Bedrock and Gold: The mysteries . . .

[Lanny in AB]

Do you love to chase the gold? Please join me--lots of gold hunting tips, stories of finds (successful and not), and prospecting poetry.

Nugget in the bedrock tip:

I had a visit with a mining buddy this past weekend, and he told me of an epic battle to get a nugget out of the bedrock, and of what he learned from the experience. I thought some of you might like to learn from his mistake.

While out detecting one day, he came across a large sheet of bare bedrock. The bedrock was exposed because the area had been blasted off with a water cannon (a monitor), by the old-timers! It was not fractured bedrock, in fact it was totally smooth.

He was not optimistic at all of the prospects of a nugget. But, for some reason (we've all been there) he decided to swing his detector over that bedrock. After a long time, just as he was about to give up on his crazy hunch, he got a signal, right out of that smooth bedrock.

There was no crevice, no sign of a crevice, nada! So, he had to go all the way back to camp to get a small sledge and a chisel. The signal in the rock intrigued him, but he still wasn't overly optimistic. For those of you that have chased signals in a similar situation, sometimes there's a patch of hot mineralization in the bedrock that sounds off, but this spot, according to him, was sharp and clear right in the middle of the signal, not just a general increase of the threshold like you get when you pass over a hot spot in the bedrock.

Anyway, he made it back to the spot and started to chisel his way into the bedrock. If any of you have tried this, it's an awful job, and you usually wind up with cut knuckles--at the least! Regardless, he kept fighting his way down, busting out chunks of bedrock. He kept checking the hole, and the signal remained very strong.

This only puzzled him all the more as he could clearly see that it was solid bedrock with no sign of any crevice. He finally quit at the end of the day, at a depth of about a foot, but still, nothing in the hole.

An experienced nugget shooting friend dropped by the next morning to see him, and asked him how the hunt was going. My buddy related his tale of the mysterious hole in the bedrock, and told the friend to go over and check it out, and see if he could solve the riddle.

Later in the day, the other nugget hunter returned. In his hand was a fine, fat, sassy nugget. It weighed in at about an ounce and a quarter! After my friend returned his eyeballs to their sockets and zapped his heart to start it again, he asked where the nugget had come from.

Imagine his surprise when he heard it came from the mystery hole!! He asked how deep the other guy had gone into the bedrock to get it. "Well, no deeper" was his reply.

So, here's the rest of the story as to what happened. When the successful nugget hunter got to the bedrock, he scanned the surface got the same strong signal as my buddy. He widened out the hole and scanned again. Still a solid tone. He widened the hole some more so he could get his coil in, and here's the key and the lesson in this story, he got a strong signal off the side of the hole, about six inches down, but set back another inch into the side of the bedrock!!

My unlucky friend, the true discoverer of the gorgeous nugget's resting place had gone deep past the signal while digging his hole!!

Now, of course, a good pinpointer would easily solve this problem. The problem was, my buddy didn't have one, so why would he widen the hole, right? Well, the other guy was the one with more experience, and that's why he did. It was a lot more work, but what a payoff!

So, my buddy's butt is still black and blue from where he kicked himself for the next week or so for having lost such an incredible prize.

Some nugget hunting lessons are harder than others to learn. . . .

All the best,

Lanny


P.S. When in gold country--check the bedrock, regardless of whether it looks likely or not! Mother Nature likes to play games sometimes.

 

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[Sample Pan Dan]

Thanks Lanny, love the installments, and all the learning along the way

 

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[Lanny in AB]

Thanks Lanny, love the installments, and all the learning along the way

No problem--glad you're enjoying it--thanks for your visits and encouraging comments!

All the best,

Lanny

 

[63bkpkr]

Yes Lanny great writing and great stories and many thanks for taking the time to share them with All...........63bkpkr

 

[G.I.B.]

Thank you Lanny, may your good karma continue!

I appreciate you taking the time to share knowledge. One day, I'll find a sassy little nugget, thanks to some of your tips.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Thank you Lanny, may your good karma continue!

I appreciate you taking the time to share knowledge. One day, I'll find a sassy little nugget, thanks to some of your tips.

I'd love to see you find that first sassy nugget. It's a day you'll never forget--talk about an eternal moment.

Thanks for the kind words, and all the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Yes Lanny great writing and great stories and many thanks for taking the time to share them with All...........63bkpkr

Herb--thanks for keeping an eye on my thread--I know how busy you are, and I only wish that we were out swinging the coils together instead of being shut in by Old Man Winter. Thanks again for your encouragement and for your kindness.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Far From Government Gulch

You know, before I start the next section, I thought that maybe I should share a related experience with you. (This, however, will delay the main story somewhat.)

