I'll show you mine'You show me yours

[dog the treasure hunter]

Only time I've seen such myself.
But I can't think of anything else that can form such veins of that color and soft-looking texture, other than gold.
But it's probably veins like that where specimens like some of these came from...... Platinum and Gold Natural Crystals, platinum and gold nuggets, gold quartz specimens
Any other guesses at what it could be....with comparable photos ?

Wow thats some powerful stuff. If i had that Rams horn, id have the power.

 

[Ponchosportal]

there's a few photos of rich veins here......https://www.google.ca/search?q=rich...VE0YMKHZVJA9EQsAQIJw&biw=1366&bih=659#imgrc=_

With respect, I am unaware of any deposit of gold with those apparent deposition characteristics, when it comes to thickness and composition. Ore veins several feet thick yes ...... but of near pure gold, no; I am unaware of such a discovery anywhere. Please educate me of a similar discovery if known.

Thanks for your help and best of luck in your adventures.

Poncho

 

[somehiker]

With respect, I am unaware of any deposit of gold with those apparent deposition characteristics, when it comes to thickness and composition. Ore veins several feet thick yes ...... but of near pure gold, no; I am unaware of such a discovery anywhere. Please educate me of a similar discovery if known.

Thanks for your help and best of luck in your adventures.

Poncho

As I said Poncho, I've never seen anything like it out there myself. This vein's certainly not several feet thick though, and probably only a few inches (3-4) at the widest point visible in the photo.
And while the composition looks good visually, it may not in fact, assay as "near pure".
Looks like what's beyond the margins of the cracks might also have some gold, but that could be of lesser concentration.

 

[sdcfia]

As I said Poncho, I've never seen anything like it out there myself. This vein's certainly not several feet thick though, and probably only a few inches (3-4) at the widest point visible in the photo.
And while the composition looks good visually, it may not in fact, assay as "near pure".
Looks like what's beyond the margins of the cracks might also have some gold, but that could be of lesser concentration.

Hard to say with the low-res photo, but the deposit looks like a sulfide vein to me. That peacock copper (bornite) is a dead giveaway. If so, the yellow stuff would most likely be an iron pyrite, often found en mass in a strong sulfide vein. When I worked in the Idarado Mine on Red Mountain Pass CO in 1974, we mined literally tons of a similar looking 18"-wide sulfide vein. Massive amounts of copper, iron, lead and zinc minerals. I'm surprised you didn't sample the yellow stuff - if it has sharp flat surfaces and is reflective, it ain't gold.

Cheer up though, the very first shift I put in at the 'Big I' was a day of high-grading a white quartz stringer that contained lots of native gold. I wound up with half a Skippy peanut butter jar of outrageous picture rock - and I was literally the green new kid on the job. The old timers did very, very well on that stringer. In those days, the Red Chinese bought up all the high grade for twice the $35 legal US value. Jewelers paid even more for the good stuff. Look around for some quartz.


Peacock copper

 

[Cubfan64]

But it was probably getting to be around 115 down in that canyon, and where I was going had water and shade, so I just took the shots and headed for that instead of climbing up there. Put it on the bucket list instead.

F the bucket list Wayne! You said yourself you'd never seen anything like that out there, and I know you're a doggedly ambitious explorer - how in the world did you not get up close and personal with that vein of whatever it is and sample it either that day or the very next! Heck I would have called in sick, changed flights and not have left until I got close enough to determine what that was.

 

[wrmickel1]

Somehiker

There an't no Mountain high enough
There an't no valley low enough
and there an't no temp.
Hotter then a good old case of GOLD FEVER

Wrmickel1

 

[audigger53]

Somehiker

There an't no Mountain high enough
There an't no valley low enough
and there an't no temp.
Hotter then a good old case of GOLD FEVER

Wrmickel1

Yeah but the other half looks at the checkbook and yells if I want to spend the money to go to Arizona from Maryland. LOL Now if I had gotten to the place I want to, then the money angle would be a mote point.

 

[JohnWhite]

Yeah but the other half looks at the checkbook and yells if I want to spend the money to go to Arizona from Maryland. LOL Now if I had gotten to the place I want to, then the money angle would be a mote point.

I can relate to such things...I try to convince my three kids to invest in a little trip to Reno, seeing that I am on S.S.D.I. and struggle to make ends meet, too search for diamond... I personally believe my chances would be better, or it would be easier, of finding diamond than working micron platinum... But who knows My kids do not seem to be interested and due to my current circumstances... I am stuck between a rock and a hard place... I really don't have to worry about my significant other though, seeing that we are living apart and we do not combine our finances... Oh well... Maybe one day things might change and I can scrape up the thousand dollars, $500 to $600 for the hotel stay and transportation and the rest for food and necessities, and make that trip to Reno... It seems that I can't convince anyone around me that I had found a diamond and that I have a fair idea of the area where I found it...So, I guess that I will have to wait until God is willing to let me search for diamond... I doubt I can do any hard rock mining due to my bad shoulder, neck and back... But who knows Maybe if I can find another diamond... I might be able to convince those around me that I have a little silver deposit that they might be able to work... I guess only time will tell...

