PAGE Fig. 38. The Hydraulic Giant, 183 Fig. 39. Monitor Hydraulic Machine, 184 Figs. 40, 41. Hurdy-Gurdy Wheel and Derrick-Hoist, 186-7 Figs. 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52. Buckets for Hurdy Gurdy Wheels, 194-7 198 Figs. 54-55. Diagrams showing the Efficiency of the Pelton Wheel, 199-200 201 203 Fig. 58. The Tom, 204 Fig. 59. Diagram of Powder Chambers, Smartsville, 207 Fig. 60. Powder Chambers, Paragon Mine, 209 Fig. 61. Arrangement of Mines for Firing by Electricity, 213 Figs. 62, 63, and 64. Tunnel Sluice Box at North Bloomfield, Fig. 65. Turn-in Sluice, Patricksville, Fig. 66. Turn-out Sluice-Box, Figs 67, 68, and 69. North Bloomfield Undercurrents, Figs. 70 and 71. Retort, Fig. 72. Tail Sluices and Undercurrents, HYDRAULIC MINING IN CALIFORNIA. CHAPTER I. THE RECORDS OF GOLD-WASHING. THE records of gold-washing have been traced almost to the prehistoric period. If any reliance can be placed upon the traditions which have descended to us, the yield from the auriferous deposits of the ancient world must have been enormous. It is a well authenticated fact that the Greeks carried on from the earliest times an extensive commercial intercourse with the people who lived north and east of the Euxine Sea, and thus drew largely on the gold-fields of Siberia, from which source the Gothic tribe of the Massagetæ also obtained their wealth. These gold deposits are supposed to have been situated in lat. 53° to 55° N., and are said to be identical with those worked by the Russians during the present century. Asia Minor.-The mountains and streams of Fhrygia and Lydia yielded gold in ancient times, and hiery has familiarized us with the wonders of the Pactolu s,* from whose famous golden sands Croesus is said to ave derived his wealth. The sands of Asia Minor log since ceased to yield the precious metal. -- Italy. From a passage in Strabo (book iɩ ch. 6, sec. 12) it appears that imperial Rome was “in ndated with a glut" of gold from her northern mountains, the Alps. Polybius says that in his times gold-mines were so rich about Aquileia . . . that if you dug but tw feet *Herodotus, book v. c. 101; Strabo, book xviii. below the surface you found gold, and that the diggings generally were not deeper than fifteen feet. . . . Italians aiding the barbarians in the working for two months, gold became forthwith one-third cheaper over the whole of Italy.* Gold alluvia are known to exist in various localities in Upper Italy, but appear to be poor; and at the present time no gold-washing is carried on, except, perhaps, by a few individual workers. The sands of the Orco, the Jassin, the Po, and the Serio are estimated to have yielded three hundred ounces of gold in 1862.† Spain and France.-The Romans are stated to have washed the sands of streams along the base of the Pyrenees.‡ The Phoenicians obtained gold from the bed of the river Tagus 1100 B.C., and washings are reported along this stream as late as 1833 A.D. The Douro sands were worked for gold by the Arabs until 1147 A.D. Up to the close of the fifteenth century the deposits of the river Ariége yielded annually about one hundred pounds of the precious metal. As late as 1846 gold-washings are reported along the Rhine between Strassburg and Philippsburg. Africa.—At the present time but little gold is found within the limits of Abyssinia and Nubia, though the ancient Egyptians mined the precious metal in the latter country. The ancient mines described by Lenant Bey are situated in a district called Attaki, or Allaki, between Berenice and Suakin, on the Red Sea, one hundred and twenty miles distant from Ras-Elba. They are spoken of by Diodorus Siculus, and shown on one of the oldest topographical maps extant, preserved in Turin. *Siluria," foot-note, p. 449; also Pliny, book iii, c. 6, on the Great Value of the Mines of Italy. +"Report on Precious Metals," W. P. Blake, Paris Universal Exposition, 1867. Strabo, book iv. p. 290; Cæsar, "De Bello Gallico," iii. 21; Jacob's "Inquiry into the Precious Metals," p. 53. § See Agatharchides de Rubro