A face from the past,,,, reveals itself on my claim

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Now talk about a haunting experience,,,, I know not everyone has claims with past tailing piles but especially those with the hand stacked walls by the 1800's China men may heed warning to this message. This man walks daily past such walls each day to his claim but on each attempt, there is that sense of "wonderment" that occurs,,,, asking what really took place up here to make men stack such rock piles. Well, it was on this particular day of this past January 29th that I would question,,, who's watching over my back?
I had spent a good amount of the day removing ice and snow from an old tailing pile along an adjacent river. On every dump of the classified five gallon bucket, the sluice box would reveal little, if any, gold. On a last ditch effort to call it a loss, I took my trusty pick and notched out a deeper cut into the over stacked rock pile. To be quite frank, it was a lot of work that my clothing didn't want to absorb. However after several shovels of gravel the sluice box yielded not only some great color but a nice 1/2 penny weight nugget. As always, you gotta capture the moment and so I took the following pictures. A later look at the pics revealed an astonishing face in the water looking near that productive hole (see photo 1 -yellow arrow points to such face just left of the shovel handle). One's got to question, is this just a camera glitch, am I seeing something others are not, or is this the real deal and did I just experience "a face from the past?" I'd like you thoughts on this. The nugget photo in the field and in its close-up can be seen in the last two photos.

 

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[IdahoGoldGettR]

Terribly sorry for the late response to everyone's great comments but I was enjoying a little steelhead fishing and yes, I did do some prospecting at the claim recently (photos will be posted shortly after this reply).

IdahoGoldGettr,

First, congratulations on the gold! That's some nice results!

Second, it doesn't look like a panda to me. Go back, look again, and think "hockey mask". You say you feel like someone is watching you?

BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Greg

Well Greg, your words of a "hockey mask" was my first reaction when I downloaded that picture. I said to myself, "wow, I have Jason on my claim!" It almost ended there with that thought but what took place while I passing my tailings in route to the lower part of my claim is how I precluded to write the titled, "A face from the past,,, reveals itself on my claim." Though I hadn't mentioned this in my introduction (for fear that I'd be judged as a psycho or someone looking to make up a drama lined editorial) the truth to the matter was, I did see someone one hours earlier before I took this snap shot. Now over the past five to six years I have walked up and down this same stretch of tailings never really paying no mind to the woods itself but to the ground work that was laid some 150 years earlier. However on this 29th day of January, there would be a strange twist to a morning's brisk walk to the claim. As I descended down through this wooded draw of numerous old tailing piles, I got a cold chill to the back of my neck as if something rushed pass me. There was no wind, no bird to be seen, nor a pine branch within arms reach of me to have initiated such an act, yet there was this odd feeling about the whole ordeal. I shrugged my shoulders as if nothing took place but in doing so, I caught a glimpse of something to my left. The figure was slow in its departure but methodical in such away that it would only be observed from afar. It's appearance, though shadowy and mysterious like, seemed to resemble that of a Chinaman. The bamboo hat, tattered clothes, and the sunken face led me to believe that this man was of this earth long before I laid claim to it. And as quickly as it transpired, it was soon gone. I chalked that one up to as being just a figment of my imagination and continued my journey to the far end of the claim. The rest lay within the photos I took of that day. I might add here that shortly thereafter, I relayed this message to my mining partner Bob who acknowledged the "great unknown" and he also shared with me a similar haunting experience. There you have the whole story, take it how ever you like. You may mock me, call me psycho, or a down right crazy old fool, but until you experience such phenomenon, you'll never understand the mysteries of life. Or question as I have. It certainly made for an interesting day that's for sure!

 

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[IdahoGoldGettR]

Is that the same spot as this?

Luke,,, good question. Close but nope, different hole. Same tailing pile but only a stone throw away from the one you pictured. Nice to see you follow my winter prospects. Thanks.

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

April fools baby huh? Just wanted to say happy birthday - You prospect like 33! Congrats!!

When I come down this summer I have a late birthday present I am sure you will love

Hopefully I can talk you out of some of those quartz specimens this time too...

I couldn't quite figure as to how you knew when my B-day was then it dawned on me,,, the other forum posts all members birthdays. Well, thanks for recognizing it. Now everyone can confer that I am a crazy old "fool."
I look forward to seeing you this summer. Perhaps then I'll introduce you to my new inmates; the Chinaman, panda bear, Jason, a polar bear or two, and let me not forget the penguins. lol.

