Cape Disappointment January 31, 2015

[johnedoe]

As for the Oregon side of the river, I've been curious about the black looking sand seen on google earth, at the end of jetty road in ft. Stevens st. park. I'm not sure of the rules since it a state park and not really an ocean beach.

Heres a little something I found recently..... I have often wondered about the sandbars in the columbia. This placer claim gives some insight.... Access by boat only obviously.

Images from google earth.

 

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[johnedoe]

Thanks for the invite John
I will let you know what I can work out, maybe the third week of November.
Maybe that would give me a chance to do some research. Have you ever run a rocker box there?

Hopefully by then we will have had some weather to wash off some of the blond sands as well......

 

[Jjhall68]

I have never used a rocker either, but like you were saying about the pump I've never been where it was my best option. I looked at a rocker in Seattle at the gold rush museum that was interesting and the stories of multi ounce days on the Nome beaches have thinking building one could be a fun project. Not that the amount of gold on our beaches is like it was back then, in Nome. However the physics are the same.
I never knew there was any mining on the river, but I have thought about all the gold bearing streams and rivers that make their way to the Columbia.
I went with my family to the maritime museum in Astoria, OR in the spring (Well worth the trip) and they were talking about the river pilots dealing with the ever changing bottom contour, and that's today after the dams and locks. We watched a film about them building the jetty and the size of the rocks they had to use to keep them from being swept away. An how they use the jetty to keep the water speed up so the sediment doesn't build up in the shipping channel.
All the while I'm thinking about how that affects all those little pieces of gold and the not so little ones.
It would sure be interesting to try and talk to the claim holder about that operation? Worst they could do is not share, but I've been very fortunate with that in the past. Most folks are like us, and enjoy exchanging ideas and information.
Thanks for posting that.

 

[johnedoe]

Your welcome.
I was looking at the island just upstream from sand island (It's not in the screen capture) but it looked ripe as well. doesn't seem to have a name, at least not showing on google earth.
It would take a pretty good boat to deal with the river though I think.
Anyway if you want to talk sometime give me a call, I am home after 3:00 and I don't work Fri. Sat. or Sun.
PM me for my ph # or send me yours with best times to call and I'll use my dime....

 

[Jjhall68]

OK..... Thank's for that info.
Hope to be able to get up that way this year.
Oh .. is 4 wheel drive needed to get to the good spots?

I have only gone to the state park and have never driven on the sand, Mike SW Wa told me about the driving spot but I have seen cars down there. Maybe Mike will let us know if that a good idea or if they were just lucky?

 

[johnedoe]

I have only gone to the state park and have never driven on the sand, Mike SW Wa told me about the driving spot but I have seen cars down there. Maybe Mike will let us know if that a good idea or if they were just lucky?

LOL... I really am not fond of "Lucky" ....... I have had so little need (read Never) of 4x4 that I just don't buy them, I mean why go to the added expense for something ya don't ever use.... Even in snow country I have never needed it, but with all that said I have been thinking a little lately of finding some old rig that runs good but is cheap so I can hit some of the less easily accessible beaches, so I don't have to walk as far, the knees aren't what they used to be.......... Still thinking though...

Anyway I still get to where I want to go without any surprises.

 

[mike(swWash)]

Cars are doable, but there's no water there for a sluice except for a recirc setup. And I'm paranoid of being caught in the cove with an incoming tide. I use my 4x4 and haul it to a drainage creek to process and can always 4wheel out in the dry sand If I stay too long.
I lived on L.B. for 30yrs and saw a couple dozen cars and trucks in the surf in that area from being a bit unobservant.

As for Sand Island, they're both referred to as Sand Island and I've never set foot on either, sturgeon fished there many, many times before the gold bug bit. There were some placer claims in the '30s I believe, but no real large deposits.

Best sand is on the south end of the peninsula in the state park, near N. Head. Walk in only. no motor vehicles allowed.

My favorite areas: B,C,D and E. It all depends on where the ocean Gods emptied there pockets. A is in the State Park with no motor vehicle access.


Water supplies

 

[johnedoe]

A appears to have easy access from the camp ground though.
B,C,D,&E don't look to bad...
I know what you mean about being observant.... saw a few in SE Alaska that had the same problem..... Only thing there is the tide is unto 23 feet.... So if your vehicle floats a little you can watch it drift on out with the tide.

