GhostMiner

5 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

There is no signal out there. We'll just settle it the old school way.

This is what they're after.

1 hour ago, F350Platinum said:

Cellular cameras would be a help, you'd get a photo of the perp that stole your camera while they are doing it. No one touches mine 😁 of course you'd have to have signal out there.

It can be an expensive loss tho 🤔

There is no signal out there. 

  Anyway, life goes on. Just another thing to deal with I gues.

15 minutes ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

I would walk up to them with your phone on while recording their faces, the vehicle they drive, the license plate and ask for their names.  If they do not provide their ID cards, simply tell them their faces will soon be across the internet, local eateries and bars as well as the Sheriff's office and of course post on the forum.  Now you don't need to do that at all, but the guilt trip on them would make for a long drive home.  I doubt they would be back anytime soon, at least not in the same rig.

Realize, In some states folks are walking into businesses in the middle of the day, filling up pockets/bags and walking out without paying.

The other option and you might think I am totally nuts.  Ask them to help and work with you.  Now at least you can get knowledge they have to help your recovery efforts. 

Either way it seems owning a claim for a small scale miner or detectorist is getting harder to justify.  I personally know folks who spend to much time worrying about others they think who are going on their claims and finding gold.

 

   I normally don't worry about that stuff. We have 2 creeks on the mine and I don't care if people pan as long as they keep it contained to certain areas. But highgrading rich ground where they are taking ounces of gold is something completely different. I guess the only way to stop it is to make sure someone is there most of the time. We may have to get tougher on them and protect our ground. I pay taxes and fees and they don't. 

The funny thing is we would need to show proof they even took gold. What should we fo, get

32 minutes ago, Dig It said:

If they are legit claims then it would be Mineral Trespass, unless something has changed. I use to put my cameras up high and pointed them dwn with a wedge made from 2x4's then secured them with a Python Cable, worked Great, after a few photos of claims jumper's posted at local coffee shop's  this Shit Stopped !!!!!! Good Luck !!!!

  One camera was high up on a tree. A ladder was used to put it up there and they somehow saw it & took it. The other was near an entry point where someone would park but it was well hidden. They got that one also. My partner is seeing a green Dodge Dakota with a cap driving up & down the road when he was camped there. He said it went by a dozen times. That might be the claim jumper, not sure. 

49 minutes ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Time for the camo tiger pit trap or tree net trap!

   Perhaps.

   As I stated in my posting of the journal, we are experiencing claim jumpers just like Jed did back in 1936. Nothing much changes over 86 yrs. The claim is well posted. We even posted a claim sign on a tree right where the claim jumper have a huge hole going and are high grading $500/yd gravels. We put up game cams. They stole them. They are coming in when no one is there.  So today I contacted the Sherif's Dept. They said it is not their issue & to contact the Forest Service. The Forest Service says it's a civil issue except for the stolen cams. They told me to find out who they are and take them to court. I had thought mineral theft was a criminal offense. Am I supposed to walk up to them and ask them for their identification? I don't think that would work out too well. 

2 minutes ago, klunker said:

 It can be done California if you keep it small, keep it simple and keep it clean and don't "invest" more than you can afford to loose. My biggest problems arise from constant turnover of agency personnel and thus new interpretations of regulations and forest rules after a plan has been approved. Know what you are getting into before you get into it.

Here in the Northern Sierras the "toxic" minerals in native soil can exceed "safe" PPM.

Yes, we have mined "small" many times. You keep the disturbance under 1000 cubic yards. Those are laws and has nothing to do with who is working for the Forest Service. However, I do agree that constantly changing personal who are unaware of your previously approved activities is a pain in the ass. That's why I have personally stopped involving the Forest Service in small operations. I find that they are constantly making up their own rules and interpretting laws to their own bennefit.

   Here's an example : we had an approved Plan of Operation on a claim. Part of the plan included a 300 ft access road being built to get in there to the dig site. We asked the agent if the road would be consider disturbance and count towards the 1000 yards. No they said, we won't count that. We didn't get to that project for a yr & the agent had changed. The new one told us it did indeed count as the disturbance. I could go on & on. 

