The Many Lost Treasures of Mariposa, CA (Photos Added)

[EagleDown]

Vini, my son and I JUST walked around this whole area on Cotton Creek a few weeks ago and YES, I was salivating. Took my detector up there, but we lost daylight. Now, it's chuck full of snakes that I would rather not meet. I'll have to post my Chinese coins and 1/2 silver frank I found on an old foundation near town. Lots to be found up there.

During my several trips to Hornitos, I've seen a lot of places I'd love to metal detect. Unfortunately, not knowing anyone in the area, I've been hesitant to even take my machines out of the car. (lol)

A small community is usually a close knit community.

 

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[RelicLady]

Eagle,
You aren't able to detect in town and most of all of it is privately owned, but I do have permission to detect several areas there. When the snakes start to go away, I'll get you up there.

 

[EagleDown]

Eagle,
You aren't able to detect in town and most of all of it is privately owned, but I do have permission to detect several areas there. When the snakes start to go away, I'll get you up there.

Well heck, I'll protect you from any snakes. Most of them take one look at me and head for cover. (lol)
Actually, I like snakes. They're a neccessary part of our environment.

 

[EagleDown]

Strange occurrence (perhaps) explained

I recently read an article about how certain “trace minerals” are mined out of “organic shale”, for use in vitamin supplements. This “organic shale was created by a layer of fossilized vegetation that was deposited there, millions of years ago. The article reminded me of a dredging experience on the Merced.

I was dredging below McCabe Flats where the river makes a right, then a left turn on its way down the canyon. I was in the middle of what we called “the chute”. Most of the year, it’s almost impossible to dredge in the “chute”. Not because it’s too deep, but more due to the narrow channel that causes it to flow fast, even when the river is at its lowest.

We were near the end of a 3 year drought in 1979 and the river was so low (and slow) that the algae was even starting to grow in this relatively fast part. But, I reasoned that due to normal circumstances, this section of river channel had probably never been dredged. And, from the gold I recovered, I’m sure my assessment was right.

I had set my dredge up, near the upper end of this “chute”, and after discovering that there was only about 2 to 3 feet of overburden on top of the bedrock, I began expanding the area of exposed bedrock in an upstream direction. Over a period of about 9 hours of dredging, I had uncovered an area of bedrock of about four feet by fifteen feet. It wasn’t “covered” with gold, but there were enough one to three gram nuggets scattered about to keep my interest up. (lol)

Anyway, I was into the second day of dredging in “the chute”, when I uncovered an odd section of bedrock. It was an area of about twenty six or seven inches in diameter and almost symmetrically round. Basically, I would equate it to a tree stump, in as much as the inside of the circle was thin, vertical slivers of what I thought was shale within the otherwise solid slate bedrock, kind of like you would see when a tree stump rots from the inside.

I could see a dozen or more nuggets dotted about the rough surface of this circle and moved the suction nozzle to vacuum them up. It was a shock when I found that the water movement caused by my suction nozzle caused these thin slivers of shale to start breaking up and I saw several nuggets drop deeper into the hole. As a matter of fact, I started getting a little anxious when I realized that there were a couple of, what turned out later to be, half ounce nuggets, that every time the nozzle got close to them, the slivers of shale would break off, and the nuggets would drop ever deeper into the hole. I finally had to resort to setting the suction nozzle to the side, and reaching into the hole to recover them manually. Man, those slivers were sharp. I know that I didn’t get all of the gold. out of this hole, but after spending two or three hours of hanging over the edge and partially into the hole, I was sticking the nozzle and hose down about four feet into the hole and could no longer see the bottom as the light wasn’t penetrating enough, (In my attempt to get as much out of the hole as possible, I blocked out most of the sunlight, and depth did the rest). In any case, I was tired of being upside down and left the hole for another day.

Now, after reading the article mentioned above, and knowing that slate is formed from sedimentary materials, I’m more convinced than ever, that this was originally a tree stump that had been covered by mud, and over millions of years, became fossilized along with the sediment that covered it.

What do you think??

Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

Baby watch is t minus 26 days! I can't wait till he's here. Thxs for asking.

Hokay Brother. It's been over 26 days and we're all still waiting for a photo of the new little ChasP. (lol)

 

[Alex Burke]

I agree with the shale theory Eagle, I was at a river a little while back where the tops of trees were sticking out of the riverbed from hydro mining, tall redwoods prob top half gone but at least 60 ft to the bottom. I'm sure as rivers change directions naturally and otherwise many a tree gets fossilized or rots in different waterways. Which sounds like what you were dredging, great story. Awaiting the next installment.


Hard to see trees sticking up but they're there lol.

 

[CharlesP]

Hokay Brother. It's been over 26 days and we're all still waiting for a photo of the new little ChasP. (lol)

Here ya go Eagle. Thanks for actually caring to see my boy jake. The people on this forum are unlike any other forum I've been a part of. Thxs. It's been a fun tiring time with my new boy.

 

[CharlesP]

Hokay Brother. It's been over 26 days and we're all still waiting for a photo of the new little ChasP. (lol)

One more brother Eagle. How's MGB doing? It's been a while.

 

[Oakview2]

 

[EagleDown]

I'm sorry to have to tell you this Brother.......He's a lot better looking than you. (lol)

Hokay Brother, always keep in mind that the first 7 years will be the most critical years of his life. By the time he reaches his seventh year, his moral compass will be pretty much set, for the rest of his life.

The bad part of parenting is; regardless of how he turns out, YOU will always be known as "the man who taught him everything he knows". And, you only have one chance to get it right. You could have some work in store. Look at that first photo.....that boy's thinking some deep thoughts!! (lol)

Now that that's all out of the way,

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!
A handsome new baby boy............
May he always be happy, all the days of his life!!

