Gold Rush - Alaska - The Motherload

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I was trying to edit the post and messed it all up.

My original post was that I see that someone hits the motherload. I am saying I hope it is Parker or the Hoffmans and not Dakota Fred.

The show based on the how they edit it has Dakota Fred rubbing me the wrong way. Fred told the producer that the show makes him look like someone who is only out for himself but he is really a nice guy. My idea of a nice guy would have lent parker the electrical panel. However he did claim it was his "partner" who wanted $10k for the panel (or was it Fred?)

The Hoffmans seem to make all kinds of mistakes and bad decisions, and Parker is impulsive, but he is only 17!

Still I hope it is either of them, but at the same time if it is Fred, well good for him, I wish it where me! Maybe the next time on the river I will hit a pocket for a hundred ounces!

 

[btcg]

Parker and Grandpa are the best part of the show. Todd... they should give him a new name "Wrong Way Hoffman"

Fred just comes across as a nasty old guy. It may well be editing, but...

Hi,

First post. I was a member of the Discovery message board since 2003, but they closed it a month or so ago.

On the Discovery board, Todd was known as "Toad" Hoffman. I think that fits him better.

Also: remember that Parker sold that switching rig to Fred a season or so ago. Of course, Fred should have helped and sold it back, in consideration of Parker's help digging them out.

On Toad's studies: during the clip about Toad studying religion, if you listen close, they don't say that he graduated.

Lastly, we had many real Alaskan and Yukon miners on the site, and they also pointed out that the reason the sites Toad was mining were even available was because the amount of gold the land yielded per cubic foot was less than the cost of the gasoline to do it... making it a losing venture. Unless Discovery is paying for your fuel, of course.

 

[JohnGalt]

Perspective ....... Mr. Gork gave me a great deal of it after reading his post.

Thank You ,..... very intresting

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

looking at the 18.7 ounces that Fred got tonight there seemed to be alot of black "rocks" in the gold. I have never seen black gold, what that black sand or something?
It was counted as part of the 18.7

 

[NeoTokyo]

Ya know I thought the same thing, it seemed like there was a lot of black sand in their cleanout.

I took my gold out and looked at it and I have a few chunk that are half black and half gold from staining.
They could just have a lot of staining on their gold.

.....but one thing that I think is that they add black sand to their totals to make it look bigger on TV.
Simply calibrate the scale with the sands on it and then tally in the totals on film.

But who knows.

 

[Hoser John]

Of coarse there is black gold--oxide coating of magnaese,iron,oxidized copper,sulfides and on and on as it can be jet velvet black to screaming red to gotta luv it sweety buttery yellar. Bummer is kid Parker had to spend over $150,000++ last winter,$50,000++ and then $7-8,000 or so drilling to find out GPas last stand stash was nuttn' but monster 150' deep dredge pile but THAT IS MINING in the big leagues. Dirty Dog Fred hits it bigtime with a smaller op and fat Hoffman crew with a zillion dollar mess as usual ,as a lousy 100 ounces don't even pay the gas bill AND 25% GOES TO CLAIM OWNER. That ungodly massive op shows up on SATELLITES FROM OUTER SPACE FOR GODS SAKE!!!!A simple 6" dredge op with a single season bill of costs to mine runs in the neighborhood of less than $1,000 and can find 100+ in a season with a single helper. My mantra--small-lean-quiet-mean- and nuttn' beats NOT tearing the LL outta the forests,streams and blastn' every critter that comes your way. A simple dredge op leaves the fish,forest critters,invertabrates and all in a much improved condition with fantastic cleansed non impacted spawning gravels for the fish too....but D'OH illegal---F'M'-John

 

[NeoTokyo]

Yeah I agree, it sucks that Parker spent that much on something that just didnt turn out how he had hoped.
He did exactly what I would have done in his place though, I would not be able to tell my sick grandfather that it was a bust.

 

[RANGER31]

I whas shure hopeing Parker would hit it big with smith creek. i think Parker may have something up his sleeve as i heard him say he would see the one miner in the klondike so lets hope Parker has a ace up his sleeve.