 

[Jenni_Lee]

What the hell even is this? Lol

 

[audigger53]

What the hell even is this? Lol


View attachment 1491141

Looks like either a Single Jack, one handed mining hammer, or the remains of an old prospectors rock hammer. Just a guess. The prospectors rock hammer had a square head on one end for cracking rock and a pick/spike on the other end for working the cracks. If you look at the short end, can you see any evidence of the pick/spike having been there? Again just a guess. The ones they sell now are more for chipping away flakes on the hammer side and not cracking rock. I'll try and get a picture of the one I bought in 1980 nand post it when I can.

 

[somehiker]

F the bucket list Wayne! You said yourself you'd never seen anything like that out there, and I know you're a doggedly ambitious explorer - how in the world did you not get up close and personal with that vein of whatever it is and sample it either that day or the very next! Heck I would have called in sick, changed flights and not have left until I got close enough to determine what that was.

I probably shouda, but can get pretty single minded sometimes and had another target a lot higher up on the other side of that canyon that I wanted to look over first, before it got too much warmer.
Figured I'd do it on the way back. Ran out of steam though, and wound up taking a different route out.

 

[somehiker]

What the hell even is this? Lol


View attachment 1491141

Looks like an old drive axle/differential that's been under water for a long time.
If it came out of a mine, it might have been modified for use as a winch.....or even as a drill of some kind I guess.

 

[somehiker]

Hard to say with the low-res photo, but the deposit looks like a sulfide vein to me. That peacock copper (bornite) is a dead giveaway. If so, the yellow stuff would most likely be an iron pyrite, often found en mass in a strong sulfide vein. When I worked in the Idarado Mine on Red Mountain Pass CO in 1974, we mined literally tons of a similar looking 18"-wide sulfide vein. Massive amounts of copper, iron, lead and zinc minerals. I'm surprised you didn't sample the yellow stuff - if it has sharp flat surfaces and is reflective, it ain't gold.

Cheer up though, the very first shift I put in at the 'Big I' was a day of high-grading a white quartz stringer that contained lots of native gold. I wound up with half a Skippy peanut butter jar of outrageous picture rock - and I was literally the green new kid on the job. The old timers did very, very well on that stringer. In those days, the Red Chinese bought up all the high grade for twice the $35 legal US value. Jewelers paid even more for the good stuff. Look around for some quartz.

View attachment 1491028
Peacock copper

That's pretty rock for sure.
Have never seen any of that out there before, so I'll have to get a few samples to hand out at the Rendezvous if I get down before then. I'm sure some of the other guys will probably like having a piece of that for their own ore collections. I think pretty much everyone has pyrite samples already, since there's lots out there in the range, so I won't bother collecting or bringing any of that.

 

[somehiker]

Somehiker

There an't no Mountain high enough
There an't no valley low enough
and there an't no temp.
Hotter then a good old case of GOLD FEVER

Wrmickel1

Don't think I've ever had the fever Mick.
Maybe if it was easier to convert the stuff to cash, I could get pumped up about it. But the way things are, it's just something heavy to lug around that I can't eat or drink. I imagine that's what the Apache were thinkin as well, whenever they just tossed it aside.
And when it gets that hot, and it's not even noon yet, gold fever can get ya killed.

 

[Jenni_Lee]

well, i appreciate the input. I chucked it in the garbage bin. I'll have to dig it out and have another look

 

[somehiker]

well, i appreciate the input. I chucked it in the garbage bin. I'll have to dig it out and have another look

That's why posting your photos is always a good idea, Jenni.
If you do, see if you can get a top-down shot of it....preferably with a tape measure alongside.
Where did you find it ?
Are those copper electrical wires tangled around it ?

 

[JohnWhite]

There is such interesting stuff to read around here...hehehe

 

[Jenni_Lee]

That's why posting your photos is always a good idea, Jenni.
If you do, see if you can get a top-down shot of it....preferably with a tape measure alongside.
Where did you find it ?
Are those copper electrical wires tangled around it ?

it was actually string. Which is sort of weird. It was one of our older parks here in Spokane, Washington.

 

[Cubfan64]

And when it gets that hot, and it's not even noon yet, gold fever can get ya killed

That part I certainly can't argue with, plus I guess it gives you something to get excited about your next trip out there.

 

[somehiker]

it was actually string. Which is sort of weird. It was one of our older parks here in Spokane, Washington.

Scratch the axle idea then...too small for that. And not submerged.....just wet.
Very rusty iron or tin and wrapped in string. Since that hasn't rotted away, it may have been "waxed", or maybe even a synthetic (modern).
Anyplace to go fishing at that park ?
Now thinking the guts of a cheap fishing reel or something else used to wind string around.
Heavy or relatively light in weight ?