ENCOURAGING RESULTS. . 247 



The water leaking- through the clam and that derived from a number 

 of small springs in the bed of the creek produced a stream of about 30 

 miner's inches flowing through the channel from which the creek had been 

 turned, causing great annoyance and difficulty in working, which could 

 only be entirely obviated by constructing a bed-rock drain several hundred 

 feet in length; an undertaking that would consume too much time. 



To exclude the water from the strip of pay gravel crossing the creek 

 at the original discovery, while testing it, a wing-dam was built around the 

 deposit, and the pit kept moderately dry by continuous bailing. The sluice 

 was placed in position, the first box into which the gravel was shoveled 

 being left open, and a longitudinal riffle placed in the second to catch the 

 gold A sufficient head of water was brought in a small conduit from the 

 main ditch, and the gravel, clay, and decomposed bed-rock, covering a 

 space 8 feet by 9 feet, dug out to a depth of 18 inches, and put through the 

 sluice. The result, on cleaning up after four hours' work, was one-third of 

 an ounce troy of coarse scale gold, worth $6.48. This was obtained from 

 four cubic yards of gravel, from which the soldiers had previously taken 

 the cream of the deposit, and quite a large portion of the material sluiced 

 was tailings that had been once worked. The next day the sluicing was 

 continued at the same place, a fresh portion of the creek-bed being inclosed 

 by a wing-dam. The result of six hours' work was one-half ounce troy of 

 gold, equal to $9.72. The result of the work of both days may be summed 

 up as follows : 



4 hours' work produced J ounce troy gold = $6.48 

 6 hours' work produced £ ounce troy gold = 9.72 



10 hours' work produced f ounce troy gold = 16.20 



Five men were employed in these tests, one of whom was constantly 

 at work bailing the water leaking through the wing-dam into the pit, while 

 the others picked up bed-rock, shoveled the gravel into the boxes, and tended 

 sluice. They worked, however, under so many disadvantages that, with a 

 sluice of proper size and a bed-rock drain, two men could have easily 

 done the same work in the same time, with probably a somewhat increased 

 yield of gold. But even charging this return of $16.20 with the labor of" 



