How was gold mined in the 1850s?

Answer 1

In the 1850s, there were numerous methods for mining gold.

• Panning involved the use of a solid pan. An amount of potentially gold-bearing dirt was placed in the pan with some water, and gently swished and shaken around, a process which would bring the smaller particles of gold to the surface.
• Cradling involved a wooden box loosely resembling a cradle. The cradle was used for sifting through larger amounts of sediment to find gold, and was popular from the early times of the goldrushes. It required at least two men to work. The cradle had a grate and a sieve. The dirt and sediment to be sifted through was emptied onto the grate in the cradle. The cradle was rocked quickly back and forth (in the action of a cradle) while water was poured over the sediment to help work it through. The grate stopped coarser stones from going through, while the fine material was sifted out the other end. The gold would be left behind for easy collection.
• Fossicking was another method which involved picking at rock and stone with sharp tools until gold was located inside, or to pick through mullock heaps left behind by other miners.
• Sieves were also popular. They were like a pan but with a mesh base through which the water would drain, to help separate gold from similar sized particles.
• Windlass was one of the slower methods of mining for gold. Two people were required to operate it, one at the surface and one in the mine shaft. The person in the shaft filled a bucket with potential gold-bearing soil and rocks, and the person on the surface operated the windlass to wind up the bucket. The contents of the bucket were then sorted through, perhaps in a cradle or a pan.
• A poppet head and winch was a larger version of the windlass. Poppet heads stood over deep mining shafts.
• Stamper batteries were large steam-driven machines, which were used to crush the quartz in order to extract gold.