Gold By: Mohammed.a

Panning Panning – Was a simple technique used to find alluvial gold, which was small nuggets of gold that were found in creek beds and under the surface of shallow underground streams. To use the pan, a miner would put a small amount of of soil, and sand into a pan as well as a small amount of water. The miner would then pick up the pan and sometimes there would be gold specks.

Cradle Cradle – Was a large wooden tool used to wash through soil, gravel or sand. A miner would shovel some soil, gravel and sand into the hopper, which had holes in it and would allow gold and sand to fall through but would catch rocks and pieces.

Puddling Puddling – Was used to separate gold from clay. Using a wooden stick, the miner would stir the mixture and the clay would disappear leaving the gold bits and sand in the bottom of the container.

Shaft Mining Shaft mining – When gold started to become just under the surface of the ground, miners turned to digging deep holes, or shafts, in the ground. These shafts could be up to 50 meters deep. The miners would put wood along the sides of the shaft to stop it from falling.

Miners Pick Miner’s Pick – Was used to break strong pieces of rock and soil so it could be put either in the cradle or in the case of shaft mining, in a bucket to be lifted up from the shaft mine and then put in the cradle. The pick was also used to help dig shafts when the ground became too hard to dig with the shovel.

Dredging In the beginning of the Gold Rush, the miners were had limits because they could only work the areas that were free to simple tools along the banks of the streams and rivers. Their equipment was limited to gold pans, sluice boxes and rockers. As time progressed and as they became more experienced, they realized that the deeper gavels in the riverbeds were often richer than the surface gravel along the banks. Dredging

The Sluice Box was a runway made of wood or wood to let water go downhill. It became deeper, and had riffles at the bottom to catch the gold left behind after the dirt was washed away.

STEP:1 Choose a spot to do your panning. It is best to pick a spot where the water is not very deep. STEP:2 Take your pan to the spot. STEP:3 Use your hands to go through the pan and the dirt while its underwater the mud will then float up or dissolve but the gold is heavy and will stay at the bottom. STEP:4 Now after all the dirt and mud has gone put water in the pan and shake it around in circles gently. STEP:5 Shaking will make all the rocks float up and out of the pan.