C. Nyal de Kaye
New member
Many on this site may never have the opportunity to see a Puddler, or the remains of one, and perhaps may never have heard of such a device anyway.
A Puddler was a horse-driven tool used to break up clayey ground that contained gold.
Initially in Australia, this breaking up was done by putting the clay into a wooden drum, adding water, and stirring with a shovel or some similar thing. It was like a washing machine.
Later, the idea was expanded to a horse driven device as shown in the following pic. The horse walked in endless circles dragging a heavy rake-like framework that, little by little, broke up the clay and exposed the gold for extraction and thus created wealth. Here is the pic that explains the process far better than my words could. The groove is lined on both sides and bottom with boards. If you look closely you can see the chains hooked to the rake device. The clay was thrown in and slowly crunched up exposing the gold.
The use of Puddlers led to a remarkable change in Australia's political life. Certain politicians were amazed to learn that a horse walking around in endless circles somehow produced wealth. They figured that if a mere horse running in endless circles was such a good thing then a man doing the same should be even more productive.
Consequently they perfected this technique in Australia and our politicians have been running around in endless circles ever since. I believe that this great Australian initiative has been subsequently adapted by world-wide politicians of all persuasions!
The subtle difference, missed by the politicians, was that the horse actually accomplished something and was productive. Achieving something worthwhile and creating wealth is a strange concept for politicians to understand; so they don't!
Most of the old Puddler's are in disrepair having suffered the same fate. The wooden walls and flooring rotted away over the years. Prospectors then pulled any of the surviving woodwork apart seeking any gold had fallen through the cracks.
All that is left in many areas today is the circular hole that the wooden framework once covered. There are lots of Puddlers scattered about our goldfields and this is how they mostly now look.
If you compare this with the older pic above it should be obvious how it all worked.
Just so you won't die wondering, I did give this hole a good seeing to with the GPX4500, but 4971 other detectorists had beaten me to it.
Recently my wife, sister-in-law and I, were out looking over a few potential detecting sites when we came upon this old Puddler in surprisingly good condition.
The floor is lined with bricks that have been well gouged by the weights scraping across them over the years. I have never seen a brick one before.
That's my sister-in-law Lyn who is a proper nut when it comes to gold detecting. Robyn and I are about as nutty as she is, but Robyn is not in the pic as she was taking it!
I hope that this is of interest to many who may never see these things for themselves.
A Puddler was a horse-driven tool used to break up clayey ground that contained gold.
Initially in Australia, this breaking up was done by putting the clay into a wooden drum, adding water, and stirring with a shovel or some similar thing. It was like a washing machine.
Later, the idea was expanded to a horse driven device as shown in the following pic. The horse walked in endless circles dragging a heavy rake-like framework that, little by little, broke up the clay and exposed the gold for extraction and thus created wealth. Here is the pic that explains the process far better than my words could. The groove is lined on both sides and bottom with boards. If you look closely you can see the chains hooked to the rake device. The clay was thrown in and slowly crunched up exposing the gold.
The use of Puddlers led to a remarkable change in Australia's political life. Certain politicians were amazed to learn that a horse walking around in endless circles somehow produced wealth. They figured that if a mere horse running in endless circles was such a good thing then a man doing the same should be even more productive.
Consequently they perfected this technique in Australia and our politicians have been running around in endless circles ever since. I believe that this great Australian initiative has been subsequently adapted by world-wide politicians of all persuasions!
The subtle difference, missed by the politicians, was that the horse actually accomplished something and was productive. Achieving something worthwhile and creating wealth is a strange concept for politicians to understand; so they don't!
Most of the old Puddler's are in disrepair having suffered the same fate. The wooden walls and flooring rotted away over the years. Prospectors then pulled any of the surviving woodwork apart seeking any gold had fallen through the cracks.
All that is left in many areas today is the circular hole that the wooden framework once covered. There are lots of Puddlers scattered about our goldfields and this is how they mostly now look.
If you compare this with the older pic above it should be obvious how it all worked.
Just so you won't die wondering, I did give this hole a good seeing to with the GPX4500, but 4971 other detectorists had beaten me to it.
Recently my wife, sister-in-law and I, were out looking over a few potential detecting sites when we came upon this old Puddler in surprisingly good condition.
The floor is lined with bricks that have been well gouged by the weights scraping across them over the years. I have never seen a brick one before.
That's my sister-in-law Lyn who is a proper nut when it comes to gold detecting. Robyn and I are about as nutty as she is, but Robyn is not in the pic as she was taking it!
I hope that this is of interest to many who may never see these things for themselves.
Ma Betty
