Hydraulic Mining

Hydraulic gold mine

The water is conveyed by pipe under a head of several hundred feet, and delivered through a nozzle that can be turned in any direction. The jet washes the auriferous earth from the cliff and thence to a sluice, seen at the left. The sluice is several hundred feet long and contains pockets of mercury by which the gold is caught. Photographed in 1908. Photograph and description from USGS Professional Paper 105, "Hydraulic-Mining Debris in the Sierra Nevada" by G. K. Gilbert, 1917.

See also "Hydraulic Gold Mining" in the "Historical Bathymetric Change in Suisun Bay: 1867-1990" pages on this web site, for more information and additional photos.