RANGER

 

[Gork]

Gork,Thank you so much for sharing.I'm not a gold miner, and have no plans to ever do so, but I am FASCINATED with what you've shared about mining. I've enjoyed your posts more than I will ever enjoy the show. Can you talk a little more about the high costs of the area? Is diesel $8 a gallon? Milk? A candy bar?I see all the heavy equipment. Are there parts houses nearby for repair parts? Do those operating a placer mine have to reclaim the land when they are done? Or can you just push all the dirt into a pile and leave after the gold has been extracted?And not being personal, but where does everyone sell their gold? I'd guess there are gold buyers in the area...but do they give a good price for it?Thank you for sharing!!!! Your posts are tremendously educational, and a joy to read.

Sorry that i haven't answered before, but have been very busy getting ready for my Arizona tour concerning my new book on the Butterfield Overland Mail Company in Arizona during the years 1858 through 1861.
Besides the good questions asked by clovis97, EvoQ has made some good observations in his comments on this site.
Like I stated before I don't want to say too much about the show since they have very expensive lawyers. I will state that the many longtime Klondike miners (such as myself who has been there for 34 years) do not like the image of us that is being projected. Our biggest complaint is that the regulative procedures for even getting started are not shown. The industry is strictly regulated concerning the environment. A very technical water use and land use license is required which governs water quality returned to the natural creek and especially for reclaiming the land. All of this is checked by government employees. Even when we obtain our license to mine (it is about 80 pages long and has to be approved by many government agencies and Indian tribes) there is now an umbrella government environmental group called YESAB that makes certain the individual meets the standards dictated by federal environmental standards. At the completion of mining, all ground must be contoured to specified slopes and re-vegetated and creeks must be constructed to support fish. Your operation must bypass these creeks (they can be put into side channels temporarily) and the water quality must be maintained so that it is almost drinkable. If the sluicing operation does return water to these creeks, the effluent must be settled in a number of settling ponds to meet the regulation. It must be checked daily with an Imhoff Cone and records keep for an end of season report.
Costs in the Klondike are very high. This summer a gallon of gas cost about $6.75 a gallon. Upon arrival in our valley on the right fork of Hunker Creek, my wife and I start three gardens. Most items in the stores are double the cost of what you will find in the south. Also, meat and vegetables are transported many thousands of miles to get there. This depletes their quality as they are sometimes unfrozen and refrozen. Also, it means the vegetables are not exactly yesterday's. There is a small farm that does raise vegetables just outside of Dawson City that is popular with the locals as well as my wife who buys some of our vegetables on Saturday when we are in town.
One of the best stores in Dawson City is the Dawson City Trading Post run by long-time Dawsonite Dave Robinson. He has most supplies need in the "bush." He is about as reasonable on prices as you can find in the far north. He even carries smaller mining equipment for testing and hobby mining such as high bankers.
Most mining in the Klondike is with heavy equipment. Although there were about 320 active outfits in the Klondike in the 1980s and 1990s, there are only about 60 now. Most parts for the machinery can be found in Dawson City or easily ordered. There are also a number of drillers in town who can profile the economic value of a claim and save you many thousands of wasted dollars by those who start without knowing whether there is gold there or not. It is called prospecting!!!
When I sold my placer gold in town it was usually to Engelhard. It is an honest company. As you know, placer gold is not pure gold and must be refined. When someone does a clean-up in the Klondike, they just can't multiply the price of gold by the number of ounces of placer gold until the fineness of the placer gold is determined. For instance, mine is 850 fine. That means if I clean up 100 ounces, it only contains 85 ounces of actual gold. When melted down about another 3% is usually lost also because of the bits of other impurities. Then they take their cut of a few percent. These means if I take in 100 ounces of placer gold from my valley, I can figure the I will get about 80% of the gold price. I am lucky because my placer gold is somewhat higher than other creeks in the Klondike. There are records that can be accessed for the fineness of every creek in the Klondike. It varies along the individual creeks and is therefore expressed in a range. For instance Quartz Creek gold is 670-750. This means that a clean-up on that creek must by cut by multiplying the ounces of placer gold by 67% to 75%. On Indian River it is 780-843, this means the weight must be cut by 78% to 84.3%. You can never multiply the price of gold by the weight of your placer gold, it will always be considerably less. I know some in the Klondike that get as little as 60% for their placer gold.
I will say this about the show. I often meet the director, producer, or some of their film crew in a bar in Dawson City named the Westminster. It is called the Snake Pit by the locals. One late night while talking to one of the producers, I asked him "Do you know what prospecting is?) i will not take that one any further and let you fill in the blanks. One of the most discussed topics (besides bears) in the Klondike is the "art of prospecting." It is the fundamental step in obtaining a claim that will make you money.
Any other questions I have not covered, just ask, I will try to answer.

