Page 8 - hssc1906jenkins

76 PIONEERS OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

"Ten feet square, superficial measurement, yielded $100,000, and a
pint of gravel frequently contained a pound of gold."
An impetus to deep gravel mining or drifting was given by these
developments, and extensive explorations of a similar character was
undertaken subsequently in other parts of the State.
During the years 1856-57, river, bar and gulch mining were less
productive, but quartz and ditch interest became more valuable.
The Frazer River excitement of 1857 caused a stampede of min-
ers and speculators to British Columbia. The subsequent develop-
ments of these gravel fields occasioned loss to those who had been
attracted thither by the desire of gain.
In 18 59-6o came the exodus to the Comstock, and in I 862 the rush
to Idaho followed.
Hydraulic mining gained ground steadily from 1852 to 1856. As
the river bars and surface diggings, one after another, became ex-
hausted, the working of the old river deposits by the hydraulic pro-
cess became a necessity. At the present time it is by this modern
method of mining that the bulk of the gold of this State is produced,
and in this business nearly $100,000,000 of capital are invested.
The hydraulic process is now carried on upon such a gigantic
scale and to so vast an extent as to require the assistance of the
science of hydraulics and engineering. Heretofore, apart from the
construction of ditches and tunnels necessary for washing the gold-
bearing dirt, engineers have had but little to do with the manage-
ment of hydraulic claims.
The primitive placer mining of 1852 to 1865 has passed into his-
tory. Forty-inch wrought iron pipes have been substituted for can-
vas hose and stove pipes, and with the replacing of nine-inch nozzles
under 450-foot pressure, the last remnant of the early methods have
disappeared.
In the early days placer mining was only profitable when values
ran high, but such improvements have been made in means and
methods that the hydraulic Giants profitably handle gravel banks
that have values of not to exceed seven cents per yard.
While hydraulic mining has been bringing the large gravel de-
posits to a producing stage the dredgers have been placed on the
rivers and sloughs and are handling the deep deposits at great
profits when they have value of as low as six cents per yard, one
dredge often handling as much as five thousand cubic yards a day.
These great improvements have been most marked in the placer
fields where water is plenty and easily available.
In the dryer portions of California are enormous gravel deposits
that carry values of one dollar per yard and higher, and these have
never been worked except by the dry washer, for the reason that
water was not available. But science has again come to the rescue
and now it has been demonstrated that what was supposed to be