SHERRYs THREAD - My Gold Prospecting Journey

[Sideways Sherry]

Awe that's sweet Kevin! Thank you!

Maybe I should tell him how often I get asked out at the river, even though I'm wearing my rings? Nah, he's not the jealous type, that'll just boost his ego that I'm his wife. LOL!!!

 

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[Sideways Sherry]

Thanks TheGoldProspector, I wish us the best too! I'm sure it will be fine, he will just have to accept that I now have an additional love in my life other than himself and our son... Gold Prospecting. I've certainly got the fever however, I don't intend give it up.

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Kevin,
I happened upon this article just now...

http://www.bedrockdreams.com/2012/08/why-women-make-good-gold-miners.html?m=1

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Well, I have friends in town yesterday and guess what? They want me to take them PANNING ON THE RIVER and they do not want to go ride bikes at the beach as my husband suggested. He spoke up and said "I'm not going, it's not my thing, it's her's..." Boy did he get strange looks from them (as well he should have). Of course right away when we were alone he says "why did you suggest that!" And I said, "I didn't, it's what THEY wanted to do and they are our guests!" And at that point I had had enough if this, I'm not going to the river crap! So I proceeded to tell him that he was acting like a 2 year old selfish brat and very "Veruca Salt'ish" and was it unacceptable behavior because it's not always about HIM and he needed to stop trying to control everything, learn to go with the flow and to stop pushing onto others what he wants to do all the time and to stop shutting down everyone else's ideas or he's gonna wind up a lonely old man! Our friends kept talking about how excited they were to go and wanted me to pan some of my cons for them, etc. Well, I guess he sort of got over his bruised ego as we were headed to dinner and said, "yea I'm gonna go, my wife says I need to learn to go with the flow but I'm still bringing my mountain bike." And we all had a great evening.

WE ARE HEADED TO THE RIVER SOON, I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO JUMP IN THAT WATER, GEAR AND ALL!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Sounds like he just might be trainable ;-)

PS cool article ...

 

[triple d]

Once you have the fever have to feed it. Just no way around it. And it gets worst as time passes. Best of luck.

 

[midnightmoon]

Hi Sherry!

+1 to what Kevin said. And when he catches the fever, I will always remember you were first.

I still haven't gotten out this summer. (Worked 60+hrs last week. sigh).

Katt.

 

[Fullpan]

Kevin,
I happened upon this article just now...

Bedrock Dreams: Why Women Make Good Gold Miners

Thanks for posting that interesting article - I personally know a woman who put herself through college by dredging gold in the Feather river in norcal.

 

[TheGoldProspector]

Thanks for posting that interesting article - I personally know a woman who put herself through college by dredging gold in the Feather river in norcal.

Must have been many moons ago. . Just playing

 

[Fullpan]

lol - Yes it was back in late 1970's - 80s. This was before the greenies got "wild and scenic" designation BS. It was a time when ppl still respected small-scale dredgers. It was considered a 20 million dollar/year industry that paid taxes to the county, bought local supplies from local businesses, and paid millions in permit fees to BLM. Nothing has changed except the ppl bought the greenies propaganda - same with logging industry. What a crock...

 

[Oregon Viking]

lol - Yes it was back in late 1970's - 80s. This was before the greenies got "wild and scenic" designation BS. It was a time when ppl still respected small-scale dredgers. It was considered a 20 million dollar/year industry that paid taxes to the county, bought local supplies from local businesses, and paid millions in permit fees to BLM. Nothing has changed except the ppl bought the greenies propaganda - same with logging industry. What a crock...

^ This! ^

 

[Sideways Sherry]

So an old school local miner has decided to take me under his wing through Facebook by making me personal videos and teaching me about the East Fork where I prospect and the best ways to prospect it. He calls me grasshopper! (I found this pic and it fits perfectly!)

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Well guys, I have been working hard on the tales of my prospecting adventures only to discover that my husband turned off my computer when he went to bed without saving my work because it makes a loud humming sound occasionally and the power light is bright in our bedroom. I don't have auto-save turned on either, I discovered this after checking temp files. Ugh! Anyway, I promise to get you guys caught up soon.

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Well I'm headed out tomorrow morning to meet my new Mentor and his wife. I'm sure I'll have a great day packed full of learning about prospecting!

 

[425jesse]

Awesome! Best of times and luck!!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Good luck, have fun!

 

[Sideways Sherry]

So I posted this in another spot but I wanted to add it here as well....

I have a BGT Super Mini and my friend has a CalSluice (undercurrent). We went to my hole together, dug the exact same spot. I used my hand dredge, he used an old kitchen pot. I ran 3 times as much material classified to 1/2" than he did unclassified and he got 3 times as much gold as I did. I adjusted steep and deep got barely any gold then went slower and level and then finally got some gold but I had to drop to only 1/2 scoop of material on the deck at a time.

I am disappointed too, I almost feel like I got more gold with my 4in x 4ft homemade sluice...

 

[Sideways Sherry]

:-/

 

[Sideways Sherry]

Well the rain came, then the flood and it filled in my 4 ft deep hole and I had just made it down to bedrock!
Oh well... More exercise. LOL!!!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Well the rain came, then the flood and it filled in my 4 ft deep hole and I had just made it down to bedrock! Oh well... More exercise. LOL!!!

Yup, funny how fast nature can erase all signs of our work...even before we want it to!

With that little supermini getting best results means classifying (down to 1/2 inch is good enough, do NOT classify smaller than 1/4 as the trap will be deprived of the right sized material for the fluid bed and then you will lose gold!), feeding a bit more slowly ( let the rate of material clearing off the deck guide you) and not getting too crazy with the water flow. The fluid bed will immediately fill loosely with gravel, that's good- that gravel is the "bed" in fluid bed. Since you are classifying, you can put a catch pan just down from the sluice to test your tailings for gold. This will very quickly teach you how to run the sluice. Overall, the supermini will do the job for you although it is a bit more tricky than the larger models to run well.

Let's keep up this conversation as you learn more so others can learn from your adventure too