Prospector

[gold tramp]

Still waiting for the afternoon temps to mellow before I start my season.
I'm hoofin it this year so I have a 2.5 mile hike up the bajada to get to a spot to prospect.
It's just a bit to hot to walk back out right now. Even though it's down hill home it's to dangerous.
We wait a week or so.

Have to hike in and set up a water drop, secure from the critters. So I take a piece of chicken wire cover my jugs keep the big cats from bitten a hole in the jug and end up having a dry water drop, or a jug full of bees.


Mostly just swinging my bleeper I wanna try find a meteorite this year.
Will be prospecting gold also. There's a sizable quartz outcrop I wanna see if I can.get some crystals.
Or maybe an offshoot from same quartz that might carry mineralizations.
The top of the mnt is very flat as the wind has kinda shaped the terrain up there, this being where I will concentrate my meteor hunting.

Trying to get my Claudette mill story on my own website.
Till I gets online service, will just stop in here bug you all some more.


My target area as seen from the mill.
Will be hitting the top of the mnt

View attachment 1623689

Been to the top a few times in my search for longs lost gold. found some of his scratchins up there, believe it or not there's really only evidence of one 1800s prospector even being in this area.

I know this area isn't a known gold mineralized zone but I'm a prospector true to the fine art of prospecting and I see a mnt I gotta go touch it.


Anyways more ramblings later.
Gt,....
A shot of some breaciated stuff with stain I found up top.
View attachment 1623902

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[63bkpkr]

Understand your predicament even though I'm not "out there" in the heat, just in town here in San Diego is hot. Best of luck with the hunt for the meteor and anything else that happens to find its way under your coil!.................63bkpkr

 

[gold tramp]

Some chlorite phantoms, kinda stuff I find out prospecting. these are from the pinto mnts.
Across the valley south of the bullions.

I'm pretty sure I will score some crystals on this prospecting adventure.
Quality unknown, probably won't get anything good till I get up to that quartz dike up top.

Going to try like heck to find some yellow up this mnt. theres gotta be at the least trace amounts, will see.
Ole L O long was up there looking, he may of got it all!!!!

As for meteorites I'm new to the hunt, it shouldn't be to awfully hard for success, well maybe?
Up top this mnt might be less chance for metallic objects from man.
My thinking anyways.

Should have some pics of geologic oddities by Monday, hitting the lower drainages to look for gold n crystal float first.

Along with my 3 gallons of water, bleeper, 3lb sledge n chisel point, geo pick, couple cans food, day pack with goodies, 2walkin sticks, and a small tarp n cord.

That's what I take up first trip,
find a secluded spot for a shady rest n water drop, set my tarp up.
Leave my big pack extra water n tools I don't need. Load my day pack, pick and bleeper and head out till lunch.



This thread is more for the armchair prospectors, you pros might find my stuff getting a little into mindless detail.
But the rest of you get the big picture.
Hope you enjoy
Gt....


Pinto Mt Phantoms.
View attachment 1624885
View attachment 1624883

Location bullion mnt south,

This way you all that want to, can google earth chk out the terrain.
Kinda see what I'm seeing.

I know there's a road but it off limits no travel, I kinda like it this way it's my back yard. Keeps the visitors to a minimum.
Gt....

If you are interested in crystal information Pm me.

 

[Mad Machinist]

Good to hear from ya, brother. In the same boat as you right now except I am waiting for the monsoons to let up. Where I am going isnt a good place to get caught in one.

 

[gold tramp]

Understand your predicament even though I'm not "out there" in the heat, just in town here in San Diego is hot. Best of luck with the hunt for the meteor and anything else that happens to find its way under your coil!.................63bkpkr

Herb....
You get out this way, stop in at the mill, show you the set up, or we could be a couple old dudes hobble up into the Sheephole mnts for a day of fun in the sun.
Just hiking n lookin.
Herb....


Small piece of yellow. Not from the bullion's !
View attachment 1625190

View attachment 1625242 View attachment 1625243
My dryplacer sample kit, for those wondering how I chk the stuff that doesn't bleep.
Simple dry screenings chk for yellow. No water needed.




Still have a day or so to start my adventure, my dadgum garden is takin it's time getting up and out of the ground.
Have to stay close and water like 5 times a day keep the baby plants cool, it's still getting 103 for a few hours.
So no prospecting yet.

If ya see anything interesting on Google up top feel free to post a pic.
See if one of ya can put me on something good

More ramblings later.
Gt......

View attachment 1625461
Thanks to all service members who served our great country.
God bless.

