Howdy, Before rejoining 49er Harold C. GARDINER at Horse Shoe Bar on the North Fork of the American River for a little gold mining, I CAUTION you folks of a little overlap with my prior post, "49er Enos CHRISTMAN"s Birthing a Cradle in 1850." May I suggest that those with little interest in mining-cradle construction or its operation , should either DELETE, or maybe just skip down to my last paragraph, which shows our 49er's mining success. OK, let's now rejoin H.C. Gardiner in 1851: "After....left me the first morning, I proceeded to set may cradle and commence operations in good earnest. My claim was about 125 feet from the river[North Fork -American River], and the dirt was carried to the cradle in buckets. The manner of proceeding was to dig and free from large boulders some 25 buckets at a time, throwing out all stones as large as a hen's egg. The gravel was transported as stated, and washed in a cradle similar to an old- fashioned baby rocker. The machine, which is usually about four feet long, is set at a slight angle sufficient to cause a current when the water is poured in. The bed on which the cradle rests is made of two pieces of scantling[?] with cross-pieces at each end, the space between which corresponds with that between the rockers attached to the cradle. These cross-pieces have each a small iron spindle that penetrates the rockers, which are shod with hoop-iron. A V-shaped notch is cut in the bottom of each rocker, and a hole drilled thorugh the shoe immediately below it. The spindles pass through these holes, and the shape of the notch gives free play when the cradle is oscillated, while it is held firmly in place by the spindles. "The HOPPER is a square box with sides some four or five inches high, to the bottom of which is affixed a sheet-iron screen punched with holes about a half-inch in diameter, at intervals of three inches. The hopper fits the head of the cradle and sits perfectly level, the pitch of the machine being counteracted by dressing off an inch or two at the sides and head. The APRON is a slight wooden frame covered with cotton cloth fitted to the inside of the cradle, immediately below the hopper, and inclines at an angle of 45 degrees towards the head of the cradle. The machine has a slat across the lower end or foot, and another midway. These are called RIFFLES. They are about an inch high and catch the gold, which sinks to the bottom as it passes through, while the dirt runs off and forms what is called TAILINGS. "A bucket of dirt is deposited in the hopper, when the miner proceeds to rock the cradle, giving it a peculiar shake impossible to describe:-), while he continues to dip water from the river and pour it over the contents of the hopper till all the dirt has passed through the screen, leaving nothing but the clean stones, which he inspects carefully to see if there is a chispa[:-)?] among them, and then throws out. These stones are called SCREENINGS. "Unless the dirt is extraordinarily rich, the usual run is 10 buckets, after which the cradle is washed down carefully until nothing remains but the gold and black sand caught on the apron and by the riffles, which are removed with the SCRAPER and placed in the pan for further manipulation at the end of the day's work. The quantity of dirt washed depends on its distance from the cradle and the difficulty of procuring it. After I become accustomed to the work, my STINT was 150 BUCKETS daily, and sometimes it required extra exertion to perform; nevertheless, I never failed, even if compelled to work till starlight. "The FIRST DAY'S WORK yielded about four dollars, but from then on I did better, and my average earnings were about $50 per week. This was not extravagant, but a vast deal better than I had been accoustomed to. There is an excitement in gold-digging which tends to reconcile one to the hard work, as he looks forward to the WASH-DOWN at the end of the each run with a good deal of interest; morever, the few minutes' relaxation afforded by the process is a period of comparative rest. A miner soon learns to judge by the clean-up at the end of the run what his dirt is paying, and can tell pretty near what will be the result of his day's work, as the gravel on the river bars is very uniform in its yield, especially when taken in the aggregate without stripping for certain rich streaks. Sometimes it is necessary to throw off several feet of the surface, leaving perphaps a couple of feet to be washed, in which case the stripping occupies so much time that one has to hustle to put through 150 BUCKETS." Wonder how he kept his bucket count? Next time, maybe a peek at Placer County politics:-)) Bob Norris in Dallas <BNorris166aol.com>