rocker, and wheelbarrow were the only implements then in use. Towards the end of 1850 the " Long Tom " was introduced.
Discovery of Gold-Quartz Veins.—Extensive
prospecting at this period for the sources of these gtavel deposits
led to the discovery of gold-quartz veins, the most noted of which was
the Allison Ranch mine in Nevada County. In 1851 came the rush to Gold
Bluff, lat. 410 N.
The
work on dry bars gradually led to mining the river bottoms, which was
first undertaken by means of wing dams. Later the more venturous miners
turned entire streams from their courses by means of flumes or ditches.
First Working of Deep Deposits.—Simultaneously
the miners "pushed back " from the shallow placers to deep deposits
which were worked by means of the torn, and with the advent of sluices
in 1851 the low hill gravels were attacked and successfully mined.
Coincident with the introduction of the sluice and washing of hill
gravels came the employment of hired men in placer diggings.
Sluicing.—-The
deep deposits of auriferous gravel -were relatively poorer than the
shallow placers, and open cuts, preparatory to sluicing, were
requisite; a large supply of water was a sine qua non, ditches became a necessity, labor was in demand, but without capital nothing could be accomplished.
The
sluice revolutionized gold-washing. With the exhaustion of the surface
diggings the river towns fell into decay, and those mountain districts
where the deep auriferous beds were found soon became the prosperous
counties of the State.
First Use of the Hydraulic Method.—It
was evident that the sluices ran dirt faster than the shovellers could
supply it; labor was expensive—men receiving from $6 to $8 per diem—and
the claims were poor compared with the washings of 1849-50. In 1852
Edward E. Mattison, of Connecticut, with a view to economizing
