Milling Technology in the Nineteenth Century

Nineteenth-century millers used various techniques. Most employed mercury, a metal that readily bonds with gold and silver to form what is known as an amalgam. This compound—once a standard for dental work—could be heated to boil off the mercury, leaving the precious metal behind. Placer miners, who arrived in the West with the 1849 California Gold Rush, often used this approach after washing loose soil containing diffused microscopic gold.

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