chuckwalla

I like wolf brand chili, bring some sourdough bread and throw bits of that into it (sometimes fritos). I also like to put some of those uncrustables sandwiches in my cooler. I like a big 5-liter bag-in-box of merlot (they last for a month after opening). I usually have a few cans of various types of beans - baked, fried, etc. Some freezing cold lemonade is nice too.

Sometimes I'll bring my ooni pizza oven - do some wilderness pizzas, nachos, quesadillas, calzones, etc. I've got a cast iron pan for the oven so I can throw a steak in there as well and it cooks in 5 minutes.

1 hour ago, Clay Diggins said:

Just as a side note the Supreme Court in Iron Silver Mining Co. v. Campbell, 135 U.S. 286 (1890) has ruled that there is no such thing in law as a "patented mining claim". The land ceases to be a mining claim when the patent is granted.

Very interesting, I'm going to give that a read tonight  - thanks for the info.

40 minutes ago, zortan said:

This is a complex issue that you should speak with a lawyer about.  If there is an easement through the property this does not give people the right to trespass off the easement but trying to shut down the right of way isn’t cool either.  Using good judgment here and signs reminding people they are entering private property will not only protect yourself from arguments but also discourage most people from entering in the first place.

 

Good point - the properties I've looked at do have easements and I'd just leave those roads as they currently are. If I were to put up fence it would probably just be around the structures to keep people from wandering in. The idea of putting in a gate and leaving it unlocked does sound like a good solution.

I've been considering the idea of buying a patented claim, but I'm curious what property rights you have with such a claim: is is essentially indistinguishable from private property at that point? Am I allowed to put a fence around the claim and post 'no trespassing' signs? What about obtaining permits to build structures - is it done through the city/county just like with normal property?

1 hour ago, Clay Diggins said:

To determine land status in Arizona you will want to use the Land Matters Arizona Land Status map - not the mining claims map.

The Arizona Land Status map will provide you with every land status issue with a single click on the map in your area of interest. Not just mining claims and wilderness areas but all land status is presented. It includes withdrawals of all kinds, leases, permits, grazing,  ACECs, Surveys, CDIs, mining plans and notices, patents and more than a dozen other status categories. It even presents mineral and surface ownership on forest and state lands which you won't find on the BLM. It truly is all inclusive.

The mining claims maps are very popular, many thousands of maps an hour are provided to Land Matters users, but they only feature mining claims. There is a lot more to land status than mining claims and management agencies.

For the particular area you are interested in you should probably be aware that the State of Arizona believes some of the minerals on the BLM managed land are owned by them. You can see those areas on the map by turning on the "Arizona State Mineral Ownership" map layer.

This is extremely helpful - thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I'm going to be in AZ this weekend and I think I've found a good spot that allows for prospecting. Since it's my first time detecting, I wanted to make sure I've done my due diligence.

The spot is Saddle Mountain, AZ. General coordinates: 33.445615°, -113.013318°

I have verified that this is BLM land, and that it's not a wilderness area, and that it's not within a National Monument. I've checked on landmatters to verify that there aren't any active claims on the area (although there are historic claims, which I hope is a good sign). Is there any other research I need to do? I know there are some petroglyphs on the site, and I'd stay far away from those, but other than that, most of the mountain looks pretty open.

BLM maps screenshot

Land matters screenshot

Are there a lot of entrepreneurs in the prospecting/detectorist community? There seem to be similarities in the personality traits: curiosity, independence, hopes of hitting it big, good at doing research, sense of adventure , etc, etc.

I'm a startup guy myself - been doing software and web development for the past decade and a half, worked on startups in areas like security, telecom, health, social media, etc. Honestly - most of the projects have been kind of boring. A prospecting-related startup could be a lot of fun - and might be a good excuse to do more camping and exploring.

Off the top of my head, I'd think that a hot area might be utilizing machine learning and and other data science techniques to aid in hobbyist prospecting (and integrate this data with GIS and other applications). As a newcomer to the field, it would be educational to hear about the pain points that could be addressed in the form of a new product or service.

Anyone else around here kicking some ideas around in their head? I'm always open to brainstorming/collaborating.

2 hours ago, Compass said:

I checked out those coordinates and it doesn't look like those formations are part of the DTC and they don't look like any that I have seen out there. Perhaps they pre-date WWII? Definitely worth checking out.

That's true, the design is different and the scale is smaller than those other camps, so it might be something unrelated to the DTC. I do believe a lot of the vehicle tracks near the bradshaw trail are tank tracks, so it's possible these are smaller, temporary camps that were set up while training in the field, miles away from the divisional camps. I'll try to learn more if I stop at this spot and will post photos.

