Rope and pulley system for buckets?

[MrGneissGuy]

Hey guys I've been doing a lot of research and I found some photos from the 1930's for my area. It appears as though they were actually using a pulley system to move buckets of material off the hillside. I've been wondering about this, since it seems to me the best gold is up there. I'm not really sure why everyone mines in the river...maybe since it's easy? Anyways, I have a friend coming for the weekend and I thought it would be really fun to build a pulley system to move dirt down to the river. I was thinking one of us would fill buckets while the other fed the sluice. Obviously, this is not a simple endeavor and I don't even know if there's a crazy law about it, but who knows anymore. Anyways, do you guys think it's possible and/or worthwhile? I'm guessing it would take a lot more work than if I were to just carry the buckets of dirt, but that's not as fun.

 

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[Vance in AK]

Man there used to be a good video of someone doing just that on youtube... And I'll bet Reed Lukens has something on video...

 

[N-Lionberger]

like this?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Some guys used to do that at Cache Creek CO...a sort of zip line setup.

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

Pulley on both ends, 2 buckets. Fill up a bucket up top and let it go, the empty bucket at the bottom comes right up to the top.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Pulley on both ends, 2 buckets. Fill up a bucket up top and let it go, the empty bucket at the bottom comes right up to the top.

View attachment 1471329

With a heavy bucket coming down you won't even need that motor

 

[MrGneissGuy]

Are there any laws against this in California?

 

[goldog]

Don't get your hopes up. If you are in a populated area I think it would be a no._.

On the other hand, A Harbor Freight just opened five minutes away.

The video was interesting. Could probably do better without the fishing pole. Oh yea, and be careful.

 

[mike(swWash)]

I'd set it up with 2 parallel zip lines with a bucket on each and a line running thru a pulley on top. When the full bucket goes down it pulls the empty bucket back up. Fill-empty-repeat. Twice the productivity with no wasted time bucket fishing or manually retrieving with an attached line.

 

[trdking]

If its in California, its bound to Pi$$ off someone!

 

[Underburden]

In most states threatened by the EPA, no introduction of material from outside the creek goes into the creek.
You'd have to bring water to the upland location.
Another reason why they outlawed hydraulic mining...too much foreign material entering the watershed.

 

[KevinInColorado]

In most states threatened by the EPA, no introduction of material from outside the creek goes into the creek.
You'd have to bring water to the upland location.
Another reason why they outlawed hydraulic mining...too much foreign material entering the watershed.

Nonsense. 5 gal buckets are not a significant disturbance at any level including "introduction of foreign material to the watershed". Show us a reference that says otherwise!

 

[Reed Lukens]

It's not simply rope and pulleys, it's 1/2" cable or larger in the picture, stretched tight. And even then, it will still sag with a full bucket if not winched down correctly. That set up took a lot of engineering

 

[Vance in AK]

like this?

That's the one I was thinking of...

 

[bcfromfl]

I would think with the amount of engineering, trial-and-error, equipment, etc., necessary to get a bucket and pulley system operational, you'd be better off (and money ahead) to use a drywasher at the site.

 

[huntsman53]

It's not simply rope and pulleys, it's 1/2" cable or larger in the picture, stretched tight. And even then, it will still sag with a full bucket if not winched down correctly. That set up took a lot of engineering

Yeah but using a fishing pole. A small rope to retrieve the bucket each time would be more efficient and time saving. Also, it appears that there are three people in the video, so why is one guy doing all of the digging, sending the material across and retrieving the bucket? Oh I forgot, you have to have someone supervising and drinking all the beer!

Added: Sorry! I now see you were talking about the old picture and not the video. My bad!!


Frank

 

[Duckshot]

Would a chute work?

 

[juneaupanner]

Would a chute work?

Yes

 

[Clay Diggins]

Would a chute work?

parachute?

 

[Duckshot]

parachute?

No. Like a tube or slide you drop things down that controls where the material falls.

I helped a dude clean out an apartment once. The tenant had died inside and was not found for days. 4th floor, not dragging the trash down the stairs or elevator. We hung a couple of sonotube fastened together right off the balcony and threw all the stinky trash down the sonotube chute to the dumpster.

Might work for throwing dirt down a steep hill.