432 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



, 

 " flumes," in which the mercury is so arranged that not a 



single atom of quartz rock can pass without having its gold 

 extracted. 



The following graphic account of Hydraulic Mining at 

 Nevada is taken from Mr. J. K. Lord's " Naturalist in British 

 Columbia : " 



" Near Nevada are the famed Hydraulic washings. The 

 gold is disseminated through terraces of shingle conglomerates, 

 often three hundred feet in thickness. These terraces are 

 actually washed entirely off the face of the country by pro- 

 pelling jets of water against them, forced by pressure through 

 a nozzle. 



" To accomplish this, the water is brought in canals, tunnels, 

 and wooden aqueducts, often forty miles away from the ' draft.' 

 This supply of water the miners rent. 



" As we near the washing spot, in every direction immense 

 hose, made of galvanized iron, and canvas tubes six feet round, 

 coil in all directions over the ground like gigantic serpents, 

 converging towards a gap, where they disappear. 



" On reaching this gap, I look down into a basin or dry 

 lake, three hundred feet below me. The hose hangs down this 

 cliff of shingle, and following its course by a zigzag path, I 

 reach a plateau of rock, from which the shingle has already 

 been washed. 



" A man stands at the end of each hose, that has for its head 

 a brass nozzle. With the force of cannon-shot, water issues in 

 a large jet from this tube, and propelled against the shingle, 

 guided by the men, washes it away as easily as we could sweep 

 a molehill from off' the grass. 



" The stream of water, bearing with it the materials washed 

 from out the cliff, runs through wooden troughs called 'flumes,' 

 floored with granite. These ' flumes ' extend six miles. Men 

 are stationed at regular distances to fork out the heavy 

 stones. 



" Throughout its entire length, transverse strips of wood 

 dam back a tiny pond of mercury. These are called ruffles 

 gold-traps, in other words, that seize on the fine dust-gold 

 distributed through the shingle. The flumes are cleaned about 

 once a month, and the gold extracted from the mercury. 



" I try with a powerful lens to detect gold amidst the mate- 



