264 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



moTed by a mao^iet. The blower should be very smooth, and 

 made of either tin, brass, or copper. 



§ 193. Dry Washing. — Dry washing is a method of win- 

 nowing gold from dirt. In many parts of the mining districts 

 of California, water cannot be obtained during: the summer for 

 mining purposes. The miner therefore manages to wash his 

 dirt without water. He takes only rich dirt, and putting it on 

 a rawhide, he pulverizes all the lumps and picks out the large 

 stones. He then with a large flat basin throws the dirt up 

 into the air, catches it as it comes down, throws it up again, 

 and repeats this operation until nothing but the gold remains. 

 Of course a pleasant breeze, that will carry away the dust, is 

 a great assistance to the oi^eration. Sometimes two men have 

 a hide or a blanket, with which they throw up the dirt. The 

 process is very similar to the ancient method of separating 

 grain from chaff. The miner who devotes himself to dry 

 washing must be very particular to take only rich dirt, so he 

 scrapes the bed-rock carefully. He never digs very deej) — not 

 more then twenty feet ; and when he goes beyond seven or 

 eight feet he " coyotes," or burrows after the pay-dirt. He 

 may coyote into the side of a hill, or sink a shaft and coyote 

 in all directions from it. This style of mining is named from 

 the resemblance of the holes to the burrows of the coyote, or 

 Californian wolf Coyoting is not confined to the dry wash- 

 ing, but is used also by miners washing with the pan and 

 cradle. One of the Congressmen elected some years ago to 

 represent California at Washington, was a miner at the time 

 of his nomination, and was so fond of coyoting, that he was 

 a'enerallv known as " Covote Joe." 



§ 194. Dry Digging. — Dry digging is that mining where 

 the miner, after using the shovel to strip off the barren dirt, 

 scrapes the pay-dirt over with a knife, picking out the particles 

 of gold as he comes to them, and throwing away the earthy 

 matter. This is a slow process, but in rich^ placers may be 

 profitable. The miner is, of course, particular to examine all 

 the crevices in the bed-rock ; and if the mateiial be slate, he 



