The Many Lost Treasures of Mariposa, CA (Photos Added)

[EagleDown]

Eagle I remember that story I asked you last time I saw you if you remembered where that was we might have to do some lookin but that sounds more like a trail for my old jeep rather than your expedition I need a new job everyones having fun when im workin I can take all the time I need in the winter but none in summer this sucks.

Too bad you don't have some time off, I'd much rather go down that road in a jeep, or better yet, a quad runner. (lol)

 

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[EagleDown]

i had to reread that story to refresh myself on the details. how truly odd that the family would have left during dinner like that? i wonder if the reason they left like they did was due to some type of life threatening situation? otherwise why would they leave the car in the shed nearby and all their belongings unpacked or at least in a condition that would hint that there was no intention to pack up to move. well we could continue speculating the infinite number of scenarios but maybe we should leave further speculation till after eagle has had a chance to check out the site again. were the site close to me i'd check it out for you Eagle. untill then i know all of us here on Tnet will be anxiously awaiting the newest tale of "the adventures of Eagle" lol.

I've been thinking about that for years. One of the scenarios I came up with was, they were doing some illegal growing and were hauled out by the Sheriffs Dept. But, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

 

[EagleDown]

Relichunter1, is that the club Gerry Edwards started?

As a sidenote, sorry Eagle; think the state is in bad shape now?, Cindy Sheehan is going for governor next run around

SWELL!! Schwartzanator, Brown, then Sheehan. And I just ate lunch. arghhhhhh!! I think I'll start looking for another state to hang my hat in.

 

[angelus2k5]

I've been thinking about that for years. One of the scenarios I came up with was, they were doing some illegal growing and were hauled out by the Sheriffs Dept. But, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

i know it might be hard to recall details so many years later but are there any other details that come to mind that you can share? as you can tell my curiosity has been re-ignited(a quality i share with my cat )

 

[TreasureHunterChuck]

HI Eagle, I have just finished reading your entire post and wow so much good info as well as mystery in your posts. I live up in modesto and i am a stand up comic at nights which leaves my days free, i would really like to come down sometime when your free and check out some of the places you mention and try my luck. i have used a metal detector since i was a child but never really found much, most of the artifacts i have found were more through sheer luck or keeping my eyes open to my surroundings. I have tried my luck at panning but was never sure if i was doing it correct or looking in the right places. It would be great to meet some of the other people on the thread as well; after all this time reading your last few years of posts i feel like i almost know you lol. I am currently trying to get my hands on a new detector as mine was stolen from storage but i think i should be able to pick up something this week. Well if you or anyone else has some time and wouldnt mind some company to go out exploring, metal detecting, or prospecting send me a message.

 

[goatman]

Holy mackerel. That was a long thread. I spent the last two weeks during my commute reading and dreaming. Eagle, your stories and wealth of knowledge are inspiring....thank you.

I've always loved just walking and exploring anything and anywhere, but recently have picked up the gold fever. My friends and I were planning a trip to Bagby over the Labor Day weekend to do a little fishing and general B.S.ing, but now I've convinced them to do a little prospecting as well. Hopefully I can convert at least one of them so I'll have a lifetime prospecting buddy. That is if I can focus long enough to teach them instead of dreaming about Pete's gopher holes, Spanish mines, gold coins and the like.
-cw (goatman)

 

[Sharp Rock Jerry]

EagleDown ,SharpRockJerry, I was down there , you just had to go down and find me...I picked up a gram of pickers that day and panned out some fines. Might as well enjoy the river, Fall will be here soon, and the water is going way down. If anyones is interested. Tonight the Mariposa Gold Grubbers will have a prospecting meeting at Happy Burger diner at 6:15 August 14 Wednesday. Its a nice club, pretty informal. They have a few claims in the Whitlock District.Your all welcome..see you there.

Fred,
I would like to try that later this year when we get into the fall, perhaps in November, if the club still meets at that time of year.
Thanks! And hope it was a good meeting for all.

