Show DREDGING operations OF FEDERAL CO by H G WALKER lovelock nev aug 10 the present status of the federal mines company whose and operation of a gold dredger in spring valley near lovelock nevada is one relative to which much might be said and about which some important revelations should certainly be made public inasmuch as a full acquaintance with conditions encountered by this boat and a number of difficulties experienced by the operative force must mean much to future operations in this state with the recovery of placer gold by dredging as its object nevada gold fields at best W will present a lack of conditions favorable to successful dredging which must be appalling to one familiar with california fields the water supply in this arid region is invariably very small fuel scarce with attend power difficulties cul ties transportation expensive and labor high however there is no ble condition of which I 1 know that cannot be overcome by a thorough practical preliminary investigation of the property in question by one or more persons who really understand this phase of mining the federal mines company either did not do this or if they did flatly disregarded the advice of the most competent authorities during construction and early operation there being some d hersity of opinion on this question these remarks unquestionably apply to any mining venture and though oft repeated seem to be as often disregarded the ground of the Federal mines company extends for about three miles along the canyon known as spring valley a tributary gulch on the easterly slope of the humboldt range and thirty miles by stage road from Love locks the ground had been for years worked by Chin allien a few of whom are mining placer gold in neighboring can the preliminary prospecting of the ground was conducted in an ail unbelievably crude manner no new holes be ng sun sunk kand and all samples being taken from old chinaman holes and sloped ground and this under questionable or at least incompetent superintendence as su subsequent operations have demonstrated the boat was built and floated on oil the north slope of the canyon over feet from the channel and best pay dirt at the in insistence of the president of the company to avoid danger of being washed out by spring freshets fresh freish ets an exceedingly ridiculous precaution subsequent operations on this side hill necessitated carrying a bank of over twenty feet on one side while at the same time frequent levering leve eing was necessary on the lower side to retain the pond for flotation this needlessly caused a great many yards of barren diatto dirt to p W 11 1 bow view of the dredge be handled in order to get at the underlying pay gravel even so some isome considerable values were recovered though credit for the early favorable outlook must be given almost entirely to the super superintendent a and n d the efficient crew mostly oroville men from the first the boat held up tip to its difficult task in good shape and after a few improvements has made a number of magnificent runs the error of judgment in placing the boat in its present position has been an ail effort is at last being made to get the dredge down into the channel where beter values may certainly be found some difficulty was encountered from crowding by sand ail and d tailings which could easily be remedied by extending the sluices and stacker and it is my belief that a stationary power plant on oil shore would be far more efficient than the present system of operation by gas engines aboard these disadvantages may be renie remedied died in the near future the water avater supply is received from a pipe line from indian creek a distance of five miles and is barely enough to compensate for seepa seepage ge through the honeycombed ground the ground and boat are owned by the I 1 engine distillate and is hauled fourteen miles by wagon from oreana nev the gravel 0 is washed by a inch ginch G 6 spray pipe through a revolving screen or and is subsequently passed over square feet of angle iron riffles fiffles containing mercury for the purpose of amalgamation the gold is mostly coarse as the origin is but a few miles away 17 A aa open connected bucket line federal mines company of chicago with charles R dark clark of montezuma iowa as president and W gilbert of chicago as secretary treasurer mr james H hart of oroville is superintendent mr hart s former connection with the risdon iron works and his experience in california and foreign dredging fields have qualified him as a thoroughly competent dredge man the crew consists of one two and an engineer on each shift of which there are three of eight hours each besides besade a blacksmith and liel helper per and a couple of for digging dead men holes the boat was built by the risdon iron works of san francisco recently acquired by the un union on iron works co of the same place and embodies the following features an open connected or bucket and link type ladder line having twenty eight five foot buckets equipped with manganese steel lips and bushing for digging in hard ground with a preponderance of bf large boulders rated capacity is 2000 yards per day the stacker is of the bucket type consists con consisting sisti ng oi of seventy close alost connected buckets and is driven by rope transmission the power equipment comprises one H P four cylinder marine type gas engine for the bucket line screen and stacker one 55 H P engine for the two pumps high and low pressure one 35 H P engine tor for the winch and one 8 H P engine for driving the arming pumps and lighting plant all were furnished by the doak gas engine company of oakland cal fuel used is no the climate is such that the working season should last twelve months in the year and no shutdowns were necessary from cold last winter I 1 most cariie earnestly atly believe in the future of nevada as a dredging field but must strictly advise the thorough investigation of individual conditions condit ons and the early MIMI A k 3 al X T IN N N i sj I 1 14 tailings stacker and sluices tion for overcoming the difficult es to be met as the only safeguard against failure |