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Placer mining is a hydraulic technique for separating gold from silt and soil—works sort of like mechanized panning. Often it was what you did with a claim once the big chunks had been removed with pick and shovel, and the yield was typically much lower. The Chinese specialized in these placer-mining clean-up operations, taking over claims that had been exhausted from the perspective of white miners. But then if a given claim turned out to be not so exhausted after all, they were prone to being displaced—it even happened in kinder, gentler Canada! They were well known to be an inferior and heathen race, so local law enforcement didn't exactly knock themselves out to protect them.
The item about Senator Ransom signifies that he's a bon vivant or a dandified sleazebag depending on the values you bring to the story.
Beats me what the English are doing with those $25 squirrels. In pairs.
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