Detecting/mining caves/mt climbing/gold paning

[zeuss69]

Me, xXx,and DarrenNC went Camping on the river Tue. and Wed. in the Uwharrie forest.We had a great time there and did a lot of exploring.Did a little of everything the Detecting didn't turn out as good as we had hoped but had fun anyway!!We also found a bunch of mines and shafts that we got to walk through and explore.It was an awesome experience for i had a great time!!!!We found supersized quarts veins with terminated crystals.There was so much quarts bulging out of the mountain that it looked as if it had snow about 300 yards wide and 3 or 400 yards high up the mt.I also want to say that it was nice meeting darrenNC for the first time he's a great person.If anyone ever gets a chance to hunt with XxX or darrenNC they are excellent dudes fun to treasure hunt with and very knowledgable guys.Had a great time would love to do it again!!! heres some picks. xXx has the rest of the picks with caves and mines.Hell put them on later tonight about 10:00 or so if not tomorrow he on his way home from here.The picks that he has is worth looking at so please check back and view them.

ZEUSS69

 

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[Darren in NC]

The caves/mines go back to early-mid 1800s when the gold rush was on here. America's first gold rush was here in NC. It began in 1799 at the Conrad Reed property. I won't go into detail, but do a google search on "Reed Gold Mine" if you're a history buff

Coinshooter, we didn't stay at the house too long. A neighbor with a pistol on his hip came over to "check on us." Then a ranger did the same. Our time was limited that morning. But on top of that our detectors were getting squirrely signals at almost every step. I've never hunted gold country, so I assume it's the mineralization of the ground. I know my detector didn't sound like that back home. I need to get a bit more educated on how to use a detector for that kind of soil. So after digging many empty holes, we left to check out the mining area in the national park. I know I had the time of my life with the guys and exploring the area.

 

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[Darren in NC]

Forgot...yes, we did stick the detectors down the outhouse holes. There was a lot of modern trash in there already. We were asked not to disturb too much, so I felt digging behind the outhouse to tunnel under it would have been going too far. But I'll bet there are some old medicine bottles in there if they haven't been found already

 

[kenb]

Darren, thanks for the info I had know idea the rush started in 1799 or in that neck of the woods. I'll check it out. Glad you guys had a great time.

kenb

 

[Colorado2]

Now let me get this straight...You guys get to go camping in FEBRUARY? If you're not into snow caves, you don't get to do that here for another 4 months or so. Great to see you guys getting together and having a good time of it. HH ~CO2

 

[xXx]

The weather was remarkable. Just cool enough late at night by the fire to throw on a sweater and sweat pants. I don't think any of us ever broke out a jacket? During the days it was a little on the warm side. A t-shirt was more than enough, and I found myself sweating even then. (It might have been the fact that we climbed a mountain to check out the mining). I know I'm ready to go back already. The locals there were very informative. Even the mail man stopped to tell us of places we should go. Unfortunately we ran out of time just before we were able to check the place where he said he kicked some soil and recovered a Civil War belt buckle. Ya, no detector, just kicked the soil. The owner of a local store (with a couple very interesting employees) even ran out to meet us before we had a chance to leave his store and gave us information about local mining over the years.
HAD A BLAST. Meeting great guys here on the forum and putting together great times is what life's all about. I have a few more "excursions" planned with these guys and others here on the forum and look forward to each and every one of them.
xXx

 

[spotz]

Ok! Now it's time for you guys to join the GPAA. You are already doing it all & having a blast. Keep it up & many thanks for the pix. Spotz

 

[xXx]

GPAA? Hmmm? That would probably be a great idea for Zeuss69. I'm a Treasure man. I love the gold, but that's not where my heart is. I guess I had to choose. Maybe someone will start a THAA (Treasure Hunters Association of America). Wait, I think they already did.
xXx

 

[coinshooter]

Joined a prospecting club before I got into detecting. I started detecting because I got tired of going all the way to the desert for the weekend (3 1/2 hours), packing up the car with a ton of equipment, and then digging my a** off for a total of $10 in gold if I was lucky. I stayed with it for about 2-3 yrs, which was just long enough to learn the ins and outs of gold prospecting. Then when I bought a detector and figured out I could find more gold on the beach than i ever could working my butt off (AND, I got to look at cute girls while I was doing it), well..... which one would you choose? 8) I'm still considering selling a really nice drywasher with a brand new blower motor that I spent a bundle on. It just sits in my garage now and collects dust.

 

[zeuss69]

You should trade it in for a dredge!! Theres know digging at all.I have two hard rock mines so i know what your talking about when you are digging your a--%* off.You could bury a couple of vans full size!!Just with a #2 shovel and a pick and wheel barrel.Ended up with back surgery!So now i just dredge now know digging and plenty of gold .I even put wheels on it so its portable if you have to cross a filed or something before you can get to the creek or river.Now i use my detector for bed rock that is out of the water and dredge all bed rock under water!! well would hate to see you just stop gold mining.use the best of both worlds and getter done.just a thought

ZEUSS69,

 

[psarci]

Sounds like a fun trip. Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[Colorado2]

Take care of that back. You never know when you're going to run into a lady looking for a C F H D! Wouldn't want to get caught short!

 

[Shutterbug]

Thanks for the post. That's some cool pictures of the mines. I couldn't imagine digging back into the mountains like that....

 

[old gringo]

That old house sure looks like one between highway 109 and Carolina Forest on River Road toward highway 24.

 

[Daniel in NC]

Those are great pics, thanks for sharing them...good luck on the next trip out there.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Hey all,

That sounds so cool what a site!! I want to see pictures of the gold you found and the quarts. I would search under that big porch thats where the coins are. Why have they not mined the gold? Is the quarts not worth thousands in the amount you said thats there?

Keep @ it and HH!!

 

[ChuckNC]

Probably one of the biggest problems is it's in a National Forest and NC isn't a claim state. If it were, we'd be having the same problems as our western brethren.
That area was "mined out" some time ago. As we know now, some 95% of the gold is microscopic. While this would probably make the mine profitable, there;s still the problem of the Nation Forest and twisted Rangers.
Great pics and I wish I couldv'e joined you! I love picking around places like that.
Oh and for our MD'ing brethren, most people in NC were dirt poor. If they dropped a dime in the yard, you'd better believe the whole family went looking for it. That's why you don't hear of many gold coins found in NC,,,,,,,,unless it's in a cache.
Chuck

 

[Darren in NC]

If anyone is interested, the mailman in Eldorado (small town near the Uwharrie) remembers stumbling on a Civil War buckle as a kid. He'll tell you the general area. To his knowledge, no one ever detected the area. We never followed up on it, but some of you relic lovers might

 

[old gringo]

If anyone is interested, the mailman in Eldorado (small town near the Uwharrie) remembers stumbling on a Civil War buckle as a kid. He'll tell you the general area. To his knowledge, no one ever detected the area. We never followed up on it, but some of you relic lovers might?

Would he be in the post office or a rual carrier ? I hope to be moved into the area by spring.

 

[Darren in NC]

Rural carrier. Stop by the trading post (convenience store) - they know him.