MINING. 261 
the riddle-box. If the rocker have only one man, he must 
stop rocking after washing every pan and get more dirt. This 
delay is injurious to the process of washing, because it allows 
the dirt in the bottom of the cradle to harden and pack, and 
some gold is always lost as a consequence. If the dirt and 
water be convenient not more than two men can work to a 
profit with a rocker. But sometimes it happens that water 
cannot be Jed to the claim, and in such case the dirt must be 
carried to the water, a greater weight of which is used than 
of dirt. At least three times as much water as dirt is required 
for washing. If the distance from the hole to the water be 
not over ten or twenty feet, the miners will usually carry the 
dirt in buckets; if farther they will use wheelbarrows; and 
sometimes for greater distances pack-mules or wagons. The 
greater the distance, the more the men required for carrying 
the dirt. Sometimes, too, it happens that the claim is troubled 
by water, and then one man may be constantly employed in 
baling. 
Tt is of great importance in mining with the cradle, to have 
the cradle placed within four or five feet of the hole from 
which the pay-dirt is obtained, and to have a good supply of 
water at the head of the cradle, and then to have a good de- 
scent below the cradle, so that the tailings may all be carried 
away Dy the water, so as not to accumulate. The rocker 
washes about one-half the amount of dirt that can be washed 
by an equal number of men with the tom, one-fourth of what 
can be washed with the slnice, and one-hundredth of the 
amount that can be washed with the hydraulic process; but it 
is peculiarly fitted for some kinds of diggings. Many little 
gullies, containing coarse gold in their beds, cannot obtain 
water for washing except during rains, and then only for a few 
days at atime. In these gullies the cradle can be used to the 
best advantage, for it can easily be transported, and it is very 
good for saving coarse gold. While dirt that would pay 
from ten to twenty-five cents, was abundant at the surface of 
the earth in the Californinn mines, the cradle was extensively 
