an old timer prospector I met 15 years ago...

[golden sluice]

I was heading up past barton flats to start working an area I dug the day before, when I came across an old timer on the trail. This guy had been camping up there for some time with his son. They had dug themselves a nice trough through an ancient gravel bank 50 feet from the waters edge. They dug it down and followed the sloping bed rock finding good gold along the way. He saw that I was sluicing and said I should follow him over to where they were. I went along. He and his son started talking about locating gold and what I should look for as indicators. Now, I showed him what I had found already that summer. He was impressed... then they showed me theirs! My jaw dropped. It wasnt in a vial. I thought the old timer had a wallet in his front pocket! It wasn't a wallet. It was an ingot! That was their flower gold! Then they showed me the nuggets. My god! They had 2 half oz.ers and 8 heavy plinckers for that month. I knew then that I was doing something wrong. They said, nope. I just need to read the river better and stay a long while and find my groove.

I just want to know if any of you guys have run across any prospectors, stories or situations where the gold was unreal?+=

 

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[Hoser John]

Wisdom from the aged is a lost art now. Elders are ignored instead of mining their experiences and knowledge. I've found some of my nicest gold specimens utilizing info from a old mining gal, Deadwood Jane RIP ,a pistol packn' gal who lived in shasta county for years. Sounds like a real educational experience- John

 

[Astrobouncer]

Yes, theres a story I have heard from a couple of the older prospectors of a guy who was dredging pounds of gold out of a spot I think in the 80s. He found so much gold, he wasnt even bothering with the fines, just taking the coarse gold and nuggets covering the inspection mat. The fact that I have heard the same story from a couple different guys, and they all reference the same general area, makes me think it might be true. But who knows.

 

[cazisme]

In the mid 90s I had a service business and I taught people different courses. One day a friend of mine sent one of his workers in to get trained and He drove up in a boat of a car I notice no lock on trunk it was a larger 4 door from the 70s. I taught him and was shooting the crap with him when mining came up said he dredged in the summer. Eventually he said would you like to see some of the gold I got. I follow hime to his car he opens trunk with a screwdriver and pulls out a knapsack go back to my office he sets on my desk pulls out a folded leather pouch about the size of a small loaf of bread and pours it contents on my desk ziplock bags from flour to fingernail size nuggets I am dazzled then he pulls out the big ones size of my thumb 5-10 of them. I think he had between 15-25 lbs. So it is possible and was possible he dredged a lot in the Yuba he said.

 

[63bkpkr]

Well John, when I finally get old I hope I'm useful like that!.....................63bkpkr

 

[cazisme]

Hoser John, are those techniques in your prior posts? Are you willing to share a few?

 

[spillercanyon]

I met a prospector in the Mojave desert living in an old dugout in the 70s. After talking a while, he invited me in and showed me a couple of Mason jars full of gold. He told me there was plenty where that came from but he only mined until he got enough to live for awhile and then buried the vein until next time. Locals said he had a habit of disappearing in the night every few months and would come back a week or so later, Mason jars full.

 

[Hefty1]

Well John, when I finally get old I hope I'm useful like that!.....................63bkpkr

That will never happen........the old part that is...

 

[golden sluice]

Nice, I enjoy finding out about those lone wolf miners who just nonchalantly show you how bad you've got gold fever. Those old timer prospectors are still out there. They just have an assistant grandson now. I havent seen the old timer in my story since then. Maybe he went in search of the Treasure of sierra madre

 

[goldenmojo]

I think when I grow up I want to be an old timer.........

 

[golden sluice]

I think I want to be an old timer too.

 

[Lanny in AB]

I was heading up past barton flats to start working an area I dug the day before, when I came across an old timer on the trail. This guy had been camping up there for some time with his son. They had dug themselves a nice trough through an ancient gravel bank 50 feet from the waters edge. They dug it down and followed the sloping bed rock finding good gold along the way. He saw that I was sluicing and said I should follow him over to where they were. I went along. He and his son started talking about locating gold and what I should look for as indicators. Now, I showed him what I had found already that summer. He was impressed... then they showed me theirs! My jaw dropped. It wasnt in a vial. I thought the old timer had a wallet in his front pocket! It wasn't a wallet. It was an ingot! That was their flower gold! Then they showed me the nuggets. My god! They had 2 half oz.ers and 8 heavy plinckers for that month. I knew then that I was doing something wrong. They said, nope. I just need to read the river better and stay a long while and find my groove. I just want to know if any of you guys have run across any prospectors, stories or situations where the gold was unreal?+=

What most beginners fail to realize, is that the real gold strike is when you meet someone like you just did. That's where the "golden" opportunity is, to listen to those Oldtimers tell you how it's done, where to look, what to watch for. I've learned so much more from Sourdoughs than I've ever learned from books.

Don't get me wrong; there's a lot of good information in books. But having a real live person show you how to find the gold is priceless. Having a person tell you secrets of how to prospect certain areas is priceless. Finding one willing to share is also priceless.

As John says, "Wisdom from the aged is a lost art now. Elders are ignored instead of mining their experiences and knowledge. I've found some of my nicest gold specimens utilizing info from a old mining gal, Deadwood Jane RIP ,a pistol packn' gal who lived in shasta county for years." And, John should know. I also know the value of those Argonauts that have blazed the trails before me, and I genuinely respect every tidbit they're willing to share with me.

