Science Report

 

Mining

When James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill, mountains of people came west in search of treasures. Different types of mining methods were developed including placer mining, hydraulic mining, and hard rock mining.

Placer mining includes gold panning, cradle, long tom, and the sluice. Since gold was washed down from the hills, the gold would collect in the riverbanks. Gold panning was the most common way of placer mining, yet it was the hardest. First, you dug up some dirt and place it in the pan. Then you fill the pan with water and swirl the gravel around in a circular motion. Since gold is a heavy element, it should be in the bottom of the pan. When all the gravel (or most off the gravel) is gone, sand should be left. Spread the sand out in the pan and there's the gold!

The cradle requires two men to operate. One man rocks the cradle back and forth while the other keeps filling the hopper with dirt. The gold travels to the bottom and collects in the riffle block while the other gravel travels back into the river.

The long tom is similar to The Cradle but it doesn't require rocking. It was placed in the river so that the water ran through it. The gravel was placed in the tom. At the end of the tom there's a screen so that the small Particles can be sifted through. The gold gets caught in the riffle bars of the riffle box.

The sluice had many riffle boxes joined together with riffle bars at the end to catch the gold. The beginning of the box was placed so the water of the river would run through it. The gravel and rocks were placed in the sluice boxes as the water cleansed the rocks off the top. Many people could operate this machine.

Other mining methods were invented because of the knowledge of gold coming from the hills. Hydraulic mining was very harmful to our environment. Water was blasted into sides of hills to uncover the gold. Hydraulic mining has been banned because of the damage it caused.

Hard rock mining Was Underground Mining. Dynamite would be used to blast the underground caves revealing gold, which was located inside quartz. Animals were used to help haul the gold out of the mines. Many tragic accidents happened inside of these hard rock mines because of short fuses..

Since gold mining was such a craze, it's easy to see all the inventions that were thought of during this time.