M & M Mining the Northern Sierras

[Riverbum]

Hello to all Gold Prospectors,
I'm inquiring if any of you have prospected the Cache Creek / Lost Canyon Area just west of Granite, Colo. between Leadville and Buena Vista . I'm trying to find out if the Powerline Road gate opens up sometime during the season. Thanks in advance for any info concerning this area you care to divulge.

 

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[KevinInColorado]

Yes the BLM opens the gate in time for memorial weekend. Have fun!

 

[pczim]

The ground you work over there is not very rich.

 

[mikep691]

Getting this journal back on track, as a temporary fix until I get the new pump, I've decided to run my A-51A at the exit of the highbanker. The current pump should push enough water through the 10" wide highbanker sluice, and into the 6" wide A-51A. If I'm really losing gold in the main box, I'll catch it in the narrower second sluice.

 

[mytimetoshine]

The ground you work over there is not very rich.

This guy....

 

[N-Lionberger]

Putting a narrower sluice behind your highbanker sluice isn't the greatest way to check for loss as the velocity will increase as the 10 inch necks down to 6 inch.

 

[mikep691]

Putting a narrower sluice behind your highbanker sluice isn't the greatest way to check for loss as the velocity will increase as the 10 inch necks down to 6 inch.

That is the point. The pump doesn't provide enough flow for the 10" wide box. I had to set too steep an angle to clear even 1/2" rocks and the gold wasn't settling under the riffles as it should. I also have my old faithful sluice that's 8"X 36" that I'll have as a back up to the back up. It's all trial and error until I get a better pump.

 

[mikep691]

Today is experiment day. Rockguy fabricated (rednecked) some legs for his 2" combo which in turn frees up the redneck highbanker frame for me to use. I'll use my A-51-A with back plate as the redneck was designed, then with a couple zip ties, attach my 1 1/2" hose to the grizzly of the redneck's hopper. I'll also use the shorter legs from the Jobe to lower the center of gravity. I also opened the nozzle end which has been beat to under an inch opening, limiting the suction power and flow.

I'll still be checking my tailings for any gold loss, but I think with the narrower sluice, and low powered Chinese pump, the combination may be the best solution for now. If all goes well, there will be some pics and vids in a couple days.

 

[Goldwasher]

This guy....

pretty rude actually

 

[mikep691]

pretty rude actually

I kinda just blew right past BOTH the entries that had nothing to do with my journal.... It is what it is.

 

[Goldwasher]

I kinda just blew right past BOTH the entries that had nothing to do with my journal.... It is what it is.

Understood.. good way to go about it.

I just hope these sort of comments don't keep popping up on the journals..

 

[mikep691]

We now know anybody can post anything in a journal thread. That's kinda a bad thing, but it's good to know that it's being read by more than just a few people, so take the good with the bad and go mining.

The experiment was both good and bad as well. I had no gold in the tailings this time. That's the good news. The bad news is I had no gold in the sluice either. Basically it means I made a bad choice of locations to move to upstream. Rockguy also abandoned his move upstream and settled in just downstream of the area we had been working four years ago. His .57 grams says we missed a lot of gold back when we started. We had sampled this area back then but didn't find enough bedrock to warrant moving downstream into our previous dug tailings. I was wrong. The gold is there, but the bedrock drops significantly to the side that previously had been climbing the bank. It certainly has me rethinking where the pool is.

Previous plans have now been scrapped. I need some gold in the pan now rather than continue the present course and risk another year with of nothing but beer cans to show for the effort.

 

[mikep691]

Other than being with my best friend and mining partner, the weekend had it's gold issues. Well, my weekend is now messed up. It was a Monday-Tuesday trip. Rockguy's new set up finally is on the board with .57 grams, which is .57 grams more than I got.

 

[mikep691]

 

[mikep691]

I'm off to Meat Creek for the next three days. I'm working solo this trip, but using Rockguy's new set up. I'll be packing light going in, mostly camping gear food and beer, but bringing out most of the equipment.

if all goes well, Dora and I will have some gold porn when we get home Friday afternoon. I'm definitely overdue for some gold porn.

 

[mikep691]

All in all, a good three days at Meat Creek. The determination of the other location that didn't pan out after three trips at least didn't follow me to the new dig. Rockguy had a similar plan and moved below (downstream) of where the bulk of Meat Creek's gold has been recovered. His move produced the .57 grams in the post from last week. I moved about 20 feet farther downstream, and since this was a solo trip, I used his new set up. It's kind of boring working solo, nobody to talk to as Dora is horrible in a conversation.

Anyway, we were later than normal leaving so I could confirm with Forest Circus that no campfire restrictions were in place. I was actually loaded and ready to leave at 6am but had to hang out, finish my pot of coffee, and call them at 8am. We arrived at camp around 9:30am, found that someone had helped themselves to our firewood. I had enough for the first night, but now I had to switch gears. I hiked to the dig site to confirm all our equipment was still there, then went about setting up camp. I didn't even step in the creek at all Wednesday, now I have to cut firewood instead of setting up to mine.

Now to mining, some of you know besides rednecking things, we're a bit renegade as well. I set up to "power sluice" 20 feet or so downstream of Rockguy's hole. It's where Adam had worked Memorial weekend last year, but not in his hole.


i was on a stair step bedrock a foot in, at knee deep, I'm working rusty cemented gravels. Now this bedrock is hitting the creek from the north side, and travels all the way up the hillside almost to the road. Twenty feet upstream, the bedrock climbs the south side. There is a wash that enters the creek five feet upstream of my dig. I suspect it is spring fed and never completely dry though you couldn't tell by just looking at it. Four years ago, I dug a hole to bedrock, maybe three feet deep. I had water flowing over the bedrock and this was six feet above the creek level. Depending on where the transition occurs, I could be at a plunge pool sort of thing, only the pool is full of rocks and gravels.

Here's a little vid:



I'll have to upload pics from my phone in another post.

 

[mikep691]

First clean out after about an hour:

 

[mikep691]

Final gold porn:

 

[mikep691]

Mining partner:

 

[mikep691]

Made up for stolen firewood