jerk water , gozen

[Mullins, Bill]

jerk water, jerkwater -- OED has 1878 for the railroad sense and 1897 for the attributive, general sense

[railroad sense]
KENTUCKY.
New York Times; Sep 24, 1865; pg. 2 col 6.
"A little jerk-water engine, which looks as if it was stuck together simultaneously with the building of Noah's ark, runs "wild" through this wild region as often as they get a load of people and other things."

[attributive sense]

Nevada | Reno | Nevada State Journal | 1878-01-18 p. 2 col 2. "The Undeveloped Wealth of Humboldt County"
"Leaving the railroad at Mill City in company with an old friend, who has stuck to Humboldt through all her dark days, we bounced over twelve miles of rough road in a jerk-water stage wagon, that threatened to dislocate my spinal column in six different places at once."

Illinois | Decatur | The Decatur Morning Review | 1890-01-09 p. 2 col 1.  "An Old Chronic"
"He is a jerkwater politician who lives down on Spring Avenue,and who has an uncontrollable inclination to win bread by constantly crying out the very superior excellence of his particular brand of patriotism."

gozen -- not in OED

Nevada | Reno | Nevada State Journal | 1878-01-18 p. 2 col 2. "The Undeveloped Wealth of Humboldt County"
"Leaving this promising mine we passed half a mile further north up a steep hill aad long, narrow ravine, to a vein of what is known among miners as "gozen." This is a mixture of iron, lead and silver with vein matter and the whole completely oxydized. This gozen vein is ten or fifteen feet thick and is so soft that it can be almost shoveled out.

This is an odd little word -- I don't find it anywhere else in ProQuest, or the digitized historical newspapers of Colorado or Utah, either Making of America, or any other of the American databases I have access to.   But later on in the article, it refers to Cornish miners.  So it may be of English origin.

The [London] Times, Friday, Apr 15, 1825; pg. 2; Issue 12628; col A
     Cornwall and Devonshire Mining Company.-Capital, £500,000, in 10,000 Shares of £50 each.
Category: Classified Advertising
"I entertain a favourable result of these mines when put to work, from the appearance of the gozen or back of the veins, which, in my opinion are similar to those which have made considerable quantities of copper in depth."