BuddlesA—Head of buddle. B—Pipe. C—Buddle. D—Board. E—Transverse buddle. F—Shovel. G—Scrubber.[Pg 301]A simple buddle is made in the following way. In the first place, the head is higher than the rest of the buddle, and is three feet long and a foot and a half broad; this head is made of planks laid upon a timber and fastened, and on both sides, side-boards are set up so as to hold the water, which flows in through a pipe or trough, so that it shall fall straight down. The middle of the head is somewhat depressed in order that the broken rock and the larger metallic particles may settle into it. The buddle is sunk into the earth to a depth of three-quarters of a foot below the head, and is twelve feet long and a foot and a half wide and deep; the bottom and each side are lined with planks to prevent the earth, when it is softened by the water, from falling in or from absorbing the metallic particles. The lower end of the buddle is obstructed by a board, which is not as high as the sides. To this straight buddle there is joined a second transverse buddle, six feet long and a foot and a half wide and deep, similarly lined with planks; at the lowerend it is closed up with a board, also lower than the sides of the buddle so that the water can flow away; this water falls into a launder and is carried outside the building. In this simple buddle is washed the metallic material which has passed on to the floor of the works through the five large sieves. When this has been gathered into a heap, the washer throws it into the head of the buddle, and water is poured upon it through the pipe or small trough, and the portion which sinks and settles in the middle of the head compartment he stirs with a wooden scrubber,—this is what we will henceforth call the implement made of a stick to which is fixed a piece of wood a foot long and a palm broad. The water is made turbid by this stirring, and carries the mud and sand and small particles of metal into the buddle below. Together with the broken rock, the larger metallic particles remain in the head compartment, and when these have been removed, boys throw them upon the platform of a washing tank or the short strake, and separate them from the broken rock. When the buddle is full of mud and sand, the washer closes the pipe through which the water flows into the head; very soon the water which remains in the buddle flows away, and when this has takenplace, he removes with a shovel the mud and sand which are mixed with minute particles of metal, and washes them on a canvas strake. Sometimes before the buddles have been filled full, the boys throw the material into a bowl and carry it to the strakes and wash it.
Pulverized ore is washed in the head of this kind of a buddle; but usually when tin-stone is washed in it, interlacing fir boughs are put into the buddle, in the same manner as in the sluice when wet ore is crushed with stamps. The larger tin-stone particles, which sink in the upper part of the buddle, are washed separately in a strake; those particles which are of medium size, and settle in the middle part, are washed separately in the same way; and the mud mixed with minute particles of tin-stone, which has settled in the lowest part of the buddle below the fir boughs, is washed separately on the canvas strakes.
BuddlesA—Pipe. B—Cross launder. C—Small troughs. D—Head of the buddle. E—Wooden scrubber. F—Dividing boards. G—Short strake.[Pg 302]The divided buddle differs from the last one by having several cross-boards, which, being placed inside it, divide it off like steps; if the buddle is twelve feet long, four of them are placed within; if nine feet long, three. The nearer each one is to the head, the greater is its height; the further from the head, the lower it is; and so when the highest is a foot and a palm high,the second is usually a foot and three digits high, the third a foot and two digits, and the lowest a foot and one digit. In this buddle is generally washed that metalliferous material which has been sifted through the large sieve into the tub containing water. This material is continuously thrown with an iron shovel into the head of the buddle, and the water which has been let in is stirred up by a wooden scrubber, until the buddle is full, then the cross-boards are taken out by the washer, and the water is drained off; next the metalliferous material which has settled in the compartments is again washed, either on a short strake or on the canvas strakes or in the jigging sieves. Since a short strake is often united with the upper part of this buddle, a pipe in the first place carries the water into a cross launder, from which it flows down through one little launder into the buddle, and through another into the short strake.
