SLUICING IN CALIFORNIA.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 157, 8 March 1872, Page 3

SLUICING IN CALIFORNIA.

Hydraulic r mining," or sluicing, 'is : the great feature in the operations caron'in the auriferous districts of 'California; * Sluicing, is there carried on .on a gigantic scale,, there being usually plentiful supply of- water, which ns •our. igreat want in the New Zealand Goldficids. The Cal i fornian miners are 'Constantly pn the qui vive for improved appliances• and in a recent numberof .-.the Francisco Bulletin ' an accounts given of some new inventions. . L Tfrelast-yeafr (says the paper above referred" to) has been signalised by the -introduction into Californian mining of ; improvements, which must give new life *to> the business, and' add triillions to our 'annual: yield of gold. Chief among tbeseare the hydraulic nozzles, which tfrhile. reducing the expenses, more than double the working power of the hv"draulic elaims. Of these nozzles there -are three. varieties now in use-— : v?z., Craig's "Monitor," Fisher's "Knucklejoint," and Haskin's " Improved Xoz,zle." All'three, thoagh by different 'devices, accomplish the same end—that 'of dispensing entirely with the use- of hose by the attaching .of a moveable 'and easily, managed nozzle directly to •the iron waterpipe, thus* making it possible to direct against a bank a stream of as great volume and pressure as iron pipes, can be made to carry withoutbursting. In Californ : a—(as in New Zealind at present)— when hydraulic coining first canvas hose 'Was used to convey the water from the 'ditches mto the claims, and to the

points from whence it was to be hurled, by the force of the fall, against the banks. Though made in the most careful manner, and of the strongest sailcloth, such hose could not bear the

pressure of a fall or head of more than

eighty or a hundred feet, and is, moreover, constantly rotting and giving way. -The rapid wearing of the canvas hose, as well as the necessity for using larger streams rnd greater force to move the •firmly-compacted dirt and gravel/finally led, in all claims, to the substitution of sheet-iron piping to bring the Water from the supply ditches (or water races) into the claims. Thus a

great increase of the volume and force

of-\he water carried was made possible. "But the increase in the power and volume of the streams used was still limi-

ted -by the inability to direct them by • the hand, and the necessity of having - flexible discharge piece connecting -the'pipe with the nozzle, and permitting the latter to be. used as occasion

required. However, by making the discharge-piece of stout canvas, co- - Yered with a network of matting or -strong rope, the size and power of the 'streams used, and. consequently their efficiency, was largely increased. But : still the desideratum of an easily-man-aged stream as powerful as iron pipes cduld carry was not secured until the .strtdy of the problem by our miners .gave birth to the inventions we have

alluded to, and which are already in •Bse. These new hydraulic nozzles are -attached directly to the' iron pipe, and by a simple but ingenious contrivance, are given both a lateral and perpendicular motion, which can easily be directed by one man. Instead <>f two hundred and fifty inches of water, with a head of from one hundred and fifty -feet, twelve hundred inches of water, with a head of three hundred feet, can •irow'be given against a bank in a single •stream. The saving thus effected is enormous. It is not only that the water formerly sent through seven or eight ordinary hose pipes, each requiring from one to three men, can now be managed by a single hand ; but its efficiency is greatly increased. Closely compacted gravel and hard cement, 'Which water, as formerly used, could not move, and which required the pick or the blast, are easily disintegrated and "washed away by the tremendous force of the gigantic stream* now used. These inventions, too, save human life, as well as human labor. Formerly; the pipe-holders had to stand so "close to the banks that they were ~ frequently crushed by the toppling over or caving in of immense masses of earth.. But with the powerful streams row coming into use they can remain at a safe distance, and yet do more execution. ' How is it that steps are not taken by the Government, or by mining eonipa-

file's;* or'jpfivste individuals*" t3 J -dufce iroir pipes and " hydraulic nozzles "" into 'New Zealand ? 1 It" is evident that they would be a"' vast im'provement upon tHe "present rude canvas hose'; and, by saving ; both tim#and : expense,- be in the long run far more ecdiiotiiicalV 1