Gold rush tools and methods
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A variety of tools and methods were used during the Gold rushes of the second half of the 19th century. This article covers the tools and methods used during the California Gold Rush, the Fraser River Gold Rush, the Cariboo Gold Rush, and the Klondike Gold Rush.
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[edit] The Gold rushes
[edit] California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush was in 1849, in San Francisco. After James Marshall discovered gold in Coloma, he tried to keep his find a secret, but it was hard to keep. The workers at the sawmill had close friends working at Sutter's Fort. As soon as rumors began to circle around the Fort, the first adventurers made the 40-mile trip to the sawmill. When these men returned to the Fort with samples of gold dust, everyone left.
Almost everyone went to the sawmill to dig for gold. But one person named Sam Brannan had a better idea. He bought all the mining supplies he could find, and filled up his store at Sutter's Fort with buckets, pans, clothing, foods, and more. Then he took a bottle full of gold flakes to the nearest town, San Francisco. There he walked up and down the streets, waving the bottle of gold over his head and shouting "Gold, gold, gold in the American River!" The next day, the town's newspaper described San Francisco as a "ghost town." Sam Brannan quickly became California's first millionaire, selling supplies to the miners as they passed by Sutter's Fort.
[edit] Fraser River Gold Rush
The Fraser River Gold Rush was in 1858, in the town of Yale. Natives were the first to get gold from the Fraser River. When news spread about the gold, tens of thousands of miners came. The California Gold Rush’s productions were not so good, and so people decided to come to the Fraser River. Victoria’s population increased from 500 to 5,000. In a short time, gold mining became a bigger business than fur trading. The basic tools used in the Fraser River Gold Rush were rocker boxes, gold pans, and sluice boxes.
[edit] Cariboo Gold Rush
The Cariboo Gold Rush was in 1862, in Barkerville. Miners came first to Victoria to get their mining license. People came from Scotland, England, Germany and China. Some people came because the California Gold Rush ended. Then the people would take a boat to New Westminster. The cheapest way was to take a canoe, and that was what most people did. After that, the people had to walk on hard trails. Only after rich strikes were made that a road was built. The basic tools used in the Cariboo Gold Rush were long toms, rocker boxes, and gold pans.
[edit] Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush was in 1897, in Dawson City. There were two paths to get to Dawson City. The two paths were Chilkoot Pass and White Pass. Chilkoot was 10 miles shorter than White Pass, but more mountainous. Lots of people brought horses to White Pass, since they couldn’t get over Chilkoot. When the horses could not go further, they would be killed, and there were so much dead horses that White Pass became known as the "Dead Horse Trail". After that, there was Lake Bennett and Lake Lindeman. Some people arrived too late, so they had to spend the winter as sourdoughs. The basic tools used in the Klondike Gold Rush were rocker boxes, gold pans, blowers, and sluice boxes.
[edit] Methods
[edit] River damming
River damming required groups of men working together. The miners either stopped part of a river with a U-shaped dam, called a wing dam, or they led the whole river into a neighboring river or valley. While the first method was easier, both methods dried out the river bed to process its dirt in long toms. The miners had to wait until the end of June, when the water level of the river was low enough, before they could build the dams, a process which took until September.The rains would break the dams, leaving the miners only a few weeks to wash gold.
[edit] Dry digging
Dry digging required sinking a shaft into gold-bearing ground, usually a hillside, with a winch installed at the top of the shaft. Once the gold-bearing layers were reached, the miners dug a horizontal tunnel. Two men were able to work this mine — one digging in the tunnel, and the other working the winch — interrupting their work occasionally to wash the dirt. Since water was important to the process of washing gold, the miners started to form water companies from 1851 onwards to secure water supply in dry digging. It was their task to build a trench or aqueduct to the diggings in order to supply the long toms with water.
[edit] Basic tools
[edit] Rocker box
Rocker boxes (also called 'rockers', 'hand rockers', 'dollies' or 'cradles') were used in the Cariboo Gold Rush, the Klondike Gold Rush, the Fraser River Gold Rush, and the California Gold Rush.
The rocker box was one of the primary tools used to separate gold from paydirt. It was usually set near the bank of a creek or river. The paydirt is first scooped into a tray at the top, called a sieve. The sieve stops large gravel from passing through. Water is then scooped in, and the rocker box, rocked. After that, gold is collected at the canvas apron, or at the riffles at the bottom.
Rocker boxes were usually worked in pairs. They were usually set on rockers, which enabled them to be rocked, and enabled a person to wash up to 3 cubic yards (2 m³) of gold-bearing gravel. Rocker boxes were usually small, measuring only 1 metre long and 30 centimetres wide, as they had to be carried around.
[edit] Smaller sluice box
Smaller sluice boxes (also called 'smaller sluce box', 'smaller sluice', or 'smaller sluce') were used in the Klondike Gold Rush.
