A Prospectors Journal - Personal Thoughts Encouraged

[TheGoldProspector]

A Prospector's Journal - Personal Thoughts Encouraged

- First of many -

4/14/14



Let this be said that many sites/locations will be altered as to Not encourage back-pocketers. Updated at Least once a week.

Still being out of season, itwas my 8th trip out of the cityscape, delving into the wilderness. Carrying along my Keene A52, two shovels, two buckets and my pack; brimming with gear..

Following the sounds of the creek, I trample my way through a 1/4 mile of blackberry, creating a path as I go. Finally arriving to my destination, I am plesantly suprised. The creek is running quite well today, 7' wide and just about 8" deep at most parts.
My eyes gander to a rootset connecting within the creek-basin between two old pines and a mass of blackberry rootage. Directly upstream from the rootset looks to me like a good place to dig; right behind a natural dam of sorts..

All together, the hole has become about waist deep, maybe deeper. 2.5' wide. I am looking to create a trench, in between the natural dam, and a 1.5' waterfall about 10' upstream. The only issue. I am having within it all, is I have. Yet to hit Any bedrock. At the deepest point of my current hole, I am still pulling 3/4 shovelfuls of pebbles, and only about 1/4 shovel of dirt.

The day was long, yet the cleanout was delicious. More than a couple pickers and much flour. 11 half buckets later, and the fever is still a'brewin.


Photos Perhaps next trip.

 

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[KevinInColorado]

Ok, I'm in...looking forward to reading more...

 

[golden sluice]

Nice, this sounds like your are in a thicket where most will not venture. I think the gold will be really good at the bottom. No bed rock yet, that means you can expect to find better stuff. What are your heavies looking like? Black sand , garnets, lead shot and bullets are good indicators. How many buckets? Did you find a hot bucket or hot zone in this hole yet? Keep us posted. Oh and git the gold.

 

[golden sluice]

When I did some panning on the yuba, I ran across some erosion bowls in the large granite bedrock on the rivers edge. I swept out the sediment and panned it... oh man! was I in the hot zone! Thats why im asking in my previous post.

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Nice, this sounds like your are in a thicket where most will not venture. I think the gold will be really good at the bottom. No bed rock yet, that means you can expect to find better stuff. What are your heavies looking like? Black sand , garnets, lead shot and bullets are good indicators. How many buckets? Did you find a hot bucket or hot zone in this hole yet? Keep us posted. Oh and git the gold.

I am quite indeed within a thicket.. Yes, no bedrock to speak of yet. Thought we had found a piece, but I am imagining it is a loose piece of stone...
A lot of metal shot and black sands, but yet we classified maybe 24 buckets worth in 3 trips; and we are Still pulling more than half the shovel head is pebbles and rock, not dirt or mud

 

[golden sluice]

You are about to hit true pay dirt then. Great story.. goord luck finding the gold.

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Very disheartening day.

My wife and I came back to our hole this morning, looking to work a productive day. Ran 12 buckets through the new v matting setup. Found 2 walls of bedrock, and broke into the root/dam wall.
Yet, Im sad to say we only came home with 4 tiny flakes and maybe 20flour..
Got back to the car, left the headlights on...battery was dead. Luckily a kind soul helped us after waiting for quite some time within Iowa Hill..

Tomorrow?? Either mineral bar/north fork access or somewhere else.. Or, will I be too sore (sand has been thrown over my fire; where is that fuel...)

 

[KevinInColorado]

Sorry it didn't work out better. Maybe the next spot will be better ;-)

 

[goldenIrishman]

Oh to have water like that to work with on site! You guys are lucky! I have to haul water in to the claim if I'm going to work materials with the sluice. Guess that's what I get for being in the S. Arizona desert!

 

[MinerFortyNiner1952]

Sorry you had such a bummer day TGP. Can feel your pain. The anticipation must have been sky high and then not being rewarded with some serious color but also suffer the inconvenience of car trouble, a crappy day double whammy!!

 

[goldenmojo]

Happens to the best of them.. Tug on those bootstraps and back to it. Need to see more pics

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Thanks guys. Im going out sunday/monday. More photos are to come. !

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Went back to a local claim on the Middle Fork of the American river here in Nevada County, Ca. The day started out quite wet, even needed the windshield wipers on for some of the travel up the hill..

It was the first time my wife had the opportunity to visit this such claim. It was a hike, yet quite worth it in the long run.
The river itself was still in Full Torrent, with quite an undertow..so we decided to work the river's edge, and eventually moving up a natural flood creek to dig a hole. Busy all day peeling shale off the quartz runs and trying to find bedrock at the bottom of our holes. My buddy and I even moved a bohemouth of a boulder, at least 5' wide, into the current: but hey- anything to find that ancient grey playdough!


We ended up with some nice color in our pans, but not enough to keep the fire going for that particular spot..
We are headed back out tomorrow, most likely the North Fork of the American, near colfax... Shirttail East is always a posibility


-may your pans be heavy-

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Odd travels

Well, no one told me to get to the river on Ponderosa Way, you have to have a 4x4. i have a literal rally car, and I was even having issues.. Got to the river and couldnt find access quick enough for the wife to become on edge about driving back up the hill later on...

So on to Iowa Hill we went. North Fork of course.
We only worked for just over 2 hours..I couldnt get the A52 set up for the life of me.. And my payout shows.. Creviced a 14" section of quartz inlay and dug into a natural flowing cave-set. 4 buckets; worked slow due to getting over my illness.

Fuel is enraged now. 3 skunk weeks in a row...

 

[goldenmojo]

You got color.... The NF is still running high but dropping a hundred cfs everyday for the last three days. Give it time. It will be below 100cfs soon and then the fun begins....No. American - Inflow Lake Clementine

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Traveled out again today.. A school buddy of mine was quite curious to see the North Fork; so again, Iowa hill. We hike for a good mile at least upstream from pennyweight, and started crevicing. 3 hours into it, the river came sweeping down with tremendous fury and lifted my A52 (quartz holding it down and all) and turned it completely sideways...needless to say, we were bummed..

I told him about this small creek, shirttail west, so we went there instead. It looked Just how I left it a month ago; a secret treasure. I will be working though the paydirt tonight, perhaps after work tomorrow...

 

[KevinInColorado]

Nice job recovering the trip! Wonder what happened upstream of you to cut loose so much more water...

 

[goldenmojo]

95 degrees and snow melt...

 

[KevinInColorado]

95 degrees and snow melt...

ah right, there is that! I was out digging with a friend yesterday and the creek rose about 3 inches in less than an hour due to snow melt Was glad we had our Bazookas cause they don't mind running fully submerged!

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Doing my second pan/cleanout, pix will come. Where to this Sunday? Shirttail west? Or north fork? Want to meet up? Thoughts?