Historic Gold Workings

Hey gang!

 

Historic gold workings made by the old timers are great gold indicators no matter where you are in the world. Historic workings listed on maps and in the field both hold a plethora of knowledge us prospectors need to be utilising to work out gold trends and prospecting sites. The old timers definitely knew what they were doing so it would be silly for us to not listen! Below is a lesson I wrote for our members going into some more detail, enjoy!

 

Old timers workings are one of the best indicators for there are. The old boys had it very tough, they were very skilled and wouldn’t work in the tough conditions unless it was worth it. There are a few different types of old timers workings and they can all give us some form of information. 

Definitions 

Dryblowers

The dryblowing machine is almost as synonymous as the wheelbarrow with the 1890s Gold Rush and early days especially in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. 

Water, the best medium for separating gold from “paydirt”, was so scarce that water races or sluices used on contemporaneous goldfields were out of the question.

On the waterless Coolgardie goldfields before the pipeline, diggers used a technique known as dryblowing that takes advantage of gravity and the high density of gold and uses wind rather than water to separate gold from dirt. They had to find a way of extracting the precious metal that didn’t use the arguably even more precious liquid.Julius Price described what he saw round about Coolgardie in his 1896 publication The Land of Goldas the “rough, primitive method of ‘winnowing’ the alluvial ground”.

In its simplest form dryblowing was done by hand using dishes or pans. New Zealand prospector John Aspinall observed paydirt emptied into a dish, then by dropping the stuff from a high elevation into another dish at his feet and throwing it into the air and catching it again aided by panning into imaginary water using the back of the hand to remove the lighter materials, the dryblower is able to pick up all the specks of gold, the fine stuff not being sufficiently profitable to save…

Dryblowers are notorious for having low recovery rates, especially compared to any form of a wet plant. Unfortunately when water is scarce its the only option. Dryblowers are still used now in the dryer goldfields, they have grown in size and the technology slightly improved. 

Puddlers

Puddling machines, or "puddlers" were pioneered on the Victorian goldfields in 1854. This technology was developed as an affordable way of processing gold-bearing clay on a large scale. Puddling machines are a very significant development in the history of Victorian gold mining, as they are the only technology or method developed entirely on the Victorian Goldfields.

The characteristic clay earth of the goldfields region posed a problem to the 19th century miners - gold was trapped within the hard lumps of clay and in order to retrieve it, these lumps needed to be effectively broken up. 

A circular trough in the ground, lined with wood or bark, was filled with clay and water. A horse circled the trough and dragged a harrow through the clay mixture, breaking up the lumps and turning it into a runny sludge. The gold released from the clay would sink to the bottom, and the watery clay would be drained off from the top. The residue at the bottom of the trough would then be cleaned up with a pan or cradle to collect the gold.

The remains of these puddling machines can be found scattered in abundance throughout the bushland of the Victorian Goldfields. Most now appear as little more than ring-shaped depressions in the ground, but are a fascinating testament to the region's prosperous gold digging days. a lot of them are heritage listed so be careful when prospecting around them. 


Craddle / Rocker 

One of the most popular pieces of equipment used during gold rush times in XIX century was a rocker box, sometimes called a cradle. 

Collier's New Encyclopedia from 1921 defines this device as a mechanical contrivance used in placer mining, consisting of a box on rockers and moved by hand, used for washing out the gold-bearing soil.

Rocker allowed to separate gold and other heavy elements from sand and gravel by shaking and rocking the high-sided box, open on one end and top. The whole box was placed on rockers and equipped with classifier sieves screening-out larger pieces of rock and other material, allowing only finer material through. Screens were usually with half to one inch openings where clay and clods of soil could be broken to smaller parts. Between the sieve and the lower sluice section was a baffle, which acted as another trap for fine gold. Like a sluice box, the cradle has riffles and a carpet for trapping the gold.

Rocker, probably invented by Cornish miners, was one of the tools used to easily extract gold from rocks and riverbeds during the California Gold Rush. Isaac Humphrey, generally known as "Major" is said to have introduced the rocker to the California gold fields. Sacramento was a real testing ground for prospectors and miners, from all over the world, who carried out this knowledge and experience to next gold rush camps.

Lots of early California miners, later called 49ers, spreaded out this gold fever and started new rushes along all North American west coast up to Alaska,  in Australia or New Zealand. First Australian rocker, for instance, was made by William Tom Jr following directions from Edward Hargraves and was based on similar cradles used to wash for gold in California.

