Jim_Alaska

No I never did get to dredge under the ice. Once I got a hole cut there was not enough water between the bottom of the ice and the river bed. I didn't cut a very big hole once I saw how little water there was. I just keep that picture to remind me of crazy younger days. I did lots of crazy things back then that I would not even dream of now.

Cold? Sure Steve, you lived in the banana belt. In Fairbanks spring dredging fever comes early. In 1997 I decided to make an early trip, needless to say, the water was quite "stiff." Chain sawing through 2 1/2 feet of ice was not much fun. Didn't get to do any dredging this day.

I'm not quite understanding the concern about metal in boots. I do understand that there is the chance of the detector picking up the boot metal, but for me it is only a very seldom chance. Am I doing something wrong when swinging? My coil is never close enough to my boots to pick up any metal in them. I have experimented with seeing how close to my boot the coil has to be to register a signal, but I don't normally swing my coil that close when detecting. Perhaps this is more of a problem when using a P.I., which I do not have.?

Works like a charm, thanks for the tip Steve.

We didn't have bad flooding, but the river did close Highway 96 which follows the Klamath River near where I live.

Great work guys. It's more than just a good deed, it has the potential to be a life saving act.

For the price how could you go wrong? The laugh alone is worth a dollar.

That was a great find Steve, thanks for posting it. This should be required reading for every precious metals investor. But then the "dream" would vanish for those who cannot get past the concept of fabulous riches to be had for just a few bucks more. As I read through this article I could see some experiences I have had with some of the nefarious methods described. I vividly remember trying to work with mine owners who knew nothing about proper, time tested methods for evaluating ore. I am not a scientist, but I do know that there are certain protocols that cannot be ignored. There are assaying methods that do work when done by reputable labs and there are correct and incorrect methods of prospecting and sampling that can lead to honest evaluations or just palin scams. Some mine owners only interest is in attracting investors by any means possible. Some of these owners live for years off of investor money, never actually producing even an ounce of gold. There is another level of deceit to produce more money above the actual ore/assay schemes and that is where the owner needs to continually buy and sell recovery systems/equipment of an ever increasing dollar value. This scheme depends on being able to convince investors that different recovery equipment is needed on a continual basis, supposedly because of the extreme difficulty in recovering microscopic gold. The investor has fronted money for purchase of recovery equipment, plus expenses, received nothing in return, yet is convinced that with more money to buy different (better) equipment he will realize his profit. On the buying end the owner will convince the owner of the equipment he needs to sell for a "promise" of payment in gold at a vastly reduced price. This effectively induces the seller to give away his equipment for a promise. The mine owner then pockets the difference between what he got from his investor and what the new equipment costs, which is zero. It is amazing that these types of investor fraud can go on indefinitely without investors wising up at some point. One would think that eventually word would get around the investment community. But I guess P.T. Barnum was right, "there is a sucker born every minute".

When I was still in Alaska it was my experience that when it got extremely cold in Alaska, it warmed up down here. And conversely when it was warm in Alaska in winter, it got a lot colder down here. It seems like the jet stream shifts and carries the cold front with it.

There is a down side to this method. When I still lived n Alaska i operated in the same way and with the same reasoning. "Why, I was so far out there and no one ever went this far. Never saw anyone else so why file a claim and alert people to where I was getting gold?" This was 20 miles upriver from the nearest road, only access was an air boat because the river was so shallow. The problem I had with this method is that there are guys out there that are pros, they know what they are doing and how to do it. I found out the hard way that one of these pros flew in, miles above where I worked and took the summer to walk the river back to civilization, sampling all the way. He found where I had been working and checked the land status, of course he found that it was not claimed, so he claimed it. He was a prospector, miner and geologist. He was also a gentleman of the highest caliber. I went to talk to him when I found he had claimed where I had worked and he generously offered to let me dredge there whenever I liked.

The Klamath is high, fast and muddy but not over the banks. We had three days of snow and rain, it left two feet on the ground.. No power for three days either.

Rain was light but steady for the last two days and nights. Temps have been good enough to melt snow, even overnight. We had a 24 hour power outage Wednesday through Thursday. Then Friday night the temps dropped off to six degrees, water lines froze up. I hate working on water lines when it's that cold, I thought I left all that behind when I left Alaska. Our forecast for the week is rain and higher temps. The Klamath is rising, but nothing dramatic so far. That could all change with week long rain and melting snow up high.

