Many flumes took[when?] the form of wooden troughs elevated on trestles, often following the natural contours of the land. Originating as a part of a mill race, they were later used in the transportation of logs in the logging industry, known as a log flume. They were also extensively used in hydraulic mining and working placer deposits for gold, tin and other heavy minerals.\n', '

The term flume comes from the Old French word flum, from the Latin flumen, meaning a river. It was formerly used for a stream, and particularly for the tail of a mill race. It is used in America for a very narrow gorge running between precipitous rocks, with a stream at the bottom, but more frequently is applied to an artificial channel of wood or other material for the diversion of a stream of water from a river for purposes of irrigation, for running a sawmill, or for various processes in the hydraulic method of gold-mining.\n', '

A diversionary flume is used to transfer water from one body to another, such as between two reservoirs.\n', '

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