School is back in... Time to work!!!!!

[GarretDiggingAz]

I love it that Jeff is like the walking encyclopedia britanica of mining. Got a helpful head of knowledge and knows where to direct ya. Thx Jeff for your help and guidance.
I'll check out that site next week Tuesday if not sooner. Plus I've got to check out some other areas that maybe we could hit together. I'll be scouting out these areas ahead of time. Then I'll give ya some info on the area. I'm looking forward to ya joining us up here the valley area. Though you'll be northwest of me. That's my stomping grounds.

 

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[goldenIrishman]

Sorry Garrett but I have to defer the title of "Walking encyclopedia of mining" To Clay and BJay. I'm just a pretty good researcher with the ability to remember things from time to time. When It's something important I try to pass it on.

I've been going through that site and downloading quite a bit of information but still have to go through it all and digest it. I located where the house I'm looking at is and set up a 25 mile radius search and got a return of 28 mines that reported gold in the search area. I'm about 1/2 way through downloading all the info on these mines and still have to go over it all to see what is there that will be helpfull.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Ok all you desert rats and fellow zonies! Here is the address to that site I've been looking at. THis place is a freaking STOREHOUSE of great information that everyone that is serious about finding gold should learn to use!

Mining Collections | Arizona Geological Survey Mining Data

Very easy to use and with a little patience and persistance you can get the lowdown on any area in the state. I've been using the "Find Mines by Location" section and have pretty much figured out the easiest way to move around on it.

Step 1: When the page opens up, there will be two maps showing. The upper map is where you put the location in. If you know the name of the mine you can enter it in the box on the top left. Search terms (County, Placer, Lode etc.) go in the middle and commodities (gold, sliver etc.) go in the right box. Below the map there are places for GPS cords if you happen to know them as well as radial distance from the marker you want it to search. BTW... You can click and drag the marker to where you want it so you don't have to use GPS cords. Once you have entered your info on your search area, click on the search button to the right of the map.

Step 2: Once the search is completed, you should see a bunch of new markers that have popped up in the lower map section. Each one of those markers is for a mine, placer etc that they have info on. Click on a marker and a link to the info for that marker will pop up. IMPORTANT!!!! To open the link I suggest that you right click on it and then select the "Open in new Tab" option. This will keep you from loosing all the markers on the lower map. Once the new tab has opened up you can click on the links on the new page. From this point you should be able to figure out how to view or save the information as needed.

So far I've downloaded the info for 28 different mines that lay within a 25 mile radius of the place I'm looking to purchase. Some are single files but many of them have several files covering the same mine. For those I make a folder and save everything for that mine to that folder.

There is a LOT of historical info on this site including pictures, milling reports, shipping manifests you name it. With a little detective work you can get a really good idea of where the gold is at and how much has already been found for any area of the state. Each of the pages with info links also has a map that shows where the mine is located and can be viewed as topo or sat images. Topo will not go in real close but the sat images will.

While there is a lot of historical data on these pages, they do NOT have current claim status. Some of these mines have not been worked since 1930 and before. BE SURE TO DO YOUR DUE DILLIGENCE BEFORE YOU START DIGGING OR DETECTING!! (Those of us that make sure of where we are digging aren't going to come bail ya out because you were lazy!!)

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well the research is starting to get really serious here. So far I've downloaded aprox 1.5 Gig worth of data from the AZGS site and I've been amazed at how much more there is to go! I've been concentraiting my efforts to the Northwest corner of the state but have to admit that I've peeked at a couple of other areas.

One thing that I've noticed is a lack of listings for placer operations in that area. Now it stands to chance that if there's all these lode mines, there's got to be some placer deposits as well. Those hills and mountains have to have given up some gold because of errosion over the years. My plan is to use the elevation data from the topo maps for those areas I'm interested in to plot water flow and drainage basins to locate areas to prospect. I will of course be checking into land status BEFORE I head out to put boots on the ground for any given area. Many of the claim blocks owned by the large companies are flat out HUGE and since I'm pretty sure that their lawyers can beat up mine, I don't want to give them any reason to come after me.

Once I've gotten my research for this area done, I plan on using the same site to do some computer exploration of areas like the Vulture Mountains, the Bradshaws and the areas along Hwy93 between Wickenburg and Kingman. While finding areas that have never had a human footprint laid into the land is going to be close to impossible, some of those out of the way areas should turn out to be well worth checking out. I know Clay has several areas in his Footprints series of mapping programs that fall into this range, I also figure that most people will be using those maps and the information in them instead of doing some serious research on their own. Having the Footprints for Greaterville has been a huge help in advancing my own knowledge on what to look for when hunting gold, but Clay just doesn't have the time or resources to do the entire state. While I'm not going to start doing up map sets like his, I will be willing to share what I find out about areas that the footprints maps don't cover. Between the AZGS site and the BLM maps I have for the state already, I've got lots of good information to work with. LOL Of course a faster computer would make things a lot nicer. This dinosaur 800Mhz is on it's last legs and ready to give up the ghost soon. Hope I can keep the smoke in the chips until I can afford to build me up a new one!!!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well I'm STILL downloading information off the AZGS site!!!! I've only been working on Mohave County so far and have already gotten over 2 Gig worth of data. I had to transfer everything I'd grabbed so far to a flash drive because I was running out of room on the computers HDD.