The rocker box is not so popular hand mining tool anymore, but still can compete with a sluice box in some areas. Cradle has got a big advantage in areas where is not enough water to supply the sluice box. Handling the rocker requires attention and precision from the gold prospector, but skillfully operated allows to wash over twice as much material as a normal pan (1-3 cubic yards can be washed per man-shift).

Mineshafts 

Mineshafts are one of the most recognisable forms of mining in the goldfields. Old timers used loaming and panning to find reefs, ore bodies and runs of gold. Once found they would start the shaft (often by hand!) and follow the gold run down or outwards. Very hard work in trying conditions. 

They would also pan their way up the creek, then to the gullys following the gold. Then when it stopped, they would chase the source up the hillsides. Often they would just investigate where the shed gold and quartz floaters were coming from.

They would also dig pits to sample spots which are different to shafts. You will often see sample holes around shafts. Another thing worth noting is that they would often crush and pan outcrops of the matrix to see if there was colour.


State Batteries

State Batteries in Western Australia were government owned and run ore-crushing facilities for the gold mining industry.  Western Australia was the only Australian state to provide batteries to assist gold prospectors and small mines. They existed in almost all of the mineral fields of Western Australia. 

State Batteries were gold batteries where ore was crushed to separate gold ore. Stamp mills were gauged by the number of heads they had in operation for the crushing of ore.

Many of the government operated batteries had very short operating times, some for a year or two, while a few were 50 years or more in operation. They were part of they were apart of the West Australian Department of Mines operations.

Sluices and Panning  

I think we all know what sluicing and panning is but just to recap. Sluicing is when gold-bearing sand and gravel is shovelled into a long, narrow box that is placed on a gentle slope. ... As water flows through the sluice box, gold is trapped in the riffles.

Panning was used by prospectors during the great gold strikes of the 19th century, employed a pan in which a few handfuls of the gold-bearing soil or gravel and a large amount of water were placed. By swirling the contents of the pan, the miner washed the lighter material over the side, leaving the gold and heavy materials behind

Both panning and sluicing are still very important methods used by prospectors and miners today. They are also both used in conjunction with other mining methods. 


Surfacing 

During the gold rush, miners stripped large areas of shallow gold-rich ground down to the bedrock and processed the earth they removed using equipment such as tubs, cradles, puddling machines and sluices. This method of mining is known as "surfacing" and evidence of it can be found in abundance throughout the Victorian Goldfields.

These areas were excavated by hand, a remarkable testament to the sheer determination of the diggers. Due to the labour involved in removing and washing such large quantities of earth, the ground here had to be rich enough in gold to make the effort and processing costs worth while. Surfaced areas are of interest to modern day gold prospectors for this reason - there was gold here, and lots of it!

"150 to 200 persons are busily engaged surfacing. Some very excellent finds have taken place, several having already arrived at pounds weight. The depth is not more than two feet, and most of the ground is taken up. There can be no doubt but that many such patches still exist." Wednesday 28th May, 1856 (Source: Trove)


How to find old workings 

One of the easiest ways to find old workings is through Tengraph Web, GeoVic or you states equivalent (if you are unsure what your state equivalent is send me an email and I will help you). They have the option to show current and abandoned mine sites. 

“The Abandoned Mine Sites database is an inventory of abandoned mine sites recommended by the Minerals Environment Liaison Committee in 1994. Following a fatal accident at an abandoned mine site near Cue in 1997, the Western Australian Government initiated funding for an ongoing program within the then Department of Minerals and Energy to develop an inventory of these sites in the State. The digital product has been released annually since December 2002, and contains records for mining-related features, which cover about 76% of the high priority historic mine sites in Western Australia. This is a comprehensive digital database of abandoned mine sites that includes photographs of individual underground and surface excavations, dumps, and rehabilitation and infrastructure features. Mining-related features are illustrated and described by morphological criteria and key attributes. Selected georeferenced historic GSWA maps and bulletins are also included. The inventory provides baseline data on historical mining-related features in Western Australia, thereby forming a solid foundation for future independent assessments of hazards, heritage value, and environmental impact. The database also provides a valuable contribution to the spatial distribution of mineralization in historical mining areas.” 

Below is a simple step by step on how to add the old workings layer on Tengraph. 

Whilst this is a great tool it obviously will not show you every old workings. There are still unmarked shafts and little prospecting operations that are still important indicators, such as dryblowings which will not be marked on Tengraph. It’s great to do your research and figure out where the old workings are but a lot of the time this will happen out on the field. They become indicators and can help determine which directions you will walk in.

Another way to find old workings is google earth. You can overlay google earth to Tengraph (Or your areas equivalent). On the new Tengraph web there is a button under maps and resources named google earth, you can use this to overlay. This will be able to give you a Birdseye view of what is happening in the area before you hit the ground. Its also a good way to see new workings as well.

