The
cost of the pitch-wood bonfires previously used was eight dollars per
night, and these gave an illumination very inferior to that of the
electric light.
The
lamps are placed in the open, where they are subjected to the severest
winter storms without injurious effect other than the increased
consumption of carbons.
Continuous Work.—The
washing should be continuous and no water be allowed to run to waste.
It is therefore requisite to have several faces or openings, so that
the water can be used from time to time on them whilst the cuts are
being advanced and the sluices lengthened. These cuts, or " ground
sluices," as they are called, are trenches made in the bed-rock towards
the face of the bank washed, for the purpose of collecting the water
and material and conveying them to the sluices. Sometimes these cuts
are very deep, say from 60 to 70 feet, and occasionally the expense of
making them forms a large item.
When
a claim is running the sluices are always guarded. As a protection
against theft, where claims are worked intermittently, the sluices are
run full of gravel before turning off the water.
Cleaning up.—The
length of " runs " is dependent upon many circumstances, but chiefly
upon the wear of the pavement. Some claims are cleaned up every twenty
days, others are run two or three months, whilst a few, where the water
season is short, are cleaned up only every season. All pavements should
be cleaned up as soon as they begin to wear in grooves. Where a large
quantity of water is used, and a relatively large amount of ground
washed, it is considered advisable to clean up the first 1,000 or 1,800
feet of sluices (which are paved with blocks) every two weeks. With a
gang of miners this work is done expeditiously, not occupying over one
half-day. The tail sluices are cleaned up only once a year. The
undercurrents should be cleaned up whenever quicksilver is found
