Question

[Doc4261]

Was doing some reading , found this interesting, is this true?

Part of it was to watch for loose boulders (I once stepped on a 500 lb boulder that broke free and almost bowled over Chris over on Yellow Peak) and part was to look for a good piece of rose quartz. Malapais Mountain is covered with the stuff


rose quartz was one of the ldm clues right?

 

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[PotBelly Jim]

Hi Doc,

Wouldn't be surprised to see rose quartz in that area, but whether Malapais Mt is covered in it or not, I don't know. As far as rose quartz being one of the LDM clues, it depends on what/who you believe and which ones are LDM clues. Most of them associate the LDM ore itself as being in a white quartz matrix. The only legend I can think of that is specific about rose quartz is Wagoner's (or Waggoner's, etc.) ledge, which some people believe "might" be the LDM. To me it's a stretch, but take your pick.

Also, there may be a story or two out there that reference a bunch of rose quartz float to be a clue on the way to the mine. I'm not sure it would be a particularly good clue, as the stuff is everywhere, but to each his own! Best, Jim

 

[PotBelly Jim]

Sorry, meant to upload this on previous post...click on it and it should go to your download folder so you can read all 3 pages...



View attachment 1526764

 

[azdave35]

jim...there was a story years ago about a young girl riding horseback west of the goldfield area...she found a ledge of rose quartz and took a piece of it home ..a couple months later her parents found it in her drawer and noticed it was loaded with gold..when they asked her about it she told them where she found it but they were never able to locate it again

 

[PotBelly Jim]

Dave, was that young lady Shirley Conaster? At any rate, she was probably a TH'er for life after that...thanks for sharing..Jim

 

[azdave35]

Dave, was that young lady Shirley Conaster? At any rate, she was probably a TH'er for life after that...thanks for sharing..Jim

jim..i read the story about 30 years ago in a small book that was published locally...all of the stories in it happened in the goldfield area...i think the book was published in the mid 60's

 

[Terry Soloman]

How many of you have gone to a place - any place, you would not be able to find again? ..Anyone?

 

[Cubfan64]

How many of you have gone to a place - any place, you would not be able to find again? ..Anyone?

Good question and something I've often wondered too. So many treasure stories end with "and we searched for many years but could never find that spot again." I can buy those stories when it's someone unfamiliar with their surroundings and they find something like a "pretty rock" that they later discover was laced with gold. The ones I have trouble believing are those where caves full of gold bars or other artifacts that for some reason they can never find again.

On the other hand I'll relate two brief stories that show the other side of the coin.

1) Jim Hatt once showed some people a few samples of rock that contained visible gold. He claimed while out hiking he joften picked up random samples and bagged them to be pulverized and panned out later to look for gold. By the time he got around to working on that one bag of samples he didn't recall exactly where he found them and his notations weren't specific enough to be able to go back and find out where they came from. Granted Jim may have just been telling a "yarn," but who knows?

2) This past October I hiked from Canyon Lake to the Indian Paint Mines and Chunning's mine site. On the way there I followed the canyon bottom just to get a different view. At one point I sat down on a rock to drink some water, wipe my face and take a "bio break." When I wiped my face I took my glasses off and placed them on a rock right next to me. Don't know how I did it, but when I started out again I forgot my glasses. I moved on for less than 15 minutes before I realized my mistake and had to go back to look for them. I could picture the rock and scenery around where I had stopped, but it took me no less than 45 minutes to finally find that same rock among the many locations that looked far more similar than I thought they would.

 

[JohnWhite]

How many of you have gone to a place - any place, you would not be able to find again? ..Anyone?

I have been there and done that Terry...I have lost a diamond location in NV and a platinum location as well...This is why I emphasize do not drink and prospect...I have had enough of searching for them and wasting my cash on said searches...Maybe one day some lucky prospector will stumble upon them...

Who knows...Maybe my paragon diamond was just quartz...And my little silver mine may not have been a platinum deposit...Who can say

 

[Terry Soloman]

The treasure I have found throughout my life, includes this jewel: Don't research the story. Research the Person that told the story.

 

[Oroblanco]

How many of you have gone to a place - any place, you would not be able to find again? ..Anyone?

I have. In fact I could list several examples, but the most recent was finding a claim marker in a large patch of thick cactus and brush, walking away from it and returning shortly after I could not find it, nor could my two partners. Anyone that has spent enough time in the desert or the forests of the North country can tell you the same thing. In fact I would bet you will have the same thing if you go and try.

Also, a lost mine is not like a billboard sign, it is a hole in the ground, very often well hidden by brush and landslides etc. If you think it is tough to lose a mine then you need to go spend some time in the mining country of the western states.

 

[audigger53]

How many of you have gone to a place - any place, you would not be able to find again? ..Anyone?