   Plans of Operation are usually not too difficult to obtain. I have done them succesfully.  However, you are limited to 1000 cubic yards of disturbance. Go over that & you trigger SMARA which is the SURFACE MINING AND RECLAMATION ACT of 1975. That's when mining became difficult to do. To get an approved special use permit you will need to work with the Federal, State, & county government. The application fee is a little over $2000 which doesn't sound too bad but don't be fooled. This is only the beginning. You will likely need an experienced engineer to work up and submit a plan. You will need to pass a miriad of environmental impact studies. The process is lengthy and expensive. It could take anywhere from a year to 5 yrs or longer with expenses of hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. There is no guarantee you will be approved. The state has a way of getting you close to an approval and then throwing more hurdles in front of you. The idea is to discourage you and break you financially. Anything to do with creeks or water supply licensing is getting harder as well. What is the best way to make a million dollars gold mining in California? Start with three million. 

   MAY 12   1936

   I went up and dug gravels again while John worked the tom. I tried to work deeper into the fault but got stopped out by heavy boulders. Then I decided to move 10 feet to the north onto the buried area. This required heavy work on my part and I busted the handle on my pick and had to go down to camp and put on a new one. I took what few buckets I had down to John at the same time to give him some work. I eventually got a good excavation going and started moving rounded river rock towards the end of my day. This told me I might be getting into more good gravels but I only got 23 buckets for the day and am dog tired to boot.

   John washed them and I panned the heavies out before supper. Compared to the previous days weigh this was disappointing. We got 3 grams for all my labor. John looked kind of down but I told him we would probably get onto gold again soon. He had gotten a bad case of gold fever and wanted to see color in every bucket. I figure to keep working at the dig for awhile as I need to get back on pay.

   I felt better after beans and hot water corn bread and a cup of whiskey. I'm going up on watch and taking the bottle with me.

   TO BE CONTINUED .................

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

Here is an article with some interesting information about possibly reopening a gold mine.  I am not so much interested in 'this' mine as much as the author's information about other aspects of mining.  How accurate is it?  I think there are a few readers here with some competitive knowledge.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/01/gold-mines-reopening-california/621403/ 

I'll post my thoughts on this subject tomorrow when I have some time. I have done multiple mining Plans of Operation in California on our company claims. For now I will say that the state of California is not mining friendly. More on all this tomorrow. 

   We got high graded again by the claim jumpers and they stole our cams to boot. Not much changes out there in 86 yrs.

16 minutes ago, nebulanoodle said:

I’d dig it!

Great!

   I woild like to put a crew of hard working people togerher to work Jed's site once again. It is a true treasure hunt. 

13 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

It has been done before. McKinley Creek in Alaska in early 1900's a crew took out something like 1700 ounces by diverting a waterfall. It might have been more than that. I have a Dept of Interior report and a journal that pretty much jive with each other. I have also done samples that have shown heavy deposits in rhat area, 

I also have reason to believe there is still big gold in that fault. 

3 hours ago, Jim_Alaska said:

It is hard to imagine those kinds of clean-ups from a pick and shovel operation.

It has been done before. McKinley Creek in Alaska in early 1900's a crew took out something like 1700 ounces by diverting a waterfall. It might have been more than that. I have a Dept of Interior report and a journal that pretty much jive with each other. I have also done samples that have shown heavy deposits in rhat area, 

4 hours ago, DOOGY-MD said:

Wow, $8000 in gold, that's alot of money back then...where would they cash it in without creating a ruckus?

They were hiding it and may have had a buyer for small amounts. 

4 hours ago, delnorter said:

I’ll guess 890 ounces. Great reading GhostMiner. You are right, at times the remote places in Northern California can be down right dangerous from man or beast.

Thanks for the adventure,

Mike

Many thanks & got your number recorded. 