I remember one long (we get up very early with the sun that far north) hot summer’s day—we’d been detecting these huge sheets of bedrock—ones that had been cleared with D-9’s by the large-scale placer miners whose lease we were detecting.

Well in that hot sun, replete with hordes of bugs that were crazed by blood lust, we had gridded, chained, worked hard, and sweated profusely that long day.

But that far north, it was still very, very light at six in the evening when we’d finished.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if I’ve travelled 16 hours over some of the worst roads you’ll ever find to get to a gold field, I’m going to maximize the time I have to chase that elusive gold.

Well, we had a long slog to get back to where the truck was parked; furthermore, we’d been studying some topo maps the few evenings previous. So, we decided we’d loop our way back to the truck by cutting around a low rise (more of a short mountain) to see some unfamiliar country we’d only looked at on the map.

Now, that range was pretty thickly timbered all throughout, with most of the growth of a moderate age—no old growth in that area whatsoever. However, the location was known for surface runs: a surface run is where the glaciers gushed out a big blast of water and fast moving gold bearing material.

But, the blast was let loose so quickly that it spread out very quickly and only left a thin layer of pay, but it was sure handy to get to, as it was right on the surface! Well, I should say it was on the surface whenever those titanic forces had let it go all of those many years past.

But now, the surface runs were to be found hidden right under the moss on the forest floor. And, the curious aspect of surface runs is that they can be almost anywhere—including in the middle of the forest where there’s no sign at all to indicate a gold deposit is near.

Now, don’t despair, for I am returning to my other story, but these two stories are connected, as you’ll see later when I reconnect the two tales, and I hope you’ll appreciate that common bond.

So, we pushed off into that great boreal forest, thick with spruce, fir, and pine, also peppered with the occasional balsam and the odd stand of birch. Every once in a while we’d hit some aspens too, but it was mostly coniferous stuff we were trekking through.

Did I mention that my partner would rather hike over a mountain to know what’s on the other side rather than drive the far shorter, less laborious distance to go around? Well, he sure could hike—that’s a fact Jack! And, he took every opportunity to do so, and that was another part of the reason why we were pushing our way through the trees.

Well, of a sudden, it hit me. Why not fire up my Minelab? I mean, I had a big round coil on it, which was perfect for covering a lot of territory, and we were definitely making our way through some undiscovered territory (to us, it was). So, I turned the SD on and started swinging that ground-eating coil. My partner gave me a quizzical look, but he chose not to turn his machine on, for he was occupied with his brisk pace through the forest.

Now, to tell you the truth, I was rather hoping I’d hit a surface run by dumb luck, which, believe it or not, my partner had done himself on a different occasion, doing just what I was doing, and that run had proved so good the placer boys had stripped and mined the run out.

It was full of pickers in the half-gram to gram range, and it was that coarse, character gold I’ve posted a picture of; moreover, the flakes were of a nice size as well. There wasn’t any flour gold or black sand of any quantity running with that surface deposit, for in that area, the lack of black sand and flour gold can be quite common. You see, when the glacial melt blew through a wall those many eons ago, the water was moving so fast, it seemed to prefer to haul the coarser stuff.

So, I was hopeful of a discovery. But, the reality turned out to be that I’d never heard such quiet ground in my life! I wasn’t getting anything. Zip-Nada-Zilch.

That is, I wasn’t getting anything until we broke out of the thick growth with its rolling terrain and hit a more level spot sown with newer growth trees. In that spot, the detector started to sound off.

But, it’s not what you think if you’re thinking about gold. It was a bolt, then a nut, then a piece of wire, a spring, then a chunk of cast, a scrap of aluminum, a piece of wire screen, then all at once, cans under the moss, and an overabundance of nails.

As it turned out, we’d found an old camp. My partner fired up his machine, and eventually we found where their machine shop had been, the cabins, and other associated structures.

You have to picture this--every external sign of a building was gone--completely, but the metallic ghosts that whispered their electronic secrets to the detector were still there waiting under the moss.

We should have spent more time exploring the site, because wherever people have been, there are usually some cool things (coins, old bottles, perhaps a cache, etc.) to be found.

But by that time, the shadows were getting long, and we still had quite a ways to go. And, I’m not the type that likes to be prowling the deep forest at twilight when the big apex predators might be looking for human-flavored snacks.

All the best,

Lanny

More, as time permits.

 

[Terry Soloman]

I so look forward to these stories Lanny. Thank You!

 

[Lanny in AB]

I so look forward to these stories Lanny. Thank You!

