Filed my first claim with BLM

[Ragnor]

Well I am officially claim holder on my dream claim, woohhhooooo!

Made it to Portland on monday and after a casual strip search we made our way upstairs and did the deed.
Now I can finally brag about my claim a little . There is literally visible gold laying on the bedrock falling from the high bench and a clay seam yielding free gold on a fault contact!
Sheer zones cut the creek and the high bench at 90° like a sluice box. It's beautiful!
An ounce a week should be easy, it yeilded that much and more with just a sluice and a gold pan back when I first found it some 20 years ago.
I didn't even know what I was doing then.


As soon as the snow melts enough to get to it I'm gonna be all over it.

 

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[CladiatorMax]

Congrats Ragnor and hope you find lots of gold. Thanks for sharing.

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Congrats! May it yield you 2 oz per week instead of just 1!

 

[Tuolumne]

Just be careful with giving out ok much info, there are many seasoned claim jumpers who will stalk your claim on lr2000 waiting for you to miss or mess up your paperwork and jump it....you can google my name and "gold claim" and see every document that I filed and previous claim owners have filed. Just read up on the threads from gold club board members who have their eye on claims just waiting for the New Years blm info to be updated so they can jump the claims they have been wanting and salivating all winter over.....claim jumpers, they are all miners waiting for you to make a mistake- and they are on this site reading your post about your amazing new claim....

 

[goldenIrishman]

Congrats there Ragnor! Just remember to keep the paperwork up to date and to work it SMARTER NOT HARDER.

 

[motohed]

Congrats Ragnor , It's great you have a claim , but I would'nt let to many people know . You may want to delete the map and area location . Hundreds if not thousands will see your claim location , there is know sence in creating problems for yourself . JMHO

 

[Clay Diggins]

I'm thinking Ragnor knows how to keep his claim current and ACTIVE Todd. If he has any questions about how to stay current and meet his September 1 deadline I'm sure there are plenty of seasoned claim owners here who can help him. Claims information is freely available to the public and anyone who takes minerals from Ragnors claim without his permission is breaking the law. It's a requirement of the law that Ragnor make his claim location known to the public and his sharing here in no way endangers his claim or his rights.

CLOSED claims are open to prospecting and location just as if the claim never existed. Those who prospect the public lands open to location are in no way "claim jumpers". Saying so over and over again doesn't make it true. Clicking your heels together while you say it might make you feel better but it doesn't change the facts. Have you lost a claim due to missed deadlines?

Were you going to congratulate Ragnor on his new claim? I think it's pretty cool he did the research and ground work to discover an area with an actual valuable mineral deposit that is open to location. That's a lot of work and a pretty steep learning curve. Let's celebrate Ragnor's accomplishment. It's a great example for readers here that it is possible to do the work and get your own claim to mine.

Congratulations Ragnor and thanks for sharing! I hope your claim produces for years to come.

Heavy Pans

 

[chlsbrns]

Yes you should make sure to comply with all BLM regs or your claim could be invalidated. Keep good records! Print the forms at ...

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/453731-claim-broker-shysters-11.html#post4873080

... Fill them in and keep them in a safe place.

I think that you found a great piece of ground! I am eagerly awaiting pics of your finds!

If anyone disputes your need to keep records I will pm you the info. Im not going to participate in any hijacking of your thread.

 

[AU_Solitude]

Ground like that is a rarity - I hope it's just as rich as you think!

 

[Goldwasher]

Good job

 

[spillercanyon]

Congrats. Feels good to have a place to mine for yourself don't it? Lots of people here to help you keep your claim, no worries, have fun!!!

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Congrats Ragnor on your new claim -- I have been looking to do the same but the spot I found may give up a gram a day if
I work my ass off -- so I'm still on the fence.
One question -- if you found an ounce a day 20 years ago why did you wait so long ?

 

[OwenT]

Awesome! I hope to get to get to that point one day.

 

[garrett at pro lvr]

that is awesome wish i could find some gold wrong part of va for me.

 

[Ragnor]

Congrats Ragnor on your new claim -- I have been looking to do the same but the spot I found may give up a gram a day if
I work my ass off -- so I'm still on the fence.
One question -- if you found an ounce a day 20 years ago why did you wait so long ?

