Eye Candy Story

[mineit]

It all started about 40 years ago i got bit by the gold bug in Colorado then we moved to Alaska in 92 bought a little 2 1/2 inch dredge found gold in reserection creek so bought a new 4 inch from Steve Herschbach at mining and diving . Attended a couple of outings down at crow creek with Steve Herschbach doing detector classes wife and i were hooked . Was able to buy 5 mining claims on silvertip creek dredged there for several years bought a 6 inch dredge from mining and diving we did ok there but i always wanted to try dredging up north Fairbanks area i saw a claim on eBay up near central but it was pulled of eBay after i bid the owner emailed me asking if i would be interested in the four claims above i said yes his family was just trying to get rid of them due to hard times.  Well the dredging was terrible because the creek was froze after a couple of feet. So i bought a small excavator built a small trommel  got a plan of operation started digging dirt the trommel maybe would run 5 yards an hour  but i was in good gold so we built a larger trommel out of a huge propane tank also built a feed hopper with a conveyor this plant will run about 35 yards an hour at but at this time we still had day jobs i worked for the Alaska railroad but 2 years ago i retired from the rr after 27 years. well last year with the virus we went up early mid may spent 3 months up there we are 100 miles north east of fairbanks no cellphone no internet gods country so i mined wife made quilts ,hunted Cariboo ,met some locals but the gold was good   first photo june 28 2017 still ice in creek bottom    second photo boss searching for heart shaped rocks   third photo and forth is stripped for this coming season     what is truly amazing about this valley the gold is just on the left side of the valley                                                                                                                                                                                      thanks doug

[mineit]

more ice june second and third photos are elevated sluices from the early 1930s in the head waters of mastodon creek had to take 4 wheelers to get there thanks doug

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Doug,

Thank you so much for posting this. I visit Alaska every year... except the last. The darn pandemic. Anyway, it is nice to see some posts from home. Thank you and very happy to have you here. I promise to start posting more here as I have tons of dredging stuff yet to publish.

[beav_can]

I for one am looking forward to the tons of dredging stuff you will post, Steve!

 

[alaska detector]

Thanks for posting this Doug, this is great.

[Alaskan_EOD]

Great story and pictures! You know you are in the backcountry when you can visibly see mosquitos photo bombing your pictures (last picture). Getting me excited for heading out this spring, and reminding me to grab the stuff with plenty of deet.

-Brandon

[mineit]

a few more photos in the first photo the ground was so good you could pick out nuggets in the bank, second photo is the first trommel we built, third and forth photo is the larger trommel , feed hopper, and stacker conveyor we built

thanks doug

[mineit]

after we are done we reclaim

doug

 

 

[delnorter]

Very nice Doug.

[Bear]

Mineit,

 

This is a great post.  I have been meaning to comment and ask a couple of questions if you don’t mind because I also have a claim up the Steese.  Your operation looks awesome and a lot of fun.  
 

We are looking to do some light exploration this summer.  I think my claim is closer to Fairbanks but the geology is similar.  
 

How much muck is on top of gravels?

How deep is the pay/ bedrock?

Historic info says the main valley below my claim the bedrock was 10-12 feet.  Looking around mine I think it is shallower because it is in a side valley.  

I dredge up in that same area but don’t run into frozen ground.  I am pretty sure on my claim the ground is frozen based on the vegetation. 
 

Any info would be appreciated.