Thanks Terry! It's much appreciated.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[63bkpkr]

Mighty nice pictures as well, even remind me of country I've been in. Alas, here I sit in my easy chair with a bit of munchies after a long brain burning day doing calculations in a noisy work area, not exactly the best place to concentrate. I was told today that the likelihood is good that I will be here for quite some time. It will be a good hold over spot till I recover from upcoming surgeries. Thanks again for the fine yarn spinning.............63bkpkr

 

[nuggy]

Great stories as usual Lanny. You have the knack of taking us along with you, so we get to peer over your shoulder and experience the adventure with you, thank-you for the time you have spent writing for us.
I'm just working away as usual, while my buddies are out dredging, high-banking and enjoying the great summer weather that we have been blessed with this month.
My pal Lance (strangely enough, I also have a son with that name) had a 50 gram day, using a 4 inch dredge in a tiny creek, he and his buddy usually only get 4-6 grams per day. They wanted me to come along and watch them in action, but the walk in and out is about an hour each way, and with the driving I would lose most of a day - was tempting though.
Not much happening to my wash plant lately either, as I'm trying to generate some income to recover from Christmas expenses, and pay for our family holiday coming up in a few weeks time.
Hope you are not too frozen away up north there. All the best Nuggy

 

[Gravelwasher]

Cheers to you Lanny!!

Cant get enough of your stories, love the pictures. Some wonderful looking country you have to play with their. I feel the same about being out in the twilight of the forest and avoiding the big animals. Thanks so much for adding some enjoyment to my evening, reading your descriptive tales of sassy gold chasing in the far north brings some excitement to a mundane evening spent indoors.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Mighty nice pictures as well, even remind me of country I've been in. Alas, here I sit in my easy chair with a bit of munchies after a long brain burning day doing calculations in a noisy work area, not exactly the best place to concentrate. I was told today that the likelihood is good that I will be here for quite some time. It will be a good hold over spot till I recover from upcoming surgeries. Thanks again for the fine yarn spinning.............63bkpkr

Herb,

I'm with you all the way when it comes to being stuck indoors and not being able to chase the gold. However, I am glad that you've found solid employment and that you'll be able to get that tune-up on your body that you need.

Thanks for taking the time to compliment me on the writing and the pictures as well.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Great stories as usual Lanny. You have the knack of taking us along with you, so we get to peer over your shoulder and experience the adventure with you, thank-you for the time you have spent writing for us.
I'm just working away as usual, while my buddies are out dredging, high-banking and enjoying the great summer weather that we have been blessed with this month.
My pal Lance (strangely enough, I also have a son with that name) had a 50 gram day, using a 4 inch dredge in a tiny creek, he and his buddy usually only get 4-6 grams per day. They wanted me to come along and watch them in action, but the walk in and out is about an hour each way, and with the driving I would lose most of a day - was tempting though.
Not much happening to my wash plant lately either, as I'm trying to generate some income to recover from Christmas expenses, and pay for our family holiday coming up in a few weeks time.
Hope you are not too frozen away up north there. All the best Nuggy

Nuggy--I'd wondered what had happened to you--it's great to hear from you again. Thanks for the kind words about the writing, and for the thanks for the time it takes to write the stories as well--it's much appreciated.

A 50 gram day! That's great!!

I can understand why you want to get some bills paid first--that's smart. I do hope you'll get out this season so you can share some more of those fantastic pictures of your country and the gold.

I'm not frozen solid--yet--but winter still has more growl and bite left yet.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Cheers to you Lanny!!

Cant get enough of your stories, love the pictures. Some wonderful looking country you have to play with their. I feel the same about being out in the twilight of the forest and avoiding the big animals. Thanks so much for adding some enjoyment to my evening, reading your descriptive tales of sassy gold chasing in the far north brings some excitement to a mundane evening spent indoors.

Wow--thanks!! I'm glad I was able to provide some reading enjoyment for you. I don't think I can tell you how nice it is that you took the time to tell me so.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Terry Soloman]

Sweet, sweet yella! Thanks for sharing Lanny!

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sweet, sweet yella! Thanks for sharing Lanny!

You're welcome Terry--I'm glad you liked it.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Far From Government Gulch

It’s time to get back to that abandoned camp.

Well, we snooped around all we could, but nothing was showing up to tell us where they were getting their gold. So, we cut uphill a bit on the mountain proper as we widened our search pattern. The pines and fir were more of the mid-growth stuff I’ve talked about earlier—no old growth Monarchs of the woods on that slope.

Then, it started to spit, and all at once, the gods of the skies collided headlong and engaged in ferocious, deafening battle. Moreover, the surly lords of weather hurled their jagged shafts of lightning from peak to peak, shooting as well their white-hot bolts into the empty openness between the valleys, and the resultant, thunderous symphony was profoundly magnificent.

Its chorus echoed time and time again throughout the vastness of the connecting peaks, until that hammering, reverberating refrain vanished somewhere in that limitless wild.

