Mining for Gold in the Old days was not Easy

Hundreds of years ago the men and boys had no machines to move the earth to find the gold.  Instead they worked like rabbits often digging in confined spaces working on their bellies. It was not easy. Sometimes even children work like men in terrible conditions.  Rain, hail or snow made no difference.

They had dug a massive hole which is now partially filling with water.  You can see a small hole in the side where they have continued their search.

This above picture shows two small holes where men have dug trying to improve their luck.

There is also another way of searching for gold and that is by digging in creeks or where you believe gold is and us a gold pan.  You need to put dirt into pan and if in a creek swirl it around until you remove all the dirt leaving the gold in bottom of the pan.

Gold Panning Kit with Mini Sluice Box, 12" Aluminum Gold Mining Equipment, 16 PCS Gold Prospecting Kit with Gold Pan, Classifier Screen, Separating Magnet, Drawstring Backpack and Accessories

The miners working on this one were luckier as they at least had room to move although they still could not have stood up. This would not have improved the aches in there backs from hours spent digging day after day and never finding anything at all.

These photos were taken at the old Mt Palmer mine just outside of Southern Cross Western Australia.

To give you a better idea on how hard it was for the men I wrote a couple of poems about this hardship.

Golden Earth

The lone Guard