Story time! The story of how A 15 year old got kicked out of a state park.

[MinorMiner]

>be me
>be 15
>be in Henry Cowell state park
>have been to this spot multiple times before with my folding sluice, buckets, and digging/crevicing tools
>have only found 3 tiny specs, and one almost picker so far (people say there is no gold in this river, but it's the closest river to me and I don't want to have to drive to the Yuba)
>have new info about where old timers found gold in this area before from old newspaper (PLANT ROOTS)
>go to work with pick maddock and folding military shovel
>run about two buckets through sluice
>do a clean up
>find 5 small pieces
>theprophecyhasbeenfulfilled.jpg
>snufter up the 5 pieces
>go back to work with pick maddock and folding shovel
>everything is going great
>suddenly, everyone is trying to get my attention
>look over, see people pointing to the top of the river bank
>look up
>see state parks lady
>sp lady: "HEY THERE'S NO GOLD PANNING HERE"!!!!!
>me: "really"?
>sp lady: "YEAH YOU CAN'T TAKE ANYTHING FROM A STATE PARK"!
>me: "Okay, I'll leave, just let me pack my stuff up and I'll respectfully leave".
>while walking back to the car, I realized that people have more sand on the bottom of their shoes when they leave than I do gold in my snufter
>I win the gold went home with me

END

More info: on the california state parks website, it says nothing about gold panning or sluicing, and there are no laws against it. I was being very respectful and friendly to the people around me (and I stayed out of their way). I don't know who tipped off the state parks people, because no one said anything to me. I also have never had problems there before, and I'm almost positive that the SP people have seen me prospecting before, or at least me walking with my stuff. My point is, I'm almost certain the SP people themselves don't care, but I think if someone makes a big deal, they have to do something. They have to do their jobs, and they did.

 

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[Tedyoh]

Move out of that country of .CA

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[MinorMiner]

I would if i could...

 

[Tedyoh]

I hear ya....another thing I would do, not by yourself though....is hike 5 or 10 miles up or down stream out of site of people who are to lazy to walk that far, bet you find better gold as well...being off the beaten path that everyone has probably panned already.....backpack your gear in and out

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[Tom_in_CA]

Minor-miner, welcome to T'net. I'm ~45 min. south of you in Salinas . And your story struck a chord on multiple fronts ! Let me start by saying I'm not into the prospecting side of md'ing (ie.: nuggets). I'm aware that the coastal ranges had a few spots that have gold-in-natural form (south of Big sur, for example, there was Los Burros region, etc...). However it was all never economically viable. The topography or something of the coastal ranges (versus the sierras) isn't right for natural gold to any economic degree. Mostly placer (hard-rock) yet not productive when compared to the Sierra Nevadas (2+ hrs. east of us). But yes: supposedly some spots where nuggets were historically found in the S. Cruz mountains.

Anyhow, since I'm not into prospecting, I have no knowledge of State of CA laws regarding that. They battle this out on the prospecting forum here, but ... I don't follow those threads. I *AM* however very up on state of CA parks as it concerns md'ing for coins/relics/jewelry. And crazy as it may sound, I know full well what happened (before you were born) at Henry Cowell state park that *might* have a bearing on what happened to you. Sad but true story will relate in next post:

 

[MinorMiner]

yup... tomorrow i'm doing that, no sluice, no buckets, just pan, classifier, and digging/crevicing implements; all of which fits in my pack. ill test pan different spots along the river. hopefully my new 16" turbo pan shows up before i leave...

 

[MinorMiner]

Hey tom, thanks for the reply, and i'm looking forward to the story.

I too have researched the local mining history, and found the same info.

Can't wait to hear what *might* have influenced what happened to me!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some friends of mine in Santa Cruz would sometimes hit Henry Cowells state park. The campgrounds there are only CCC (1930s) era, if I'm not mistaken. Hence not too old. But old enough that they goof off and shoot for silver now and then. No one ever bothered them.

One day however, my friend got the boot. When he asked "why?", all they would say is "it's not allowed"

A few days later, he was at the dealers house in S. Cruz (who's since passed away). This was in the pre-internet days when you actually had brick & mortar dealers, who sold machines just as a side-line hobby out of their garage, for instance. As he and dealer were gabbing, in walked a customer to buy some accessory. Apparently this new fellow had just purchased a machine from the dealer a few weeks earlier, and was now back to buy something else. As the 3 of them sat shop-talking about md'ing, the newbie let out an interesting statement:

"Gee it's a shame they don't allow md'ing in Henry Cowells state park".


My friend immediately perked up, realizing it's the park he'd just been booted from a few days earlier. So without saying anything about THAT, he asked the newbie: "What do you mean?". The newbie explained that he'd gone to the kiosk and asked "Can I metal detect here?". The confused clerk hee'd and haw'd and then excused himself from the window. Apparently making a call to some headquarters higher-up from afar. Came back to the window and said "no".

My friend asked about the date of that incident. Turned out it had been just a few days prior to my friends booting! Hence apparently now, whenever this clerk sees another md'r (whom apparently had been a non-issue before) now sees another md'r and thinks "aha! there's one of them!". It became clear that this newbie had single-handedly got the park put off limits by swatting hornet's nests and asking silly questions. Bless his little heart, eh ?

Now *admittedly* I suppose that "scram" COULD be based on "cultural heritage" wording (admittedly). But had apparently been a non-issue prior to this "pressing question".