Washing materialA—Head. B—Strake. C—Trowel. D—Scrubber. E—Canvas. F—Rod by which the canvas is made smooth.[Pg 303]An ordinary strake, so far as the planks are concerned, is not unlike the last two. The head of this, as of the others, is first made of earth stamped down, then covered with planks; and where it is necessary, earth is thrown in and beaten down a second time, so that no crevice may remain through which water carrying the particles of metal can escape. The water ought to fall straight down into the strake, which has a length of eight feetand a breadth of a foot and a half; it is connected with a transverse launder, which then extends to a settling pit outside the building. A boy with a shovel or a ladle takes the impure concentrates or impure tin-stone from a heap, and throws them into the head of the strake or spreads them over it. A washer with a wooden scrubber then agitates them in the strake, whereby the mud mixed with water flows away into the transverse launder, and the concentrates or the tin-stone settle on the strake. Since sometimes the concentrates or fine tin-stone flow down together with the mud into the transverse launder, a second washer closes it, after a distance of about six feet, with a cross-board and frequently stirs the mud with a shovel, in order that when mixed with water it may flow out into the settling-pit; and there remains in the launder only the concentrates or tin-stone. The tin-stuff of Schlackenwald and Erbisdorff is washed in this kind of a strake once or twice; those of Altenberg three or four times; those of Geyer often seven times; for in the ore at Schlackenwald and Erbisdorff the tin-stone particles are of a fair size, and are crushed with stamps; at Altenberg they are of much smaller size, and in the broken ore at Geyer only a few particles of tin-stone can be seen occasionally.
This method of washing was first devised by the miners who treated tin ore, whence it passed on from the works of the tin workers to those of the silver workers and others; this system is even more reliable than washing in jigging-sieves. Near this ordinary strake there is generally a canvas strake.
Washing materialA—Upper cross launder. B—Small launders. C—Heads of strakes. D—Strakes. E—Lower transverse launder. F—Settling pit. G—Socket in the sill. H—Halved iron rings fixed to beam. I—Pole. K—Its little scrubber. L—Second small scrubber.[Pg 305]In modern times two ordinary strakes, similarly made, are generally joined together; the head of one is three feet distant from that of the other, while the bodies are four feet distant from each other, and there is only one cross launder under the two strakes. One boy shovels, from the heap into the head of each, the concentrates or tin-stone mixed with mud. There are two washers, one of whom sits at the right side of one strake, and the other at the left of the other strake, and each pursues his task, using the following sort of implement. Under each strake is a sill, from a socket in which a round pole rises, and is held by half an iron ring in a beam of the building, so that it may revolve; this pole is nine feet long and a palm thick. Penetrating the pole is a small round piece of wood, three palms long and as many digits thick, to which is affixed a small board two feet long and five digits wide, in an opening of which one end of a small axle revolves, and to this axle is fixed the handle of a little scrubber. The other end of this axle turns in an opening of a second board, which is likewise fixed to a small round piece of wood; this round piece, like the first one, is three palms long and as many digits thick, and is used by the washer as a handle. The little scrubber is made of a stick three feet long, to the end of which is fixed a small tablet of wood a foot long, six digits broad, and a digit and a half thick. The washer constantly moves the handle of this implement with one hand; in this way the little scrubber stirs the concentrates or the fine tin-stone mixed with mud in the head of the strake, and the mud, on being stirred, flows on to the strake. In the other hand he holds a secondlittle scrubber, which has a handle of half the length, and with this he ceaselessly stirs the concentrates or tin-stone which have settled in the upper part of the strake; in this way the mud and water flow down into the transverse launder, and from it into the settling-pit which is outside the building.
Washing materialA—Trough. B—Platform. C—Wooden scrubber.[Pg 306]Before the short strake and the jigging-sieve had been invented, metalliferous ores, especially tin, were crushed dry with stamps and washed in a large trough hollowed out of one or two tree trunks; and at the head of this trough was a platform, on which the ore was thrown after being completely crushed. The washer pulled it down into the trough with a wooden scrubber which had a long handle, and when the water had been let into the trough, he stirred the ore with the same scrubber.
Washing materialA—Short strake. B—Small launder. C—Transverse launder. D—Wooden scrubber.[Pg 307]The short strake is narrow in the upper part where the water flows down into it through the little launder; in fact it is only two feet wide; at the lower end it is wider, being three feet and as many palms. At the sides, which are six feet long, are fixed boards two palms high. In other respects the head resembles the head of the simple buddle, except that it is not depressed in the middle. Beneath is a cross launder closed by a low board. In this short strake not only is ore agitated and washed with a wooden scrubber, but boysalso separate the concentrates from the broken rock in them and collect them in tubs. The short strake is now rarely employed by miners, owing to the carelessness of the boys, which has been frequently detected; for this reason, the jigging-sieve has taken its place. The mud which settles in the launder, if the ore is rich, is taken up and washed in a jigging-sieve or on a canvas strake.
