THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



301 



Claimed to be the Largest and Most Powerful in the World, this Dredge is Being Used in California for 

 the Recovery of Gold. The Dredge has 87 Buckets of 16 Cubic Feet Capacity Each and is Electrically 



Operated. 



rock. Furthermore, these splinters were 

 contained in a stratum which had sunk 

 under the sea and had been afterward 

 raised and turned over in a different 

 position so that the redwood trees were 

 in a horizontal position instead of 

 vertical. 



HOW ONE MAN IN A DAY EXCA- 

 VATES 15,000 TONS OF DIRT 

 FOR GOLD 



What is claimed to be the largest and 

 most powerful dredge that has ever been 

 built is operating at Marysville, Califor- 

 nia. The dredge weighs 2,000 tons and 

 cost $360,000. It is used in the recovery 

 of gold, digging seventy feet below the 

 water level and extracting gold from 15,- 

 ooo tons of material in a twenty-four- 

 hour day. The gold is recovered and the 

 refuse stacked out of the way for two 

 cents per ton. 



The dredge has 87 buckets, each of 16 

 cubic feet capacity and weighing 4,600 

 pounds each. These buckets continually 



eat into the bank before the dredge, 

 scraping clean the surface of the soft 

 bed rock covered with gold particles. 

 They then carry the gravel to a revolving 

 screen where the fine particles among 

 which is the gold are separated from 

 the heavy gravel and boulders and passed 

 on to a gold-saving table. Here the gold 

 is retained by mercury and the refuse 

 passes off. The dredge is run by elec- 

 tricity; a 4OO-horsepower motor being 

 used to drive the bucket line. Three men 

 on each of the three eight-hour shifts run 

 the dredge, and so excellently is it de- 

 signed that one man handles all the 

 movements. 



The labor of the great number of 

 prisoners of war in Germany has been 

 utilized in reclaiming more than 186,000 

 acres of marsh land in Prussia alone. 

 Aside from this area, there is an addi- 

 tional 62,000 acres reclaimed by private 

 organizations. This land is said to be 

 available for an additional 13,000,000 

 bushels of oats this year. 



