From a stream up in a canyon
some enterprising men had built a log flume and connected with it a
large hose and nozzle they had brought up from the coast. Turning the
water in this on a dry hill rich in gold deposit, they easily and
rapidly washed the dirt down into a sluice or trough below. This had
bars nailed across, and water running through carried the dirt away
while the gold dropped into the crevices between the bars." This method
of mining and also quartz mining, that is, digging gold and other metals
from rock, is described in another chapter.
The gold-bearing earth extended along the west slope of the Sierra
Nevada and their base, from Feather River on the north to the Merced
River on the south, a territory about thirty miles wide by two hundred
and fifty long. In this district are still some of the richest mines in
the world.
Chapter VIII
The Great Stampede
The rush of people to the Pacific coast after the gold discovery may
well be called a stampede. The terrible overland journey, over thousands
of miles of Indian country, across high mountains and wide stretches of
desert, was often undertaken with poor cattle, half the necessary
supplies of food, and but little knowledge of the route.
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