 

[Mad Machinist]

GT,

Some day I'm gonna have to make it out your way. Climb to glory, brother.

 

[gold tramp]

GT,

Some day I'm gonna have to make it out your way. Climb to glory, brother.

Only Glory here will be if I make it off the mnt without falling on my head, getting snake bit, heatstroke, or chased down by an in heat guanaco (desert bighorn).

Dare i say it but there's a hint of fall here today, had to actually turn off the cooler for the first time in months.

Anyways,
Saved my amalgam sands from last run, cleaned them today. If you-all wanna see some smelting action I can get a couple pics later.
Or talk about amalgamations.

More ramblings later.
Gt......

View attachment 1626156
Hot crucible n gold
View attachment 1626165
Gold in glass
View attachment 1626166
Finished product needs a quick brushing shine it up.
BB Mining Co.

 

[Tnmountains]

shoot me a pm if you need editing Gold Tramp.

 

[gold tramp]

Gonna have to wait just a bit longer for pics from the hills. It's still hitting 104 by noon. I've just plain had enough hardcore heat.

Couple more days we might get cooler, mornins are fine, but it turns out to be a long hot afternoon, kinda stuff sneek up on ya and put you in a bad way heatsick.

Not to mention my dog is real hesitant to head out, so I take this body English she does as a hint it's to hot to walk out, we wait till she's ready, will try again in a day or so.

A good dog is worth its weight in gold, good company, early warning system when things get bad, just good idea for prospector.
More ramblings later.


Gt......

Didn't find this odd rock up the bullions, but it's the kinda stuff you can't find flying drones around the hills.
Nice colors.

View attachment 1627089

It came from the north end of the bullions, I was prospecting Ragtown area, couldn't find anymore stuff like it.
I think you-all knew I would cut it !!!
Never just whack away at an odd rock you've found.
Save n cut, sometimes the weight in the pack is worth it.
Might get a gemmy surprise.

View attachment 1627411

Hope you-all enjoy the show....

 

[Mad Machinist]

Speaking of gold smelting, I got my waste motor oil burner working. If you need a breakdown of the parts let me know and I'll post them in my journal.

Yea it still hot and nasty here too. Getting some projects out of the way while I am waiting for things to calm down as far as rain goes. Be back out soon.

 

[Frank Tillman]

I envy your health and what
you are doing.
Thanks

 

[gold tramp]

By now you-all have looked over the mnt pretty good.
My trip up starts at the pole line Rd and the old trail up the bajada, or alluvial fan. I gets the drop off here. so I cheat a little,

The old road takes me up to the main drainage, here's where I enter the hills, follow the wash up and stay to the east portion of the drainage.

I guess a 1/4 mile in, the hills are a couple hundred foot higher than the wash, you might notice a reddish area headin off southeast.
This zone has a few holes poked in it. I'm pretty sure, L.O.Long dug these shallow pits, I know it was the same guy I found digs of off to the Sheephole mnts.

Anyways I'm gonna look over this zone again real good, I think he was just digging in on the copper mineralizations, lookin for gold values, he left a few Cobb's so I gets a few better pieces to lug home n crush. The rest of the area I look with my eyeglass see if I can make a discovery of the yellow on this dadgum mnt.

The old-timer was lookin awfully hard up here, it's obvious he found no real strike, but I think he found some surface yellow. Usually one doesn't sink shafts on just a hunch, he sunk these at least 6ft ?

Just my thinking and it's on my way to the top, so we see.
Spending a couple days down at the lower elevation see what's in the drainages.
Next stop halfway up Thompson's stack rocks, and another quartz zone.
Gt....


ore from L. O. Longs discovery.
This has values !
View attachment 1627721

Was Longs gold placer or hardrock ? can we be certain of either, he was after all the only one there.

 

[gold tramp]

A few pics from up the hill, sorry for quality.
Was a bit warm, only casualty of the day was my bleeper.
Finally after 24 years faithfull service it died.
RIP, gold bug original.

Rather course desert lands always rise in elevation for the hike, not much mineralization in the quartz. Not much quartz down this low on the mnt.
Few hot rocks ( black rocks) in drainages, some mineralized stuff coming from the zone of reddish material, not sure what it is, one would need to assay.
One thing for sure theres no gold in this stuff.
No crystals.
Looks like the old-timer was just prospecting and sunk down into the zone, see if it altered into some goods.

There is another spot of mineralizations, bout a 1/4 mile south of this zone, it's been blasted all to heck, somebody did much work in I think the 50s. Doesn't appear to have gold values. When I get up top I will come down the drainage on this side and get a pic of these workins. I think it was the copper world mine?