Washing materialA—Beams. B—Canvas. C—Head of strake. D—Small launder. E—Settling pit or tank. F—Wooden scrubber. G—Tubs.[Pg 308]A canvas strake is made in the following way. Two beams, eighteen feet long and half a foot broad and three palms thick, are placed on a slope; one half of each of these beams is partially cut away lengthwise, to allow the ends of planks to be fastened in them, for the bottom is covered by planks three feet long, set crosswise and laid close together. One half of each supporting beam is left intact and rises a palm above the planks, in order that the water that is running down may not escape at the sides, but shall flow straight down. The head of the strake is higher than the rest of the body, and slopes so as to enable the water to flow away. The whole strake is covered by six stretched pieces of canvas, smoothed with a stick. The first of them occupies the lowest division, and the second is so laid as to slightly overlap it; onthe second division, the third is similarly laid, and so on, one on the other. If they are laid in the opposite way, the water flowing down carries the concentrates or particles of tin-stone under the canvas, and a useless task is attempted. Boys or men throw the concentrates or tin-stuff mixed with mud into the head of the strake, after the canvas has been thus stretched, and having opened the small launder they let the water flow in; then they stir the concentrates or tin-stone with a wooden scrubber till the water carries them all on to the canvas; next they gently sweep the linen with the wooden scrubber until the mud flows into the settling-pit or into the transverse launder. As soon as there is little or no mud on the canvas, but only concentrates or tin-stone, they carry the canvas away and wash it in a tub placed close by. The tin-stone settles in the tub, and the men return immediately to the same task. Finally, they pour the water out of the tub, and collect the concentrates or tin-stone. However, if either concentrates or tin-stone have washed down from the canvas and settled in the settling-pit or in the transverse launder, they wash the mud again.
Collecting concentratesA—Canvas strake. B—Man dashing water on the canvas. C—Bucket. D—Bucket of another kind. E—Man removing concentrates or tin-stone from the trough.[Pg 309]Some neither remove the canvas nor wash it in the tubs, but place overit on each edge narrow strips, of no great thickness, and fix them to the beams with nails. They agitate the metalliferous material with wooden scrubbers and wash it in a similar way. As soon as little or no mud remains on the canvas, but only concentrates or fine tin-stone, they lift one beam so that the whole strake rests on the other, and dash it with water, which has been drawn with buckets out of the small tank, and in this way all the sediment which clings to the canvas falls into the trough placed underneath. This trough is hewn out of a tree and placed in a ditch dug in the ground; the interior of the trough is a foot wide at the top, but narrower in the bottom, because it is rounded out. In the middle of this trough they put a cross-board, in order that the fairly large particles of concentrates or fairly large-sized tin-stone may remain in the forepart into which they have fallen, and the fine concentrates or fine tin-stone in the lower part, for the water flows from one into the other, and at last flows down through an opening into the pit. As for the fairly large-sized concentrates or tin-stone which have been removed from the trough, they are washed again on the ordinary strake.The fine concentrates and fine tin-stone are washed again on this canvas strake. By this method, the canvas lasts longer because it remains fixed, and nearly double the work is done by one washer as quickly as can be done by two washers by the other method.