 

[AuTSaurus]

IdahoGldGttr,

No mocking, or any kind of derision here, not by any means! There is too much out there, unexplained, that
has been going on for a long, long time, that like you say, makes a person's "sixth sense" as it where, go crazy!
More people than can be counted, I'm sure, experience unexplained things like what you described, in their own particular circumstances.

Greg

 

[diverrick]

THAT has got to be some damned cold water to work in! Great gold though.

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

It may be spring like weather in most states and though the high water here in Idaho suggests the same, there is still snow in the back country. During such time I took a few days away from the typical daily life to do some steelhead fishing and help sponsor the local fish derby. Here are a few photos that where taken during such event. Note: Fish & Game had stated that the fish numbers were up and announced a quota of 3 steelhead a day with 9 in possession per person. Ironically, these steelhead and many others caught this week, were fished from a gold bearing stream that has been draglined and dredged for over a half century. Still, EPA wishes to close dredging to this stream just to please the greenies. No steelhead here.

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

IdahoGldGttr,

No mocking, or any kind of derision here, not by any means! There is too much out there, unexplained, that
has been going on for a long, long time, that like you say, makes a person's "sixth sense" as it where, go crazy!
More people than can be counted, I'm sure, experience unexplained things like what you described, in their own particular circumstances.

Greg

Again thanks Greg for your comment and for seeing my side of the story. I firmly believe that whether it's a "face from the past" or the man himself from above, there is someone watching over me on this claim and he seems to be pointing me in the right direction to the gold. Kudos to whoever you are!

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

With the steelhead fishing behind me, it was high time to visit the claim to satisfy my hunger for gold. As mentioned previously, it's still a partial winter setting in the back country. Upon my arrival, I was greeted with the remains of better than a foot of snow on the banks. To make matters worse, I will have to contend with several feet of higher water than the previous outing. As I always say, "Gold has no boundaries - Nor do I." And so knowing well in advance to what I may encounter, I traded in my hip boots and packed in the always durable Lacrosse chest waders. The holes that I worked in February were without question, not accessible nor workable. After sampling and finding gold on the only higher ground in the area (another tailing pile), I pulled out the Jobe sluice box and my Deserdog hand dredge and went to work. I'd like to take this moment to say, I can't stress to you how vital it is to see the area you are working. Prospecting the summer with the use of a snorkel, goggles, and a possible wet suit is one thing. The use (where legal) of a heat exchange unit on a dredge or if you can afford a hookah system, mask, and a dry suit is another. But to the typical prospector who is limited to the likes of hand tools, waders, and waterproof gauntlet gloves during such sub-chilled temperature waters, the use of a "view finder" is an essential part of the trade. Not a winter day of prospecting goes by where I do not use one and for those who would like to be enlightened on this subject, I have provided the following statement with the attached photo:



My version of the "box viewer" for which I have come to call it, is simply a pine wood box with 1x5" boards glued to a clear plexy-glass. To keep this 12"x16" box secure and prevent drifting away, rope is threaded through a heavy pipe (any weight will do), with each end tied to eye hooks. I might add here that a weight with a single line to the box works just as well. A great surface view finder when operating in calm water.

**Back to the story. A ton of work went into removing and tossing out the old tailing / overburden (if you want to call it that). Why, you ask? My earlier sampling proved this to hold no gold value and so I elected to work the bedrock which it lay nearly two feet below the water's surface. As I said, it was tedious and a lot of work but I had an amazing day while viewing through my box viewer. Some of this bedrock seemed to be untouched which presented me with a showy display of gold particles. On occasion, I could see several pickers lying below. Talk about a spectacle. It was enough to make me want to break out the tweezers and grab them instantly! I reasoned with the thought and concluded that the use of a shovel or the hand dredge was a safer option. As the day came to a close, I felt blessed to have had such an experience and surmised that the effort put into an unlikely pile of old tailings was definitely worth a trip to the back country. A quick pan of the sluice box before my departure proved,, it was indeed a great day! Unfortunately in my haste to take photos, I had forgotten to take one of the work area. Nonetheless, here are the few pics that I did take of that day. The last photo shows the total gold in a close up. The weigh in was several penny weights. Cheers - Randy