Summer Goodies!

[Lanny]

To change things up a bit, every miner hears a story or two of lost gold while bumping shoulders with other miners. 

Here's one I heard way back when I was first learning how to nugget shoot.

It's a tale of four miners that hit a goldfield when the location was producing coarse placer gold in abundance in the 1870's. 

The four miners had worked all summer at or right close to the discovery claim on a rich placer creek where they had excellent returns the entire season, and after their last clean-up just before heading out to beat the winter snows that closed the mountain passes, they decided they'd celebrate their good fortune.

So, to compliment the wild game they were cooking, one of them went off and gathered some mushrooms for the feast. Little did he know that he was bringing death by way of excruciating pain and poison as what he naively believed were mushrooms were in fact a deadly imitation that doomed them all.

Three of the unfortunates died quite quickly, but the fourth lingered long enough to bury the group's gold in a safe place (or so, that's what was believed, as no trace of their season's haul of pounds of placer was ever found). However, it is a possibility that the group had already cached their gold, and were planning to dig it up right before they left for the "outside". Regardless, a thorough search was mounted to find their gold to send to their families (many prospecting communities were closely-tied groups and looked after each other, especially when misfortune struck), but nothing was ever found except for the bodies of the four poisoned miners, the deadly fungus still evident in the leftovers of their meals. The bodies were buried on a bench below the discovery claim, not far removed from the stream that had fulfilled their golden dreams.

Last winter I did some research on early placer mining, and I was quite surprised as I came across the names of two of the miners that died from eating the mushrooms. The names of the other two are, I believe, lost forever, and I believe this due to the memoir of a person that found the actual wooden headboards of the graves of the fallen miners!
he information comes from an out of print book, an autobiographical memoir of an on-and-off placer miner, one that revisited the goldfields of the early 1870's during the depression years of the 1930's when many men were looking anywhere for a means to support their families and so returned to the back-breaking labour of placer mining in the remote northern goldfields.

To quote from the memoir, "We and two other fellows were tracing an old buried channel [ancient placer] across country when we accidentally stumbled across those graves [the four miners]. The base of the wooden headboards had rotted, but two had fallen with the face down so we could read the carved names. One fellow named Shaw, came from New York City and had died on August, 8, 1871. The other was named Cook and he came from Hereford, England. He had died the day after Shaw [this would make him the man that had outlasted his fellow miners!]. We were unable to decipher the names on the other boards."

So, I thought it was a fascinating find, to finally know two of the names of the mysterious four.

As for those pounds of coarse gold, well, that's still an enduring mystery.

All the best,

Lanny

[Lanny]

Bedrock Tips:

How many of you have had the chance to work virgin bedrock? 

By virgin, I mean that the bedrock has been exposed by modern mining. In other words, the bedrock has not seen the light of day since the gold was originally deposited on it or in it eons ago. Moreover, a chance like this is a rather rare opportunity because it requires prior connections with the miners in order to have access to this bedrock. After all, it's very expensive to remove the stubborn overburden to expose the mother rock. Furthermore, some miners are very sensitive about allowing anyone access to their virgin bedrock for any reason at all, if ever. It's a bit of a loaded request, even if you already have a personal relationship with the miners.

So, if there's no prior relationship, the chances are slim to none for access, and even if you do have a relationship, the answer could still be no. You have to be ready for any eventuality.

However, if and when you do get the opportunity to work such bedrock, there's a few things that will help your chances in finding any residual gold left behind from the mining activity.

First and foremost, ask questions. 

Find out where the heaviest run of gold was in the pit. For example, find out it the deposit was heavier in a dip in the bedrock, on the start of a rise, on a shelf, at the bottom of a long drop, etc., and find out if there were certain colors in the dirt that indicated better pay: oranges, reds, grays, purples, blacks, etc.

With the answers to a few questions like these, you can improve your odds of checking the most-likely places in a large excavation. For instance, you'll find areas that were barren by asking like questions (areas of loose wash, etc.), and you'll locate areas that were hot spots by doing the same.

When it comes to detecting, you'll need to pay careful attention to the answers to your questions plus you'll need to pay close attention to what the detector is telling you about the temperature of the rock you're hunting. For example, if race into the pit and start swinging like a madman to cover as much ground as possible in the shortest time, you'll be doing a disservice to yourself. Why? Virgin bedrock demands respect, and it demands a slow approach while listening to the ground minerals and scrubbing the surface to obtain every cm of advantage while listening carefully to the tiniest alterations in the threshold. As well, by paying close attention to the mineralization, you will learn which coils will be most beneficial, including which size of coil to utilize. (A variety of sizes may be necessary to do a proper job, and in extreme ground, the wrong coil type will be an extreme waste of time.)

As to the bedrock itself, you may wish to employ a tiny detector like the Falcon to find streaks and runs of fine gold that will elude your bigger detector's coils. It's surprising how much fine gold can be left on bedrock or caught in cracks. I had my eyes opened wide several summers ago to just how much gold gets left behind and just how much fun it is to use a tiny detector to chase pockets of fine gold!

As for non-electronic sniping, it's very important to study the rock carefully. Often when working virgin bedrock, clay is a common occurrence. And, that clay is a great hider and or robber of gold. Moreover, look at what's riding within the clay. Are there little stones of various sorts? Is it just slick clay (no inclusions)?As well, be meticulous about examining the surface of the bedrock. Sometimes what looks like perfectly level bedrock with a solid surface may have cracks and crevices perfectly camouflaged by the minerals that are running within the clay, minerals that match perfectly in color the host bedrock. Use a variety of tools to scrape and scratch at the surface. I've been stunned while sniping non-electronically more than once by uncovering small cracks and crevices in this manner, ones that held a surprising amount of good gold.

As well, if the bedrock is dry, get a good sledge hammer and hit the bedrock to see if any puffs of dust arise like little fountains of fine particles. This signals a crack or crevice. One of the wonders of bedrock is that a crack or crevice may be snapped shut tightly, but widen below its mouth significantly. I remember the first time I found one of these: it had a pocket of small nuggets in it, and the nuggets were far too big to have found their way into the crevice opening. There are lots of theories as to how this happens, but the important thing to remember is that it does happen. I've also found larger nuggets this way as well when sniping without electronic backup.

What tools help with this process? For inexpensive alternatives, a blade screwdriver bent at a 90 degree angle; a wire brush; a stiff bristle brush; an awl; a pocket knife; a small metal gardening shovel; a variety of household spoons (teaspoon size to tablespoon--be sure to have sturdy ones that won't bend easily); a small sledge and a couple of cold chisels for widening cracks and crevices; if water is present, a suction gun of some kind; etc. 

With virgin bedrock, you will have the chance of a lifetime to find gold in a place that no one else has ever looked, so take the time to do a thorough job, and the reward can be great. On a connected note, I've come behind others that have worked such places in a hurry and found some beautiful nuggets (larger than anything they found) because they tore across the bedrock in a mad rush to cover the entire area. The sad truth is that if they'd have slowed down and paid that virgin bedrock the respect it deserved, they would have found the bigger gold instead of me.

All the best,

Lanny