Mari," in Diodorus, b. iii. c. 12-15; Account of the Mines in Nubia and Ethiopia"; also Jacob's "Inquiry into the Precious Metals," ch. 11. The earliest record of the Egyptian mines dates from the twelfth dynasty. The principal mines of Kordofan These mines are are between Darfur and Abyssinia. mentioned by Herodotus. Nearly all the gold obtained in Africa has come from alluvial deposits. The country south of Sahara, from the mouth of the Senegal to Cape Palmas, contains numerous gold-bearing alluvions, which are worked by the negroes. The product of these mines is conveyed by caravans to Morocco, Fez, and Algiers, and forms a principal article of export from the Guinea coasts. Gold-dust is obtained also on the southeast coast, between lat. 25° and 22° S., opposite Madagascar, in the country of Sofala, by some writers identified with the region from which Solomon obtained his wealth. Recently alluvial deposits have been worked in the Transvaal, Leydenburg district (lat. 25° S., long. 35° E.), where coarse nuggets of gold, weighing as much as eleven pounds, have been found. The approximate gold export of all Africa from 1493 to 1875, according to Dr. Soetbeer, amounted to £106,857,000. India.—In the Bombay Presidency gold-bearing deposits are reported to exist in the districts of Belgaum, Dharwar, and Kaladgi, in the southern Mahratta country, and the province of Katty war. The sands in the streams arising from the Surtur series are auriferous, as are also those of the river Aji. The central provinces of India contain numerous small deposits of gold, but the number. of gold-washings reported is comparatively very limited. The gold-fields of Madras have recently attracted considerable attention. The ancient mines of these regions have latterly been rediscovered. The known accumulated wealth of the ruling dynasties of southern India is supposed to have been obtained originally from these sources and from Malabar. Brough Smyth, in his report on the Wynaad gold fields, 1879-80, states that the country is covered with tailings, an evidence of the industry of the Korumbas. In the province of Mysore alluvions (containing very little gold) are known to exist near Betmangla, and gold quartz is being mined at present in different parts of the province. A number of the rivers which have their sources on the borders of the Champaran district and Nepal, in the State of Travancore, contain auriferous sands, and goldwashing is carried on in these places at the commencement and termination of the rains. Auriferous sands occur in the Kumaun and Garhwal rivers. The sands of the river Koh, near Naginah, in the Maradabad district, are said to contain considerable gold. In Punjab all the rivers are reported to contain auriferous sands. Gold-washing has been practised in this district for many years, and was formerly a source of large revenue to the government. Asiatic Islands.-The sands of the streams of Cey lon, Formosa, the Philippine Islands,* and some of the islands of the Indian Archipelago are known to contain gold; at Borneo extensive mining operations are carried on by the Chinese and the natives, over thirty thousand of the former being now employed in the gold-fields. China.—In the beginning of the seventh century the celebrated Chinese traveller, Hiuen-thsang, describes the country north of the Kuen-Lun, towards the desert of Gobi, as an auriferous district. It is either here or in the Thi betan highlands, east of the Bolor chain, between the Himalaya and the Kuen-Lun, west of Iskardo, that Humboldt locates the land of gold sand spoken of by the Dara das (Dardar, or Derder), mentioned in the Mahabharata, and in the fragments collected by Megasthenes.† P. 25. According to Pumpelly + gold is found in fourteen out * See Jacob's " Inquiry into the Precious Metals," pp. 367-377. + Humboldt's "Cosmos," vol. ii. pp. 511-516; Jacob's “Inquiry into the Precious Metals," Extract "Geological Researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan," 1862-65. Raphael Pumpelly. Smithsonian Contrib., Washington, 1866. |