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| ‘It was at Forest Creek that the puddling system was first carried into effect, by means of which the auriferous soil is cleansed in a rude, simple, but wholesale way...The machine, when it is possible, is erected on a site commanded by a stream or reservoir of water, and admitting of an inclination sufficient to carry off the sludge. The operation is performed by shovelling in the dirt and admitting a supply of water, the action of the harrow breaking the lumps and mashing all into a thick fluid compound, when the gold is disintegrated, and by its superior gravity falls to the bottom.’ |
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