BMc

Thanks, first and last I suspect. Not sure what the fist is Cal, but not a gun part. Your guess is as good as mine 😄

It was before I got an Equinox. I was using an SD 2200d when I got the first signal, then switched to a Fisher CZ6a, a GB -2, an ML XT 1800, and went back and forth until I couldn't get a beep anywhere, then gridded it with the SD and a Fisher 2 Box.

Not on any of the trails (per se) The Emigrant Trails and the Pony Express trail came together East of South Pass, Wy and Atlantic City, crossing the Sweetwater river and the Continental Divide at about 8200' Elevation. Lots of open range and BLM land to prospect on. I was fortunate to be able to get access to some private property in that area as well. Here's a photo of the typical type of terrain/geology showing continuous ridges of eroded foliated schist and, of course, the ubiquitous herds of Antelope.

I placed a phone call to the State Geologist of Wyoming after reading articles in the ICMJ recommending an area in the Western part of the state that was known for shallow pocket gold and ore shoots situated along a fault line. After having no luck detecting an eroded rusty quartz outcrop for a few hours, I ventured out onto a raised knoll in the sagebrush a feet away and started picking up a staccato of signals over a 30' wide by 100' deep area. The rimfire round, (resembles a 45/70 but doesn't have a centerfire primer),was stuck in the ground nose down, with 1/4 inch of the case sticking out. It was intact when I pulled it out, and after being stored it in a coffee can in my truck awhile, it broke in half while I was bouncing around 4-wheeling. I taped it together to hold the powder in the case. The nickel 3 cent piece dated 1865 and the percussion pistol/rifle side plate were found close to the rifle round. I found several pieces of plank/boards that were so old and dried up they looked and felt like balsa wood. There were 3 large Flagstones buried just under the surface that had been placed together to make a campfire and hearth, (where the remnant of a lead bar, slag and hand cast bullets were recovered) Small animal bones were found in the fireplace. Numerous fired bullets and "Drops" were also recovered along with all the rest of the items shown in the photographs. Some of the percussion caps found (1/2 inch deep) were unfired! The 1851 0 mint 2 1/2 dollar gold piece was found together with the brass baton (cabinet latch?) near the campfire. The site appeared to be an old campsite or wagon stop from the 1800's.

Location: BLM land-Western Wyoming. Elevation above 7,000' Mid July-Temp: 70's, Clear, Sunny and Cool. Rolling hills and sagebrush. Most gold was found from 1" to 3" average depth, on pediment/bedrock; and/or on a clay layer at 3" deep (except the largest flake didn't have a gold stop. No clay, no bedrock, no gravel or hard pan. Just dirt) Mineralization in the area: Moderate. Research indicated that the source of the gold was from an elevated rich lode district about 30 miles away, that was transported by Glacier action which pushed huge boulders across collected gold deposits, smashing/flattening nuggets along the way. Access to mining area required permissive crossing of private ranch property to reach old Hydraulic Mining area on a plateau several miles wide with a few creeks and drainages (all of which had been placered pretty thoroughly) No sign of mining outside of creeks and Hydraulic Pit. Detecting the Hydraulic Pit full of large boulders did not produce any gold. However, 100 yards upslope from the Hydraulic Pit, scattered, flattened, nugget patches on shallow bedrock were detected. Photo of gold in pan represents about 2 half days of detecting using various detectors. By the 3rd day, several patches had been found each giving up around 9 flakes. Repeat visits to the area produced similar number of pieces of gold each trip. Detectors: Minelab Gold Monster, SDC 2300, GPZ 7000. All machines found gold. The Monster produced the most, probably because of the shallow nature of the ground. The 7000 detected a few deeper nuggets, 7-8 inches on subsequent trips to the area.

Thanks everyone! As rough and ragged as this nugget was, I was hoping to find a local source, but no luck. I worked the benches, slopes and ridges shown in the background and didn't find anything else. I believe there has to be more gold at this spot and hope to get back up there this summer.

Nobody gets it all. That's true enough for sure. Sometimes it's the easiest ones that get left behind. The pile to the left looked like it had been kicked and raked down, no telling how many times. The nugget probably had been moved around some but I still found it hard to understand why it was overlooked since it was only 6" deep. Out of sight to the right of the photo was a shallow, narrow stream full of reeds etc. with sparse water flow. The remains of a couple of old wooden Long Tom's, probably from the 1930s lay mostly submerged in the mud. A few rusty bolts and washers came out of the back pile but no gold.