Jigging SieveA—Fine sieves. B—Limp. C—Finer sieve. D—Finest sieve.[Pg 311]The jigging sieve has recently come into use by miners. The metalliferous material is thrown into it and sifted in a tub nearly full of water. The sieve is shaken up and down, and by this movement all the material below the size of a pea passes through into the tub, and the rest remains on the bottom of the sieve. This residue is of two kinds, the metallic particles, which occupy the lower place, and the particles of rock and earth, which take the higher place, because the heavy substance always settles, and the light is borne upward by the force of the water. This light material is taken away with a limp, which is a thin tablet of wood almost semicircular in shape, three-quarters of a foot long, and half a foot wide. Before the lighter portion is taken away the contents of the sieve are generally divided crosswise with a limp, to enable the water to penetrate into it more quickly. Afterward fresh material is again thrown into the sieve and shaken up and down, and when a great quantity of metallic particles have settled in the sieve, they are taken out and put into a tray close by. But since there fall into the tub with the mud, not only particles of gold or silver, but also of sand, pyrites,cadmia, galena, quartz, and other substances, and since the water cannot separate these from the metallic particles because they are all heavy, this muddy mixture is washed a second time, and the part which is useless is thrown away. To prevent the sieve passing this sand again too quickly, the washer lays small stones or gravel in the bottom of the sieve. However, if the sieve is not shaken straight up and down, but is tilted to one side, the small stones or broken ore move from one part to another, and the metallic material again falls into the tub, and the operation is frustrated. The miners of our country have made an even finer sieve, which does not fail even with unskilled washers; in washing with this sieve they have no need for the bottom to be strewn with small stones. By this method the mud settles in the tub with the very fine metallic particles, and the larger sizes of metal remain in the sieve and are covered with the valueless sand, and this is taken away with a limp. The concentrates which have been collected are smelted together with other things. The mud mixed with the very fine metallic particles is washed for a third time and in the finest sieve, whose bottom is woven of hair. If the ore is rich in metal, all the material which has been removed by the limp is washed on the canvas strakes, or if the ore is poor it is thrown away.
I have explained the methods of washing which are used in common for the ores of many metals. I now come to another method of crushing ore, for I ought to speak of this before describing those methods of washing which are peculiar to ores of particular metals.
Stamp-millA—Mortar. B—Open end of mortar. C—Slab of rock. D—Iron sole plates. E—Screen. F—Launder. G—Wooden shovel. H—Settling pit. I—Iron shovel. K—Heap of material which has settled. L—Ore which requires crushing. M—Small launder.[Pg 313]In the year 1512, George, the illustrious Duke of Saxony[14], gave the overlordshipof all the dumps ejected from the mines in Meissen to the noble and wise Sigismund Maltitz, father of John, Bishop of Meissen. Rejecting the dry stamps, the large sieve, and the stone mills of Dippoldswalde and Altenberg, in which places are dug the small black stones from which tin is smelted, he invented a machine which could crush the ore wet under iron-shod stamps. That is called "wet ore" which is softened by water which flows into the mortar box, and they are sometimes called "wet stamps" because they are drenched by the same water; and on the other hand, the other kinds are called "dry stamps" or "dry ore," because no water is used to soften the ore when the stamps are crushing. But to return to our subject. This machine is not dissimilar to the one which crushes the ore with dry iron-shod stamps, but the heads of the wet stamps are larger by half than the heads of the others. The mortar-box, which is made of oak or beech timber, is set up in the space between the upright posts; it does not open in front, but at one end, and it is three feet long, three-quarters of a foot wide, and one foot and six digits deep. If it has no bottom, it is set up in the same way over a slab of hard, smooth rock placed in the ground, which has been dug down a little. The joints are stopped up all round with moss or cloth rags. If the mortar has a bottom, then an iron sole-plate, three feet long, three-quarters of a foot wide, and a palm thick, is placed in it. In the opening in the end of the mortar there is fixed an iron plate full of holes, in such a way that there is a space of two digits between it and the shoe of the nearest stamp, and the same distance between this screen and the upright post, in an opening through which runs a small but fairly long launder. The crushed particles of silver ore flow through this launder with the water into a settling-pit, while the material which settles in the launder is removed with an iron shovel to the nearest planked floor; that material which has settled in the pit is removed with an iron shovel on to another floor. Most people make two launders, in order that while the workman empties one of them of the accumulation which has settled in it, a fresh deposit may be settling in the other. The water flows in through a small launder at the other end of the mortar that is near the water-wheel which turns the machine. The workman throws the ore to be crushed into the mortar in such a way that the pieces, when they are thrown in among the stamps, do not impede the work. By this method a silver or gold ore is crushed very fine by the stamps.