Was it beautiful?

Truly.

Uniquely unlike anything you’ll ever experience in any city or town it was. For even now, it is genuinely difficult to describe how insignificant I felt in the presence of Nature’s unfurled ominous might in that far northern latitude. The sight and sound are forever with me.

The rain and wind came next, but as is often the case with those kinds of unruly summer storms, it quickly spent itself—our rain-suits did as they were designed to do, and we were soon back snooping for the reason of that camp’s existence.

Proceeding back up the hill, we broke through some brush and noticed an obvious place where people had been digging along the side of the main slope. On closer examination, it was plain to see where cobbles were falling out of the open cut along the excavation. It was a narrow channel deposit, somewhere from eight to ten inches in size—never progressing to a foot in depth.

Here's a picture of a cobble popped out of a shallow run:

Here's another shot of a narrow band of channel:

It was what had once been a surface run, but it had been buried by slump or some glacial castoff of clay long ago. Moreover, whoever had built the camp had somehow discovered it, probably from finding loose cobbles and following them back uphill until they located the narrow run by cutting back into the bank.

Now, the interesting thing about this deposit was that we finally discovered what the length of sluice had been used for. We located through a bit more detective work where the miners had made a cut through the brush for sluice lengths, but the ingenious thing was that they hadn’t been using the sluice to wash the gold—they’d been using those sections (we surmised that much) of sluice (only one remained in camp) to slide the material down the hill to a collection spot near the camp. From there, they’d screened the material, and had most likely then packed the pay dirt to the river to process it.

My buddy took samples to the river and soon came back with nice coarse pickers in the pan! So, we had confirmation it was the very pay the small camp had been working. That’s what the prospectors were after all of those unknown years back.


But not us—we were after something different--nuggets—the ones at least the size of our fingernails, and we surely found nuggets like that at other sites several miles from that spot, and they were indeed beautiful, and worth every effort.

However, it haunts me still how much gold we left in the hill because we chose not to work that deposit. Furthermore, it haunts me still that I didn’t detect along the base of that cut to see if any nuggets had slipped loose over the years to roll from that deposit.

Of course, today, those would all be things I’d do, as I've finally figured a few things out. But back then, I was always in a big hurry to get to the nuggets, and from what I know now, I’m sure I rushed my way right past many a sassy nugget in doing so.

[I went to visit a mining buddy last summer, and he was good enough to let me snap this picture.]

The reason I post it is that it goes with my story installments of "Far From Government Gulch", for it shows the gold from the two areas that I've worked. The gold located to the left in his palm is the smooth, flatter, very hammered gold from the southern part of the region where I'm still working, and the gold located to the right, off the palm and on his fingers, is the knobby, coarse gold from the northern part of the region where I used to work--the same type of character gold we were finding far from Government gulch.

All the best,

Lanny

P.S. We stumbled across miles and miles of old hand-dug ditches from the 1800's in that area as well:

 

[63bkpkr]

Ah the experience of a true thunder and lightning storm out in the mountains and really well articulated I might add. They are glorious as well as capable of bringing us to the understanding of what we are and are not in charge of as well as to realize we could be instantly be turned to carbon and calcium dust by one of those bolts and I would also guess the area would be smelly for awhile.

To find an old surface run and not do anything with it "at the moment" is nearly criminal But you are not the only one to have committed that sin and as like you I had other things on my mind when I found it. I've tried to find it several times now but have just not been able to put my feet back in the right spot.

Thanks for the share and the spellbinding tale..........63bkpkr

 

[Lanny in AB]

Ah the experience of a true thunder and lightning storm out in the mountains and really well articulated I might add. They are glorious as well as capable of bringing us to the understanding of what we are and are not in charge of as well as to realize we could be instantly be turned to carbon and calcium dust by one of those bolts and I would also guess the area would be smelly for awhile.

To find an old surface run and not do anything with it "at the moment" is nearly criminal But you are not the only one to have committed that sin and as like you I had other things on my mind when I found it. I've tried to find it several times now but have just not been able to put my feet back in the right spot.

Thanks for the share and the spellbinding tale..........63bkpkr

Herb--thanks for the warm feedback on the last segment of the story. There really is nothing like the magnificent fury, and stunning majesty of a spectacular lightning storm in the mountains. The sound remains indescribable except to those that have experienced it. The level of noise and the brilliance of the light display is singularly unique. I like your comment about how vulnerable we are as well in the hands of Nature's unassailable power.

It's great that you can relate to leaving gold deposits behind as well. From what I know to today, vs. what I knew when I was starting out, I know I left a lot of gold behind, and I'll probably be like you when I go back to try to relocate some of those deposits as well.

All the best,

Lanny