Jerry, you talking the Bagby area at the bridge on McClure? I've been told the lake is really really low........might be a good spot to check out

Drawman,

Yes, the canyon above the bridge, going back to Shepperd's Point. My thoughts exactly. And yes, the lake is LOW. VERY LOW! It's all river right now, with a huge bathtub ring.

Thanks!

Jerry

 

[EagleDown]

i know it might be hard to recall details so many years later but are there any other details that come to mind that you can share? as you can tell my curiosity has been re-ignited(a quality i share with my cat )

What details are we talking about?

 

[EagleDown]

HI Eagle, I have just finished reading your entire post and wow so much good info as well as mystery in your posts. I live up in modesto and i am a stand up comic at nights which leaves my days free, i would really like to come down sometime when your free and check out some of the places you mention and try my luck. i have used a metal detector since i was a child but never really found much, most of the artifacts i have found were more through sheer luck or keeping my eyes open to my surroundings. I have tried my luck at panning but was never sure if i was doing it correct or looking in the right places. It would be great to meet some of the other people on the thread as well; after all this time reading your last few years of posts i feel like i almost know you lol. I am currently trying to get my hands on a new detector as mine was stolen from storage but i think i should be able to pick up something this week. Well if you or anyone else has some time and wouldnt mind some company to go out exploring, metal detecting, or prospecting send me a message.

Halito Chuck. Glad you enjoyed my posts, hope to have more for you soon. As for having company out on the trail, you'd
be welcome. I'm almost always ready to go, just don't have the money to play the game as much as I would prefer. But, if you're ever in the area, let us know and we'll try to hook-up.

 

[EagleDown]

Holy mackerel. That was a long thread. I spent the last two weeks during my commute reading and dreaming. Eagle, your stories and wealth of knowledge are inspiring....thank you.

I've always loved just walking and exploring anything and anywhere, but recently have picked up the gold fever. My friends and I were planning a trip to Bagby over the Labor Day weekend to do a little fishing and general B.S.ing, but now I've convinced them to do a little prospecting as well. Hopefully I can convert at least one of them so I'll have a lifetime prospecting buddy. That is if I can focus long enough to teach them instead of dreaming about Pete's gopher holes, Spanish mines, gold coins and the like.
-cw (goatman)

I can't make any promises because I have no idea of when Labor Day weekend is. But, if i am able to make it, i always have 4 or 5 gold pans in my car. Maybe I can help them find enough gold to give one or two the fever. (lol)

 

[wagbert]

Thank you!

Howdy Eagle Down!
You Sir are very special. You have the gift for telling some remarkable stories. I found your first posts from 2010 a couple of days ago, and I am only on page six now. I am reading the Eagle Down posts slowly to savor them. Your manner of writing is just as enjoyable as Twain, or Gray, or any of the old published authors I have read from my youth. I'm a little younger than you, but I'm up in years too. I've never been West. I have enjoyed MD'ing off and on, but now my knees won't co-operate. I can get down easy enough, but getting back up puts on a humorous show for everyone in the park. lol
You have had some great adventures. As you are telling the "good stuff" I can read in some suffering that you endured along the way too. It is a wonderful trait the Good Lord has given us, that we usually only remember the "good stuff". I got that saying from a buddy of mine who was stationed at Point Barrow, Alaska, during his Army service. He had a pet Lynx that he loved and talked about, but when I asked about "Springtime in Alaska where it's 40 below", he didn't have much to say about that except that he only remembered "the good stuff". lol
I really appreciate you sharing your "Tales from Yesteryear".
Many Thanks & God Bless!
Wagbert

 

[calisdad]

Too bad you don't have some time off, I'd much rather go down that road in a jeep, or better yet, a quad runner. (lol)

Have Jeep, Will Travel. ;-)

 

[EagleDown]

Have Jeep, Will Travel. ;-)

Thanks a lot Brother!! Now, all day, my mind will be singing:

Have jeep will travel reads the card of the man,
A knight without armor in a savage land.

