** Lost Gold At The Dead Man's Mine ** A Miners Journal **

[GhostMiner]

1 hour ago, flakmagnet said:

I thought it was a big deal when I was dredging in the mother lode rivers spending 8 to 10 hours a day underwater for a whole summer…but then when you spend two weeks working a hole through 12 feet of overburden only to find a Chinese coin in a crevice in the bedrock, you get real with yourself; those guys did it by hand after they flumed the whole section of the river they were working in first.

cheers

The crew had a great leader with a plan & there was no quit in them. They mined out gold the old boys missed in the 1800's. And they missed a lot.

[maxxkatt]

38 minutes ago, GhostMiner said:

The crew had a great leader with a plan & there was no quit in them. They mined out gold the old boys missed in the 1800's. And they missed a lot.

It happens. In the 1840's there were more than 10,000 old boys in Dahlonega, GA area. And yet in the 1970's a Canadian found a pothole (glory hole) and found enough gold with his dredge to cover a full sized bed. Nobody gets it all. Mother earth is still hiding her secrets for others to discover.

[GhostMiner]

1 hour ago, maxxkatt said:

It happens. In the 1840's there were more than 10,000 old boys in Dahlonega, GA area. And yet in the 1970's a Canadian found a pothole (glory hole) and found enough gold with his dredge to cover a full sized bed. Nobody gets it all. Mother earth is still hiding her secrets for others to discover.

Indeed. We are now discovering what Jed did not get to.

[Off Grid]

Thank you for a really great story. Reminds me of a Jack London book (?) on the Klondyke my father had, thick, mismatched, yellowed pages and all. Set me on the road to a geological career I've never regretted.

I guess that detectors won't be much use is pothole country given their relative depth limitations compared to a pothole. Have you used or considered using Ground Penetrating Radar in your current efforts? For that matter has anybody else on the forum used GPR as a companion to detectors? I've considered it but it's a big investment. In the US there should be contractors to use. It should work a treat on dry gravels over irregular bedrock which you seem to have. GPR is the go-to approach for dry-land, alluvial diamonds in Africa.

[GhostMiner]

8 hours ago, Off Grid said:

Thank you for a really great story. Reminds me of a Jack London book (?) on the Klondyke my father had, thick, mismatched, yellowed pages and all. Set me on the road to a geological career I've never regretted.

I guess that detectors won't be much use is pothole country given their relative depth limitations compared to a pothole. Have you used or considered using Ground Penetrating Radar in your current efforts? For that matter has anybody else on the forum used GPR as a companion to detectors? I've considered it but it's a big investment. In the US there should be contractors to use. It should work a treat on dry gravels over irregular bedrock which you seem to have. GPR is the go-to approach for dry-land, alluvial diamonds in Africa.

Very interesting & thank you.

[Cascade Steven]

Off Grid: you have a very good point.  Ground Penetrating Radar may be of value in detecting  depth to bedrock and possibly the unevenness of the bedrock surface.  This then could theoretically predict the presence of "kettles" and potential gold collection sites.  This link (https://www.guidelinegeo.com/ground-penetrating-radar-gpr/) provides a general overview of the process and its capabilities.  Another potential tool is a shallow seismic survey.  Such surveys can be conducted with field portable equipment and the energy source for the wave is either a "shot shell" or a sledge-hammer on a steel plate.  I have been involved with such surveys on abandoned mine tailings and seismic surveys worked well in that environment.  GM: From my experience it appears that it may be worthwhile to at least contact a vendor for a discussion of capabilities to learn if either method is a worthwhile tool for your specific application.  Just more food for thought and best wishes on your endeavor.

[GhostMiner]

8 minutes ago, Cascade Steven said:

Off Grid: you have a very good point.  Ground Penetrating Radar may be of value in detecting  depth to bedrock and possibly the unevenness of the bedrock surface.  This then could theoretically predict the presence of "kettles" and potential gold collection sites.  This link (https://www.guidelinegeo.com/ground-penetrating-radar-gpr/) provides a general overview of the process and its capabilities.  Another potential tool is a shallow seismic survey.  Such surveys can be conducted with field portable equipment and the energy source for the wave is either a "shot shell" or a sledge-hammer on a steel plate.  I have been involved with such surveys on abandoned mine tailings and seismic surveys worked well in that environment.  GM: From my experience it appears that it may be worthwhile to at least contact a vendor for a discussion of capabilities to learn if either method is a worthwhile tool for your specific application.  Just more food for thought and best wishes on your endeavor.

Do you know how expensive this process is? We have reords done that way for the tailings piles on the sides of the mountain. They are mapped out. Some are 100 ft deep. In some areas like the faultline there are few or shallow depth.

[GhostMiner]

   Where the best gold seems to be found along the faultline are either in the kettles (pot holes) or on areas of raised bedrock that came near the surface at the time the fault occured. These raise areas could be just below the surface or as much as 40 - 50 ft deep from our understanding. When you find one there is concentrated gold that is much richer than the normal historic pay layers which average about 50 - 100 yards to the ounce. The rich areas can be ounces to the cubic yard. We found a few but there was not much gravel in them. The hope is to find a good one that could provide many cubic yards of rich pay. Now we are talking about 2000 linear ft of exploration as well. 

[GhostMiner]

1 minute ago, GhostMiner said:

   Where the best gold seems to be found along the faultline are either in the kettles (pot holes) or on areas of raised bedrock that came near the surface at the time the fault occured. These raise areas could be just below the surface or as much as 40 - 50 ft deep from our understanding. When you find one there is concentrated gold that is much richer than the normal historic pay layers which average about 50 - 100 yards to the ounce. The rich areas can be ounces to the cubic yard. We found a few but there was not much gravel in them. The hope is to find a good one that could provide many cubic yards of rich pay. Now we are talking about 2000 linear ft of exploration as well. 

   I should also add that I found a large kettle at the souther end of the faultline about 1500 ft south of Jed's mine works. This was actually at the top of the fault and maybe 60 - 70 ft above the bottom. It was about 100 ft X 75 ft and 25 ft deep. It was very obvious and looked like it had been mines or partially mined but not sure if bedrock was found. When I discovered this it was by accident and I was alone and getting ready to leave the area for home. I had little time but getting in there was tough and getting back out even tougher. I found it by walking the ridge of the fault down there which is very remote. I had been following fresh bear tracks as well. It made me a little nervous as I had forgot my bear spray and my gun was locked in my truck far away. I know - stupid of me. Anyway, when I was making a decision to go in out popped a very large black bear higher up the game trail on top the ridge maybe 50 yards from me. I decided not to go in there because I wasn't sure what that bear would do. That is the first place I want to explore and test gravels at. I think carrying a small 12 V puffer drywasher up there would work well in the dry summer. No water anywhere near it.