Hydraulic mining in Russell Gulch Collier's Rocky Mountain Scenery

Abstract

Stereopair showing men hydraulic mining in Russell Gulch, Colorado. Hydraulic mining was a placer mining method that used hoses carrying high pressure water to spray the gravel deposits, which washed all but the largest rocks into the sluice boxes where most of the gold was recovered. The water used for this hydraulic mining came from the Consolidated Ditch, which was actually two ditches that carried water from the head of Fall River to Russell Gulch, a distance of about twelve miles. Placer mining began in Russell Gulch in 1859. Within a few years, the population of Russell Gulch had grown to 2,500.