Trove Is a great online resource as well. It is the national library and has 10,000s of old newspaper clippings, articles and books. It wont tell you exactly where the old workings are but it can give you a great idea as to where the old timers were working and where they were doing well. You can search “gold nuggets” “gold finds” “big gold” “gold” etc and the ear you are searching in and plenty of results will come up.


The next step

So now you have found some old workings, what’s the next step? Start when looking at google earth, note which directions the workings are going, what the geology and topography looks like, where they are situated, do they stop all of a sudden? If they do is it because they got to there lease border or they ran out of water etc.... This will give you lots of clues about the geology in the area. If you are in places like Vic where the growth is very thick you can add the geology layer and see if there is a pattern to where the old workings are and what geology they are sitting on.

One of the most valuable pieces of information that the old workings can give us is where they were finding the gold. When out in the field take note of where they were working, what the geology look likes, if they were working in greenstone, laterite, quartz, ironstone etc....... old workings can run on a strike line, follow that up and down. Is the strike line following an old gully? A hill? A quartz outcrop? Note all these pieces of information and use them to your advantage. Look for similar circumstances in the area.

In areas that have been surfaced you can always detect the outside, it is quite common for people to find nuggets on the outer area. Due to the labour involved in removing and washing such large quantities of earth, the ground here had to be rich enough in gold to make the effort and processing costs worth while. You may pick up gold using detectors in the shallow ground surrounding the surfacing, or if you feel like putting some work in with a shovel there can be plenty of fine gold to be recovered through sluicing. Many surfaced areas will have a dam and old puddling site close by, so water for highbankers may be available. The old timers used puddlers in these areas for a reason though - you will need to break the clay up before running it through a sluice or a lot of gold will remain trapped in clumps of clay and be washed away. You could slurry it up in a tub of water before running it through your sluice, or use a trommel with angle iron attached inside the barrel to help break up the clay as it washes through.

State batteries were very important back in the day for West Aussie prospectors. You can fin out where the state batteries were using tengraph but here is a list below -

 

• Bamboo 1913–1962

• Black Range- see Sandstone

• Bulong 1898–1899

• Carlaminda

• Coolgardie 1904

• Cue 1919–1968

• Desdemona 1909–1912

• Devon 1908–?

• Donnybrook 1900–1904

• Duketon 1905–1907

• Dumpling Gully /–?

• Kalgoorlie 1932 -1987

• Kalpini 1906–1911

• Laverton 1902 Known to be operating between 1916 and 1941.

• Leonora 1898

• Linden 1908

• Marble Bar 1910–?

• Marvel Loch – Known to be operating between 1912 and 1950

• Meekatharra 1901–?

• Messenger's Patch 1909–?

• Menzies 1904 – ??

• Mt Egerton State Battery 1912–1921

• Mt Ida 1898–1953

• Mt Jackson 1912–1921

• Mt Keith 1913–1928

• Mt Sir Samuel 1910–1921

• Mulline 1898–1921

• Mulwarrie 1901–1920

• Nannine 1907–1912

• Niagara 1900–1922

• Norseman 1898–? modernised in 1950

• Ora Banda 1913–?

• Paddington 1903–?

• Paynes Find 1912–?

• Paynesville 1900–1902

• Pig well 1904–1912

• Pinjin 1905–1914

• Quinns 1911–1920

• Randalls 1905–1908

• Ravelstone-Peak Hill 1917–1965

• Ravensthorpe ?

• Sandstone 1911

• Southern Cross 1903–1905

• Tuckabianna 1918–?

• Tuckanurra 1898–1923

• Warriedar 1940 ?

• Widgiemooltha 1900–1911

• Wiluna 1904–1950

• Yalgoo 1898–1941

• Yerilla 1898–1920

• Youanmi 1909–1940

• Yundamindera 1903–1907

Something important to note is that the further the old workings were from the state battery the richer they had to be due to travelling costs. Especially before trucks began being used in the goldfields. So you can generally assume if you have workings that are a fair distance from the state battery they would have had to have been producing to make it worthwhile. It’s also important to note how long the battery was open for, for example Souther Cross was only open for 3 years so we can assume they weren’t producing enough gold to stay open, compared to Kalgoorlie was open for 50years.

As discussed before mine shafts can hold a lot information. Look if there is a pattern in the direction they are following, look what rocks are in the collar, follow the strike line up and down. Some shafts will have a backing on it where they used to back the cart up to the shaft and load the ore in, this tells you they are older because it was before cars.