Love and Respect,

Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

Oh yeah, mgb is doing fine. But, he'll have to tell you that. (lol)

 

[CharlesP]

Thanks so much for the advice and the complement on my good looks. Lol. I will take your words to heart and apply them to my child raisin. So far it's the hardest most fulfilling thing I've ever done. But I love it. Happy trails. I'm thinking about going prospecting Friday. Lets hope the heat brings the gold out. Lol

 

[CharlesP]

Aaaaauibbbb4. S

 

[EagleDown]

Aaaaauibbbb4. S

Yikes!! Are you already letting him on the computer?

 

[CharlesP]

Yikes!! Are you already letting him on the computer?

Sorry about that, that what happens when your 3 year old gets a hold of your phone. Lol

 

[EagleDown]

Flat doesn’t mean worthless!!

In reference to the fossilized tree stump I wrote of earlier, when I started dredging in the “chute”, I began close to the side of the channel. I went down through the overburden about a foot, and found that I had started dredging directly over a large boulder. My first thought was; “only I could choose to start dredging and have to move a boulder, almost before I got anything else done”. (lol)

So, I continued dredging the top of the boulder until I located the sides of it. Then, I cleared the materials on one side and found that the boulder was only about eight inches thick. I had enough of the materials removed on the down river side, that I could get my fingers under the opposite side and flip the flat boulder off and into the downriver hole I’d dredged. Then, I found that the work was worth it. There was another boulder, roughly the same diameter, but with a flat top, directly under the first boulder. I knew it was going to be a good area by the number of one to two gram nuggets lying on the flat top. I guessed the gold was washing out of the bank, and when it landed on the upper boulder, it slid off. Then, (I thought) rather than burying itself in the overburden, it worked its way under the top boulder and stayed there, just as if it was on bedrock. (In retrospect, a probable poor conjecture on my part).

Back it the days, I had developed the habit of picking up any sizable nuggets and placing them in a vial that I kept in a small pocket I had made on the sleeve of my wetsuit. In this case, I believe there might have been up to a quarter oz. of these little nuggets residing on the flat boulder.

After I had all of the small nuggets in the vial, using the suction nozzle, I cleaned the rest of the materials off of the top of the boulder so that I wouldn’t be guilty of leaving the finer gold behind. Then, I started dredging off of the boulder towards the middle of the river. I now believe that was a big mistake, as when I got down to bedrock, I could see that the boulder was sitting on, or near, bedrock. Much, much later, (years), I came to the conclusion that there should have been much more gold under the flat boulder than what I found on top of it. “Hindsight is always 20/20”. (lol)

Be that as it may, I was on bedrock, and, I’d already made up my mind on the direction I would dredge in, so I went on my merry way. I continued towards the middle of the river, (about 6 or 7 feet more), until I intersected the bedrock trough that I expected to find there. Then, I turned and followed the trough upriver, picking up small nuggets all the way. By the time I reached and cleaned the “tree stump” described earlier, I had filled the two oz. vial I kept in my sleeve pocket and started on another two oz vial. But, I can’t help but feel that if I had thought it all out, I would have moved and dredged under that flat boulder. I think that if I had, I would have probably filled up the first vial, before I started towards the middle of the river.

The moral of this story is; NEVER be so set in your plans, that you don’t take the time to consider possible alternatives. Be willing to improvise as conditions change. It could make the difference between getting “some” gold, or getting “a lot” of gold. (lol)

 

[CharlesP]

Awesome advice Eagle ,and a great story as all ways. I went out Friday and I was also set in my ways. I went and got 5 buckets of 1/4 inch classified dirt. So far it's been pretty crappy for the 106 degrees I got the dirt in. Lol.

Oh well, just because something looks like the greatest gold trap of all time. Doesnt mean it is. Looking back it was only a foot down to bedrock which in hindsight means the creek hardly ever flowed hard enough to throw gold in my gold trap. Live and learn, and the relearn what you learned.

 

[EagleDown]

Awesome advice Eagle ,and a great story as all ways. I went out Friday and I was also set in my ways. I went and got 5 buckets of 1/4 inch classified dirt. So far it's been pretty crappy for the 106 degrees I got the dirt in. Lol.

Oh well, just because something looks like the greatest gold trap of all time. Doesnt mean it is. Looking back it was only a foot down to bedrock which in hindsight means the creek hardly ever flowed hard enough to throw gold in my gold trap. Live and learn, and the relearn what you learned.

Well now My Brother, if you don't mind removing a foot or so of overburden to get to bedrock, we'll have to get together sometime. I'll show you an area that 'should' be worthwhile to put in the labor. You can uncover and clean the bedrock and then I can use the metal detector on the bedrock, after you've filled your buckets.

 

[Oakview2]

Maybe someone beat you to it

Awesome advice Eagle ,and a great story as all ways. I went out Friday and I was also set in my ways. I went and got 5 buckets of 1/4 inch classified dirt. So far it's been pretty crappy for the 106 degrees I got the dirt in. Lol.

Oh well, just because something looks like the greatest gold trap of all time. Doesnt mean it is. Looking back it was only a foot down to bedrock which in hindsight means the creek hardly ever flowed hard enough to throw gold in my gold trap. Live and learn, and the relearn what you learned.

 

[CharlesP]

Well now My Brother, if you don't mind removing a foot or so of overburden to get to bedrock, we'll have to get together sometime. I'll show you an area that 'should' be worthwhile to put in the labor. You can uncover and clean the bedrock and then I can use the metal detector on the bedrock, after you've filled your buckets.

I like the sound of that alot let's plan a day and make it happen.