In the early days of the Gold Rush, "placer mining" was the primary technique used by prospectors. They panned for gold using simple tools like a pick, shovel, pan, and water to separate the alluvial deposits from the gold.

Early miners sat by riverbeds, scooping wet soil into shallow metal pans. They swirled the pans, washing away the dirt to hopefully discover particles of gold. Though more complex equipment was eventually invented, pans were still a useful tool to distinguish gold from dirt.

The first miners needed only a shovel and a flat pan to find great quantities of gold along the rivers that flowed westward from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But more gold could be processed using devices like a rocker, a long tom or a sluice, each a longer variation of its predecessor.

Mining Technology during the Gold Rush. The painting Miners in the Sierras, depicts a type of mining called placer mining. The figure in the red shirt wields a pick-axe to loosen rock and gravel from the riverbed, while the figure next to him shovels rock into the bed of the long wooden device called a long tom.

During the Klondike-Alaska gold rush of 1898 the tools used in mining were rudimentary: picks, shovels, gold pans, box sluices, and hydraulic hoses. If they were lucky, miners had steam boilers that helped to thaw permanently frozen ground to get at the placer gold beneath.

A study of the mining techniques used during the California Gold Rush reveals more than just information of how to extract gold from the earth. The various types of mining techniques also show the cultural melting pot that was then and is now California and they reveal the myth behind the history of the Gold Rush.

Gold Mining Tools. Most prospectors only had a few tools. Miners usually didn't have much money, and tools bought in a store were very expensive! Here are some typical tools of the trade: Pick. The pick was used to break up pieces of rock. Shovel. Miners used round-nosed shovels to move dirt and gravel. Pan.

On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. Though he tried to keep it quiet, word spread and soon there was a surge in immigration to California from people hoping to strike it rich. It was the most famous gold rush in American history—but, in fact, not the first.

New mining methods and the population boom in the wake of the California Gold Rush permanently altered the landscape of California. The technique of hydraulic mining brought enormous...

Using a technique called hydraulic mining, they extracted $170 million in gold between 1860 and 1880. In the process, they devastated the landscape and choked the rivers with sediment.