Hobbies And Interests
Picks
Picks, or pick axes, consisted of a long handle and a sharp, heavy doubled-ended metal blade. Miners swung the heavy tools over their shoulders to break apart hard rock fill, in search of hidden and precious minerals. Most pick heads were made of iron, until the later production of steel made them more durable. Picks could be sharpened by abrasive stone or crude files for continual use. Wielding a pick to break rock all day was exhausting, even for the most seasoned miners.
Shovels and Spades
Some of the most primitive forms of shovels and spades were probably made of wood, until the production of metal became popular. Old shovels looked much like they do today, having long handles and scooping blades on their ends. The concave surface of the shovel blade allowed for a large portion of rocks, mud, sand or gravel to be lifted and transported into a bucket, or in some cases a wheel barrel. The chore of using shovels for digging purposes was tedious for the early miners, but they were the cheapest and most reliable instruments that could be transported in quantity into the mining area.
Cradles
Cradles were small box-like structures that had screen mesh on their tops to filter out large rocks, and an inclined slat board underneath. The slat board contained riffles or ridges to slow down and trap heavy metals. They became popular in use next to water courses, where soil that was loaded in the box could be flushed with water to remove the lighter silt, sand and mud. Miners rocked them up and down and from side to side to let the heavier sediments escape from the downside end of the box. The heaviest minerals, trapped between the riffles and ridges, were collected and further refined with gold pans.
Gold Pans
Gold pans, still popular today, were the primary tools for refining and separating precious minerals from soil material. The early gold pans had flat bottoms and beveled sides. Miners filled the pans with small scoops of river mud or sand and swirled the contents, using gravity and momentum to cast off the lighter soil contents, leaving the heaviest minerals behind, like gold and silver. Early miners used kitchen bowls when real pans were unavailable. Pans were the miner's most obvious choice for finding placer material and iron pirate, because such concentrations would often reveal that a gold or silver vein was in the area.
Sluice Box
The sluice box was a larger, more enhanced version of the cradle. Their larger sizes could accommodate more fill material. Miners rocked them by use of a large lever, and with later versions, steam-powered motors were used to agitate them, which separated the the minerals from the ore much faster.
Long Toms
Long toms consisted of three-sided plank frames, resembling the cradle box in design in that they had riffles and ridges spaced evenly apart on the bottom plank. Long toms were sometimes hundreds of feet long, extending downhill from a water source. The gutter construction of the long tom allowed great volumes of water to flow through the channels, and provided extra area to carry multiple loads of ore. Some long toms were fed by hand-operated or wind-driven waterwheels, to supply the much needed volume of water to keep the channels free-flowing and constantly washing the contents into a catch basin.
Arrastre
The arrastre was a large machine tool that had an upright axle with large spokes protruding from the axle's base. The spokes were tied with large chunks of gold-bearing quarts. Horses were hitched to the outside of the spokes, and drove the machine around in a circular motion, where the quartz came into contact with a flat base stone that pulverized the quarts into finer particles. Miners collected the fine particles and further refined them with pans. The arrastre preceded the more sophisticated stamping mills that came later.
Drills and Core Samplers
Early drills consisted of long metal shafts that had hardened drill bits attached to the end yokes. Early steam engines provided the pneumatic power to drive the drills into the earth to loosen natural seams in the rock. Steam-powered drills were also used to drill bore holes for the placement of dynamite, either in a cliff face or inside a mine shaft. Core samplers, consisting of hard metal tubes with serrated edges, were used to bore into the rock and pull a core sample. The core sample was then examined for mineral traces of precious metal. Cores were often used to find hidden gold, silver and copper veins.
Wheel Barrels
Early wheel barrels typically consisted of a large bucket, a single metal wheel and two handles for lifting and pushing. Wheel barrels could transport dozens of pounds of fill and sediment from confined areas, and could be manned by one person, or several people working in brigade fashion. Wheel barrels were fast, lightweight and highly maneuverable, especially in narrow mine shafts.