Alaskan Pay dirt

SteveDigsGems

SteveDigsGems

Jr. Member
Dec 22, 2012
90
33
Aliso Viejo, Ca
Detector(s) used
Garret AT Gold
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Earlier this evening I decided to pan some Alaskan pay dirt that I bought from an eBay seller. I bought 1 pound for $15, and it is guaranteed to have gold, because the lady sprinkles a pinch in. I didn't get rich, but I am really happy with the experience I got out of it. I have a lot of friends that want to travel out to my local gold bearing rivers with me to sluice, but before we go, I'm probably going to have them pan some of the dirt in my backyard. It is a good opportunity for them to see how the gold behaves, and it will motivate them for the upcoming trip.

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Sorry about the quality, my camera ran out of batteries, this is an iPad picture. I'll get some batteries next time I'm at the store and upload what I found.







-Steve
 

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For all those who have accused me of buying dirt at Home Depot. The process I actually use is to shovel the paydirt into buckets, dry it out in my oven, then classify it and then bag it. I end up throwing a lot of rocks out and wasting a lot of time. This new classifier will allow me to classify the dirt right here at the claim, then everything I bring home will be useable. Hope it works!
 

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elkie13 said:
For all those who have accused me of buying dirt at Home Depot. The process I actually use is to shovel the paydirt into buckets, dry it out in my oven, then classify it and then bag it. I end up throwing a lot of rocks out and wasting a lot of time. This new classifier will allow me to classify the dirt right here at the claim, then everything I bring home will be useable. Hope it works!
Click to expand...

It will work. I have the same thing. Just no dump bed. I classify the dirt over a tarp. Keep it up!!!!!
 

Wow, I thought it was against the rules of the site to accuse people of their finds or stories being fraudulent. Publicly anyway. If they spent $15, they could see for themselves. But, if they are the type to accuse or complain about something like that, let someone else enjoy it!
 

Looks like you have more dirt than Home Depot anyway. LOL
 

Hey I didn't mean anyone on here accused me of that. But people have accused me of that. Sorry for being unclear. Just finishing up running our cons, will have some picks for ya soon.
 

Got another run in today. Still a lot of overburden but got some gold and and nice picker. I hate it when you have to take the top off the snifter to get the piece of gold in! The first pic is today and the next is the weekend total...

Next weekend well be up there for TEN days....
 

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Oh cool, I was hoping no one on here would say anything like that. Nice gold!!
 

The forest service is meeting us Tuesday at our claim to talk about our "letter of non-compliance." Wonder if they realize that means we will all be packing iron. ;-)
Bear country you know..

Just kidding, I'm sure it will be fine. I haven't seen the letter yet, we are headin up there tomorrow for a ten day trip, well have to double back to check the mail so we can see it before they visit. It's actually a really good idea that way we can all actually see what is being discussed.

I bet I know why don't want us at the office. The first time we visited them at their office the kid was 2 and we caught her with her pants down fixing to take a dump under their conference table.
 

Hi everyone. It's the beginning of our ten day trip and we are modifying the wash plant again. We are adding another level of classification to our process by putting a grizzly on top of our wash plant. We ran for a few hours yesterday while one of us ran to town to get some stuff we forgot. Not a great showing but hey, it's gold right?
 

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Yeah I don't know if I ever told you guys, we use a mini high banker to run our cons out of the wash plant. Yesterday we switched out the carpet in that for black ribbed mat. Seems to have helped.
 

Good stuff! I have finally downloaded season one of "Gold Rush", I have been thinking about your operation the whole time! May the luck be with you!
 

How did the FS meeting go? Just so you know, in my previous life as a LEO, the letter of non-compliance is the softest warning given. Next is Notice of Violation, then the biggie, Notice of Citation complete with warrant issued for failure to appear/comply. Good luck and good gold elkie!:icon_thumright:
 

The forest service meeting is Tuesday, I will let you know how it goes.

Today we spent all day welding on the wash plant. Just had to call it for a while as crew was showing signs of heat/dehydration. Its got to be over 80 today. That doesnt sound like mich to most of you but it is for us alaskans. The kid found the settling pond to be a great place to cool off.
 

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You know those shows on gold rush where they spend thief time spinning their wheels and you are yelling at the TV. "That's not gonna work!" Well in those guys defense we just spent two days modifying our wash plant to put a grizzly on top of the hopper. Then last night we cut it off...

Too much weight up to high, the whole thing was unstable. There is no amount of gold worth killing someone.

Today we work with what we have for better or worse and get some GOLD!

I've attached picture of what we did so you guys can roll your eyes at our foolishness. ;-)
 

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Never will I laugh at someone who is willing to take a gamble and try. If'n you don't try, you'll never know what it's like to win! Good luck at the meeting tomorrow:thumbsup:...I got my weeks mixed up...an occupational hazard of retired.
 

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Yesterday was the hottest day I can ever remember, and I have lived in alaska all my life. Had to readjust the wash plant after our modification debacle, and then we were off and running. It was so hot that the person running the wash hose was also responsible for hosing down the crew. The kid and the dogs spent the entire time in the settling pond.

The good news is that we are back on the gold after it petered out for a while. Turns out that we get bigger pieces right down on the clay on top of the bedrock, but the most gold is in the 15 feet of over burden on top.

The river came up so high while we were working we parked the tractor down there with the big pump in the bucket just in case.


Today we are cleaning up to get ready for our big meeting. Cross your fingers for us ok?

I am attaching photos of our gold and the high banker we use to run our cons.
 

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That's really interesting how you are finding the gold (or where?), good luck today, fingers are crossed!
 

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Found a cache of lead dredgin...To bad it wasnt gold!

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