210 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



The single "Long Tom" consists of a wooden box, open 

 at the lower end, 12 or 15 feet long and about 12 inches 

 wide — the so-called "sluice box." The lower end of this 

 is placed on a sieve, which is usually 6 feet long and 2% 

 feet wide. About 15 inches below this sieve is placed the 

 riffle box, which is of the same width, but about 8 feet 

 long, and divided into two parts by nailing a piece of lath 

 about IV2 or 1% inches wide across it; the rear portion is 

 about 5 feet, the front portion about 3 feet long. It re- 

 quires 3 men to work a Long Tom. Two of them loosen 

 the ground and throw it into the sluice box, into which a 

 stream of water is conducted which in washing the rocks 

 carries them also forward and on the sieve. On this sieve 



the stones collect, and from here the third man removes 

 them with a shovel; everything else goes through the 

 sieve and into the riffle box, where the gold and the black 

 sand are deposited, while the lighter stuff is carried off 

 as tailings. With these machines you have the advan- 

 tage that you are able to wash a great deal of soil with 

 them. While one man alone can with a rocker, under 

 the most favorable conditions, when water is close by and 

 the dirt easily picked, wash at best only about 250 bucket - 

 fuls, 3 men with a Long Tom can easily handle from 12 

 to 15 hundred bucketfuls. 



The Double Long Tom differs from the single only in 

 that it has two sieves instead of one— a second and finer 

 sieve being placed about 6 or 8 inches below the first, 

 and that the riffle box, instead of two is divided into 3 or 

 4 parts, the two at the rear end being placed about 6 

 inches higher than those in front. The Double Long Tom 

 is mostly used where very fine gold is found, which it 

 more effectually saves than do the other machines. 



