Good day yesterday....

[goldenIrishman]

Well the Better half and I started doing some testing in the wash that runs through the property yesterday and fund some gold. Not much but some. We loaded up the packs, Grabbed the Munchkin (Grandaughter) and the dogs and walked over to the wash and hit what looked like it would be a good area to check. Since we don't have a dry washer as of yet we took some samples, classified them and brought them back to the house to pan them down. I found some very small pieces in the first two gallons worth of samples and will pan the remaining samples down today to see what (if anything) they hold. I've also been finding good quantities of black sand as well as some nice little garnets.

At least we know for sure that there's gold on the property and we had a really nice time wandering through the wash with the Munchkin and the dogs. Now I need to cut a trail from the house to the wash so I can get the truck down there as hauling buckets back to the house is a major pain in the posterior! Now the search is on to find where the best places to dig are going to be.

 

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[Aurabbit79er]

Sounds like it's time to get a drywasher.

 

[Lanny in AB]

If you're getting garnets and black sand, you're catching some of the super-heavies. Keep sampling to solve the mystery, and maybe borrow a Falcon MD 20 to do some dry sampling to test for gold flakes in your samples--no need for water that way. Nevertheless, it sounds like you're already doing things right by what you've captured already. Stick with it--and the gold will come. Plus, the time you're spending with your loved ones is a special kind of gold all on its own--priceless actually.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[goldenIrishman]

We found gold in the samples I've panned so far, just not much. Out of four gallons worth of test for one location I found about a dozen VERY small colors. (I had to get out the magnifying glass to be sure it really was gold.) Since we all know that gold (as well as other things) rolls down hill, the task now it to sample my way up stream to see if I can track down the source. I will of course be taking samples from any place that gold could fall out of the water flow.

Yeah... A dry washer is on the "wish list" for sure as well as a real detector instead of the better half's Little Radio Shack special. (shudder!!)

 

[goldenIrishman]

The Munchkin is off from school this week and after spending yesterday keeping her entertained with panning I got a break from Munchkin wrangling today. So I headed up the wash to get some more samples and really study the terrain in detail.

I followed the branches of the wash all the way to the top of the hill on which they start keeping my eyes open for any sign of an old stream bed that might have been pushed up over the years and I couldn't find anything like that. A lot of the upper areas of the washes were choked with brush and I couldn't get into them. I could still see some areas that MIGHT be worth fighting my way down into them to sample but that's going to be a last resort. Very long hard hike to get to those points.

In the end I stopped back at the place where we first found gold in the stream and took some samples from deeper down. As I was working to get the samples I hit on the idea to clear the base of the little water fall out for a distance of 8-10 feet and turn it into a gold trapping area. I should have no problem getting it set up before the next monsoon season and then I'll try letting Mother Nature do some of the work for a change!

I also have figured out that that wash is Javilina Highway! Lots of tracks and "other" signs of them using the wash. I will be bringing protection from here on out. Last thing I need it to get chewed up by Momma Javilina protecting her babies. I think I 'd rather be bitten by a rattler than chewed on by one of those tusked muthas!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Goldenirishman - great storytelling, you are on a great adventure, please keep sharing!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Thanks Kevin. Gold hunting isn't an adventure... It's a way of life. I am hoping to find some other "hunters" in this area to compare notes with on local geology etc. I figure the more info I build up, the less chance the gold has of hiding from us. This Arizona terrain is unlike anything I've hunted in before. This area is a geological mish-mash to say the least. I've been finding sedimentary rocks mixed with lava, crystal formations popping out of the ground in place that the "shouldn't" be, etc, etc, etc. I've also been learning (the hard way) that reading a wash is NOT like reading a regular stream bed. Flash floods do not react the way a "normal" stream does and around here it seems that it's flash floods or nothing.

 

[KevinInColorado]

The whole flash flood thing is very true. You really have to think differently about how the gold migrates in that situation. I have a creek near me that runs all the time but goes from 4 inches of water normally (certainly not moving the gold) to 4 feet briefly once every couple years and last year had an 8 foot flash flood!! Those moments don't just gently progress gold downstream, they create and destroy whole streambed features, bury deposits in sediment, scrape areas of stream bed bare to bedrock...all sorts of amazing things...oh, AND concentrate the gold in quirky places!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Also, on the geological mishmash. On the CO front range we see that in some places where ancient rivers dropped material from the mountains that formed and wore down BEFORE the rise of the current rocky mtns! Those mtns had gold in them so the ancient riverbeds do too

I'm not saying where I've found creeks cutting through those ancient deposits but I've found em and its good gold!!

 

[goldenIrishman]

Oh I know Kevin. When I lived in San Diego County we were working an ancient river bed that was on top of a mountain. We were getting flakes out of it that were half the size of a fingernail. I had hoped to find something like that here but no luck (so far) on my search.

I just finished panning down the samples from yesterday and it was total trash. The only value I got from it was for the exercise of going to get it! Out of 4 gallons worth of test material I got all of 2 tablespoons worth of BS and a single garnet. I'm thinking that I'm going to check the parts of the wash that are closer to the house. It's a lot closer and I don't have to pack the material nearly as far. We can't get a truck into the wash or I'd be driving and loading the truck up with a recirculating sluice system and just bringing back concentrates. Well it's good exercise if nothing else.

