Hydraulic Gold Mining
This movie is the last remaining part of footage from an old video cassette that I owned. I believe that it is still available from the Empire Mines State Park. I do not own the copyright to this movie and this is being posted here under YouTube’s Guidelines for informational and teaching purposes. Then I added pictures on my own of the Malakoff State park from days gone past when mining was active in the area to the end of this movie. This is a great addition to this hydraulic mining playlist, so watch history being taught from long ago & then learn & enjoy.
Giant skull at 2:44
I might feel differently about hydro mining if I lived anywhere close to it. When I was in my early 20’s I worked several draglines/ strip-pits as a welder down in Texas (im from Oklahoma). A strip mine is like a rock quarry in the sense that it could be turned into a lake. Hydro on the other hand seems like it would just take years and years. I wonder though what could be done to replace dirt and nutrients over hydro sites? Flipping dirt up over the sediment and planting trees and such?
Thanks for the info I really needed this info for my class 🙃
Loved this valuable information of our past. Thank you 😊
Found nothing about the cannon being from the civil war
Great video, thanks for the upload. With California’s current drought situation, it is hard to fathom water being used for such a purpose. Hydraulic mining, other than being a "really efficient way to tear Mother Nature a new ass", like someone said below, was really doomed from the beginning in CA. If the silt situation hasn’t killed it, the numerous droughts would have, or the numerous environmentalists. I wonder if there is a efficiently feasible way to recapture the tailings and water.
Today, similar methods are employed, although in much smaller scale, but still with unwanted side effects.
I just visited the omega mine with the owner for some camping. Unbelievable place
moral of the story; most courts and judges are corrupt and incompetent = never trust the government
Useless like my girls titts
These ancient rivers were covered , not by dirt from whereever, but from volcanoes. The rock that covers these rivers is hard, andesite usually, and harder than the country rock around it and is now in place where the ridges are, the present day rivers having eroded around them.
What a super method to tear Mother Earth a new ass….very efficient…..
Natura is killed by the miners. It is so bad. Miners too cant aet The Gold, ground is dead, this is vary vary bad. The Goverments never gave the permission doing the this kind of mining all of the Word.
THANK YOU for sharing with us. I enjoyed watching and learning more about a place I had visited years ago and it left an impression on me then and still does.
https://youtu.be/wcZP0qYNDQc
Wow thanks for the history class, never knew this form of gold mining was invented..
Hey, Reed don’t know how to contact you directly but I’m thinking about those poor people in Oro Washington buried under that mud slide and how hydraulic mining could help them move thousands of tons of material. Â Maybe drain the muddy water into catch basins (multiple plastic lined dirt tanks) where the mud can settle down to the bottom and the clearer water can be recycled or drained to the nearby river. Â
Do you know where they could find a water cannon?
Just worried about those poor people up there. Â Â
His voice is reminding me of Chappel
Most inefficient and caveman way to mine, glad it was stopped by the government otherwise California would be entirely flat.
Hydraulic mining began first in Spain during the Roman empire.
I would love to gold minin
Thanks for sharing Reed. The area’s that have been hydraulic gold mined are all grown back now and many have settling ponds that are now home to wildlife. The small areas of land that have been hydraulic gold mined are a drop in the ocean and the benefits outweigh the tiny impact of the mining that has been done !
wow thank you for this video very cool. I live here in Auburn and its great to see the history all around us in this beautiful area. So many of us just like myself take this place for granted not thinking about all that came before all of us. I enjoy going to the yuba many times a month and its great to see videos like this to put thing in perspective and to appreciate the river itself.
Surprisingly powerful technology for the time.
very good informe, I like
Amazing what miners were able to do in the 19th century without modern machines and virtually no regulations. This was a time when opportunity and success was all that mattered there was no Government to take care of you. You succeeded, or starved but very little regulation allowed an opportunity for anyone to start mining. This is what the American dream was all about why so many immigrated all they wanted was an opportunity to succeed.
sue the gov since they are trying to control natures weather for hydraulic mining the planet
An excellent historical account. Some refer to the old hydraulic site as scars, but I think they have a beauty all their own. Nobody refers to Bryce Canyon as a scar, and these sites remind me of some of the beautiful places in Utah. As nature continues her reclamation, these sites will simply become more and more beautiful and unique. I think hydraulic mining still has a place, but as the documentary points out, it has to be in moderation to avoid the problems that the excesses created.
Thank you for this educational video. I live in the South, the only mine we have here is the public diamond mine and bauxite mines. I never knew anything about this and I really enjoy learning about the past.
Thanks a million, Reed, for the opportunity to see an amazing old movie about the sluicing history in California. It was a wonderful experience; much appreciated.
you will get a lot of views the whole 4th grade of bhusd is going to watch
@9:47 doesn’t care about standing on a highwall that constantly collapses..
*Back when there was a thing called "Unbiased investigative journalism", a true "Free Press", free of politics and corporate interest. Today the DNC and their Comrade Rinos have allowed corpratism, a practice of greed, which robs the little man and paves the way for mega corperations to own the only voice that could destroy their conglamoratated empires!*
#BustTheTrusts
#Corpratism
They were doing it in the 30’s where I live.
Kermit?
So much damage for greed .Shame on you and your forfathers .
Was made a national park to lock the gold in for the government’s of the future. National Gold Security
The old timers must have known it would devastate people down below and even when the news came they did it anyways. I would have gone to war too.
Love pavarati in the suit rofl..
that was really interesting thank you for that!
Excellent documentary – really helped me understand the damage caused but the hydraulic mining
Great video and still pics, thanks for posting. However, "photos" is not possessive; it does not get an apostrophe before the "s". And yes, I am a grammar nazi, just with a small "n".
Sickening
Disgraceful way to mine.
I found this rather enjoyable to watch and learn about history like this.
Way cool. Definitely educational and way worth the watch..
I remember seeing an old western movie featuring hydraulic mining. It must have been over forty years ago. The story line was very much as you described it. Valley people vs. miners. By the way, if that gold block is still hanging around I have a need for a good paperweight.
The monitor you see being demonstrated, is connected to a fire hydrant. The actual monitors being used to mine, would have easily reached the top of the face they were mining!
Amazing
I study mining engineering. This video demonstrated everyhting I want
Thank you very much for your effort
Great video, and explanation of yet another interesting time in History ! In that Clint Eastwood movie, the Palerider, they have a few scenes of Hydraulic mine in operation. It gave
a very nostalgic touch to the film, out of ordinary Westerns.. I love to watch the film, just for those scenes! Thanx for sharing this great info !
This is great! Thanks for sharing