 

[mike(swWash)]

I saw quite a few ford and chevy submarines that drove into holes near the rocks. Worst one was a motor home with just the back end visible.

 

[johnedoe]

I saw quite a few ford and chevy submarines that drove into holes near the rocks. Worst one was a motor home with just the back end visible.

Ouch.... it's a terrible thing but ya just can't keep from chuckling .......

Also got my permits from Wash. today...... So we're good to go.

 

[Jjhall68]

Thanks Mike

Do you know if these "Sand Islands" are natural? I ask because I duck hunt on some of the same name that are where they used to put the dredge spoils from the Swinomish channel. Same thing and name in the intercostal water way in south Florida, where I used to fish.

All the best,
John

 

[johnedoe]

They appear to have been there a long time, google maps them back to 1996, and there is a fair amount of vegetation and trees on them.

 

[mike(swWash)]

I've seen maps from the 1800's and they were there to one extent or the other.

 

[coinBOSSfinder]

Great Work!!

 

[johnedoe]

Good morning Mike.........

I can't help but think there must be a ton of fine gold around that area (out in the river).... You just need the right equipment to get it.... and permits..lol

 

[johnedoe]

I'm thinking a 30' pontoon boat (party barge) suspend the sluice in the center with access thru the main deck.... then a light boom to control the nozzle.
Doesn't have to go deep, just work the sand bars and tides ... Stay in about 4-10 feet of water......

 

[johnedoe]

Well lookie what I found................... http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/old-maps-washington/359382-columbia-river.html

 

[mike(swWash)]

Watch this guys videos, he's in Sitka and has the touch. He's given me much advice on my dredge and mat choices, his experience is invaluable.....and he's entertaining as hell.

Here's Ray:

 

[mike(swWash)]

I forgot to mention an almost forgotten mineral mining history from Long Beach.

There once was a company named Washington Mineral that mined, by dredge, off shore just N. of the Columbia river. They discovered a large black sand deposit full of valuable minerals that is still being debated as either boiling up from deep under the surface or as a side effect of being carried down the Columbia by erosion but limited to a relatively small area.

My late ex father in law was a welder/handyman for them and showed me pictures of some of the test and lab equipment.
Once they closed, he was the care taker for several years before it was abandoned. My ex wife told me stories of going to the lab and playing with the centrifuges. There were still samples of dry sand stored there and they would dump them into the hoppers and watch the machines work. Whirring and vibrating as they separated the different minerals by weight. One machine would put everything into separate test tubes, but her favorite was the one that put it into one tube, layered by weight.
She loved how the layers had different colors no matter how much you mixed the sample, it, always separated the same(How I wish I had one of those now!!!).

They were mostly iron oxides by weight but they were after the titanium, at the time the U.S.S.R. was our main supplier......and we were using it to build the SR71 to spy on them and cost far more than the value of gold to extract and process.

As a by product of this seperation, they also got gold, silver and platinum in much lesser and unprofitable amounts.....I think gold was only worth around $30, platinum $60 and silver $1-2 per oz. at the time. They closed in the early 70's due to environmental issues and protests from the fishermen about the damage to the crab industry.

I explored the old buildings on the south end of Stringtown road in the mid '80s and found some nasty stuff still laying around in the moldering, rotted buildings. Stuff such as bottles of potassium cyanide, several vials of different acids, bottles of mercury, and weird Frankenstein looking equipment rusting away.
The government came in a hauled it all away long ago, but if I only knew then what I know now I'd have a really cool gold separator setup.

Also on an unrelated note, here's a great source of info from the past.
Search Results « Chronicling America « Library of Congress

 

[johnedoe]

Watch this guys videos, he's in Sitka and has the touch. He's given me much advice on my dredge and mat choices, his experience is invaluable.....and he's entertaining as hell.

Here's Ray:

Yeah I have talked with Ray.... He's in Juneau by the way....
He is dredging the old tailings at sheep creek which is just south of town.
I lived in Juneau in the 90's .... Wasn't really looking for gold at the time... if only I knew then what I know now.......