Widowmaker Gold.

Mine Shaft · Dec 7, 2025

Well almost lol. Went to my claim on Friday to do a little sluicing for a couple hours. This massive boulder that my buddy exposed working the material a year ago has worried me for a long time. There is a campground close by and ppl, young children play in the river and all i could think about is that sucker coming down on someone. Anyways i tried to dislodge it to no avail and went about my business working around it when I sensed something when gravel started falling, I was only 2 feet to the left classifying and that 5ft x 3ft x 2ft boulder let loose it fell only 4ft to the ground so that blocked my way to continue digging lol but I was almost done and glad it came down Google says a boulder that size weighs about 5-6K pounds omg. I did get Gold lol.

russau · Dec 12, 2025

NOPE !

Chilli · Dec 13, 2025

Mine Shaft said:
Well almost lol. Went to my claim on Friday to do a little sluicing for a couple hours. This massive boulder that my buddy exposed working the material a year ago has worried me for a long time. There is a campground close by and ppl, young children play in the river and all i could think about is that sucker coming down on someone. Anyways i tried to dislodge it to no avail and went about my business working around it when I sensed something when gravel started falling, I was only 2 feet to the left classifying and that 5ft x 3ft x 2ft boulder let loose it fell only 4ft to the ground so that blocked my way to continue digging lol but I was almost done and glad it came down Google says a boulder that size weighs about 5-6K pounds omg. I did get Gold lol.

You know you gotta move that thing now to see what it fell on right!?
Id be "Damn, I bet it fell on a nugget"! 😄

Mine Shaft · Dec 13, 2025

Chilli said:
You know you gotta move that thing now to see what it fell on right!?
Id be "Damn, I bet it fell on a nugget"! 😄

Lol That sucker ain't going no where. I did run a lot of material already where it fell. I was up there yesterday and ran 4 buckets it sure kicks my butt putting in just 3 hours but its a good workout and I love being out in nature. I will post results after running the con's.

pepperj · Dec 13, 2025

Mine Shaft said:
Well almost lol. Went to my claim on Friday to do a little sluicing for a couple hours. This massive boulder that my buddy exposed working the material a year ago has worried me for a long time. There is a campground close by and ppl, young children play in the river and all i could think about is that sucker coming down on someone. Anyways i tried to dislodge it to no avail and went about my business working around it when I sensed something when gravel started falling, I was only 2 feet to the left classifying and that 5ft x 3ft x 2ft boulder let loose it fell only 4ft to the ground so that blocked my way to continue digging lol but I was almost done and glad it came down Google says a boulder that size weighs about 5-6K pounds omg. I did get Gold lol.

What type of rock is the boulder made of? Typically the type of rock makes a 30lb per cubic.ft difference in weight. 150-180 lbs for the average rock. Regardless it's heavy. Then add the moisture content on top.

Mine Shaft · Dec 13, 2025

My guess would be Granite most of the large boulders are Granite some of them are Quartz. This large Bolder is roughly 4 1/2' X 3' X 3' I like the way it looks like some of the Quartz was molten flowing.

pepperj · Dec 13, 2025

Mine Shaft said:
My guess would be Granite most of the large boulders are Granite some of them are Quartz. This large Bolder is roughly 4 1/2' X 3' X 3' I like the way it looks like some of the Quartz was molten flowing.

3.5 ton average more than what I would want to pry around. probably easier to undermine and shore it up the rock as one does. You know there's gold under it, just that nagging feeling one thinks about. :laughing7:

Mine Shaft · Dec 13, 2025

The largest ones are 6-7 feet diameter and its crazy how the River has moved them around the way it did.

Chilli · Dec 13, 2025

Mine Shaft said:
The largest ones are 6-7 feet diameter and its crazy how the River has moved them around the way it did.

Chilli · Dec 13, 2025

Mine Shaft said:
The largest ones are 6-7 feet diameter and its crazy how the River has moved them around the way it did.

I watched footage on a flood in Asia that took place a month or so ago. It was phenomenal the power of the water. A river flooded and was being driven by water coming off of the mountains and boulders the size of cars were being visibly washed along like pebbles. It brought to mind something on some nature show where they were explaining how large rocks got so smooth, the explanation they gave was them "sitting there" with millions of yrs of water and debris passing over them wearing them down. Feasible if one subscribes to millions. They needed though to watch the footage where the boulders themselves were the debris in the flood, those floods are giant tumblers where I imagine its speeds the process up tenfold! I imagine it like this. I get some nice looking rocks that I want to use making jewelry and smooth them down. If I put them in a sluice type thing and get water and sands to run over them I'll be dead before they even begin to look smooth. If I put them in a tumbler they're done in no time. I believe they grossly underestimate what nature is really capable of and ascribe ridiculous time frames to things that really only take a fraction of the time they quote to achieve.