delnorter

Walking back and retrieving my back pack with pan, 1/4” screen, pick and such, I decided to sample this cut bank. Filling a pan with screened material from this top grey layer and washing it out at the river turned up a nice flat flake and a few, smaller, pepper sized pieces of gold. Feeling pretty tired from hunting adventure, I screened out and panned two 5 gallon buckets filled only 1/2 full. Total of about 5 gallons of material. From this 5 gallons of the top grey layer I panned out .54 gram of gold. I didn’t get into the red sand or bottom original layers. Yet! I too am getting a little old for such hard hunting and prospecting oldmancoyote1, so I just relaxed the following day and returned home with the venison and a little gold the next day. I guess what I’m getting at is: gold in this Northern California area, with the tremendous amounts of rain we get, can be throughout a gravel bar or concentrated in these layers. In your smaller creek it may be more productive to concentrate on the edges of the stream where the layers are more evident and accessible. Obstructions to the flow of the creek such as outcrops, sharp bends, drop offs and the like should be checked out. I take off on another deer hunting trip with my sons in the mountains downstream of Happy Camp tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll have time for a little prospecting too. Good prospecting oldmancoyote1, Mike

😉 more later. Long days working with the storm that came through.

Great points and questions Harry. There is a tremendous amount of gold all along the Klamath River. Within these large and small gravel bars, both deep and shallow, are numerous flood layers along with the layers from the original dredging and hydraulic operations. With close observation and experience they become quite apparent and predictable. Each or all can be surfaces for migrating gold to come to rest. Sample, sample, sample. The year before last I met my sons over in Trinity County for some deer hunting. They hiked into the high country wilderness while I stayed in the lower elevations. One of them killed a nice buck and left for home the following day. As I had taken a week off from work, I stayed camping and hunting. Naturally the day after they left I killed a modest buck which required a difficult drag back to the closest road. This, with hanging it and skinning it that evening left this old guy pretty darn tired. With about 5 more days to my vacation I decided to drive to Happy Camp and hang the buck in the Kingfisher Markets cooler until I headed for home. Actually I had them cut, wrap and freeze the venison so I could stay longer. Any way, getting back on track, I set up camp in a local Forest Service campground, right along the Klamath River, not far from Happy Camp, for a little R & R. Next morning, with a cup of coffee in hand, I took a walk along the river. As I walked along a large gravel bar I noticed a cut bank about 3 feet high on the land side of the bar. Within this cut bank were 3 distinct layers of material deposited by past events. The bottom layer was ancient compacted stream bed cobble which I believe had never been worked. This layer is a rather pale yellowish, brown with black coated cobble. On top of this is a very distinct layer of coarse red sand which most likely was washed downstream from old timers dredging or hydrolic operations. The top layer was a grey mixed size cobble, from suitcase size rocks right on down to sand. I think this top layer was created by the 1964 flood. Truly a 100 year flood. Opps, time to go to work. About a 45 minute drive up the Smith River canyon here in Nortthern California.

Wow Phoenix, that looks great. Mike

Check this link out from Steve.

Ordered and looking forward to it. Thanks Goldseeker, Mike

Can you post a hot link? I never have been able to find your site. Thanks, Mike

Cool looking place Sourdough. That looks like a redwood tree by the panning trough. Those are some impressive circular saw blades against the cabin wall. What a great time the kids are having. Mike

Good for you and the 4fh graders Sourdough. I can visualize those kids. I’ll bet most had more fun doing this than any of their other “entertainment” Thanks Sourdough and klunker Mike

Wow, what a great find. Mike

Thank you for the heads up Chris. It really is helpful to hold companies as well as individuals accountable. Honestly I’m amazed they did this to you regarding your book. Mike

Nice Majuba man. I like those suspenders too. Are they still sold. Mike

You gave this coin it’s true value Gerry. This value is perpetually increasing with the viewing of the coin and the telling of the story. Mike

Wow, another ambitious undertaking. From your list of ongoing improvements to your mapping, I would like to see the land patents and wilderness layers implemented first Barry. Great mapping library / repository, Mike

Wow Lobo, that is a great find. What country did you find it in? I assume England or France? Please keep us posted on your search for origin and restoration. Mike