Idaho tailing piles

[Mighty AP]

Me & GoldSniffin'Dog did a little four wheeling after work today, found some mines that have been abandoned for over 100 years. It took a while to get up the mountain but damn if it wasnt worth beating up my truck! There is still quite a bit of snow up there & the roads (I use the term loosley) had streams running down them & were rutted very deep in places. We found a couple small mines, dug by hand Im sure, following quartz veins into the ground. The tailing piles were full of large chunks of quartz that seem to have copper veins in them. There are also several old cabins up there, or at least the fireplaces & foundations that I want to detect around. We just ran up there to see if we could make it up the mountain & if we could find the site. Pic is of Dog looking into one of the small mines. Got a flat almost at the bottom of the mountain, get a new tire tomorrow & we may go back & spend the weekend up there diggin around! Dog can smell the gold.................I'll keep ya'all posted.

 

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[Idaho Dave]

Not sure by picture where you were. Have spend lots of time in SCtiy, Id Sity and Yankee fFork looking at old mines,

sorry 'bout yer truck.

 

[Mighty AP]

Hey Dave, Im in Pocatello, southeast Idaho. My truck is fine, got a new tire this morning. Rather push a Chevy................you know the rest. Ive heard about the Idaho City area, me & Dog are planning some summer trips to the Salmon area. HH

 

[kenb]

Thats a beautiful area, good luck diggin

kenb

 

[prospectorc4]

Hello my fellow Idahoans, I'm in the Shoshone area. I've been to the Yankee Fork area and it's a must see if you haven't been there yet. I also will try to make it up to the Idaho City area this summer. Anyone do up to Atlanta last year?

 

[Little Bird]

Wheres the gold boys? Did you get your line in the water?

 

[snake35]

My brother lives outside Arrco Idaho and he collects gold from the filtration system from his deep well. Not a whole lot, but cool still.

 

[idahogold]

Wendell, Idaho checking in.

I was at yankee fork last weekend, lots of claim markers set up on the tailing piles. I didn't use the detector for fear of getting shot, it looks like the whole canyon is being claimed and reworked.

 

[Desert Rat]

Haven't been to Yankee Fork for quit awhile and was wondering if that was off limits to metal detecting, etc. You just answered my question, thanks. Planning on a move up north of Pokie and Idaho Falls this later this winter. Have lived in many spots in Idaho though and most recently a short stay in Magic Reservoir. Plenty of old mines and tailings in Id. though, if you just figure out the ones no body claims.

 

[Zeitgeist_Xero]

Thanks for the quartz vein pic, I'm knew to a lot of this stuff and like to see geology pics in the raw of nature... that 3rd pic doesn't happen to be near the lost river range does it? I've spent a significant amount of time in Idaho over the past 10 years, and I was just through the lost river range this past August. Anyway, Idaho is a great state, happy hunting.

 

[Nashoba]

Are you positive that the copper isn't high copper content gold? A buddy of mine found a bunch of "copper" in his sluicebox one day that looked a lot like busted up shell casings.....It was all 60% gold!!!
Just a thought.
~Nashoba~

 

[TreasureTales]

Are you positive that the copper isn't high copper content gold? A buddy of mine found a bunch of "copper" in his sluicebox one day that looked a lot like busted up shell casings.....It was all 60% gold!!!
Just a thought.
~Nashoba~

I was thinking the same thing when I read that part of his post. Even if it is copper, anything in the matrix with color running through it can be cut and sold on eBay. Folks like to make necklaces and such with quartz-matrix metals. It won't pay as much as gold in quartz, but it might offset the price of the gasoline to get to the place. Anyhow, great story and hope everybody here hits paydirt.