Placer Mining
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Ernest Fiene’s murals portray many technical processes relevant to the U.S. Department of the Interior. In Fighting Forest Fire, men work to isolate the fire by felling trees along its perimeter and digging trenches to prevent sparks from igniting the surrounding brush. Describing this work, Fiene stated, “The background shows the ravage of an intense forest fire. In this panel I have attempted to fuse all the elements into a dramatic whole.”
Placer Mining is a composite image of the many operations used during the open-cast or surface method of mining for gold. The figure in the left foreground pans for gold; to the right a man with a hose illustrates the process of hydraulic mining. Farther into the distance are scenes showing men removing gold dirt, which is shoveled into a water-filled trough. Another man stands in the trough and mixes the soil with water to isolate the ore. In the background, a dredger mechanically separates gold from the rock and soil. Concerned with the educational value of his work, Fiene combined these scenes, which would never have occurred in the same place, to show the many processes of placer mining.
