Excerpt from Drilling for Placer Gold

The Keystone Drill, as universally used, is not an instrument of precision. Gold particles are not distributed with mathematical symmetry. One drill hole to an acre in ground that is 50 feet in depth only yields for examination part of the whole! Ordinary common sense and care on the part of the operator and panner are sufficient to insure acceptable field work. Meticulous precision or elaborate core measurements are generally absurd.

For after the depths have been recorded and the gold weighed, there comes the calculation of the values of precious metal in great blocks of gravel. There is no fixed formula. The experienced Engineer, to whom such work should be entrusted, will compensate for high variations, for loose and swelling ground, for sand and clay, for rusty gold - and his calculations will of necessity contain approximations that eclipse minor errors of the field and nullify minute measurements.

Indeed, field work with the Keystone Drill need not be conducted by men of profound skill. Just so the work is done in a consistent manner under the occasional eye of a competent engineer, just so the results are interpreted in the light of experience - then will the final figures carry the full weight of authority.

There is no mystery about field work - and should there be, the following pages will clarify the mode of procedure.

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