Not sure whether that's what got you booted (perhaps this 'BOL' has been passed down the chain ever since then, 25 or 30 yrs. ago ?) After all , you were prospecting, not coin-hunting. This is a good question for the nugget/prospecting forum. And multiple folks in the Sacramento club are WELL VERSED in the subject (although, quite frankly, most of them are so far back in the woods that it's a non-issue).


anyhow, when I saw "Santa Cruz" and "Henry Cowells", it struck a familar close-by chord and memories Welcome to T'net. If you ever want to try your hand at coins/relic/beach, drop me a line.

 

[MinorMiner]

Thank you so much for the story!

I wondered if someone (after seeing me (i talk to a LOT of people down there)) went to the front office and asked to buy a pan or something, thus setting off the following chain of events.
It's the vaguely worded, confusing legislative language that allows them to selectively enforce rules such as the no taking anything from a state park rule.

I actually sold my Garrett Ace 350 after a couple trips to the beach so I could buy the sluice box.

Side note: I'm glad I signed up for this forum, people are super friendly here.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

....
>sp lady: "YEAH YOU CAN'T TAKE ANYTHING FROM A STATE PARK"!
>me: "Okay, I'll leave,......

Well gee, this also is true. Not only of state parks , but of ALL public land of ANY entity (city, county, state, and federal).

It falls under the catch-all of rules forbidding "harvest" "take" "remove". Laws/rules that were meant so that no numb-skull thinks he can take home the park benches, cut down trees for firewood, harvest the park sod for use at his home yard, etc...

Was it ever meant to apply to nuggets or coins or pulltabs. OF COURSE NOT. *could* it ? Sure: Just ask enough bored archies and lady rangers, and I'm sure one can dream this up. The same logic could be applied to state park beaches here in CA. It's the exact same state parks dept. that administers each after all ! Hence any rule/law applying to the land parks (like Henry Cowell) would equally apply to the beach. Yet ... oddly, you can md state park beaches here in CA TILL YOU'RE BLUE IN THE FACE and no one cares. Moral of the story ? : We leave good enough alone. But technically, if that lady SR got transfered to Seacliff, or Manresa, or any of the local state park beach unit offices, there's no technical reason why she couldn't employ the same line of reasoning there.

And it would be murder to un-ravel and fight. Because, sure ... *technically* we "take" things. And (gasp) it's possible to find a coin over 50 yrs. old, blah blah blah. So far, it's never been an issue at anything except a few isolated land parks here (typically those with admitted historically sensitive themes). And in-practice, beaches have always been exempted. Phheeww.

 

[MinorMiner]

That's what i thought. It's maddening, because I'm almost POSITIVE that there are no rules against what I am doing, but I didn't want to argue because I've heard stories of SP rangers taking peoples equipment, and I can't afford new stuff, so I chose not to take the risk.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.....
I actually sold my Garrett Ace 350 after a couple trips to the beach so I could buy the sluice box....

The 250 and 350 are poor wet salt beach machines for our coastline here. Also, not sure when you were trying your hand at it, but the time to go is after storm erosion. Not just "any old time".

Sometimes S. Cruz main beach (which is the only beach in Monterey bay that faces true-south) gets tagged by an anomoly southern swell (that comes all the way up from the equator). And if you get 3 or more days of perpetual true-south (180*-ish) swells and favorable tides, you can get some off-season (ie.: no local "storms") erosion. This happened just this last June (1.5 month ago) and a buddy of mine got 300+ coins per day, for 2 days straight there. Even a few gold rings. All new coins (on account of the yacht harbor being built in the mid 1960s, which forever-backed-up the sand). But still fun to angle for coins and jewelry.

There's some beaches further south that spit out old coins after storms.

 

[MinorMiner]

Yes, and yes. I realized lowering sensitivity and adjusting ground balance didn't change much. And yes, that's exactly where I was. It was during the summer, after the tourists had left.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Not sure if you have a driver's lic. yet, and not sure how hardcore you want to try your hand at nuggets, but .... if you ever want to try the Sierras, there's some fellows up there who would show you the ropes. They hit the old tailings piles for nuggets. It's taken off so big in the Sacramento area since the mid 1980s, that most of the guys up there have drifted away from coin/relics, and are strictly prospectors now. Apparently that addictive in sport

 

[Tedyoh]

Great words from Tom who's a great resource, especially for CA....it annoys me that they are "harrasing" a 15 year old who is really just out enjoying the outdoors.....keep your head on right....good things will come for you in the future...good luck.

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[MinorMiner]

Not yet, but starting online classes soon. I know the ropes, youtube showed me (askjeffwilliams, doc from the gold hog, the aussie guy, and others), so I don't need help. I know what to look for. I would do anything for a nugget. I would just need locations of the tailings piles.

You are right, the fever is highly contagious, as well. Finding color only makes it worse. G O T T A G E T M O R E G O O O L L L L L D D D D!!!!

 

[MinorMiner]

Makes you wonder about the bitter, unhappy people out there. Nothin' better to do.

Thanks, good luck to you too!

Also, yeah, Tom seems like a guy who knows what he's about!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Not yet, but starting online classes soon. I know the ropes, youtube showed me (askjeffwilliams, doc from the gold hog, the aussie guy, and others), so I don't need help. I know what to look for. I would do anything for a nugget. I would just need locations of the tailings piles.

You are right, the fever is highly contagious, as well. Finding color only makes it worse. G O T T A G E T M O R E G O O O L L L L L D D D D!!!!

When the day comes that you can get to Sacramento, let me know, and I'll put you in the direction of guys who routinely come in with nuggets.

 

[MinorMiner]

Thank you so much! I will for sure!

 

[Mzjavert]

Shame about that.