Finding Gold
Alluvial and Buried Gold
There are two types of gold. Alluvial gold is the gold found as small flakes, nuggets or dust that is attainable within the grounds surface while buried gold is gold found beneath the earth’s surface. Diggers either would find gold flakes or nuggets when they washed dirt and sand from old creek (Alluvial Mining) and river beds or dig shafts 30 metres deep or more (Shaft Mining). Alluvial Mining The simplest way to find the alluvial gold was to pan for it. Diggers would require a pick to break up the soil and rock, a shovel and a panning dish to wash the soil and rock. The first panning dishes were just any round dish, some using the wide tin dishes used in dairies to separate milk and cream. Tinsmiths began making special pans with a wide base and shallow trim. With gold being a heavy metal ,after repeated washing of the soil and rock , it would hopefully be the only grains left in the pan! Another tool used was a cradle, which looked like a baby’s cradle. It operated much the same as the panning dish with diggers washing the dirt and gravel until only the gold remained. One man would rock the cradle and the other would shovel in mud. When all the mud and stones are washed away, any gold would be caught in the bottom of the cradle. Where water was plentiful, some built long troughs called sluices. As water was poured down the sluice, which washed away the mud, it left the gold behind. Another method was hydraulic sluicing which was a quick way to find gold. A huge hose forced water against rock and dirt, washing and breaking it up into the sluice below. If water was scarce a method called dry blowing was used in which bellows were attached to the cradle which blew away everything except the heavier gold. |
Shaft MiningWhen all the alluvial gold was found, diggers would dig a vertical hole called a shaft in which they cut tunnels off to the side looking for gold inside quartz rock. Buckets of rock were hauled to the top by horses and then taken away to be crushed and washed.
This became very expensive and miners joined together to form large companies and sold shares to raise money. Many diggers ended up working for a wage in these companies and this was the beginnings of our gold mining industry as we know today. |