long tom†

Placer Mining

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

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

Quotations

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.