(lol)

 

[angelus2k5]

What details are we talking about?

sorry about that i meant details about the cabin. maybe something that caught your eye or something you noticed when you were there but didnt include in the story you posted. speaking of labor day weekend (8/31/13 - 9/2/13) im going to try to convince the wife to head to mariposa for a little vacation so maybe we will see you on the river.

 

[EagleDown]

Howdy Eagle Down!
You Sir are very special. You have the gift for telling some remarkable stories. I found your first posts from 2010 a couple of days ago, and I am only on page six now. I am reading the Eagle Down posts slowly to savor them. Your manner of writing is just as enjoyable as Twain, or Gray, or any of the old published authors I have read from my youth. I'm a little younger than you, but I'm up in years too. I've never been West. I have enjoyed MD'ing off and on, but now my knees won't co-operate. I can get down easy enough, but getting back up puts on a humorous show for everyone in the park. lol
You have had some great adventures. As you are telling the "good stuff" I can read in some suffering that you endured along the way too. It is a wonderful trait the Good Lord has given us, that we usually only remember the "good stuff". I got that saying from a buddy of mine who was stationed at Point Barrow, Alaska, during his Army service. He had a pet Lynx that he loved and talked about, but when I asked about "Springtime in Alaska where it's 40 below", he didn't have much to say about that except that he only remembered "the good stuff". lol
I really appreciate you sharing your "Tales from Yesteryear".
Many Thanks & God Bless!
Wagbert

Thank you very much for the kind words!! I never considered that I might be compared to Mark Twain, or even Zane Gray. Quite an honor for me.

Your buddy at Point Barrow was very right. I haven't forgotten the "bad stuff", but I refuse to dwell upon them. I've learned from them, but only the "good stuff" has been worth remembering, dreaming about and sharing.

Welcome to the thread!! And, if you need something to read when you've finished this thread (to date), you might check out Lanny's thread at: Bedrock and Gold: The mysteries . . . - Page 71
I know you'll find it as intriguing as my thread, if not more so.

Love and Respect,

Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

sorry about that i meant details about the cabin. maybe something that caught your eye or something you noticed when you were there but didnt include in the story you posted. speaking of labor day weekend (8/31/13 - 9/2/13) im going to try to convince the wife to head to mariposa for a little vacation so maybe we will see you on the river.

Not really, as stated, it was getting late so I didn't spend a lot of time exploring. Other than the fact that whomever built it used gallon sized cans and filled them with concrete to support the cabin off of the bare ground. I kind of thought that it put the construction probably in the 30s or early 40s. No 19th century miner would have hauled in a couple of sacks of concrete just to support his cabin. At least that's my opinion.

Yep, I can probably make it that weekend, but I would expect the river to be "jam-packed" with "flat-landers" (lol)

 

[angelus2k5]

Not really, as stated, it was getting late so I didn't spend a lot of time exploring. Other than the fact that whomever built it used gallon sized cans and filled them with concrete to support the cabin off of the bare ground. I kind of thought that it put the construction probably in the 30s or early 40s. No 19th century miner would have hauled in a couple of sacks of concrete just to support his cabin. At least that's my opinion.

Yep, I can probably make it that weekend, but I would expect the river to be "jam-packed" with "flat-landers" (lol)

well lets not set it in stone just yet. i still have to convince her we should go that way for a few flakes of gold(unless we can track down those 50 dollar gold coins that went missing so very long ago lol). i just thought that those "flat landers" might actually do some good as im sure playing around in the river would maybe kick up a nugget or two which hopefully would get tossed closer to shore by the current where a grinning Eagle can pick 'em up.

 

[TreasureHunterChuck]

Eagle sounds great i just went and picked up a new detector today with a couple coils one for gold and another for coins/relics it seems to be the best model available in the price range i can afford. I would love to head down someday the week after next or mabye even late next week (radiator has a small leak so i need to fix or replace it first) i prefer weekdays as there are usually far less people out, ill let you know as soon as i replace the radiator and ill stop at kfc on my way down and grab you lunch too .