I've set up folders for each county and within those folders I've got sub-folders for lode and placer entries. Some of the mine listings on the site only have a single entry while others can have a couple dozen. For those that have a single entry I place them in the lode or placer folder according to what is fitting. Those with multiple entries I make another folder to keep everything in one place and then place it in the proper section. Some of the files include some really great pictures of the workings, maps of the claims, maps of the shafts, drifts and audits etc etc etc. There are assay reports, drilling location maps, engineer reports as well. Not all of the mines have such extensive information but all in all when combined you can get a great overview of just about any area that gold has been found.

Once I get done with downloading all this information, I would be willing to share it with anyone willing to send me a flash drive with a prepaid shipping container for its return. If you only want one counties information or the entire state it will make no difference. just let me know what ya want so I can tell you what size flash drive(s) it will take to hold all the info. (Like I said... I haven't even finished up Mohave Countie and am already over 2 gig of files) These are all public records that are availabe fore free download, but why should everyone have to waste that much time? One of us is enough.

 

[goldenIrishman]

More than I can chew

Still working on getting the data for all of the gold mines in Mohave County. I've already grabbed just under 6 GIG worth of files and I've still got 50-60 mines left to go. You want to talk about tons of data? I just hit one mine with over four pages of data listings! As usual I grabbed the photographs first and when I opened the first link on the first page of the four pages of file links I find it alone has ten links on it! No telling what the other pages are going to have and I'm almost afraid to go look! Clay, The mine I'm talking about here is named "Roadside" and so far has the highest amount of documentation I've seen for a single mine. Most likely it's going to take me a couple of days to get it all downloaded. Not many pictures but lots and lots of maps from what I've seen so far.

With my old computer on top of being on a MiFi connection I'm starting to wonder if this project is going to turn out to be more than I can chew. On top of all the time I've already spent downloading (with a lot more to go) I'm still going to have to go through all this data and make some serious sense out of it. I just hope it pays off in a big way in the near future. If I can find several open areas that have good values on them I feel it will have been worth all this effort. If it turns out to be a waste of my time, then oh well, at least I've been getting a good education out of it. Since I'll be moving up to the Kingman area I felt the getting all the information on it that i can is important. Once I get done getting all of the files for Mohave County I think I'm going to take a break from downloading and start doing the serious research with the files. Me arse is about numb from all the time in front of the computer but once I'm done I should be able to pretty much live in the field for quite some time. I'll only have to be coming back into the homestead to restock on supplies when needed. Got to keep the beans, bacon and coffee supplies up after all!!!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well the plans for the last trip out to the Greaterville area have been made. My buddy Chris will be out from Houston on the 12th and we'll be hitting the wash at Kentucky Camp. We've always had pretty good luck there and since I started prospecting the Greaterville area there I feel it's only fitting that I end that part of the journey there as well. This will be another full week trip starting on the 12th and going until the 19th.

I'm still getting things together for my move up to Kingman and have been raiding the USGS, AZGS and BLM sites for info on the area. Lots and lots of mines in Mohave County of both Lode and Placer types. Also lots of info available on-line for me to study so I can (with a little luck) find a couple of good places to claim quickly. If everything goea right, I should be able to start hitting the field within a month to a month and a half after I get there. Little things like getting the new headquarters setup have to come first. Just wish Kingman had a Harbor Freight! Closest ones are either down in Phoenix or over in Lost Wages. I hate it when the toy store is so far away...

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

You'd really think there'd be a harbor freight in Kingman. ..

 

[goldenIrishman]

Nawww.... Kingman isn't THAT big Dan. A lot of the "residents" in that area are snowbirds and it is spread out over a pretty large area. Harbor Freight couldn't keep a shop busy there year round.

I'm looking at it this way, If I go down to the Phoenix/Mesa area to hit them, I can also stop at A&B Prospecting supply and stock up on needed items. If I hit the store in Lost Wages, I can always hit the Casinos to lighten their cash load. and get something to eat on the cheap at one of the buffet lines.

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

That's the spirit, Jeff!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Ok FOlks...

I'll be heading out to Greaterville (Kentucky Camp) on Sunday and will be out there for 8 days. I'm going to be traveling light and working hard on this trip. My objective it to bring back at least one full bucket of cons as well as a dozen or so buckets of raw materials to run here at the house. Since I haven't been to K.C. since we started working the area we were going to claim, it will be interesting to see what changes have taken place. Where others have been digging, how the rains have changed the wash etc. (BTW.... Anyone wanting to claim the old area feel free to PM me and I'll give you the proper description of the claim for filing. I did turn up that 1.24 gram nugget and I'm sure there's plenty more like it to be had. It's a little too remote for Robi to be interested in and I'm moving so it's up for grabs.)