Terry, I have a slight problem, when I am tired or lack of O2, going from Sea lvl to 5k-7K Elevation and pushing hard, my fore brain goes a little stupid, and I start having a photographic memory. After those times I can see lots of the journey in my mind clear as when I was there. Sometimes I wish I couldn't. LOL Been in places that I would never go again. Climbed up a steep slope to look over into the next valley and was hugging a 3 foot rock to stay in place. When I looked down I noticed that the rock sloped down and under me! Reverse overhang. I slid carefully back down on my back. My brother said I looked like a broken backed snake coming back down. That was a memory I wish I could forget. LOL

 

[alfonzo]

30+ years ago my first trip in the Supes, to Garden Valley, down one of the trails, I thought was to 2nd water, then off it down a side canyon, found a man made storage room hidden behind a boulder sticking out of the wall in a short steep draw. Two 55 gallon drums against the inside wall and a flour sack empty laying on the floor.

Started hiking in there again and now can't find it again to save my life.
Now if it had gold bars stacked up in there, I hope at 30 years old at the time, I would have had the presence of mind to find my way back and clean it out.
AL

 

[cactusjumper]

30+ years ago my first trip in the Supes, to Garden Valley, down one of the trails, I thought was to 2nd water, then off it down a side canyon, found a man made storage room hidden behind a boulder sticking out of the wall in a short steep draw. Two 55 gallon drums against the inside wall and a flour sack empty laying on the floor.

Started hiking in there again and now can't find it again to save my life.
Now if it had gold bars stacked up in there, I hope at 30 years old at the time, I would have had the presence of mind to find my way back and clean it out.
AL

Al,

It's likely that the stuff was removed by the Forest Service. Most of us have had the same type of experience.

Good luck,

Joe Ribaudo

 

[geezerdb]

Went looking for a couple of mines in the mountains of NE Oregon that I have been to many times over the years since the mid 70's. Just have not been there in about 10 years though, and you would not believe how many small trees and brush have grown up in the intervening years. I could not find them! And I used to know the area very well. But brush and trees grow and sometimes die or get burned or blown over, the landscape changes. It was unnerving to leave 'empty handed' when I should have been able to get at least 50 yards from them. I carry a GPS now, and if I find anything I may want to come back to later, I will make notes where the coordinates are. Your memory might be sharp years later, but nature changes things.

 

[JohnWhite]

I too was doing some reading...And here are a few links that caught my eye: 78. Platinum - Elementymology & Elements Multidict , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_de_Ulloa , and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Juan_y_Santacilia ... After reading this I began to think could any of this have anything to do with the PSM's and Tayopa

Have I been to the lost Jesuit Real of Tayopa I believe that I have... And Cubfan has seen a small sample of the ore that I had collected from said locale... Oh well... I can only dream...LOL

 

[nobodie]

With the clues so messed up and rock slides, trees, bushes changing. I have my doubts that even J.W. could find it again.

 

[Oroblanco]

I too was doing some reading...And here are a few links that caught my eye: 78. Platinum - Elementymology & Elements Multidict , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_de_Ulloa , and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Juan_y_Santacilia ... After reading this I began to think could any of this have anything to do with the PSM's and Tayopa

Have I been to the lost Jesuit Real of Tayopa I believe that I have... And Cubfan has seen a small sample of the ore that I had collected from said locale... Oh well... I can only dream...LOL

John, before you write off the platinum possibilities, remember that the smelting slag found at an old mission, reportedly was found to be quite rich in platinum. Also, a once lost mine was recently tested and found to have good values of platinum, a mine which had been legendarily linked to the very mission with the platinum in the slag. So don't write it off just yet!

Please do continue, apologies for the side track amigos.

 

[sdcfia]

How many of you have gone to a place - any place, you would not be able to find again? ..Anyone?

Oh, yes. I found a place once that drove me crazy for about five years afterwards.

I took my dog for a hike in an area I'd been too, oh, maybe a hundred times. Parked the truck, started walking cross-country as usual. Ran into a half dozen elk and decided to follow them for the fun of it. Came across a small shallow drainage with a small mine dump on one side. Walked up to the top of the small hill and found a vertical shaft with a big dead juniper stuck in the collar, obscuring the workings. It appeared to be maybe 30 feet deep. Next to the shaft was an old wheel and axel doolybob with the axle sticking straight up about ten feet up in the air.

I had another destination in mind that day and the dog was anxious to go, so I decided to return another day and investigate in greater detail. I knew that country very well, even though much of it "all looks the same." I didn't have my gps with me (left it in the truck), so I lined the spot up with a compass against a perfect landmark a couple miles away. After all, I'd only been hiking a short time when I ran across the place - what, ten minutes? And the truck couldn't have been more than, oh, a quarter mile away. I'll come back. Easy.

Well, it wasn't easy. I figured to walk right up to the old mine the first time I returned. No soap. After failing, I must have then made a concerted effort to find that place twenty times in the next several years. Same starting point. Landmark in the distance clearly visible. Follow the same route. Line up the landmark at the proper bearing. Study the topo map. Do grid searches in an area that had to overlap the mine location generously in all directions. My first few failures were a bit amusing, but then the search became almost obsessive. Nada.

My hiking buddy called me one day and said, "I came across that old mine you've been looking for. I'll send you the coordinates." Next day, I went back to the place - finally. It was another half mile or so and at least another twenty minutes away from the area it "had to" be in. And across a steep deep major drainage that I didn't remember at all. Here it is - a genuine lost mine that was finally found again. The vertical axel is in the foreground and the shaft with the big deadfall in it is behind.