Long tom

Definition of long tom

• A gold washing machine or table about twenty-four feet in length, two feet in width, and with sides twelve inches in height. The bottom is lined with sheet-iron one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The table rests on logs of wood laid on the ground, which give it a slight fall. The washdirt is thrown into the table at its head (near the mouth of the pump, which supplies it with water), and it is mixed with water by forks and gradually washed down to the hopper, through which the finer portion passes on to the ripple-board, where the gold is caught by the ripples and blankets ; the coarser gravel, which will not pass through the hopper, is cast away.

– The Gold Fields and Mineral Districts of Victoria, 1869