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Channels downstream of hydraulic mine were filled with sediment washed from the mines. Note that the channel in this photograph is being re-excavated, but is nowhere near the depth it was prior to the mining. The tree "stump" in the middle of the channel is actually 60 feet up the tree trunk, so it will be a long time before this channel reaches it's original configuration.

Little grows in the sterile sediments washed out of the mines, and mercury often contaminates the waste.