What was the most popular method that prospectors used to mine for gold?

Answer 1

Diggers in the gold rush used the following equipment and methods to find 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.

Answer 2

People in the gold rush panned, used sluices, used rockers, dug pits with picks and shovels, etc. Almost all the work was placer mining during the rush, lode mining typically did not start until the rush was winding down or was several years over.

Answer 3

i think its called placer mining