Modern Prospecting - The Trashcan Drywasher

Drywashing is a device to recover gold from dry sand and rock without the use of water.
The technique goes back to the early mining days when the Spanish were mining in Mexico and California.
The early drywashers were nothing more then a blanket held by two men tossing the material into the air and letting the wind blow away the dirt and sand.
The California miners improved on this method using a sluice box with screen wire on the bottom covered with a layer of cloth with a weave loose enough to allow air to flow through it to carry off the lighter unwanted materials.
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