Teaching History By Doing: Panning For Gold With Students And Teachers

Teaching by doing has a long a glorious didactic tradition to its credit found in the Bible itself, where it is called "discipleship." This way of learning passed down through the Middle Ages (I know, I know -- middle of what?) as the "apprenticeship" model. Now employers and employees thought of this as on-the-job trainging, to be sure, and not so much as a didactic methodology (a bread and butter necessity). But the guilds were more self-conscious about this.

A brief aside I simply must get off my chest. History textbooks can easily leave students with the impression that medieval serfs stood around on Sundays saying "I can't wait until we get on to the Renaissance and Reformation. I so hate being stuck in the middle of everything, what with all our plagues and raiding bands. What we really need is more education, not monastic self-deprecation, and the feudal, socio-economic stratification of manorial life and suppression of our basic rights. After all, who does the king think he is anyway?"

Punchline: historians name each historical period somewhat arbitrarily (sometimes quite misleadingly), and the historical actors living at the times so named rarely had any idea of how they would later come to be viewed (The so-called "Enlightenment" being an exception to this rule). Since a man in the fifteenth century could have no idea what helicopters and the internet would look like, he could hardly see himself as "in between" this and that. Likewise, the ancient Greeks never refer to themselves as the stuff of which ancient history is "really about," or how great their emipre was compared to that of the Romans (Oh, the Romans! Besides aqueducts, paved roads, the arch, postal service and peace -- what did they EVER do for us?).

The Monty Python group has exploited this anachronistic (putting things in time frames not suited to their actual historical origins) labeling tendency of historians in extraordinarily funny ways. And as far as I can tell, the historians had it coming. Now return to reading about the gold rush or I will taunt you a second time.

The gold rush in the late 1840's -- here in the good ol' USA -- flooded the western states with hopefuls, seeking fortune if not fame. Few people actually made much money -- found much gold -- in this effort, partly due to the fact that the market for miners quickly flooded. A little supply and demand math here goes a long way. With a limited supply of gold and a virtually (it seemed at the time) unlimited supply of miners, many people found a little gold, and only a few encountered a lot of gold without special equipment or hired labor.

Nevertheless, the Gold Rush proved a boon to the economies of the fast-growing western states, as the labor pool spiked during just that decade preceding the Civil War (called the "Ante-Bellum" period). Ante-bellum means simply "pre-war," and "Bellum" (war) is our latin word for the day. When the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus (a contemporary of the apostles) wrote a history of the Jewish people for the Romans, he penned one piece the Romans called the "Bella Judaica," or "Wars of the Jews." Okay, one more Latin term. If you wish to refer to gold in Latin, you say "aurum," which, you will have noticed is why the periodic table of elements lists gold as "Au." It abbreviates "aurum."

Similar words include "aura," (like a golden halo) and "aurora" as in "Aurora Borealis" -- a very interesting phenomenon visible as pretty lights over the Alaskan skyline at times.

Back to the history of the U.S. Gold Rush. In terms of gross profits, the real money was made, not in gold resources, but in a different industry -- or set of industries -- altogether. Some towns popped up (seemingly) almost overnight, and when the supply or prospect of gold faded, they became ghost towns -- those one might find on popular tours today -- as the crowds moved onto the next promising site.

The industries that soared economically were in fact those that served the needs and wants of the migrant gold-seeking populations, who moved west at a frantic pace. As one might imagine, these consisted both of legitimate and illicit goods and services. Bar tenders never lacked for work as thirsty miners filled towns rapidly. Levi-Strauss proved the economic titan of that part of the century as denim fell increasingly in demand by miners (and the capitalistic entourage which followed them) who needed clothes that could endure the harsh treatment miners' garb was bound to incur. Animal trappers also found denim durable, and it proved tempting to simply buy cheap denim rather than continuing to make their own clothes. Denim turned out to be the real gold. "Blue gold" -- Who knew?

The Gold Rush nonethless proved a valuable and historically significant phenomenon. That which drew the greatest number of metal hunters in one fell swoop earned the name "Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1859." Here's the wikipedia overview (which is quite good as usual):

The Pike's Peak Gold Rush (later known as the Colorado Gold Rush) was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of northwestern Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861. An estimated 100,000 gold seekers took part in the greatest gold rush in North American history. The participants in the gold rush were known as Fifty-Niners after 1859, the peak year of the rush.