 

[EagleDown]

Eagle sounds great i just went and picked up a new detector today with a couple coils one for gold and another for coins/relics it seems to be the best model available in the price range i can afford. I would love to head down someday the week after next or mabye even late next week (radiator has a small leak so i need to fix or replace it first) i prefer weekdays as there are usually far less people out, ill let you know as soon as i replace the radiator and ill stop at kfc on my way down and grab you lunch too .

About 10 years ago, I was looking for a small pickup. I passed a used car lot and saw a toyota pickup with a sign on the windshield; $250.00. Great, in my price range. So, on the way back from town, I stopped at the lot.........just in time to see it rolling out of the driveway. But, since I was there, I asked if it was coming back. Nope, it had sold. But, the owner asked if I would be interested in another small pickup. He took me around back and showed me an '81 Mazda pickup. He said it was getting oil into the radiator and if I thought it would be worth repairing, I could have it for $75.00. Naturally, i bought it.

One of my first stops was an independant drug store, where I bought a pint of Sodium Silicate. (We use to call it "Glass Egg"). While the engine was hot, I poured about half of the pint into the radiator. After about 3 days of driving it, I drained the radiator and put fresh water in it. I drove that old truck for about 3 years after that and never had to add water to it again. I finally sold it for $500.00 when I needed a larger pickup for my business. (lol)

I hate to say it, but I won't have the gas/money to go prospecting until my SS comes in on the 3rd of the month. And like you, I really prefer week-days rather than weekends. Sorry, but this month, I had to get my Explorer registered, plus a couple of other bills. I think I have about $1.46 left in my acct. (lol)

 

[Nugget_Dreaming_OZ]

Thanks Eagle !!

Dear EagleDown

Thanks for your golden stories man. I feel now you have introduced yourself and befriended me in your truth, honor and good nature, and not to mention spiritual wisdom, which are also important to me, that I'd better introduce myself. So I joined TN this morning to do just that.

Today begs many things from this Australian, an ongoing painting job on the house, a trip to town for an appointment and to buy some wood and house duties before I sit on the net for a good few hours in the evening. Well I threw all that to the wind as I stoked the fire up this morning so I could comfortably write this and tell you about what bought me to stumble on your thread and what reading the first 14 pages has done to my dreaming of NUGGETS "Right Purdy Nuggets" that I hope to pick and stumble upon 3 pounders and pickers just like in your stories.

I convinced myself I would settle my mind down a bit by sharing on this thread, I am guessing I have a serious onset of gold fever, can anyone help ?? I now figure some nuggets could brighten the way forward and boost confidence, the hard part would be parting with them. Gee I am speculating too much so I must find em first, anyhow I am with anything I want a determined man which I hope is obvious by now.

Anyway the circumstances that bought me to stumble upon your thread. Now just to give you some background I am around 40, I had a serious motorcycle accident in 2011 two months after my mother passed of Cancer, the accident left me with a shattered Humerus (main upper arm bone that fits in a shallow shoulder socket) and serious muscle complications such as locking rotator cuff. (the shoulder is the most complex double articulated joint in the human body, what amazing technology we are I just need a miracle to heal me so I can be 100% again, I trust miracles exist and have seen them many times, just how to cook the one up I need leaves me unsure, it has certainly given me a challenge and I am not ever one to give us easy) it took 10 long screws and a plate to fix the fracture and they removed that in a follow op last year, and a seperate op on my knee to remove screws from a much earlier accident has now taken the pain out of being on my legs for hours, that now I can go most of the day with relitively small discomfort, enough I don't notice till the day is over.