BuddleA—Launder reaching to the screen. B—Transverse trough. C—Spouts. D—Large buddles. E—Shovel. F—Interwoven twigs. G—Boards closing the buddles. H—Cross trough.[Pg 314]When tin ore is crushed by this kind of iron-shod stamps, as soon as crushing begins, the launder which extends from the screen discharges the water carrying the fine tin-stone and fine sand into a transverse trough, from which the water flows down through the spouts, which pierce the side of the trough, into the one or other of the large buddles set underneath. The reason why there are two is that, while the washer empties the one which is filled with fine tin-stone and sand, the material may flow into the other. Each buddle is twelve feet long, one cubit deep, and a foot and a half broad. The tin-stone which settles in the upper part of the buddles is called the large size; these are frequently stirred with a shovel, in order that the medium sized particles of tin-stone, and the mud mixed with the very fineparticles of the stones may flow away. The particles of medium size generally settle in the middle part of the buddle, where they are arrested by interwoven fir twigs. The mud which flows down with the water settles between the twigs and the board which closes the lower end of the buddle. The tin-stone of large size is removed separately from the buddle with a shovel; those of medium size are also removed separately, and likewise the mud is removed separately, for they are separately washed on the canvas strakes and on the ordinary strake, and separately roasted and smelted. The tin-stone which has settled in the middle part of the buddle, is also always washed separately on the canvas strakes; but if the particles are nearly equal in size to those which have settled in the upper part of the buddle, they are washed with them in the ordinary strake and are roasted and smelted with them. However, the mud is never washed with the others, either on the canvas strakes or on the ordinary strake, but separately, and the fine tin-stone which is obtained from it is roasted and smelted separately. The two large buddles discharge into a cross trough, and it again empties through a launder into a settling-pit which is outside the building.
This method of washing has lately undergone a considerable change; for the launder which carries the water, mixed with the crushed tin-stone and fine sand which flow from the openings of the screen, does not reach to a transverse trough which is inside the same room, but runs straight through a partition into a small settling-pit. A boy draws a three-toothed rake through the material which has settled in the portion of the launder outside the room, by which means the larger sized particles of tin-stone settle at the bottom, and these the washer takes out with the wooden shovel and carries into the room; this material is thrown into an ordinary strake and swept with a wooden scrubber and washed. As for those tin-stone particles which the water carries off from the strake, after they have been brought back on to the strake, he washes them again until they are clean.
BuddleA—First launder. B—Three-toothed rake. C—Small settling pit. D—Large buddle. E—Buddle resembling the simple buddle. F—Small roller. G—Boards. H—Their holes. I—Shovel. K—Building. L—Stove.(This picture does not entirely agree with the text).[Pg 315]The remaining tin-stone, mixed with sand, flows into the small settling-pit which is within the building, and this discharges into two large buddles. The tin-stone of moderate size, mixed with those of fairly large size, settle in the upper part, and the small size in the lower part; but both are impure, and for this reason they are taken out separately and the former is washed twice,first in a buddle like the simple buddle, and afterward on an ordinary strake. Likewise the latter is washed twice, first on a canvas strake and afterward on an ordinary strake. This buddle, which is like the simple buddle, differs from it in the head, the whole of which in this case is sloping, while in the case of the other it is depressed in the centre. In order that the boy may be able to rest the shovel with which he cleanses the tin-stone, this sluice has a small wooden roller which turns in holes in two thick boards fixed to the sides of the buddle; if he did not do this, he would become over-exhausted by his task, for he spends whole days standing over these labours. The large buddle, the one like the simple buddle, the ordinary strake, and the canvas strakes, are erected within a special building. In this building there is a stove that gives out heat through the earthen tiles or iron plates of which it is composed, in order that the washers can pursue their labours even in winter, if the rivers are not completely frozen over.
Workroom with settling-pitA—Launder from the screen of the mortar-box. B—Three-toothed rake. C—Small settling-pit. D—Canvas. E—Strakes. F—Brooms.[Pg 317]On the canvas strakes are washed the very fine tin-stone mixed with mud which has settled in the lower end of the large buddle, as well as in the lower end of the simple buddle and of the ordinary strake. The canvas is cleaned in a trough hewn out of one tree trunk and partitioned off with two boards, so that three compartments are made. The first and second pieces of canvas are washed in the first compartment, the third and fourth in the second compartment, the fifth and sixth in the third compartment. Since among the very fine tin-stone there are usually some grains of stone, rock, or marble, the master cleanses them on the ordinary strake, lightly brushing the top of the material with a broom, the twigs of which do not all run the same way, but some straight and some crosswise. In this way the water carries off these impurities from the strake into the settling-pit because they are lighter, and leaves the tin-stone on the table because it is heavier.
