Record. Page 31,706. Bowie, Augustus Jesse. A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining in California. New York; D. Van Nostrand, Publisher, 1885. Page 224-228. The Colliery Engineer and Metal Miner, Volume 16. Scranton, PA.; The Colliery Engineering Co., May 1896. Page 222. Bowie, Augustus Jesse. Hydraulic Mining in California. Printed for the author, 1878. Page 23. Hittell, John Shertzer. Mining in the Pacific States of North America. San Francisco;H.H. Bancroft and Company, 1861. Page 139. Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 7, Number 1028, 11 July 1854. Mining and Scientific Press. San Francisco, 29th May 1897. Hittell, John Shertzer. Mining in the Pacific States of North America. San Francisco; H.H. Bancroft and Company,1861. Page 134. Lock, Charles George Wamford. Practical Gold-Mining: A Comprehensive Treatise on the Origin and Occurrence. London; E. and F.N. Spon, 1889.Page 335. Phillips, John Arthur. The Mining and Metallurgy of Gold and Silver. London; E. & F. Spon, 167. Page 147. Blake, WILLIAM P. Notices of Mining Machinery and Various Mechanical Appliances in Use. New haven, Conn; Chrales C. Chatfield & CO., 1871. Page 9. Cronise, Titus Fey. The Natural Wealth of California: San Francisco ; H. Bancroft & Company, 1868. Page 572. Lock, Charles George Warnford. Practical Gold-mining: a Comprehensive Treatise on the Origin and Occurrence ... London; E. & F.N. Spon, 1889. Page 180. Wide West, 1 December 1854. Bowie, Augustus Jesse A Practical Treatise on Hydraulic Mining in California. New York; D. Van Nostrand Company, 1900. Page 245. Hittell, John Shertzer. Mining in the Pacific States of North America. San Francisco; H.H. Bancroft and Company, 1861. Page 134. Hittell, John Shertzer. Mining in the Pacific States of North America. San Francisco; H.H. Bancroft and Company, 1861. Page 142. Blake, William Phipps. Report of a Geological Reconnaissance in California. New York; H. Baailliere, 1858. Page 268. Crane, Walter Richard. Gold and Silver: Comprising an Economic History of Mining in the United States. New York; John Wiley & Sons, 1908. Page 358. Smyth, Robert Brough. The Gold Fields and Mineral Districts of Victoria. Melbourne; John Ferres, Government Printer, 1869. Page 129 Raymond, Rossiter Worthington. Statistics of Mines and Mining in the States and Territories West, Volume 2. Washington; United States. Dept. of the Treasury. Government Printing Office,1870. Pages 697-698. Warnford Lock, Charles George. Practical Gold-Mining: A Comprehensive Treatise on The Origin and Occurrence. London; E & F. N. Spon, 1890. Page 704. Brigham, H.A. Engineering and Mining Journal, Volume 86. December 26, 1908. Page 1260. Young, O.E. Western Mining. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,1970. Alpers, Charles N., Hunerlach, Michael P., May, Jasopn T., Hothem, Roger L. Mercury Contamination from Historical Gold Mining in California, USGS Publication Fact sheet 2005-3014.

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Photo from Alexander Turnball Library, Wellington. Notice the wooden rifes and the direction they run in the bottom of the sluice box.

Title: Hydraulic Mining - hauling Sluice Blocks, for the Blue Gravel Claim, Smartsville, Nevada County Creator(s): Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher Date Created/Published: (published 1866) Medium: 1 photographic print: half stereograph, albumen. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-26907 (b&w lm copy neg.) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. Call Number: LOT 3544-50, no. 1401 (item) (P&P) Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Title: Hydraulic Mining--The Tail Sluices, Yuba River Creator(s): Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher Date Created/Published: (published 1866) Medium: 1 photographic print: half stereograph, albumen. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-27089 (b&w lm copy neg.) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. Call Number: LOT 3544-50, no. 807 (item) (P&P) Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Note large sluice blocks being unloaded from the wagon that are cut round logs.

Title: Hydraulic Mining--The Sluice Blocks Creator(s): Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher Date Created/Published: (published 1866) Medium: 1 photographic print: half stereograph, albumen. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-27094 (b&w lm copy neg.) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication. Call Number: LOT 3544-50, no. 800 (item) (P&P) Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Note the individual sluice blocks of cut round logs that run down the sluice

GPOC The Prospectors Quill Vol. 38 No.11

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THE PROSPECTORS QUILL Mailed

The Quill is available online only UNLESS you wish to receive it by mail. If you wish to receive The Prospectors Quill in print your yearly subscription fee will be $15.00 for a mailed copy. Look at your mailing label and it will have when you need to renew your membership. Take the number of months left on your membership and multiply it by $1.25. That will be your cost for the rest of your CURRENT membership. DATE

Gold Panning & Prospecting For Fun

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GPOC Meets the 2nd Wednesday of every Month at the Elks Club EMAIL 3400 N. Nevada MEMBERSHIP EXPIRES Colorado Springs, Colorado
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FREE Gold Panning Tips 1,000 GPOC MEMBERS CONTACT OVER Informative! quill@gpoc.com Read our equipment reviews and Prospectors Blog. Allow for a 3/8 margin on all sides of your advertisement. Answers to your questions: Finding Gold, Metal Detecting, Payment must be received before placement. Send Dredging. advertisement with check to: GPOC Quill Editor, PO Box 1593, Visit 80901 Site changes weekly! CS, CO often!

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GPOC VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES for November 2011

November 9th

General Membership Meeting 7:00 PM

Prospectors Store & Silent Auction

November 19th

Claims Committee Meeting Western Museum of Mining and Industry 10:00 AM

Volunteers are Needed for the GPOC Christmas Dinner to plan, prepare meats, decorate, and cleanup. If you are interested please contact the Vice-president Wayne Wittcopp at: vicepresident@gpoc.com

Spring Ahead, Winters Back ! Daylight Savings on November 6 Turn your clocks back 1 hour!

GOLD PROSPECTORS OF COLORADO PO BOX 1593 COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO 80901

GPOC The Prospectors Quill Vol. 38 No.11

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