264 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
moved by a magnet. The blower should be very smooth, and 
made of either tin, brass, or copper. 
§ 198. 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 operation. 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 deep—not 
more then twenty feet; and when he goes beyond seven or 
cight 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 
cradie. 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 
generally known as “ Coyote 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 material be slate, he 