Below all buddles or strakes, both inside and outside the building, there are placed either settling-pits or cross-troughs into which they discharge, in order that the water may carry on down into the stream but very few of the most minute particles of tin-stone. The large settling-pit which is outside the building is generally made of joined flooring, and is eight feet in length, breadth and depth. When a large quantity of mud, mixed with very fine tin-stone, has settled in it, first of all the water is let out by withdrawing a plug, then the mud which is taken out is washed outside the house on the canvas strakes, and afterward the concentrates are washed on the strake which is inside the building. By these methods the very finest tin-stone is made clean.
Streaming for TinA—River. B—Weir. C—Gate. D—Area. E—Meadow. F—Fence. G—Ditch.[Pg 318]The mud mixed with the very fine tin-stone, which has neither settled in the large settling-pit nor in the transverse launder which is outside the room and below the canvas strakes, flows away and settles in the bed of the stream or river. In order to recover even a portion of the fine tin-stone, many miners erect weirs in the bed of the stream or river, very much like those that are made above the mills, to deflect the current into the races through which it flows to the water-wheels. At one side of each weir there is an area dug out to a depth of five or six or seven feet, and if the nature ofthe place will permit, extending in every direction more than sixty feet. Thus, when the water of the river or stream in autumn and winter inundates the land, the gates of the weir are closed, by which means the current carries the mud mixed with fine tin-stone into the area. In spring and summer this mud is washed on the canvas strakes or on the ordinary strake, and even the finest black-tin is collected. Within a distance of four thousand fathoms along the bed of the stream or river below the buildings in which the tin-stuff is washed, the miners do not make such weirs, but put inclined fences in the meadows, and in front of each fence they dig a ditch of the same length, so that the mud mixed with the fine tin-stone, carried along by the stream or river when in flood, may settle in the ditch and cling to the fence. When this mud is collected, it is likewise washed on canvas strakes and on the ordinary strake, in order that the fine tin-stone may be separated from it. Indeed we may see many such areas and fences collecting mud of this kind in Meissen below Altenberg in the river Moglitz,—which is always of a reddish colour when the rock containing the black tin is being crushed under the stamps.
Stamp-millA—First machine. B—Its stamps. C—Its mortar-box. D—Second machine. E—Its stamps. F—Its mortar-box. G—Third machine. H—Its stamps. I—Its mortar-box. K—Fourth machine. L—Its stamps. M—Its mortar-box.[Pg 320]But to return to the stamping machines. Some usually set up four machines of this kind in one place, that is to say, two above and the same number below. By this plan it is necessary that the current which has been diverted should fall down from a greater height upon the upper water-wheels, because these turn axles whose cams raise heavier stamps. The stamp-stems of the upper machines should be nearly twice as long as the stems of the lower ones, because all the mortar-boxes are placed on the same level. These stamps have their tappets near their upper ends, not as in the case of the lower stamps, which are placed just above the bottom. The water flowing down from the two upper water-wheels is caught in two broad races, from which it falls on to the two lower water-wheels. Since all these machines have the stamps very close together, the stems should be somewhat cut away, to prevent the iron shoes from rubbing each other at the point where they are set into the stems. Where so many machines cannot be constructed, by reason of the narrowness of the valley, the mountain is excavated and levelled in two places, one of which is higher than the other, and in this case two machines are constructed and generally placed in one building. A broad race receives in the same way the water which flows down from the upper water-wheel, and similarly lets it fall on the lower water-wheel. The mortar-boxes are not then placed on one level, but each on the level which is appropriate to its own machine, and for this reason, two workmen are then required to throw ore into the mortar-boxes. When no stream can be diverted which will fall from a higher place upon the top of the water-wheel, one is diverted which will turn the foot of the wheel; a great quantity of water from the stream is collected in one pool capable of holding it, and from this place, when the gates are raised, the water is discharged against the wheel which turns in the race. The buckets of a water-wheel of this kind are deeper and bent back, projecting upward; those of the former are shallower and bent forward, inclining downward.