   MAY 11   1936

   By now we have over $5000 in gold. John and I decided not to involve the law out here as we feel that might lead to worse trouble if information gets leaked in town. We both decided to handle any problems ourselves. I went up to the dig this morning and John held watch at camp while waiting for gravels. I dug a good part of the day while also hauling down buckets for John. The kettle is played out. I was able to get 52 buckets. These gravels were taken at or near the bottom and I was hopeful for a big day. I was right to be hopeful. The weigh was heavy once again. We got a haul of 72 ounces. We now have nearly $8000 in gold between us. For me this is nearly four years wages. I looked at John and told him we had a chance to get rich, we just need to find another pot hole in the old channel. John asked me if I thought I could find another one. I told him it was in the hands of God but I would try. I told John we had done what few miners had ever done, we had worked a glory hole. We just need to keep digging along the fault north where the old hydraulic boys stopped. The work will get much heavier now as we need to dig much more gravel to get to pay. We will soon be coming to summer months and creeks will slow. That is another thing we will face. I think we have another six or seven weeks before our water supply for washing gravels becomes an issue. After that we will need to rocker box the gravels which will be very slow compared to the tom in a fast creek or we need to get a pump. I'm going up to the dig on first watch with a bottle of my Irish tonight while John gets some rest.

   TO BE CONTINUED .....................

1 hour ago, Lanny said:

No cell service where we were either. Had to make a drive to a tiny store with a satellite phone for any kind of connection. (Lots of places I still chase the gold where cell service goes to die.)

We used to hang those black shower bags (the ones with the red nozzles) in the trees in the sun to get warm water for our showers. Lots of people can't relate to truly living off-grid, nice to meet a kindred soul.

Good luck chasing that gold, nothing better to keep life amazing, and it sounds like you're on some likely ground.

Looking forward to the rest of Jed's story.

All the best,

Lanny

Thanks Lanny. Good luck to you as well.

13 minutes ago, Lanny said:

I've done the off-grid living, in a wall-tent to boot, with a nice wood-burning stove to drive off the cold mountain morning air. Lots of fun, but the apex predators up here in the north always keep that type of off-grid living fresh and exciting, and the bugs keep it interesting as well. Still, lots of great memories from living off-grid, ones I wouldn't trade for anything.

All the best,

Lanny

   Yes. I've lived up at Jed's dig site for over a month on a few occasions. Twice by myself with no cell service so you are really on your own. No grizzly in Cal but lots of black bear & lion up there. I was out there 3 other times with a crew and that was a lot of fun. Ten X ten tent and shower with a 2 gallon pump up sprayer that sits in the sun to get warm. Life can be so simple.

1 hour ago, matt said:

I'm really enjoying reading the journal entry's and look forward to the next. I spend quite a bit of time up the mountains of the Northern Mother Load also. I does tend to get a bit spooky at night when out there alone!

If you don't mind, just curious what County all this takes place?

I am thinking of putting a team together to work the faultline again. My partners are mainly investors except one. I'd like to work it old school to avoid all the permitting and Forest Service supervision. I've done 5 Plans of Operation in various locations on the property and had a plan approved for the faultline way to the south of where Jed worked but the FS can be a pain at times. We dug the old drift with an excavator and used a Gold Claimer Pioneer 30 to run gravels. There is still good gold out there also but we decided to lease that out & go into the faultline. That's a treasure hunt.

1 hour ago, matt said:

I'm really enjoying reading the journal entry's and look forward to the next. I spend quite a bit of time up the mountains of the Northern Mother Load also. I does tend to get a bit spooky at night when out there alone!

If you don't mind, just curious what County all this takes place?

   All I can say for now is northern California. 

30 minutes ago, Lanny said:

This is a captivating story, thanks for the entries.

That kettle hole reminds me of other stories I've read where miners hit potholes/large crevices in gold-bearing rivers that were thick with gold. Wouldn't that be amazing? (I hit a hole once while dredging and the entire bottom was covered in gold.)

I love the 1860's+ gold era of gold rushes, so I'll guess 1860 ounces--a phenomenal haul if he pulled it off, and if it's more, booyahh! 

All the best,

Lanny

   Thanks Lanny. Got it down. I had a guy stop by one yr when we were down at one of the creeks. He told me they hit a good spot when dredging and got 80 ounces back in the 1980's. Now California doesn't allow it. Of course i've read the journal but posting it is making me want to put a team together and work it old school for a few months. I love living off grid. 

(1) Some of the rock old Jed was moving. All in a days work I guess.

(2) If only Jed had one of these LOL.