Chris will be arriving late on Sunday afternoon along with his four footed buddy Earl. Will be good to see both of them again and with luck we'll all have some good digging!

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Good diggings Jeff, good to talk to ya earlier.

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Jeff,
Good luck down at KC. I'd like to get back there again, but trying to get ready for trip north. Estimated time you'll be in kingman?
Cheap buffets in Vegas? Not like it used to be. Wish it was. Unless you know of one.

 

[Jeff95531]

Breaking News..........10/14/2014.......I got a text from Jeff and he said he was onto some decent gold....I told him me too!

Now wasn't that better than anything else you've seen on TV today?

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Damn i missed a call from him today!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well I survived the trip out to Kentucky Camp! I'm sore and kind of feeling like I was run over by a train but I survived.

Got out there on Sunday and after unloading my gear, Robi took off back to the homestead. I wandered down to see Fred and Elinor who are the care takers for this month while I waited for Chris to arrive. It's always a pleasure to see Fred and his much better half as they are very nice folks. That Fred also happens to have a case of "Gold Fever" doesn't hurt either. He managed to sneak away a couple of time to come on down to the wash to play with us.

Chris finally got there about 4 PM and after getting him unloaded, we proceeded to haul the gear down to the wash and get camp set up. For those of you that have never been to this area, let me explain that it's hard to find a good place to set up even a small tent. This is because there are so many "Coyote Holes" in the area that it reminds me of the impact area of the Ft. Hood Artillery range!!! The grass was very tall so it made it even harder to find a couple of good spots that would be close to the work. After some hunting we found a couple of good places and got the tents up and soon were ready to relax for a bit and have some dinner.

Waking up the next morning, we got the sluices set up and started digging. We opted to try some new areas instead of working the bank like we had in the past. This time we hit the bottom of the wash and went straight down till we hit what seemed like bedrock. After running a quick test of three buckets I found some nice pieces of gold and knew that I was in a pretty good area. I started off running 1/2 inch classified material through my re-circ highbanker and was rinsing out the mats after every three buckets. I took the cons and panned them down just enough to make sure I was still on the gold and after grabbing out any pickers, I bagged up the rest to go through them here at the house after I got back.

All in all we managed to process about a yards worth of materials each while on site. This of course required us to actually dig about 2-1/2 to 3 yards due to the amount of rock. A couple of the larger rocks required a team effort to get them out of the way but it was well worth it. Nice course buttery yellow gold was waiting under those big rocks!!! Granted, none of them were like the St. Patrick's Day nugget from earlier this year in size, but they had much more character.

The weather on this trip was varied. Hot during the day and cold at night. Lots of dew over everything each morning but it evaporated quickly once the sun came up. We did have one rain shower that popped up out of nowhere that was enough to drive us to our tents, but it only lasted for a few minutes and it was back to work. (Yet another reason to use a re-circ system out there instead of trying to drywash!)

After checking in with Robi on Wednesday and finding out that she was going to come out and join us, I switched over to the drop riffle sluice since it is much easier for her to run. No mats to worry about etc. This also meant I had to change from 1/2 in to 1/4 in classifying of the materials. This wasn't as bad as it could have been thanks to the extra large classifier that Chris had made up and brought out. In a nutshell it's a large basket out of a freezer that he'd lined with 1/4 in hardware cloth. This thing could handle 4-5 shovels full of raw dirt at a time and after a few rounds you had enough to fill up a coule of buckets in no time. As you shake it, the materials drop into a 20 gallon tub. We tried to keep it to only half full so we didn't tear up the tub to quickly.

I managed to run just under a yard of materials and turn them into "super cons" plus I brought back another dozen buckets to do here. Half of them were from the hole I worked most of the week that was giving up some good stuff and the other six were from an area about 10 yards up stream. I ran a test batch fromthe new place and got the best gold for a single bucket I've ever gotten from that area. So I've got a dozen buckets of materials as well as a big bag of cons to work down before I can give ya'll a final gold tally. Stay tuned folks! The fun is still going on!!!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Double post

 

[Sample Pan Dan]

Sounds like a good trip. Hope you've got some killer goldin there.

 

[arizau]

goldenIrishman,
Were you working a claim, private or club, or was it in the area where no claims are allowed? Good luck in your results.

 

[cshirsch]

I made it home OK but hit some traffic close to Houston. I am not feeling too bad considering the amount of dirt and rocks I moved. I ran exactly 40 buckets of 1/4" classified material. I ended up with 35 pounds of cons not including the material I vacuumed up at the end. I unpacked today and did not do much else. Tomorrow I may start panning.....may not. :-) I am already looking forward to going back in the early spring and doing it all again. The hardest work I have ever done in my life, and loving it!
Chris