Stamp-millA—Stamps. B—Mortar. C—Plates full of holes. D—Transverse launder. E—Planks full of cup-like depressions. F—Spout. G—Bowl into which the concentrates fall. H—Canvas strake. I—Bowls shaped like a small boat. K—Settling-pit under the canvas strake.[Pg 321]Further, in the Julian and Rhaetian Alps[15]and in the Carpathian Mountains, gold or even silver ore is now put under stamps, which are sometimes placed more than twenty in a row, and crushed wet in a long mortar-box. The mortar has two plates full of holes through which the ore, after being crushed, flows out with the water into the transverse launder placed underneath, and from there it is carried down by two spouts into the heads of the canvas strakes. Each head is made of a thick broad plank, which can be raised and set upright, and to which on each side are fixed pieces projecting upward. In this plank there are many cup-like depressions equal in size and similar in shape, in each of which an egg could be placed. Right down in these depressions are small crevices which can retain the concentrates of gold or silver, and when the hollows are nearly filled with these materials, the plank is raised on one side so that the concentrates will fall into a large bowl. The cup-like depressions are washed out by dashing them with water. Theseconcentrates are washed separately in different bowls from those which have settled on the canvas. This bowl is smooth and two digits wide and deep, being in shape very similar to a small boat; it is broad in the fore part, narrow in the back, and in the middle of it there is a cross groove, in which the particles of pure gold or silver settle, while the grains of sand, since they are lighter, flow out of it.
In some parts of Moravia, gold ore, which consists of quartz mixed with gold, is placed under the stamps and crushed wet. When crushed fine it flows out through a launder into a trough, is there stirred by a wooden scrubber, and the minute particles of gold which settle in the upper end of the trough are washed in a black bowl.
So far I have spoken of machines which crush wet ore with iron-shod stamps. I will now explain the methods of washing which are in a measure peculiar to the ore of certain metals, beginning with gold. The ore which contains particles of this metal, and the sand of streams and rivers whichcontains grains of it, are washed in frames or bowls; the sands especially are also washed in troughs. More than one method is employed for washing on frames, for these frames either pass or retain the particles or concentrates of gold; they pass them if they have holes, and retain them if they have no holes. But either the frame itself has holes, or a box is substituted for it; if the frame itself is perforated it passes the particles or concentrates of gold into a trough; if the box has them, it passes the gold material into the long sluice.Frames for Washing Ore or AlluvialA—Head of frame. B—Frame. C—Holes. D—Edge-boards. E—Stools. F—Scrubber. G—Trough. H—Launder. I—Bowl.[Pg 322]I will first speak of these two methods of washing. The frame is made of two planks joined together, and is twelve feet long and three feet wide, and is full of holes large enough for a pea to pass. To prevent the ore or sand with which the gold is mixed from falling out at the sides, small projecting edge-boards are fixed to it. This frame is set upon two stools, the first of which is higher than the second, in order that the gravel and small stones can roll down it. The washer throws the ore or sand into the head of the frame, which is higher, and opening the small launder, lets the water into it, and then agitates it with a wooden scrubber. In this way, the gravel and small stones roll down the frame on to the ground, while theparticles or concentrates of gold, together with the sand, pass through the holes into the trough which is placed under the frame, and after being collected are washed in the bowl.
Frames for Washing Ore or AlluvialA—Sluice. B—Box. C—Bottom of inverted box. D—Open part of it. E—Iron hoe. F—Riffles. G—Small launder. H—Bowl with which settlings are taken away. I—Black bowl in which they are washed.[Pg 323]A box which has a bottom made of a plate full of holes, is placed over the upper end of a sluice, which is fairly long but of moderate width. The gold material to be washed is thrown into this box, and a great quantity of water is let in. The lumps, if ore is being washed, are mashed with an iron shovel. The fine portions fall through the bottom of the box into the sluice, but the coarse pieces remain in the box, and these are removed with a scraper through an opening which is nearly in the middle of one side. Since a large amount of water is necessarily let into the box, in order to prevent it from sweeping away any particles of gold which have fallen into the sluice, the sluice is divided off by ten, or if it is as long again, by fifteen riffles. These riffles are placed equidistant from one another, and each is higher than the one next toward the lower end of the sluice. The little compartments which are thus made are filled with the material and the water which flows throughthe box; as soon as these compartments are full and the water has begun to flow over clear, the little launder through which this water enters into the box is closed, and the water is turned in another direction. Then the lowest riffle is removed from the sluice, and the sediment which has accumulated flows out with the water and is caught in a bowl. The riffles are removed one by one and the sediment from each is taken into a separate bowl, and each is separately washed and cleansed in a bowl. The larger particles of gold concentrates settle in the higher compartments, the smaller size, in the lower compartments. This bowl is shallow and smooth, and smeared with oil or some other slippery substance, so that the tiny particles of gold may not cling to it, and it is painted black, that the gold may be more easily discernible; on the exterior, on both sides and in the middle, it is slightly hollowed out in order that it may be grasped and held firmly in the hands when shaken. By this method the particles or concentrates of gold settle in the back part of the bowl; for if the back part of the bowl is tapped or shaken with one hand, as is usual, the contents move toward the fore part. In this way the Moravians, especially, wash gold ore.
