The Grizzly Tales- A First Year Dredger Diary

[kazcoro]

Keene sells a kit. I have it. It is a big tee right off the pump. You fit your pressure line and your blaster line on to it. The only draw back is that you will lose suction while the blaster is running. Keene gives out pressure hose with their kit. Garden hose would prob split. Garden hose is designed for low pressure line. My blaster will shoot water about 4 times further and higher than any garden hose I have ever used. Check out the Keene site. The kit isn't too expensive.

 

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[GrizzlyGremlin]

Yeah no go with garbage hose but im building a quick one tomorrow for the trip later this week. Im stoked I finally get to jerry rig something. I just so happen to have an engineer friend from colorado who would love to Build a Better Blaster for me. It doesn't even matter though. Dredging is so much fun. Theres no better way to spend a day period

 

[omnicron]

While the Keene kit is nice, it's over priced. I did buy the Keene wye and for now I put a reducer on the wye branch to hook up my garden hose. The hose I'm using is a old yellow one from walmart...5 years old and it didn't split. The water will shoot out about 30' verses 20' when using the port on the side of the pump. The important thing is even if you don't have the "wye" is you use what you have and you'll see both a increase in production and recovery.

Also when you first start using it, it may feel awkward but keep on it and before long you'll wonder how you ever dredged without. Like I said, I put the nozzle down pointing to what I'm going to suck up and blast toward the nozzle, using my free hand to classify out the rocks I don't want. I don't know if that's the proper way but it works for me... I also using it to clean the bedrock and flush cracks.

 

[Reed Lukens]

I clamp the blaster to the hose 2 feet behind the nozzle loose enough to where I can pull it forward if needed. I run the 1" fire hose through the handle on my suction nozzle and then clamp or tape the blaster onto the top of the nozzle to hold it in place. This way I can point and shoot with one hand while tossing cobble with the other. The blaster is pointing at the material right above the nozzle so it all drops right in and gets sucked up. This way you can also pull it away when you see nuggets and grab them before they get sucked into the hose.

 

[Bnugget]

Yeah no go ...............Dredging is so much fun. Theres no better way to spend a day period

I agree! But do you have to rub it in for us CA folks! Lol! I'm going out of my mind not being able to dredge without fear of persecution.

Blaster nozzle is definitely way to go, I have Keene's kit and it works well.

Have fun for all of us CA folks!

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

So the Tuesday Circus ran its course yet again. 10th Dredge trip i believe and good news always precludes the bad... The blaster is Sick. Its simple and easy. Mine is just 3/4" fittings reduced at the valve to 1/2". Its really crazy how much it makes a difference. Just point that puppy at a 45 to the nozzle and im eating literally a trench 5' wide down to 4' on bedrock. Now i see why a blaster is a necessity. Its something else being underwater no sound other than rocks on metal and hissing from the regulator. We had steep walls but the bedrock was steep and shelved. We trenched out a good bit of material. We did 4 test holes down to bedrock along a 150' shelf of bedrock and we went for broke on that hole. Not good results.
The clean up was bad. No good hardpack under the shelf at all, but thats not the bad news.
The bad news is that i keep wrecking my stinking Hose!! The green kanaflex or whatever on a stock dredge is GARBAGE. We are trying to shake out any jams because the stuff rips like paper. I have lost two 2' sections and have cracks in the green twirly plastic as well as a 2" rip right in the middle of the hose. I ripped a plastic glove apart to patch it today. Its GOING to rip in half. I cant do another trip with it like that. Am i SOL? Im supposed to dredge maine for the season opener on june 15!! Id like to maybe salvage it for this season but what should i get for a new "not garbage" hose.
With days like this i get pissy and crappy cleanups dont much help.

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

Why is there no gold here? Bedrock too smooth? Too steep?

 

[timberjack]

Manchester hose is where i go, 4 inch in stock (last year),, just wacth out for the meth-crack-whatever heads, pretty rough part of town

 

[Sticks]

In all honesty, you should be using a blaster for everything. It will actually help your recovery IMO. It blast everything in to a pre-slurry (don't know what else to call it) thus allowing MUCH MORE material to be moved faster and will allow the gold to drop out faster in your hose. Breaking up with your hands is slow and inefficient. What I do is sit my nozzle down by what I want to suck up, I use one hand to move the larger rocks, the other hand is pointing the blaster at the overburden and or hardpack. With the suction I have I can clear a 24" area in 30 seconds or less.
All you need is a garden hose, and some kind of nozzle, I built this one for 10bucks and love it. I can use it to scrap, tap, pry or blast which equals less tools to keep track of.