For those that are always in a hurry when you're out chasing the gold, slow down whenever you meet someone that you know has been working the gold for many years and take the time to listen. That also is a lost art: taking the time to listen. Too many people are in far too much of a hurry to take the time to listen because they only have so much time to prospect. They'd rather rush off to the stream to pan, or swing that detector, but they may have just let a fantastic golden opportunity slip right through their fingers, an opportunity that might have led them to far more gold (in many ways) than the small amount of gold they found in the stream, or the specks they detected.

All the best,

Lanny

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html

 

[augoldminer]

I learned how to hard rock mine from one of those old time tramp miners.
then turned around and taught him and others how to find gold in hard rock with a metal detector.

I worked my way up from nipper to mine superintendent.

 

[63bkpkr]

augoldminer , very interesting comments! I would love to hear more and maybe see some pictures of previous to current times of your adventures!!

Lanny, you are not an "old timer" yet though you've shared so many tidbits with all of us here and they are valuable tb's! One of these days when Texas is behind me I would like to venture back to MY canyon in CA and do some more snooping around in at least two spots I know of and then I'd have more to share.

Hefty1, thank you for the insight into your feelings about my abilities in time to come. I must admit I feel the same as you do about them. Currently I'm exercising as much as my shoulder will allow though I'm considering adding a small weight/bar bell set to my floor exercises. Then I will add bicycle riding to the other stuff and the weight should start slipping off. Hey send me an email I've a picture to share................6bkpkr

 

[russau]

its kinda funny when you think about it, but when your young you think time is soooooooooooooooooo slow and then POP your old and wonder where all the time went! when you have a opertuninty like has been discussed with a old timer, take advantage of it BEFORE it slips away!

 

[Hoser John]

In 1983 I was washed off my merced claims by massive storms. I blew up the last of the dynamite,loaded up and headed home. Stopped in the pizza joint and empty except for a single ol'crusty fella with a backpak who was steel wooling a rusty pan. I ordered a pizza and a pitcher and asked if he mineded some company in the mt place. Told him my tale of woe trying to follow a pocket gold stringer I found. Last biggest bung was full of black iron so I packed a dozen or sticks in there and blew it over miles a country side. He smiled and asked if I had kept any. I laughed and took out a celophane cig pak cover with a teaspoon fulla garbage I kept as a reminder to my wasted hunt. He smiled,reached over,took it,put it in his pan and reached into his pak and took out a small bleach bottle. Poured a few tablespoons in and swirled for a minute-100% GOLD as the iron/maganese stains were removed and I blew that multi pounded gloryhole over miles a canyon hahahaha.. Mining is a learning event from day 1 and great to learn something new from someone old. Now I'm old and trying to pass it forward-my knowledge from mistakes so someone else doesn't repeat the same---tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[Oakview2]

The pizza place is now rebuilt from the fire and ready for you to relive some memories.

 

[golden sluice]

Hoser john, break out the metal detectors and check out the blast area of where that dynamite may have blown the gold debris.

 

[golden sluice]

Ok here it is! The last old timer story that I was told and shown. It is how to snipe. In 2003 I was living in reno nv, my favorite place to gold sluice was just east of a place called camp Washington on the eastern yuba river. Now I went there often, like every 3 days if I could. I met a local named mike. He showed me how to snipe, and do it really light. Real simple, he said, get a gum scraper, a car battery sucker bottle, or a turkey baster. A horeshoe cleaning tool (looks like a bent flat head screwdriver. Pool mask, And a hiking hammer. 35 mm film bottle. Use the river as a road so dress for swimming the river. Swim the pools and stay safe. Diveto the bottem where the current pushes and search there and find gold traps. Dont get stuck. Work with the tools in bedrock. Wiggle out the pebble rocks in the cracks and split open the rocks. Next, suck out gold barring soils with the baster. Blow out the cons into the you pan and put the plinkers into the 35mm canaster. Keep going, and dont forget to eat the wild raspberries along the way. The yuba was lots of fun in the summertime. Especially when I drifted down the river and a deer swam past me.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Ok here it is! The last old timer story that I was told and shown. It is how to snipe. In 2003 I was living in reno nv, my favorite place to gold sluice was just east of a place called camp Washington on the eastern yuba river. Now I went there often, like every 3 days if I could. I met a local named mike. He showed me how to snipe, and do it really light. Real simple, he said, get a gum scraper, a car battery sucker bottle, or a turkey baster. A horeshoe cleaning tool (looks like a bent flat head screwdriver. Pool mask, And a hiking hammer. 35 mm film bottle. Use the river as a road so dress for swimming the river. Swim the pools and stay safe. Diveto the bottem where the current pushes and search there and find gold traps. Dont get stuck. Work with the tools in bedrock. Wiggle out the pebble rocks in the cracks and split open the rocks. Next, suck out gold barring soils with the baster. Blow out the cons into the you pan and put the plinkers into the 35mm canaster. Keep going, and dont forget to eat the wild raspberries along the way. The yuba was lots of fun in the summertime. Especially when I drifted down the river and a deer swam past me.

Great little story! Thanks for taking the time to write it up to share it.

All the best,

Lanny

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting-gold/69-bedrock-gold-mysteries.html