I have two feet of snow in my yard on the level here on the Klamath River. It snowed this morning and turned to rain this afternoon. 2005 was the last real high water on the Klamath. I guess we do have the potential for flooding if it rains all week as predicted and especially if the snow pack melts to add to it. As of right now the river is a bit below normal for this time of year.

Klunker, it has always been my understanding that getting a lump of coal was because you were a bad boy.

Chris, I have never been accused of being a genius, but your explanation of this process doesn't make sense to me. Common sense tells me that simply pouring water over the unclean hand will not remove the residue. that would seem to leave only two other options. 1. pour the water, then rub with the other hand. 2. Swish the left hand around in the water until clean. Both seem unsanitary, but then the whole concept of using the hand is unsanitary too. Steve, if my posts in this thread are dragging the thread too far off subject, please just delete them.

Well, at least I know its not my eyes.....By the way, my left hand is ok too. For me TP is right up there with fire and the wheel, all invented for the betterment of society.

I can't find the TP Chris. I even enlarged the photo and still can't see it. Must be old age, but the doc says there is nothing wrong with my eyes.

This idea may work well for you Steve. As you know I originally had seven forums on my board. But my board was quite different from yours in that, the forums on the board were totally unrelated to each other. This created a problem for me eventually because members were of all different interests, hunting, fishing, trapping prospecting, I even had one for the Alaska State Troopers. People would register, come back a few times and then never return. The only forum that kept going was the prospecting forum, so I started deleting forums that there was no interest in. I am down to four right now and the only one that gets any use is the prospecting forum. I will most likely narrow it down to just the prospecting forum. Your idea I believe will work well because the whole board is geared toward metal detecting. The proposed changes would serve to appeal to members that focus on certain aspects of metal detecting, which was mentioned in this very thread. Two of your members on this thread have already said that they do not nugget shoot, but like to come for other aspects of metal detecting that they are interested in. So "forum specific" forums on one board would appeal to those members that are only interested in one aspect of metal detecting. Also, having specific forums listed on one board may help with search engine optimization. I didn't mean to write a book here, but your idea brought back memories of my original idea for my board, which you were a moderator of. So I knew you would understand the workings of both ideas.

Now the part about it being the original pick at Sutter's is funny Klunker. Thanks for the laugh.

I did find it, it was exactly where I thought I lost it while getting around the downed tree.

I can't remember ever leaving tools lay and forgetting them. My normal custom is to carefully look over the area I have been working, whether it is detecting or creviciing and make sure that I have everything. I am sure I know where this pick is, I remember having to pull the tip of a downed tree out of my way to get by it. In doing so I also remember that when I let it go I had to brush against the branches with my lower body. I am sure that this was when the pick handle caught and the rotating hammer holder it was in turned upside down. If it were not for the fact that I have both hands full with detector and cane I could have held the tree top until I got by it. I just hate having physical limitations that make things so much harder, but it just comes with age for many of us. I'll know for sure when I go back to look for it today.

Silly me, I didn't think you could do any worse than getting skunked, but today proved that there is something worse. Somewhere along the way, in a very rough and steep hydraulic pit I lost my detecting pick. I didn't just leave it laying, it somehow got brushed out of my pivoting hammer holder on my belt. Too darned wiped out to go back and look today, I'll make a special recon trip tomorrow and find it. I just hate "do it twice" type things.

Thanks for the thought Harry, you are one of a kind. I really do have to admit that although the small coil I have may be defective, most of my problems are impatience and not using the detector as much as I should. I put the original coil on the machine today, but have not had a chance to get out hunting. I tried bumping it and there was no false signal like I had with the small coil. People like you and Steve and others are persistent, that is what produces. You work at it and your results show it. I never have worked at it like I should, I just get discouraged too quickly. And now my physical problems are really starting to show. As you have seen when we meet, my instability because of my feet and legs is worse. Trying to just stand upright on these hydraulic pit hillsides is intimidating, then trying to swing a detector makes for a precarious outing. It is extremely difficult to maneuver rough ground using a cane and trying to detect too. I have always thought that once I got to where I couldn't do other types of mining, I could always fall back on detecting, but now it is obvious that I probably won't be able to do that either. For some of us old age is not what it is cracked up to be.. Fortunately I can still sit on bedrock and clean cracks and that is something I like to do. Thank you for the kind thought Harry.

Thanks for the information GB. In looking over the coil it doesn't look like it can be opened without just arbitrarily cutting it somewhere, which I am reluctant to do. It looks like it is all one piece. I think my best bet is to see if White's will look it over.

Thanks Gold seeker, I may just do as you suggest and contact tboykin. Thanks for the tip.