Railroad rock

[boblemon]

Spring is trying to make it's way to Kansas but it's taking it's time. anyways. I decided to take my detectors out and hit a spot in Leavenworth Kansas where gold coins have washed up on the river banks from a ship that sank just above the bridge. It's now a park with daily fee's i opted out. But as i was headed out i had seen a big pile of railroad rocks at the crossing to the park so i stopped just to do some rock hunting. This is granite and the pile was about 25 feet around. This isn't local rock as we only have sandstone as our main rocks.I started looking around it was partly cloudy . And the sun finally broke threw. This gave me a little better view of the stones.Low and behold i found a piece of petrified wood. then i saw something sparkling and picked this piece up . I just about fell over it/s gold and real gold. I decided to check a little bit closer and found 5 more pieces with gold and a nice piece of Quartz. All done bare eyed and no detector. Next time your down by the railroad tracks check out the rocks. Never know what you/ll find. I would like to post pics but i don't have a damed clue how to.

 

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[Aufisher]

Sounds like fun poking around those neck of the woods!

 

[Asmbandits]

Id pitch a tent next to that pile and use some vacation time! Have any pics of your finds?

 

[kcm]

If the rocks are around RR tracks, be very careful. There are hefty fines in some areas for removing rock near tracks, as too much rock removed or repositioned can cause trouble for a train.

...I think I'd try to find out where the rock came from in the first place!

 

[Pyrofx]

Be aware that just being around our tracks is trespassing and can get you in deep kimchee. Also the guys on the train are required to report you.
I never thought much of it until I became a conductor. People will challenge a 30 million pound chunk of iron going 70 mph and expect it to stop on a dime . He'll it takes up about half a mile to a mile

 

[Gold Maven]

Sounds great, how about a pic?

Around here the RR beds are made from steel mill slag.

 

[boblemon]

finally took the time to crush the rail road rock. I found out crushing stone wrapped in a tee shirt works but not very good. lol The stones had pyrite and gold mixed. I crushed one piece with my piers and it shattered then there was a small nugget that i did the same thing to. It just flattened out and was soft I did manage to pull out quite a bit of gold. So yall keep your eyes open and thanks for looking.

 

[winners58]

my Dad made a mortar and pestle from an iron pipe reducer with a plug on the bottom and a 8" of 1/2"pipe with ends to crush his rock samples
. .

 

[KevinInColorado]

Fill that 1/2" pipe with sand or, even better, lead, and cap the other end. Heavier is better.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Many of the railroad tracks in this area can give you a really great view of the geology of the area. Where they had to cut the hillsides to form the bed for the tracks can really show you a lot. Same goes for road cuts as well.

When I was living down in the other corner of the state, I heard about a short tunnel on an abandoned (rails and ties removed but the ballast was still there) rail line between Bizbee and Douglas. What makes this particular tunnel so interesting is that when they cut it, they went right through a large deposit of Calcite that reacts well to blacklight. Always wanted to go check it out but location, time and the lack of a portable UV unit at the time kept me from making the trip. This old line just happens to be in a major crossing area for drug traffickers so that was another reason to avoid it.

 

[russau]

Those RR gravels are called Trap Rock . I used to haul it years ago............. a lot of years ago a lot more than id like to think about!

 

[meMiner]

Great story. Crushing rock in an old shirt is not very effective as the cloth smooches. Nice that you extracted some nuggets! The suggestion to find out where the rock originated is a good one. Sounds like their crush might be from mine tailings.

 

[Oddjob]

Congrats on your find; but be very careful it is not just a legal issue but also a safety issue. Sort of like MDing at the shooting range. No one here wants to here a bad story based on treasure, we all love a good find and are happy for each other but we do not need a fellow hunter getting hurt or banged up over it.

Just be careful.