I found this place after the big flood in spring of 96. It was the first year I found real gold. The roads where all washed out. It was a 4-7 mile hike in depending on which side of the creek I was prospecting. So we had the whole valley to our selves. I saw 1 fisherman and his kid and 2 dutch kayakers in 4 years.
I was always looking for a richer place. Sure we could get a bunch of dust in one place and a few nuggets in another. But I wanted LOTS of gold! Why is the prospector always searching for a richer claim?
OK so eventually the roads where repaired. Allot of claims had lapsed and new people started appearing. I built a monument, I surveyed and staked my corners and I filed with the county. Then when I was up going to pan one day within my 90 day window this lady pulled up in a truck and told me her and her party had claimed up the entire creek. They started kind of accusing me and my buddy of jumping they're claim. But they would still allow us to work they're claim for a percentage. I called BLM and explained the situation and they said it was a legal matter, they could give me no advice.

So now 20 years later we have all these computers and online web sites and such that did not exist back in the 1990's. I mean the internet has not really been around that long. Using the LR2000 and the geocommunicator I was able to look up the claims within the area I used to work. Would you believe those damn people NEVER FILED! They filed an intent to hold and never payed any fee's. They lied and aggresively detered people from going down on the creek, actively looking for people and running them off with threats. They inplaced bogus corner posts and everything.


So anyway. I was a kid. Gold was $250 an ounce. I made $350 a week at work. I started to file and was claim jumped and run off. I didn't realize that gold was that hard to find. Now that I have traveled around the country and panned and sluiced in many places I now realize the value of my spot. Like I said it was the first place I ever found gold, I had no reference of what a good claim was. I was still looking for a better spot. It just so happens I found the best spot right from the start and had no way of knowing it.

So when I got online and found that the claim was open and I had money in my pocket I jumped on it. There are a few claims above and below mine. Mostly a propectors association and a couple old guys. There is a little gold on all those claims and people can go and play in the creek. But nobody wants to hike into the steep cussed hell hole canyon where my claim is and nobody ever wanted to. That's why nobody else found it and why no one knew what was really down there. People are basically lazy creatures.
Animals are too btw, deer and elk have actually kept that trail open that I cut into my claim all those years ago, lol.

So that's my story about how I got my second chance and part of why it took so long.
The rest of the story has to do with life has a way of getting all complicated if we let it. Ive been over allot of road and even been killed once since the first time I found it. LOL. Now I just want to spend the rest of my life as a hermit and prospector, lol.

 

[Ragnor]

Just be careful with giving out ok much info, there are many seasoned claim jumpers who will stalk your claim on lr2000 waiting for you to miss or mess up your paperwork and jump it....you can google my name and "gold claim" and see every document that I filed and previous claim owners have filed. Just read up on the threads from gold club board members who have their eye on claims just waiting for the New Years blm info to be updated so they can jump the claims they have been wanting and salivating all winter over.....claim jumpers, they are all miners waiting for you to make a mistake- and they are on this site reading your post about your amazing new claim....

I thought about that some. I doubt most of them are bright enough to figure out where that map represents. Besides there are other far easier to work spots open for someone who is not too lazy to do they're own footwork. As long as my fees are payed on time I don't think I have much to worry about. Anyone who thinks they can slip in and take what is mine will be hard pressed to find a day I am not on site once the snow melts.
It's amazing to think that there are still people who will go out and steal what somone else has found rather than go out and find it for they selves. If they had any sense at all they would use the info I shared to find they're own honey hole. There are others out there still. I even know of a potentially richer one, but it is on state land. Go and steal the states gold you old pole cats, lol

 

[Ragnor]

Yes you should make sure to comply with all BLM regs or your claim could be invalidated. Keep good records! Print the forms at ...

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/453731-claim-broker-shysters-11.html#post4873080

... Fill them in and keep them in a safe place.

I think that you found a great piece of ground! I am eagerly awaiting pics of your finds!

If anyone disputes your need to keep records I will pm you the info. Im not going to participate in any hijacking of your thread.

I would agree that proper record keeping has it's place in mining. Fact is my brother and I intend to document everything and do grid evaluations on the claim and keep very careful records of our other prospecting ventures.

Now here is the hole I find in the theory put forth in that link you posted.
If no valuable minerals exist, then why would someone else attempt to legally invalidate my claim? Who steals a car from a wrecking yard?
My claim is not for sale, nor will it ever be as long as I am the claimant. When I die it will pass with me and sit open till the next guy comes swiming up the canyon, lol

 

[HMiller]

Congratulations Ragnor. I hope you exceed your speculations.

Here's a picture of you many years from now. (couldn't resist)

 

[Clay Diggins]

Congratulations Ragnor. I hope you exceed your speculations.

Here's a picture of you many years from now. (couldn't resist)

View attachment 1277107

Hey! Where did you get my picture?

Heavy Pans

 

[Ragnor]

Congratulations Ragnor. I hope you exceed your speculations.

Here's a picture of you many years from now. (couldn't resist)

View attachment 1277107

That is Perfect! That's exactly the codger I aspire to be