So no meteorite or nugget shooting,
It will be a minute before I gets a new bleeper.
Probably wouldn't of found nuttin up there any ways.
Still gonna go up n look around for crystals n hardrock.

View attachment 1628596

View attachment 1628668
Notice how clean this guy's work is, this is 1800s hand digging, dynamite, pick n shovel, n burro.
View attachment 1628699
This one he just dug along the contact, down into the zone enough to see if it changed up.
Notice burro trail.


Anybody figure my mileage from the road at the base of the mnt, up the wash around to the red spot, and back down to the pole line road.
Legs are feeling it a bit today, have some heat coming so my next trip up may be delayed a day or so.

View attachment 1628876
My honey bug, goldbug and a shady rest.
Old-timer dug along the contact of this outcrop.

Gt..........

 

[samawi30]

 

[gold tramp]

View attachment 1628952

I'm not looking to buy a meteorite, I got some of that morocon stuff givin to me.
Lookin to find one myself.
Thanks for sharing the very nice rock.



Anyways be a few days before I head up again, going to head all the way back to the base property line, see if I can find some mineralization.
So Thompson's stacked rocks n the top are a trip or so out.

Hope to find the blackrocks, there's a couple spots that have the desert pavement, I can spy the stuff looks oughta place, maybe gets lucky find a space rock.

Still chk those feeders see if i can find indicators of heavys in the washes. Gold wears an iron cap.
Will get some hot rock pics so you-all will know what I'm talking bout.
Mostly just exploring the area one last time before i move on to the mnt across the valley south,
29 palms mnt.


Last set of pics for this area,, gives you-all an idea what's up there, hope you enjoy my walk about with pics,
Thanks for the likes.
Gt......
View attachment 1629309
Kinda shows how course the land is.
This pic looking north from my shady rest.

View attachment 1629328
Close-up of the deposit.
View attachment 1629332

 

[gold tramp]

Don't want leave you-all hanging,
Good to see your likes back Au, take it easy buddy n heal.

Got a pic of some rocks from my trip up, only one looked promising, was the big piece and it was found at the old timer stack rock.

So it's a pretty good example of what he found on the surface, that excited him into digging here.
I would of dug in on this type of rock also, not to the extent he did.

Next trip up is going to be a bit, I gave my new boots to a youngster in need of something to walk in.
And I got some work to do.

It was still a bit hot walk-in out of the hills so it will be cooler when I start back at it.
Anyways I'm pretty sure this was the work of Ole Long.

Couldn't ever find paper work from him, I did find one can in a stack rock, was so old the paperwork was just flakes n dust.
I assumed it was his, I never really found any other miner stuff from the time, 1800s.
And his is the only story I ever heard of about a miner in these hills.

Also I think he was a placer miner, this would help explain this diggings here at this spot to me as a hard rock miner I probably wouldn't have done this much work without seeing yellow.

When I was coming out the other day I spied some workings, or what I believe to be, I've been fooled by bushes before.
Up high on the hill, really dark lookin area along a bunch of rock sticking out, I think it had diggins about it but won't be able to tell till I gets up to it for inspections.

Will ramble a bit later about the next trail in or up you never know with me.
Gt.....

View attachment 1631022

 

[gold tramp]

You-all had some time to look up stuff about L.O.Longs lost gold tale.

Let's hear it, maybe I can get a lead from youall. So feel free to post some of this story.
Thanks.

Gt.......

 

[Clay Diggins]

Lead

Heavy Pans

 

[gold tramp]

View attachment 1632163

I think this is the right age to belong to Long, maybe somebody can positive date for me.
Even if my shot shell isn't old enough, Im sure I found the mine.

How does one positive I'd the age of burro shoes ?
Thanks for input.

More ramblings,

gosh I've walked just about every foot of the mnt over there. Could only find one 1800s camp ?
Wonder if the original story's got confused a little, like a small brush less canyon.
Or maybe the dates are off.

For that matter lest we see the letters it's all speculation, no different than my story.
Heck don't even know how old the guy was?


How can l prove his death happened ?

I know what I found, evidence is there, time dates aren't right ?
Guess I start the hike back over that part of the mnt, Put thee wraps on this journey.

Thanks again for info all input welcomed.
Guess youall figured out I'm fine tuning my book.
Gt...

 

[Mad Machinist]

GT,

The only thing I can think of on the burro shoes is to see if they have hammer marks from being forged.

According to what I could find, the shotgun shell you posted was made from 1894 to 1904. Hope that helps.