"Nicely done Chris, enjoyed going through them very much. What's a hydraulic monitor?"
It is a hose nozzle on steroids, and was used to blast away hillsides, literally. They would then sluice what washed down, and find the gold. It was tremendously destructive, and was finally outlawed. You can still see scars of hydraulic mining in the Sierras.
You will catch a mention in the traditional folk song,
Acres of Clams.
I've wandered all over this country,
Prospecting and digging for gold,
I've tunneled, hydraulicked and cradled,
And I nearly froze in the cold.
And I nearly froze in the cold,
And I nearly froze in the cold,
I've tunneled, hydraulicked and cradled,
And I nearly froze in the cold.
For one who got wealthy by mining,
I saw many hundreds get poor,
I made up my mind to go digging,
For something a little more sure,
For something a little more sure,
For something a little more sure.
I made up my mind to go digging,
For something a little more sure.
I rolled up my grub in my blanket,
I left all my tools on the ground,
I started one morning to shank it,
For the country they call Puget Sound,
For the country they call Puget Sound,
For the country they call Puget Sound.
I started one morning to shank it,
For the country they call Puget Sound.
No longer a slave of ambition,
I laugh at the world and its shams,
And I think of my happy condition,
Surrounded by Acres of Clams,
Surrounded by Acres of Clams,
Surrounded by Acres of Clams.
And I think of my happy condition,
Surrounded by Acres of Clams.
This, from Wikipedia:
"In the most renowned legal fight of farmers against miners, the farmers sued the hydraulic mining operations and the landmark case of Edwards Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company made its way to the United States District Court in San Francisco where Judge Lorenzo Sawyer decided in favor of the farmers in 1884, declaring that hydraulic mining was “a public and private nuisance” and enjoining its operation in areas tributary to navigable streams and rivers. Hydraulic mining was recommenced after 1893 when the United States Congress passed the Camminetti Act which allowed such mining if sediment detention structures were constructed. This led to a number of operations above brush dams and log crib dams. Most of the water-delivery infrastructure had been destroyed by an 1891 flood, so this later stage of mining was carried on at a much smaller scale in California."
This form of mining also caused the bottom of San Francisco Bay to be covered in Sierra mud, and be full of mercury. To this day, there is a health advisory against eating fish from San Francisco Bay because of this.
Gold mining was all about moving dirt and rocks, and washing them through a sluice of some kind. This was the most commercial and large scale version. The simplest form was dry panning with a pan and no water. Dry panning was terrible work with low yield. Water companies got rich from the miners. They would run a flume, and sell one inch holes in the flume for $0.50/day. The miners would then use that one square inch of water to run their Long Tom (a sluice in common use). The water dissolved the dirt, then someone would sit at the bottom of the Long Tom, and pan. Others would do the digging, and cart the diggings over to the Long Tom. So small companies would form, getting the most out of the daily water charge.
Water being flummed to a Long Tom
Two miners panning tailings.
End of Long Tom, and miner panning tailings
Sluice and Long Tom.
Digging in their claim, and carting the dirt and gravel. Notice the rock on the right. It was entirely underground at the start of the gold rush. That is how much dirt the miners removed, all by hand.
I don't have an image of a shaker box. Will correct that this year.
Individual miners would use a small shaker box, and do everything themselves, and they were pretty much limited to claims that had running water. This is what the song calls "cradled," as a shaker box looks much like a cradle. When the creeks dried up for the summer, it was dry panning time again.
Most gold miners went broke and many got sick living outdoors. The real money went to shop owners, saloons, gamblers and women of easy virtue.
Click on the link below for more information.
Gold Rush fever