View attachment 1004700

24" in 30 seconds! that would be awesome. Last year we highbanked by filling up buckets and loading into prospector. Then would run 3" dredge nozzle in hardpack with output from hose feeding into 17gal tubs. It took 30 min+ to fill up tub, BLASTER would have ended the madness. I will never run with out one now,

 

[omnicron]

24" in 30 seconds! that would be awesome. Last year we highbanked by filling up buckets and loading into prospector. Then would run 3" dredge nozzle in hardpack with output from hose feeding into 17gal tubs. It took 30 min+ to fill up tub, BLASTER would have ended the madness. I will never run with out one now,

Realize though, I'm running a 6" with a massive amount of suction due to my engines running almost wide open ~3000rpms. The point being a blaster turns most hardpack into a instant slurry.

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

I hate taking a week off from dredging.. Its my church and i NEED it!!
We went to the wild ammonoosuc and had a very nice day. Met 2 sluicers rocking bazookas and shared a few beers. Shot the **** a bit and made a big hole.
The material was loose. All loose. There was about 2.5 feet of it on top a a cool looking clay layer.
This clay layer is the cause of major upheaval. Some say that you should blast through 2' of it to bedrock. Some say there is gold in the clay. Some say its on top of the clay layer.
The clay is like cement. Its mostly clay but does have gravels in it. Including some big potatoes imbedded into the clay.
I broke up some clay and panned it but there was nothing heavy. The fine sand from the gravel in the clay was clear fine quarts. It looked cool in the pan but no black sand or gold.
The blaster does zip to this clay. I dont know why but i have a feeling people think there is gold in the clay when in actuality it just gets imbedded a bit. Anyone a clay expert?
2 cleanups and not bad but we need a big day soon.
Got the biggest piece of mercury coated gold yet as well. Cool stuff.

 

[omnicron]

Clay acts just like bedrock. We call it false bedrock. The gold sits on top and usually doesn't go down any more.

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

Thats exactly what i think. I didnt bother busting up clay but i did pluck a few watermelon sized rocks that were embedded 3-4" and dredged the stuff right under them. Next week we are going back and chief will be meeting us there. we are working 2- 4" dredges. And i think moving downstream a bit to get into the larger car hood sized potatoes. Ill tell you what. We are getting good a moving massive rocks. Too bad the were most likely moved several times earlier.

 

[chef440rt]

Hey Grizz, I just found this thread. I just wanted you to know that I'm bringing up a spare 3 inch suction dredge/highbanker combo along with the 4''. I'm not sure how many people you are coming with but if someone wants to use it, your welcome to it. Just let me know and I'll bring it with me to the river, if not I will leave it at the campground. The highbanker is not the prettiest girl at the prom but she is proven to get the job done.

Video

 

[timberjack]

I think the current clay layer was laid down by hurricain ireen. I have gone thru it to a layer of material below..did allright..good luck and have fun! Thinking i might be able to head up soon.

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

just a suggestion but maybe some mid-season scouting would be a good idea, try to find a better spot, because right now you may be finding maybe 1/2 a gram a day and if you want 4 oz (112 grams) you need better ground. at 1/2 a gram a day out every weekend of the year you'll find 24 grams(not even an ounce)

 

[GrizzlyGremlin]

Oh we prospect! The thing about NH is that there is very little gold. The Appalachian mountains are old and have been mined for alot longer than the rockies. Maine could be the money!!

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

Oh we prospect! The thing about NH is that there is very little gold. The Appalachian mountains are old and have been mined for alot longer than the rockies. Maine could be the money!!

Have you been on public or private land?
Looked around areas that where previously mines?
Private land can have better gold

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

Have you been on public or private land?
Looked around areas that where previously mines?
Private land can have better gold

Report of the Geological Survey of the State of New Hampshire, Showing Its ... - New Hampshire. Geological Survey, 1868-1878, Charles Henry Hitchcock - Google Books
This may help

 

[KiddoTheMiner]

Report of the Geological Survey of the State of New Hampshire, Showing Its ... - New Hampshire. Geological Survey, 1868-1878, Charles Henry Hitchcock - Google Books
This may help

I did a little research for ya and it turns out that the best gold in new Hampshire was found in a city called lyman
it was called the dodge mine and in todays money they found a quartz vein that produced $6.25 per ton in todays money $102.64
dirt like that could still be out there, just gotta get in the right area