I was checking that area because it's a step waterfall on the bedrock. I'm still thinking of doing a gold trap there though as it's a natural place for one. If nothing else I'll be able to see how much material is being moved down the wash during the monsoons.

BTW.... Is there any such thing as "Bad" gold?

 

[KevinInColorado]

Oh I know Kevin. When I lived in San Diego County we were working an ancient river bed that was on top of a mountain. We were getting flakes out of it that were half the size of a fingernail. I had hoped to find something like that here but no luck (so far) on my search.

I just finished panning down the samples from yesterday and it was total trash. The only value I got from it was for the exercise of going to get it! Out of 4 gallons worth of test material I got all of 2 tablespoons worth of BS and a single garnet. I'm thinking that I'm going to check the parts of the wash that are closer to the house. It's a lot closer and I don't have to pack the material nearly as far. We can't get a truck into the wash or I'd be driving and loading the truck up with a recirculating sluice system and just bringing back concentrates. Well it's good exercise if nothing else.

///that's the spirit!

I was checking that area because it's a step waterfall on the bedrock. I'm still thinking of doing a gold trap there though as it's a natural place for one. If nothing else I'll be able to see how much material is being moved down the wash during the monsoons.

///Will be interesting to be sure...take before and after pictures

BTW.... Is there any such thing as "Bad" gold?

///fair point! Of course I meant there is more gold per bucket there than I have seen elsewhere

 

[goldenIrishman]

So simple a 6 year old can use it!!!!

Since I'm still on Munchkin wrangling duty (spring vacation) I got her up early to go with me out to the wash to get some samples before it got to hot. At six years old the Munchkin is still a little "sensitive" in some ways and not shy about telling you she's hot, cold, hungry etc.

She's been wanting to "help" with the panning but since this is testing I decided that we'd get her some dirt all for her. Since I have to hike in and out of the wash I've been taking some gallon zip-lock bags, labeling them as to location and loading them into my day pack. Well I brought four extra zip-lock bags (sandwich size) and the Princess was happy as a clam to have her own dirt to work through.

We got back to the house and I set up the Desert Fox gold wheel and after about 10 minutes of instruction and explanation on how it works I turned her loose on it. She may not have found any colors but she did find some nice garnets so she was happy. When she saw how many I got she was upset until I explained that I had run a LOT more dirt than she had.

But now we have photographic proof that the Desert Fox is so easy to use that a six year old can do it!

 

[kazcoro]

That's awesome. Kids are so fun at that age.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Startin' 'em early, love it!

 

[63bkpkr]

goldenirishman,
That is a dream of a picture with the 6 year old granddaughter working the blue bowl and a great sharing time for all.

Your thought of creating a "collecting zone" is viable depending on what you have in mind. Flash floods are tough to gauge as to how big it will be and what is needed to catch the heavies but pick a spot and give it a shot.

Attached are a couple of pictures of an area I worked along a river where I'd found gold. The spot is a large boulder where I'd found gold on the down river side of the boulder as well as in various spots on the high bank side of the boulder. In my working the spot I dug/moved dirt and boulders a sizeable trench in back of and around the boulder. At the end of my season I back filled the diggings to maintain the bank I'd dug into. Upon completing my work I realized that I'd just built a boulder catchment for any heavies that might be carried up to and over that boulder and catchment zone. I'm looking forward to examining it in a few years. The best of luck with your system.............63bkpkr

Front view from the down river side, natural big boulder is in the top right of the picture.

View from above showing boulders stacked in front of and in back of the large boulder, down river side is the right top of the picture, look for water drainage ditch in both photos.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well Robi (my MUCH better half) has lived here for 12 years and is pretty sure that in this wash it's flash flood or nothing. That's making it really hard to "read" the wash like you would a normal stream bed. She's described being able to hear the water flowing in the wash and said it sounded like a freight train was going through the yard!! Needless to say, when the monsoons start up towards the end of summer we won't be working the wash if there's a cloud in the sky. I would like to sit up on top and see what the flow looks like when it is running though.

The Munchkin is like most 6 year olds. A pain and a treasure at the same time. She wants to learn everything "Right NOW!" yet lacks the patience to stick to any one thing for any length of time. Everything in the wheel or pan is "Gold" (even if it's not) but when I can get her to run some dirt through the wheel she can only handle doing about a small baggies worth at a time before she gets bored and wants to go do something else. I don't have any grandkids of my own so I guess I'm kind of a grandpa in training. Heaven help me and grant me the patience to do it right!

 

[KevinInColorado]

Keep it fun and at her pace ...and she'll keep coming back!

 

[kazcoro]

Lots of snacks help alot. And, keep your mind open every second to something she could keep busy with. As you said, their attention span is that of a cocker spaniel. Watch out for snakes. I saw my first yesterday. They are out there.

 

[KevinInColorado]

Hmmm, NEEDS lots of snacks and has the attention of a cocker spaniel, that could be a description for me...are you saying I have the maturity of a 6 year old?! LOL

 

[kazcoro]

Hmmm, NEEDS lots of snacks and has the attention of a cocker spaniel, that could be a description for me...are you saying I have the maturity of a 6 year old?! LOL

You and me both.