lilorphanannie
Full Member
- Apr 19, 2008
- 173
- 517
legend has it that there are tons of gold at the bottom of this pool. here is an excerpt from a report written in the 1850's. //////in former times the rivers santiago ,concepcion, barrera,san antonio and san bartolomo were noted for their gold washings. and they still yield saticfactory returns to the gold washer of today. in these rivers there are many pools and eddies ,where from their depth noone has been able to reach the gold laded sands on the bottom. one of these localities in particular, is the lower falls of the santiago where there is every reason to believe there lies an immemse deposit. in the last two years( @ 1860) exceedingly rich washings have been made from the earth taked from the margin of the pool below the falls . one batea of earth has yielded from 1 pound to a minimum of one ounce, usually running 3 to 4 ounces per batea (a large wooden goldpan). in attempts to dive the deep pools in these rivers the natives selects an oblong rectangular stone from 10 to 12 pounds in weight, and fashions something an yoke ,which he then ties around his neck with a local pliable vine. it is arranged as such to rest firmly at the nape of the neck, then he throws himself headfirst into the pool carrying with a large stone in the batea and a gourd (spoon). the divers could only work in this manner in pools at the depths where they could raise the batea ,the deeper pools never have been worked.//// this is a brief summary of a few paragraphs ,of an eyewitness account reported by an american geologist who was sent to do an investigation on mining activities in the area of nuevo granada in the mid 1850's.////// i would think that a pool of these dimensions would have the capability of producing several hundred pounds or more of gold in several weeks of dredging. (just a wild guess on my part), no one appears to know today what historians wrote lie beneath, im not 100%sure of all the details but it looks like the waterfall is on a ranch which has recently been put up for sale .