204 ISAAC A. HOURWICH 



on the hillside a flume was built toward the ravine, where the 

 mine was opened. The flume gained height above the ground 

 as the ravine was approached, until finally a head, or vertical 

 height, of 40 feet was reached. At this point the water was 

 discharged into a barrel, from the bottom of which depended 

 a hose, about 6 inches in diameter, made of common cowhide, 

 and ending in a tin tube about 4 feet long, the latter tapering 

 down to a final opening or nozzle of 1 inch. This was the 

 first hydraulic apparatus in California, simple in design, 

 dwarfish in size, yet destined to grow out of its insignificance 

 into a giant powerful enough to move mountains from their 

 foundations. The news spread among the miners, the won- 

 derful practicability of the new invention was at once ac- 

 knowledged, and, wherever circumstances permitted, a hy- 

 draulic, the name adopted for the novel apparatus, was rigged. 



The original idea was much improved upon in the course 

 of time, and the hydraulic method proved a great labor saver, 

 as compared with the primitive pan, rocker, and sluice. The 

 decline of hydraulic mining within the last twenty j^ears is 

 the outcome of a long conflict between the farming and mining 

 interests in California, which has resulted in the debris legis- 

 lation for the protection of navigable rivers and farming 

 lands. Hydraulic mining requires great space for dumping 

 the masses of earth which are removed from their original 

 position. Formerly, after a bank had been broken up and 

 the gold washed out, the easiest way to get rid of the tailings 

 was to discharge them into the nearest stream. With the 

 extension of hydraulic mining the rivers were soon overfilled 

 with debris, which settled in their beds and was deposited 

 all along their course, causing considerable damage to abut- 

 ting farm lands. An act of congress was passed in 1893 

 which requires debris or tailings of all mines operating in 

 the drainage basins of the Sacramento and San Joaquin 

 rivers to be impounded behind dams or other restraining 

 works. This restricts the output, as not nearly as much 

 gravel can be washed in a given time with a given quantity 

 of water as when the debris passed away and took care of 

 itself without having to be impounded. 



When the first surface diggings were exhausted, atten- 



