Petering out is my concern so I contacted a geologist friend and ran the scenario and pics past him. He's pretty sure the lode extends beyond the claim boundary and substantial portion is below the roadway when the road was blasted into the canyon wall. Yep, it's a stones throw from a well used road, lol. Problem, it's good 60-70 degrees slope below. I looked today for pieces but all I got was 200' down, 5 ticks, sore knee and rope burn. Plus, it could be buried under 2000 tns of blasted off mtn.
Another problem, it's so close to the roadway horizontally and being above (except for any blasted off and below someplace) the possibility of mining dumpage on the roadway below is high.
Being gold? 100,000% sure. I spent 8 years underwater with 6, 8 and then 10" nozzles dredging, it's gold for sure. Malleable, shiney grade kind. Funny thing is , none of this seam is in the water or near it. It's all just past and above. The pc I found was dusted from the impact of the fall from above and that's how I knew where to look.
Next step. Posting and professional survey of all unclaimed land I think.