What's This Yellow Stuff In My Sluice

[1515Art]

I've been hunting up around the Sonora area and hitting a bunch of different gold claims in the southern mother load with out much success other than the pure enjoyment of the great outdoors and some needed exercise, but it's nice to occasionally see a little new yellow. so this trip I only ran the GPZ for about half a day on some hillsides and spent the remaining 21/2 days running a sluice on the river just off Highway 49, the little bit of gold represents more 5 gallon buckets of dirt than i care to remember but a great workout none the less and a bit of color in my pan also my first picker in the sluice, i would have liked to see a few more pickers in the sluice, but was thrilled to see this one land on the black matt.

[beatup]

That is some nice looking gold Art and and from the looks of your hole you worked hard to get it.

[1515Art]

beatup, thanks... ya, it's the most fun I've ever had beating myself up. I think I got ruffie'd by the first spec of color after that things are still a little hazy and now my body hurts in places whenever i try and move... it was a ruff date, most fun I have ever had digging a hole and I'm sitting here thinking (longing almost... pinning if you will) about the next trip out.

I've dug a couple of outhouse holes when I was a kid and one time I had to hand dig the foundation for a house I was building because the soil around the construction site was to soft to bring in equipment, something we found out after sinking two excavators in the clay and mud, hand digging is never on my wish list. That is unless as we all know, you add in the adventure of the hunt and then it's possible to forget how hard it really is.

I had some help with that dig luckily, as the other club members have been hacking away at the hill for some time... but don't get me wrong I moved a lot of dirt down to bedrock and also winched an 900 pound rock out of the hole that fell in on the dig a couple of nights previously.

I had been to this claim a couple of weeks before and was concerned enough about that 900 pound rock hanging in mid air with almost nothing under holding it up, just a little soil around the edges that I had planned on bringing it down and winching it from the hole. When I arrived at the claim on Tuesday there was another claim member working the spot, he'd been there for a couple of days. We got to chatting and I asked him about about the big rock that was now sitting in the middle of the hole. He said he had been working the hole and was concerned about the big rock hanging 4 feet over his head, so he gave it a shove and it was solid. He was camping in his van and worked late into the evening, next morning when he got up and started to work he found the rock in the hole, it had fallen on its own that night while he was sleeping. Lucky for him and he must have found a lot of gold because luck was with him that day and lucky for me cause I've seen stuff like that thousands of times and I really don't want to come on to something like that again if I don't have to, not while i'm out trying to have fun anyways.

everyone...be safe, have fun, don't loose money.

 

 

[deathray]

Nice chunky gold! But yeah,  not worth dying for,lol. Are these the AMRA claims?

[1515Art]

Hi Ray,

yes, i joined AMRA a few months ago and have been having a blast exploring their claims, I was looking for land access below the snow level to soothe my withdrawal pains and calm the cabin fever and AMRA has a bunch, more than I can get to this year. Also, they are fighting some important battles and need all the support they can get. They have put up access to some very nice claims and every club member I've met so far has been really nice, its a great organization to be involved with and I would encourage everyone to join, as you know better than me having been involved much longer than I have.

[strick]

Nice work Clark......nothing like being in the  great outdoors  near a nice babbling brook. Your hard work was rewarded as well.

strick

[rumblefish]

Good work Art. I love to see how well people do using the old dig and pan methods.

As a matter of interest, how far away from the current river course in your photos were you digging? And how high up?

I really need to get out to the river here with the sluice box again. Haven't been since October. Just so you feel better about your "little" 21/2 day haul, I'm lucky if I get something approaching that tiny pile of flakes to the far left and bottom of the gold sweep in your pan. And that's after digging my ass off in a huge hole for 6 hours straight! But just to see the first liitle ping of gold in the bottom pan makes it worth it.

You convinced me. I'm going out again next week once the rain stops!

 

 

[deathray]

I agree with you buddy, Shannon Poe and AMRA really have all outdoorsmans backs ! Heck, I only go maybe once a year, but dont mind paying for great cause. Shannon has guts...you see his video schooling old Clint up in Idaho? Awesome!

[Lanny]

Nice catch of gold in the pan, and the hole you dug, incredible!

Congratulations on finding and retrieving some of Mother Nature's finest.

All the best,

Lanny

[1515Art]

Chuck, thank you... as soon as i hit the mountains and my lungs get that first scent of the sweet wilderness, it's as if life suddenly changes and the world opens up... a great weight is lifted and despite the sting of sweat dripping into my eyes and the strain on my back, the hole just evolves as time quickly slides by, in the faint shine of yellow all else is forgotten, except perhaps for the new gnawing sensation of the need for a hot meal and some well deserved rest... one of my next favorite things.

rumblefish, the picture from up on the hill looking down on the river, is just below the lip of the hole I was digging in about 45 feet from the river. it's actually a little down stream from where I think the likely high water sweet spot is located, but the amount of earth that is needed to be moved first to get down to bedrock is daunting, so everyone has been working this spot and it is fairly close on. also some of this gold may have come down from the old workings above the river so it would be difficult to know for sure with out more info from others and digging.

Ray, I love those videos and enjoy watching Shannon's victims twist in the wind, quite a show.

Thanks Lanny, we are so lucky we get to do this...