Placer Claim No. 2 above Discovery

Placer Claim No. 2 above Discovery. . The land before you was once part of Placer Claim No. 2 above Discovery on Whitewood Creek. In 2017, construction workers unearthed the remains of a placer drift mining operation near this sign. The discovery consisted of thirteen logs used to support the walls and ceiling of a tunnel, called a "drift”. , A placer drift mining operation consisted of a vertical shaft excavated down to bedrock. Prospectors then dug a series of horizontal tunnels, called drifts, along the bedrock following the “pay streak" or gold bearing gravels. These gravels were then brought to the surface through a hoisting system known as a windlass. During the excavation process, wood logs were installed in the shaft and drift to prevent a potential collapse. , According to the June 17, 1877 Daily Deadwood Pioneer-Times newspaper, "The Woodbury Brothers on No. 2 above discovery on Whitewood, got one dollar and twenty-eight cents to the pan on Saturday. They are just opening their claim." , Within a month, the mining operations on this claim were expanded to a twenty person operation paying on average $20 per day per individual. On July 5, 1881, the claim was surveyed and patented as Mineral Survey #308. , In 2018, dendrochronological analysis (tree ring analysis) was performed on logs from this drift. All the samples were identified as being native ponderosa pine. Six of the thirteen samples had a felling or cutting date of 1878 making this one of the oldest intact archaeological features in Deadwood. , Captions: , Excerpt from Mineral Survey #308 Plat Map surveyed on July 5, 1881. , June 26, 2017 discovery of the drift on Placer Claim No. 2 above Discovery on Whitewood Creek. , Illustration of a placer drift mining operation.