Poking Around at a Claim

[SchoolOfHardRocks]

As i was discussing my ambitions of finding gold for the upcomng weekend with some coworkers at work, someone made a comment that I couldnt ignore.. "I have some land in Mariposa county". Turns out he got the claim from a friend and just uses it for a shooting range as he has little interest for gold. Long story short, he told me i can go anytime and drew me a map! I asked what percentage he would like and he refused saying that hes just happy to have someone checkout the property to see if anyone is jumping it-I'll bring him some beer on monday. So i get up early saturday morning and head for the hills. Beautiful scenes of rolling hills dotted with circling hawks were abound. I get to the claim and it is just as he told, a short walk down the hill to the creek -i can even see my car most of the time. I decided to follow some bedrock with pretty large boulders on it right next to the creek. I found a nice little picker and a few flakes. There were huge tailings piles everywhere from the 1800's paired with pits in the landscape. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful area, the only soul i saw all day was a visiting butterfly who kept me company for a pretty long while. Unfortunately i did see some small mining activity. I found a screen hidden between some rocks, and a rather large hole on the sidebank that looked to be no older than a week. Also there were little holes all over the place, its clear someone had been sampling there, i even found their orange peels. The claim jumpers also tore down his no trespassing signs and folded them up before throwing them along the mountainside -maybe i will put some new ones up if my buddy wants me to. All in all it was a great day and im glad to have a new area to explore!

I think i did ok for about 4 hours of poking around. That picker has me excited as to what else may be around.. Im looking forward to breaking out the sluice and running some more material next visit!

 

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[rodoconnor]

A nice photo of a Mariposa

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Nice pic of the Buckeye Butterfly -- and the gold

 

[Kenmitch]

Nice! I'd follow the butterfly and see if he rests on giant nuggets for camouflage..... Looks to have same colors as your gold on my phone at least. Mariposa is a nice area!

 

[ratled]

You should work a deal to let you mine it to keep the claim legal and do the assessment work every year. You wind up doing him a favor and you get to work a claim. Shoot (pun intended) let him sell you the claim and you let him shoot there all he wants!


ratled

 

[Aufisher]

Sweet picker! Looks like a great claim!

 

[SunshineMiner]

Score! Fine finds all around man! All that goodness in the pan looks nice and chunky too! not too flat

 

[Kenmitch]

Mariposa area is a good area to metal detect for nuggets I've read. Most likely the little holes all over the place are from detectors. Maybe little nuggets, maybe just trash, maybe big nuggets? Really hard to eliminate gold poaching on a claim that isn't actively being worked. If your gonna get claim jumped then probably the detector slingers are the best ones to have. Most likely the small gold heavily out ways the larger detectable nuggets....Sucks either way as larger nuggets are what one really seeks in the end.

 

[bcfromfl]

If you think you could do it without the cameras getting stolen, you might set up one or two game cameras to catch the jumpers in the act!!

 

[Laz7777]

mariposa=butterfly en espanol....
love that little town, never did any digging there, but the town shimmers with cool...

found a little something east of town on the Merced and Bear creek, this was when I was a greenhorn..maybe there's better gold than I thought

 

[bobw53]

Am I the only one that is wondering why someone would keep a mineral rights claim to go shooting?

And am I also the only one that sees something wrong with no trespassing signs on a mineral rights claim?

I'm thinking somebody thinks mineral rights means exclusive right to the land.

 

[SchoolOfHardRocks]

Its his claim, he can do as he pleases. But since you are wondering -He plans on panning with his daughter after she gets a little older and hand it down to his kids when he dies.

He puts up the signs in an attempt to keep keep claim jumpers off. If someone belongs there legally, they should know.

And to your third point -Im pretty sure that he doesnt care what you think...

 

[KevinInColorado]

It is NOT ok to post no trespassing signs on public land. Just no.

 

[et1955]

Hi SchoolOFHardRocks, It's been a while since I took you to the Skykomish river up here in Wa. state, great day. If you ever want to mine on the Salmon river, I have a claim near Somes Bar, Ca that I would let you mine it all you want, it has the same type gold you found on the Sky. Let me know, found decent gold despite the forest fire 4 miles away and it was 104`.

 

[SchoolOfHardRocks]

It is NOT ok to post no trespassing signs on public land. Just no.

Well, theres also a barbed wire fence (that he didnt put up). That being said -im "assuming" its not public land. But regardless - Im not gonna waste anymore energy debating. I think we need more positivity on this site, has there ever been a post without some sort of completely unnecessary challenge by someone who may or may not know what they are talking aboutHeavy pans.

 

[SchoolOfHardRocks]

Hi SchoolOFHardRocks, It's been a while since I took you to the Skykomish river up here in Wa. state, great day. If you ever want to mine on the Salmon river, I have a claim near Somes Bar, Ca that I would let you mine it all you want, it has the same type gold you found on the Sky. Let me know, found decent gold despite the forest fire 4 miles away and it was 104`.

Hey et1955, my trip with you to the sky is a special memory that I will always cherish, thank you again for your hospitality. I appreciate the offer to let me mine on your claim. It's about a 6.5 hour drive, so it will take some planning (perhaps a weekend trip over the summer), but I will definitely take you up on that offer one day. Maybe we can plan for a future date that we can both make? I hope all is well.