As the reader will recall, it was September of that very year when the southern states began to declare secession from the Union. This means that, among other important historical effects, the (U.S.) gold rushes tended to shift money and labor away from the east coast -- where the civil war would rage only a short while later. In other words, it probably shortened the length of the war (limited money and soldiers) by moving them west just in time to begin settling in areas less prone to have strong views on the war. As each territory grew quickly to statehood, however, it was required that it declare whether it would be a slave or free state.

The gold rushes were very much a part of the fabric of U.S. history, both as an impetus for developing territories into states quickly (settling the west), and for bringing the civil war to a decisive close earlier. Greed is by far the better vice than strife. Nobody wins a war, one side simply loses less. The toll in terms of debt and lives -- for both sides of the U.S. civil war -- was nothing less than horrific. But many won the gold rush game, especially the makers of jeans (and good for them; they should get something). Others bought or earned land for their families, and still others found gainful employment in areas more conducive to the practice of one's preferred religion than might otherwise be tolerated back east.

So to teach your students about the trends mentioned here, you might find it fitting to enlighten them on a school outting, where they can get experience panning for gold themselves, to learn what it was really like to prospect in the older days of yore. To that end, I have here posted today (below) a lesson plan for teachers -- borrowed from an Idaho State Educators group -- that explains the basics for students and teachers alike. Enjoy.

Gold Panning suggested grade levels: K- 4 view Idaho achievement standards for this lesson

Overview: Although there are numerous descriptions available on how to pan gold, washing gold by panning is such a simple process that with very little experience a panner can recover almost all the gold from a pan. By following the basic principles discussed below, anyone can develop his or her own technique. Experience generally improves speed and efficiency rather than percent of recovery.

The object is to process the material as rapidly as possible while at the same time retaining as much gold as practical. The extra time spent trying to recover the very fine gold is generally not worthwhile.The standard gold pan is 16 inches in diameter, 2 1/2 inches deep and made of sheet iron. However, smaller 8 to 14 inch pans are much easier to use, particularly for the beginner. Before using an iron pan, it is extremely important to remove all grease from the inside surface. Heating at a sufficiently high temperature (500 degrees Fahrenheit) not only burns off the grease but also has the added advantage of turning the pan blue. Gold, being light yellow, shows up much better with a blue or black background. Plastic gold pans in black and green also work quite well. In fact a pie tin will work if you have nothing else.

Procedure:

1. First fill the pan level full or slightly heaping with placer material.

2. Submerge the pan in water, preferably still water 6 to 10 inches deep.

3. Carefully and slowly stir the contents of the pan with both hands so as to totally saturate the material with water. It is extremely important at this stage to break up all dirt clods and dissolve the clay.

4. While the pan is held in a flat position under water, shake the pan in a circular or back-and forth manner. The purpose of the shaking is to stratify the contents of the pan in layers so that the heavier minerals are concentrated on the bottom and the lighter material moves upwards.

5. A 16-inch pan full of water-saturated gravel may weigh as much as 30 pounds or more. For this reason the work can be lightened if the pan is worked under water.

6. The pan is tilted so that the less dense material can be floated over the edge of the pan.

7. The gold and other heavy minerals will work downward and concentrate at the edge of the flat pan bottom.

8. Continue to shake the pan in a circular motion under water or with water in it. Then repeat the tilting action so as to wash or float off the light surface layers.

9. Finally the pan contents are reduced to the heavy mineral concentrates and any gold present can readily be seen. Many beginners worry that their style is faulty and that they are losing gold; however, if normal amounts of heavy minerals or black sands are recovered, then it is quite likely that the gold which has a much higher density would also be saved.

Capacity of the Gold Pan

Panning is the most arduous and lowest capacity method that may be used to wash gold from placer gravel. Because an accomplished panner can only wash 8 to 10 pans per hour, the method is not suitable for anything but high-grade gravels. Such high-grade material generally occurs only at bedrock or in crevices. A 16-inch gold pan level full of dry gravel will weigh approximately 22 pounds.

However the weight may be more or less depending on the amount of moisture and the size and type of material. Typically, one cubic yard of bank gravel weighs 33oo pounds. Depending on the type of placer material 150 to 180 pans are normally equivalent to one cubic yard. If a person is able to pan at the rate of 10 pans per hour, it is possible to pan about 1/2 cubic yard per day. Under exceptional conditions, such as an experienced panner working with clean gravel, it is possible to pan up to one cubic yard in a day.