1 hour ago, Compass said:

Thanks chuckwalla, That was a great read and the pictures were amazing as you said. Funny but when we first detected out there it was less than 30 years after wars end and nobody cared about the place. Now they are trying to make it an historical landmark. I remember finding a newspaper out there from the time that the troops were there and I've heard of other hunters who found weapons. I never did but I did find live ammo more than once. 

I took my dad out there years ago and on that weekend I found about 60 coins including 2 half-dollars. He was a complete novice and only found 3 coins but one was a silver Peace dollar. I have never found a silver dollar in 50 years of detecting!

On Google maps you can do a satellite view and make out some of the camps' gridlines and dirt roads.

I'm kind of confused about the BLM regulations for collecting coins from some of these sites that aren't specifically protected. I've seen some sources, like this PDF from BLM.gov that say

Quote

"Modern money may be collected,but coins and artifacts more than 100years old may not be collected."

and then others like this BLM guide say anything older than 50 years could be considered an artifact.

I was actually able to find some of the old campsites that aren't listed under the coordinates of any of the official camps. Take a look at 33.460239°, -114.928497° - there's a cluster of camps and what looks like an old filled-in runway slightly to the north (at first glance, looks like a short 1400 ft runway, but you can see it was closer to 2800 ft, an arroyo has washed most of it out). Edit* at second glance, it seems like might too much elevation change for it to have been a runway, so I'm not quite sure what that is)

Seems like a great place to do some detecting if it can be done legally - I'd be curious to see what people here think about it and how they'd approach determining the legal status.

2 hours ago, Compass said:

In the 70's and 80's we did a fair amount of detecting starting about 10 miles from there. East of the Coxcomb mountains was one of several Army training camps from the early 40's. We found coins, buttons, insignia, shell casings, a little jewelry and lots of bottle caps. Only been out there a couple of times in the last 10 years.

This video was not at Coxcomb but the finds were typical of what we found when we first went out there

 

The history on those camps is interesting, I didn't realize there were so many of them (I've seen the Patton monument at Chiriaco Summit, but never paid to go into the museum - I guess I'll pay the $10 next time).

this blog has some amazing pictures of the training centers in the 1940s for anyone interested

2 minutes ago, GaryC/Oregon Coast said:

Welcome Chuckwalla,

I actually got to detect many of the abandoned homes you pictured at Eagle Mountain about twenty years ago.  Hitched my way in on an Eagle Mtn. Mine tour arranged by the Yucaipa Historical Society.  I only got about two hours of hunt time in before we had to leave, but did manage a few silvers, wheats and cool do dads from under all those clothes lines that were behind those dwellings.  I haven't heard of anyone getting in there legally, since.  GaryC/Oregon Coast

That sounds like an amazing opportunity. The surrounding BLM land appears to have a lot of claims on it as well, but there appears to be some possible spots to explore to the south of the town.

55 minutes ago, Valens Legacy said:

Welcome aboard and happy hunting.

Don't get discouraged on your first hunt like I did. I am just learning my detector and am now finding some good finds. This is a hobby that takes some people time and patience to learn their equipment.

Sounds like a good spot that you are going to, and the timing is good weather for you.

Hope you have fun and stay safe from the snakes and critters.

Thanks - I'll be wearing my snake chaps and carrying my PLB for safety. I enjoy camping and exploring in the desert, so I figured detecting would be a good way to enhance the entire experience (and justify more week-long trips) - I'm happy just to be out there.

40 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

Welcome Chuck,

    Happy to see you here! Sound's like an interesting trip you have planned! I know a little about the history of the Salton Sea, and the abandoned town there! Always thought that would be an interesting area to detect, if the extreme amount of ground salt's didn't do a number on detecting depth!

   Good Luck! And let us know how it goes!👍👍

That's a good point about the salt content - I think I'm probably going to stick towards the mountains and arroyos above sea level for my first trip.

re: the abandoned town, do you mean Eagle Mountain? I was just watching some youtube videos about it. Looks like a great place to do some detecting, and I can see that there's actually a 4x4 trail that leads into the back of it, all through BLM land.

Edit* the back road unfortunately goes partially through Joshua Tree National Park - I assume I wouldn't even want to have a detector in my vehicle if it passes through NPS land.

I'm excited to be getting into detecting - I picked up a Gold Bug II and I'm planning a desert camping trip soon. I'm targeting the Salton Sink and Bradshaw trail areas - I'm sure a lot of people here are familiar with these spots. I'm not specifically looking for Pegleg's gold, but I wouldn't mind finding it either.