Mining
Hydraulic Mining
Hydraulic Mining
Hydraulic mining is when miners shot powerful streams of water into the cliffs. The streams break the cliffs into pieces. Then, the miners separate the gold from the rocks and mud.
In this video, miners are blasting the cliffs with high powered water. This loosens the gold from the soil, but is very environmentally destructive.
Panning
Panning
To find more gold, miners used pans to scoop up dirt and water from creek beds. They would then shake the dirt and water back and forth. Gold is heavy and falls to the bottom.