Separation of Black Sands from Gold

Nuggets and small particles of gold of sufficient size should be picked out with tweezers and placed in a vial. There are several different methods or combinations of methods for separating the remaining fine gold from the black sand concentrate. Transfer the concentrates to a smaller pan and continue to manipulate the pan in the manner described above until the black sands are separated. This procedure should be done above another pan so that if gold is lost, it can be recovered. If the concentrates are dried, the black sands can be separated either by a magnet or by blowing. Magnetite commonly represents up to 90 percent of the heavy mineral concentrate.

Several drops of mercury can be placed in the concentrates and the remaining fine gold amalgamated. If the colors are very fine, the added time and effort to recover them may not be worthwhile. For example, the Snake River gold in southern Idaho is so fine that several hundred colors may only be worth one cent. Pans with copper bottoms may be used for the amalgamation process. First the copper bottom is abraded with emery paper and then, using a device other than your hand, coated with a clean shiny surface of mercury. Gold in the concentrates is picked up by contact with the mercury surface.

Only fine material should be used in the pan as coarse concentrates will grind off the mercury. As amalgam collects on the bottom of the pan, it should be scraped off with a scraper made of iron. You should always use extreme caution when working with mercury. Take particular care not to touch mercury with your hands or breathe its vapors.

Amalgamators

Rusty gold or gold partly coated by iron oxide does not amalgamate completely because the mercury cannot make complete contact with the gold. To remedy this problem, the heavy mineral concentrates with the gold must be agitated to clean the gold. Mechanical amalgamators are normally used to treat rusty gold. Most amalgamators consist of a cast iron container in which the concentrates are placed. A rock tumbler will work well for small samples.

Water, one or two percent mercury, caustic soda and steel balls are combined with the concentrates. As the container is turned slowly for several hours, the steel balls provide a grinding action to clean the gold. Finally the gold, amalgam and mercury are recovered by panning. A small concrete mixer serves very satisfactorily as an amalgamator. Such a device can handle 50 to 100 pounds of concentrate, one or two pounds of mercury and a few cobbles or steel balls together with water. Generally about an hour is sufficient to complete the amalgamation process.

Cleaning Amalgam

Amalgam is first separated from the black sands by carefully washing with a gold pan. The amalgam or impure mercury is then squeezed manually through a tight cloth such as canvas, chamois skin or buckskin. The process is best done under water to avoid losing mercury. The cleaned mercury still contains a small amount of gold which will increase its reactivity with gold. After squeezing, the stiff, pasty amalgam may still contain up to 75 percent mercury with the balance in gold and silver.

Separating Gold from Amalgam

Gold may be recovered from amalgam by several different methods. The selection of a particular method is based on convenience or the need to recover the mercury. If it is unnecessary to recover the mercury, the simplest method is to volatilize the mercury, by heating the amalgam. In this method, the mercury is placed on a clean iron surface and heated to 675 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature at which mercury vaporizes. Mercury vapor which may appear as a heavy white vapor, is extremely dangerous and should not be inhaled.
Potato MethodThe potato method is commonly used by prospectors because it is both simple and allows part of the mercury to be recovered.

The following procedure is used:

1. A large potato is cut in half.

2. On one half, a recess is hollowed out which is larger than the amount of amalgam.

3. The amalgam is placed on a clean sheet of iron such as a pan suitable for heating.

4. The potato is placed over the amalgam and then heat is applied below the sheet of iron.

5. After 15 to 20 minutes of heating, the mercury will be driven off into the potato and the gold will be left in the hollow of the potato.

6. The mercury can then be recovered by crushing and panning the potato.

[Comments: Leave it to the Idahoans to come up with metallurgic uses for the potato].

[If you want to start an interstate war, just tell the Idahoans that the Iowans said that "anything Idahoans can do with a potato we can do better with corn."]

Nitric Acid Method

The amalgam is placed in a beaker with a 1 to 1 solution of nitric acid and water which is heated until the mercury is dissolved. After the mercury is dissolved, the gold sponge can be washed in water. Finally the gold may be annealed in a porcelain crucible.

Retorting

Retorting of amalgam to recover gold requires the most elaborate equipment but allows all the mercury to be saved. A retort is basically a pipe-shaped device in which the amalgam is placed in the end that is heated to vaporize off the mercury. The mercury vapor then moves through a condenser pipe where it cools and condenses back to liquid mercury.

And now for a startlingly brief postscript. Remember (if you go out in the heat) to wear sunscreen and have your students wear big, pointy hats, like the cowboys -- or is it now the more gender neutral "cowpersons"? -- of old. If the weather allows it, you might consider having everyone wear denim to get the full, historical effect. And bring some beef jerky and plenty of water. But you should probably consider leaving desiree' the mule at home. Even proper historical nostalgia has its limits.