DCHP-1 Online

long tom † Placer Mining

• a long box or trough containing riffles (def. 2) by means of which gold is separated from gravel. [See picture at sluice-box.]

  See also: riffle ((n.)) (def. 2)  sluice-box  

  • 1852  The plough is a far more profitable instrument than "the long Tom" or "the rocker."
  • 1963  [Caption] A long-tom with one man bailing water and the other shovelling gravel. Coarse coco-matting covers the bottom of the sluice-box.