diverrick
Sr. Member
- Jan 18, 2011
- 276
- 287
- Detector(s) used
- Whites MXT, Minelab Eureka gold
- Primary Interest:
- Other
I just received the book "California Gold Camps" I think I read it front to back last night. Could not put it down. If you have the fever, this is not a good book to read. It is like a book about how good drugs are, when your on heroin.
So I get all fired up after reading the book and decide to go find Murderers Bar. According to the book a lot of gold came out of those gravels. Once I looked it up, I realized that Hoser John had already been there, so the plan was to work the high dry banks, where hopefully he had not been.
I hit the road bright and early all fired up .. Gonna be a good day, full of gold, Yada yadda.
I was thinking as I drove this is gonna be the spot this time..
First thing I ran into when I got there, was a pay to park area. That pisses me off to start with. and cannot be a good sign for prospecting. So I had to drop 10 bucks just to park the friggin' car, then hike down to the river. No one there so I have the whole place to myself. That is a good sign, maybe, maybe not.
I found a promising spot behind a large well water worn rock and shoveled off the overburden, classified the lower stuff down to a full bucket of fines then set to panning. NO sluices allowed of course. THis is Commifornia after all.
I got absolutely nothing, not even a speck, so time to move. So much for that sample hole.
I found another nice spot behind another huge rock. this one looked like a good place to dig. I found hard packed gravels about a foot down that I had a heck of a time getting each rock free enough to remove. I picked and pried. This spot has GOT TO HAVE GOLD, as these are packed gravels. I was sweating hard in the direct sunlight, and it was an awkward position to kneel in. Hot as I was in between two large boulders.
After three hours of scratching, I had a 1/4 bucket of fines, so I went down and panned them out. If nothing else just to cool off. NOTHING again!!! WTF?
Is it me? I NEVER find gold, even though I go all the time, I beep, I dig, I sluice, I used to dredge before they banned it, and still nothing. 20+friggin years of serching and still not enough to even cover the bottom of a small vial. My wife says I should just give up. But I have the damned fever!! I can't stop.
I don't know what I am doing I guess. I would think that after all these trips, even a blind squirrel finds a nut, but not me. Damn!! Wasted a whole tank of gas and a whole day AGAIN for nothing.
I think I did better when I didn't know anything. This is so frustrating.
So I get all fired up after reading the book and decide to go find Murderers Bar. According to the book a lot of gold came out of those gravels. Once I looked it up, I realized that Hoser John had already been there, so the plan was to work the high dry banks, where hopefully he had not been.
I hit the road bright and early all fired up .. Gonna be a good day, full of gold, Yada yadda.
I was thinking as I drove this is gonna be the spot this time..
First thing I ran into when I got there, was a pay to park area. That pisses me off to start with. and cannot be a good sign for prospecting. So I had to drop 10 bucks just to park the friggin' car, then hike down to the river. No one there so I have the whole place to myself. That is a good sign, maybe, maybe not.
I found a promising spot behind a large well water worn rock and shoveled off the overburden, classified the lower stuff down to a full bucket of fines then set to panning. NO sluices allowed of course. THis is Commifornia after all.
I got absolutely nothing, not even a speck, so time to move. So much for that sample hole.
I found another nice spot behind another huge rock. this one looked like a good place to dig. I found hard packed gravels about a foot down that I had a heck of a time getting each rock free enough to remove. I picked and pried. This spot has GOT TO HAVE GOLD, as these are packed gravels. I was sweating hard in the direct sunlight, and it was an awkward position to kneel in. Hot as I was in between two large boulders.
After three hours of scratching, I had a 1/4 bucket of fines, so I went down and panned them out. If nothing else just to cool off. NOTHING again!!! WTF?
Is it me? I NEVER find gold, even though I go all the time, I beep, I dig, I sluice, I used to dredge before they banned it, and still nothing. 20+friggin years of serching and still not enough to even cover the bottom of a small vial. My wife says I should just give up. But I have the damned fever!! I can't stop.
I don't know what I am doing I guess. I would think that after all these trips, even a blind squirrel finds a nut, but not me. Damn!! Wasted a whole tank of gas and a whole day AGAIN for nothing.
I think I did better when I didn't know anything. This is so frustrating.
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but seeing as it was not in the crevices, I am going to scratch off the dried moss and see if I don't do a bit better. Of course while panning this out this evening there was one small piece I just left it there as I panned the rest of the material out. When I was about halfway through, I looked and it was gone. It is now somewhere in the safety trough, so I'll have to re pan it all and find that little piece. I could not do any more tonight, as it kills my back to pan for hours. I'll pick it up again this weekend.
