Mining Methods for Alluvial Gold
During the gold rush period, miners used different tools and methods to mine for gold.
Panning was a way to find alluvial gold, which are small nuggets found in creek beds and in the ground of creeks and rivers.
To use the pan, a miner would place a small amount of dirt or sand into a pan as well as quite a bit of water. The miner would then swirl out the muddy water leaving gold nuggets at the bottom of the pan that had sunk to the bottom when the water was being swirled.
Cradle was a large wooden tool used to wash through a large amount of soil or sand.
A miner would shovel a lot of soil or sand into the hopper, which had a piece of netting on the bottom that would allow gold and sand to fall through but would catch large rocks and pieces of rubbish. Sometimes, gold nuggets could be caught in the hopper as well.
Water would be poured onto the soil in the hopper by a miner while another miner rocked the cradle back and forth to help wash the gold and soil through to the riffles. Any sand and soil that washed through the hopper would be washed away with the water as it was not heavy enough to sink and be stuck in the riffles as the gold would be.
Puddling was used to separate gold from clay.
The clay/gold mixture would be placed in a large bowl and then water would be poured in. Using a wooden cylinder, the miner would stir the dirt and the clay would dissolve leaving the gold flecks and sand in the bottom of the bowl. The remaining mixture would then be panned or cradled.
Panning was a way to find alluvial gold, which are small nuggets found in creek beds and in the ground of creeks and rivers.
To use the pan, a miner would place a small amount of dirt or sand into a pan as well as quite a bit of water. The miner would then swirl out the muddy water leaving gold nuggets at the bottom of the pan that had sunk to the bottom when the water was being swirled.
Cradle was a large wooden tool used to wash through a large amount of soil or sand.
A miner would shovel a lot of soil or sand into the hopper, which had a piece of netting on the bottom that would allow gold and sand to fall through but would catch large rocks and pieces of rubbish. Sometimes, gold nuggets could be caught in the hopper as well.
Water would be poured onto the soil in the hopper by a miner while another miner rocked the cradle back and forth to help wash the gold and soil through to the riffles. Any sand and soil that washed through the hopper would be washed away with the water as it was not heavy enough to sink and be stuck in the riffles as the gold would be.
Puddling was used to separate gold from clay.
The clay/gold mixture would be placed in a large bowl and then water would be poured in. Using a wooden cylinder, the miner would stir the dirt and the clay would dissolve leaving the gold flecks and sand in the bottom of the bowl. The remaining mixture would then be panned or cradled.