desertgolddigger
Bronze Member
- May 31, 2015
- 1,048
- 1,951
- Detector(s) used
- Bounty Hunter Time Ranger
- Primary Interest:
- Prospecting
It's been a while since I last posted on the Forums here, asking for advice and help.
I decided to join the "Valley Prospectors" in San Bernardino, and made one of their meetings. Unfortunately, after that, my health problems snowballed on me, and it was just this holiday weekend that I decided I was healthy enough to go to one of their claims, and see what I could find.
The difficult part of the whole trip there was trying to locate the road they mentioned in their directions. Seems someone had removed the sign that had the roads name on it, but I eventually found that road, and then it was an adventure to figure out which was the main road, with so many branches that were the same size. I figured it couldn't hurt to just go down the middle road when I came to a three road intersection. I finally found the claims, and introduced myself to a couple who had been there some three weeks. They were so kind to invite me into their camper and let me warm up while they finished their morning rituals to get ready for the day.
Phil led me to where he said was a fairly good spot to dig. He took up working on one side of the road, and I figured I'd try my luck on the other side.
This area was one of the very last Placer sites discovered in Southern California. It was worked by the miners during the Depression era, and I guess they did not have the ability to get all the gold, just the larger pieces. So that leaves we modern day prospectors with out much more advanced machines an opportunity to find the tiny stuff they left.
I am in the process of cleaning up after my three days of dry washing. I got one very small picker, and what I call three near pickers. The rest is either large enough for my tweezers to pick up after dipped in water. Seems the water tension on the tweezers attracts the very fine gold. The rest is so fine I cannot use tweezers, and really haven't a clue as to how to get to it. I've a Blue Bowl, but it is just too rough to separate the super small gold from the fine black sand. Any suggestions?
From what I can see, there are hundreds of this super fine gold.
But back to what I should be telling you. I was totally happy with what I call my vacation. I just had loads of fun, and though I may not have collected the bigger pieces like Phil seemed to find, I am really just happy to have found anything.
I've a lot to learn about what to look for. There are the old miners tailing piles and of course, the modern miners tailing piles. I need to figure out how to identify where the old time miners mined. I found a small area, but ended up doing what the old timers did, strip mining, and then back filling as a went. I followed the rules of back filling, though I see that maybe I am in the minority. Seems many of the modern miners do not follow this rule. I just want to make sure I still have a Placer claim to go to, by following the rules.
How much gold did I get. Haven't a clue, but if it is $5 worth, I would be surprised. Caley
I decided to join the "Valley Prospectors" in San Bernardino, and made one of their meetings. Unfortunately, after that, my health problems snowballed on me, and it was just this holiday weekend that I decided I was healthy enough to go to one of their claims, and see what I could find.
The difficult part of the whole trip there was trying to locate the road they mentioned in their directions. Seems someone had removed the sign that had the roads name on it, but I eventually found that road, and then it was an adventure to figure out which was the main road, with so many branches that were the same size. I figured it couldn't hurt to just go down the middle road when I came to a three road intersection. I finally found the claims, and introduced myself to a couple who had been there some three weeks. They were so kind to invite me into their camper and let me warm up while they finished their morning rituals to get ready for the day.
Phil led me to where he said was a fairly good spot to dig. He took up working on one side of the road, and I figured I'd try my luck on the other side.
This area was one of the very last Placer sites discovered in Southern California. It was worked by the miners during the Depression era, and I guess they did not have the ability to get all the gold, just the larger pieces. So that leaves we modern day prospectors with out much more advanced machines an opportunity to find the tiny stuff they left.
I am in the process of cleaning up after my three days of dry washing. I got one very small picker, and what I call three near pickers. The rest is either large enough for my tweezers to pick up after dipped in water. Seems the water tension on the tweezers attracts the very fine gold. The rest is so fine I cannot use tweezers, and really haven't a clue as to how to get to it. I've a Blue Bowl, but it is just too rough to separate the super small gold from the fine black sand. Any suggestions?
From what I can see, there are hundreds of this super fine gold.
But back to what I should be telling you. I was totally happy with what I call my vacation. I just had loads of fun, and though I may not have collected the bigger pieces like Phil seemed to find, I am really just happy to have found anything.
I've a lot to learn about what to look for. There are the old miners tailing piles and of course, the modern miners tailing piles. I need to figure out how to identify where the old time miners mined. I found a small area, but ended up doing what the old timers did, strip mining, and then back filling as a went. I followed the rules of back filling, though I see that maybe I am in the minority. Seems many of the modern miners do not follow this rule. I just want to make sure I still have a Placer claim to go to, by following the rules.
How much gold did I get. Haven't a clue, but if it is $5 worth, I would be surprised. Caley