Now when the water comes through the screen it falls perpendicularly in this box with force enough to keep the contents continually in motion, and as the gold is much heavier than any other mineral likely to be found in the dirt, it settles to the bottom, and all the lighter stuff is carried away by the water.

The gold would be found behind the bars in the riffle box.
These methods of working were very crude, and we gradually became aware that the finest dust was not saved, and many improvements were brought into use.

In my own mine the tailings that we let go down the mountain side would lodge in large piles in different places, and after lying a year, more gold could be washed out of it than was first obtained, and some of it coarser, so that it was plainly seen that a better way of working would be more profitable.

There was plenty of ground called poor ground that had much gold in it but could not be profitably worked with the rocker and long tom.

The bed rock was nearly level and as the land had a gradual rise, the banks kept getting higher and higher as they dug farther in.