The gold particles are also caught on frames which are either bare or covered. If bare, the particles are caught in pockets; if covered, theycling to the coverings. Pockets are made in various ways, either with iron wire or small cross-boards fixed to the frame, or by holes which are sunk into the sluice itself or into its head, but which do not quite go through. These holes are round or square, or are grooves running crosswise. The frames are either covered with skins, pieces of cloth, or turf, which I will deal with one by one in turn.
Frames for Washing Ore or AlluvialA—Plank. B—Side-boards. C—Iron wire. D—Handles.[Pg 324]In order to prevent the sand which contains the particles of gold from spilling out, the washer fixes side-boards to the edges of a plank which is six feet long and one and a quarter wide. He then lays crosswise many iron wires a digit apart, and where they join he fixes them to the bottom plank with iron nails. Then he makes the head of the frame higher, and into this he throws the sand which needs washing, and taking in his hands the handles which are at the head of the frame, he draws it backward and forward several times in the river or stream. In this way the small stones and gravel flow down along the frame, and the sand mixed with particles of gold remains in the pockets between the strips. When the contents of the pockets have been shaken out and collected in one place, he washes them in a bowl and thus cleans the gold dust.
Frames for Washing Ore or AlluvialA—Head of the sluice. B—Riffles. C—Wooden scrubber. D—Pointed stick. E—Dish. F—Its cup-like depression. G—Grooved dish.[Pg 326]Other people, among whom are the Lusitanians[16], fix to the sides of a sluice, which is about six feet long and a foot and a half broad, many cross-strips or riffles, which project backward and are a digit apart. The washer or his wife lets the water into the head of the sluice, where he throws the sand which contains the particles of gold. As it flows down he agitates it with a wooden scrubber, which he moves transversely to the riffles. He constantly removes with a pointed wooden stick the sediment which settles in the pockets between the riffles, and in this way the particles of gold settle in them, while the sand and other valueless materials are carried by the water into a tub placed below the sluice. He removes the particles of metal with a small wooden shovel into a wooden bowl. This bowl does not exceed a foot and a quarter in breadth, and by moving it up and down in the stream he cleanses the gold dust, for the remaining sand flows out of the dish, and the gold dust settles in the middle of it, where there is a cup-like depression. Some make use of a bowl which is grooved inside like a shell, but with a smooth lip where the water flows out. This smooth place, however, is narrower where the grooves run into it, and broader where the water flows out.
Frames for Washing Ore or AlluvialA—Head of the sluice. B—Side-boards. C—Lower end of the sluice. D—Pockets. E—Grooves. F—Stools. G—Shovel. H—Tub set below. I—Launder.[Pg 327]The cup-like pockets and grooves are cut or burned at the same time into the bottom of the sluice; the bottom is composed of three planks ten feet long, and is about four feet wide; but the lower end, through which the water is discharged, is narrower. This sluice, which likewise has side-boards fixed to its edges, is full of rounded pockets and of grooves which lead to them, there being two grooves to one pocket, in order that the water mixed with sand may flow into each pocket through the upper groove, and that after the sand has partly settled, the water may again flow out through the lower groove. The sluice is set in the river or stream or on the bank, and placed on two stools, of which the first is higher than the second in order that the gravel and small stones may roll down the sluice. The washer throws sand into the head with a shovel, and opening the launder, lets in the water, which carries the particles of metal with a little sand down into the pockets, while the gravel and small stones with the rest of the sand falls into a tub placed below the sluice. As soon as the pockets are filled, he brushes out the concentrates and washes them in a bowl. He washes again and again through this sluice.