Over two years on I have a serious limitation in my right shoulder movement that has made me look at my life and make the changes necessary to now make wiser choices and make the best of what I still have, so I am now in a place where I am feeling inspired to move forward after a tough few years that have made me more of a man than all the other years of my life put together. I am fortunate to have everything I have and I know it. I just need a good woman to cuddle, laugh with and make me tasty sandwiches and soup, while I build us a fine cabin and find some nuggets maybe, and grow a fine orchard of fruit, the simple life you know. The doc wants to replace the whole shoulder if it doesn't improve, I think he can stick it, I am done with invasive surgery as good as it is I wonder if they get carried away with replacing things and lining their pockets to make the repayments of a million dollar yacht.

The shoulder injury adds to my 3 x broken femurs and wrist and other serious injuries in my so far short lifespan, I am quite abeled still but not the young and fit fool I once was.

So anyway last week I had taken a trip to a town well known for its old gold rush in 1800's and even recent mines, I had went there with the idea of getting away in the hills (I have a small camper and love getting mobile and away from home) to camp and check out the real estate offerings, the soil for farming, water etc. and catch up with an old friend. Gold was in no way on my mind.

I viewed and even camped with permission on a large property and fully explored it by walking up the creek with gold only in the back of my mind and only on a whim would I listen and then put the thought away as I wasn't there for gold was I, well maybe the spirits had other ideas, after I got home and found your posts I seriously had to wonder, anyway I am getting ahead of myself. The rock, soil and geographical nature of the land was of prime concern so got a great picture of that from my exploring which I am now referring to in my minds eye.

Later when I visited my older friend in the area who is my only trustable source of local knowledge, I mentioned the name of the creek and he said with a grin "there's gold in that creek" and just like you know only too well it was one of those moments, the conversation turned to gold exclusively now and it was along the lines of how much gold are we talking ? He told me about another man who he knows did very well, enough said. We talked about detectors and I told him of the moment a man in Gympie( who I had visited and panned some good gold on his property) had shown me a very large nugget once that when it was placed in my hand nearly made my hand hit the table till I realized its weight wow (the only large nugget I have ever seen or held) I deeply respect this man for trusting me enough to show me and tell me, he knew based on my lacking experience it would be a life changing moment to hold the yellow rock, indeed it was. WOW !!!

This talk with my friend rekindled my interests and was all I needed.

Since returning home I began to research detectors, I once owned two a Minelab Eureka Gold II, which I took off to Clermont, incidentally that huge nugget I held came from Clermont QLD which is why I purchaced the Eureka II then made the huge trip all those years ago, to find the big ones only to come back with nil, I traded it for an ML explorer II and found everything in the way of treasure before losing interest and selling it over 10 years ago. I think a Mine lab GPX 4500 for Gold and maybe a Garret Infinium LS for under water treasure and beach etc so far would be my choices but open to any suggestions please by PM as not to hijack this thread. Aussies who love this thread please PM me too.

Of course the treasure hunter detectors appealed to me and my experience so on some searches I found TN and your awesome thread.

I have since read a few hours most days since and love the stories and the way you write, they make me wiser as to the great mysteries you have to share given your experience and the advantage it gives a newbie like me to gold. Thanks for inspiring my mind to think and reminding me the big caches are out there waiting for us all to uncover. I will always appreciate you and what you have given this group which I am now a proud member, I look forward to meeting others on other threads and hopefully Aussies too. I may have to get a detector and get some good gold. I think like you said it may help the way I have been feeling. Yes will be sure to tell you.

When you hit the mother load I will be cheering for you, in fact I pray you do and if anyone deserves it it's you my friend, or mate as we say in OZ.

Your thread shows just how many possible real friends a genuine and friendly man can find online by sharing his truth and good nature without wanting anything in return, and to those who have been reading with interest, I am looking to reading your words too. Thanks to this great forum community for making life richer.

Eagle I agree with what you say about enjoying the finding more than the needing, and yes lazyness must be the Father of invention, that makes perfect sense, as does so much of what you have to say.

Happy hunting and dreaming brother... May God Richly Bless Us All...

Nugget_Dreaming_OZ