Another mine in which we became interested and spent time and money on was north of Grants Pass, Oregon. The stream, which had produced a lot of gold in the past, was called Tom East Creek. There was an old set of mining buildings, which had been used many years before. A ditch had been dug a distance of many miles to bring water for hydraulicing the gold bearing gravel. The vertical fall from this ditch to the mine was 400 feet. A steel pipe brought the water down to the bottom where it operated a huge nozzle called a giant. This nozzle was made to be directed to any point by turning a small, adjustable nozzle at its end. The nozzle was so large that a seat was built on it and the operator rode on the nozzle, moving with it as he steered it. The jet was 6" in diameter and with about 400 ft. of water behind it the power was enormous. Banks of gravel would be undermined and drop to be washed down to the long sluice boxes. As the gravel was washed through the sluice boxes over various types of riffles, the gold settled there and the gravel washed on. The power of the water would roll big rocks weighing hundreds of pounds. Unfortunately, the amount of gold recovered was never enough to fully pay the expenses.
The depression struck at that time and men were out of work by the hundreds. There was no unemployment compensation or any kind of help from the government.
Things were going badly with us. I got a bright idea and went to Seattle where I recruited a number of men. I offered them a decent bunk house and boarding house with a small amount of cash for tobacco, etc., and an agreement to pay additional money if and when we made money from the gold mine. The men were quite agreeable and seemed quite content with the deal, as they now had a comfortable home and all the good food they wanted.
No one worked too hard and all were happy until a federal agent suddenly appeared one day, having been sent by some agency to whom I made some reports. According to the man I was committing a horrible illegal crime and was subject to severe penalties. Apparently I was subjecting my men to some form of slavery. The man was generous enough not to arrest me and have me thrown into jail for attempted slavery. I agreed to no longer carry on as I had and we had to let our friends go to struggle or starve elsewhere.