 

[johnnysau]

If the numbers they throw out there are correct to get the 93 OZS of au they said they moved 750,000 yards of dirt, that comes to
about .21 cents per cubic yard. If thats true that is outrageous.

 

[mountainman22]

Oh my gosh! I got three , 1 gram gold nuggets that were half black and I threw them away thinking it was golden pyrite! What am idiot I am!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Hint to Mountainman (and others): keep everything heavy! Could be coated gold, silver oxides, metal alloys etc. As you learn more about prospecting and minerals you'll be glad you did.

 

[JohnGalt]

Did I hear correctly, or did that cagey guy working for Parker say that he found a bullet in the 60 foot (deep) bucket and that it had obvioulsy been processed before? I just do not see how that could have been possible.

 

[MadMarshall]

I have read about prospectors looking at trees to determine age to help find virgin ground instead of processed material. I don't really know a whole lot about this practice but its seems like it could be very useful knowledge. Other than that I would drill many holes before I committed to anything that large.

 

[jcazgoldchaser]

Did I hear correctly, or did that cagey guy working for Parker say that he found a bullet in the 60 foot (deep) bucket and that it had obvioulsy been processed before? I just do not see how that could have been possible.

zip out to about 5:05:

 

[Hoser John]

YAHOO FOR GORK as walkn' the walk and talkn' truth. OMG on TNET even for gods sake WOW. JG watch reruns as Parker spent ALL winter and over $150,000 removing the first 80' of overburden--look at deep v all that equipment is sittn' in IS FRESH CUTS. Now ya add on yet another 80++ drilling adventure to find old bullets sooo over 150 FEET OF GARBAGE TO GET OLD GARBAGE--OK I know of 3 ops next spring using dredges-6"-8" rs to hit them rivers again and REAL mining men NEVER stop till we drop and then mine purgatory till LL freezes over when ya hit the antartica--John

 

[Oakview2]

Haven't seen any posts from Reed Luken since the Miner Mikes board shut down.....

 

[mellowyellow]

I have read about prospectors looking at trees to determine age to help find virgin ground instead of processed material. I don't really know a whole lot about this practice but its seems like it could be very useful knowledge. Other than that I would drill many holes before I committed to anything that large.

Is there such thing as virgin ground anymore lol. I sure haven't seen any anywhere. I guess I have to go to the Klondike eh?!

 

[KevinInColorado]

There is plenty of virgin ground even here in the lower 48...you just won't find it mentioned in a web forum or in the claims book of a national prospecting club ;-)

You'll find it underfoot when you get out doing actual prospecting in the field 'beyond the books'.

 

[MadMarshall]

Is there such thing as virgin ground anymore lol. I sure haven't seen any anywhere. I guess I have to go to the Klondike eh?!

Yes I know there is!! The claim I'm staking is very remote (3 miles of OHV trail that's forest service does not maintain than I cross a river an walk another quarter mile and im home) and though it has been mined before the location is a great midway station to even more remote places. And gives me the chance to explore a strech of river that has no other trail than the one trail I use and about ten miles down river there is another remote trail that leads to the river. Most people are content joining clubs or prospecting in places where they can still see their car from the work site.. Their is no trick to finding gold the trick is making it pay! Oh yea thank you again TimC!! I talked to the county recorders office and they were very helpfull and im goin back wedsnday with a pocketfull of cash to file and to get a whole lot of records on my intended property and a few more locations that have peaked my interest. So much information to be had.

 

[mellowyellow]

There is plenty of virgin ground even here in the lower 48...you just won't find it mentioned in a web forum or in the claims book of a national prospecting club ;-)

You'll find it underfoot when you get out doing actual prospecting in the field 'beyond the books'.

You mean I can't find gold in a book! Wut, I need a new hobby!