The smaller sluice box was like a rocker, only longer and heavier. It separated gold from mud and muck. It has an upper tray, and a bottom part called a sluice. Materials are first shovelled into the upper tray. Water is then added to flush down everything. The materials slides down the upper tray along with the water, into the riffles, and the rocks gets removed in the process. After that, there is a clean-up, and the paydirt gets removed. Next, the paydirt is gold-panned. An optional addition to the sluice box was the 'grizzly'. It was a triangular shaped wooden object with riffles in it and, was used to stop large objects from entering the sluice.
[edit] Bigger sluice box
Bigger sluice boxes (also called 'bigger sluce box', 'bigger sluice', or 'bigger sluce') were used in the Klondike Gold Rush, the Cariboo Gold Rush, the Fraser River Gold Rush, and the California Gold Rush.
The bigger sluice box was a big version of the smaller sluice box. It was a series of wooden troughs that fitted together. Each one was about 2 metres long. The bottom had matting, which was held on by wooden riffles. Water carries the materials down, whence the heavy gold is trapped by the riffles. The riffles were removed once a day, and the matting, lifted out and washed.
[edit] Gold pan
Gold mining pans were used in the Klondike Gold Rush, the Cariboo Gold Rush, the Fraser River Gold Rush, and the California Gold Rush. Panning is the simplest and cheapest way to find gold. The best places to pan are in bed rocks, crevices, old tailings, clay-cemented gravels, and missed deposits of paydirt. The best time to pan is in early spring and late fall. Gold pans usually measured 10 to 18 inches (25 to 46 cm) in diameter and 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) deep. They were usually made of sheet iron, but sometimes of copper. The possible presence of grease in the pan necessitated heating it. After cleaning the grease, the pan is filled with gravels, and then immersed into water, where the gravels are mixed. Clay clumps are broken up in the process, and the pebbles and rock are discarded. Next, the pan is slightly tilted, rotated, and immersed in water again. This process is repeated until only small rocks, pebbles, gravel, gold grains and small nuggets are left in the pan. Washing continues as the volume of materials decrease. Now the person has to be more careful as the gold may get washed out or get slip off the side of the pan. The gold is then pick out either by hand or with tweezers, leaving only very small amounts of gold within the black-sand in the pan. The black-sand, which contains magnetite, is then put in a canvas bag, and removed using a magnet.
[edit] Long Tom
Long Toms were used in the Cariboo Gold Rush and the California Gold Rush.
The long tom looks like a sluice box, but bigger. Measuring 12 to 15 inches (30 to 38 centimeters) long, it was mainly made of wood, with a metal bottom, and with a ripple box and sieve at the end. It is put up on a slight incline. Six to eight men have to work a long tom to fully utilise it. One man shovels dirt and makes sure that the water is running. Another man mixes water and dirt and takes out the big stones. At the end of the day, the dirt is taken out and washed in a pan.
[edit] Other tools
The average miner had a standard gold pan, a miner’s pick, a shovel, and tweezers. These tools were bought at tent stores. Here is a list of some of the tools and equipment:
- Axe, price: $2.50+
- Description: Used for many kinds of jobs.
- Breaking bar, Price:$12
- Description: Used for breaking up bedrocks.
- Broad hatchet
- Description: A short-handled hatchet, with a broad blade.
- Butcher knife
- Description: A heavy-duty knife with a broad sharp blade, used for cutting meat.
- Chisel
- Description: Used for carving and cutting hard materials, such as wood/
- Clean-up pan
- Description: A gold pan, used for cleaning-up.
- Drawknife
- Description: A knife with a handle at each end of the blade.
- Drift pick
- File
- Description: A steel tool for forming, smoothing, and reducing metallic surfaces.
- Galvanized pail
- Description: A metal pail that was made of rust-resistant steel.
- Gold Scales, Price:$10+
- Description: Used for weighing gold, and included weights.
- Hammer
- Description: Used for testing whether gold was 'genuine gold' or 'fool's gold' (Note: Real gold splatters, but fool's gold breaks.)
- Hand saw
- Description: A small saw operated with one hand.
- Heavy canvas bag, price:$0.50
- Description: Used for carrying black-sand and samples
- Magnet, price:$0.50+
- Description: Used for removing black-sand from gold.
- Mercury
- Description: Used to separate gold from dirt.
- Miner’s pick, price:$2-6.50
- Description: Smaller than a regular pick, with a sharper head.
- Shovel, price:$2-8
- Description: It had a round-nosed shape, used for shovelling gravel.
- Spoon
- Description: Used for digging
- Standard gold Pan, Price:$2.95
- Description: Used for washing and panning gold
- Steel pry dar, price:$3.95-8
- Description: Used for prying bedrocks and cracks
- Tweezers, price:$0.75
- Description: Used for picking out the gold from black-sand.
- Whipsaw
- Description: A long, thin saw used by two people at the same time
- Whisk, price:$0.75-1
- Description: Made of stiff bristles, it was used for cleaning bedrock.
