Looking for a story

[azdave35]

so hard to say... there are prospects and partial digs all over out there.. some old , some not as old,, i know of a few that have never been openly discussed or mapped publicly.. they are old.. either played out or non productive exploration.. but no real values present... plus who knows how many have collapsed or are hidden well.. .. i think its hard enough to find 1 mine of value, much less 8 or more out there... prospecting your way is the only way to find it... the clues are fun but almost worthless at this point..... and stories are usually just that= stories... sorry.. just saying..

arizona is pocket country...years ago there were many fairly rich surface deposits...most were found long ago and worked out....old time miners wern't as dumb as everyone thinks..they didn't miss much if it was on the surface...but most pinched out fast or got weaker as they went down further...thats why you see alot of shallow digs in arizona...most of the lost mine stories you read about were more than likely deposits that were filthy rich on the surface but petered out after 15-20 foot.....also alot of the shallow digs in az were never gold mines...back in the 50's and 60's the big copper companies would hire guys to hike around in the desert to spot copper stain...then hire backhoe operators to dig down on them assaying as they went down...the ones that got weaker were deserted and on to the next (back then nobody made you cover your holes..lol)......the ones that got richer they worked...they dont call arizona the copper state for nothing

 

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[coazon de oro]

Geology geology geology some say, but Waltz was a prospector, and he said "no miner will find my mine". No he didn't follow any clues, it was shown to him by some Mexicans which he then killed. So if you are finding gold, you are in the wrong place, geology has been tried there like no other place on earth by some of the best in the past 130 years with no results. Take a pan by all means, and if you find no trace of gold, you must be in the right area.

Homar

 

[azdave35]

Geology geology geology some say, but Waltz was a prospector, and he said "no miner will find my mine". No he didn't follow any clues, it was shown to him by some Mexicans which he then killed. So if you are finding gold, you are in the wrong place, geology has been tried there like no other place on earth by some of the best in the past 130 years with no results. Take a pan by all means, and if you find no trace of gold, you must be in the right area.

Homar

dredgernaut is hunting in a different place than most of the ldm hunters...there is gold where he hunts

 

[dredgernaut]

where there is a vein or deposit and the area suffers from erosion , there will be placer.. placer comes from an eroded source... i have seen both in there..... heavy erosion and placer... soooo... respectfully to all the best in the last 130 years... i will take geology over convoluted clues.... just saying..

 

[markmar]

where there is a vein or deposit and the area suffers from erosion , there will be placer.. placer comes from an eroded source... i have seen both in there..... heavy erosion and placer... soooo... respectfully to all the best in the last 130 years... i will take geology over convoluted clues.... just saying..

An expert prospector ( not me ) can evaluate the distance to the vein from the gold's details in the placer and from the details of the surrounding landscapes. Fine gold travels much, big nuggets travel less. More quartz attashed to gold, more closer to the source you are. Of course this is valid for a virgin mother lode which wouldn't been found yet, because in the other cases the richest eluvial and alluvial placers below the vein, were panned intensively. A group of miners would work the vein and another group of prospectors would work the placers.
What is a rich gold placer? An already mined and milled gold ore. Easy way to get gold. When you see or hear about a canyon full of potholes, there occurred an intensive panning.

 

[dredgernaut]

i dont think anyone can figure the distance to source,, but the bigger it gets the closer you are usually,, and sometimes its not even a vein that is the source.. could have been an ancient river bed deposit.. if the water was that big it can move gold very far or much deeper usually.. gold is where you find it, very hard to figure sometimes.. like those huge nuggets in austrailia with no host rock, mountain or river in sight,, figure that one.. just sayin..
no arguing points.. i mine quite a bit.. i know many miners... no one i know can evaluate distance.. just always prospect forward...towards a real strike...

 

[azdave35]

i dont think anyone can figure the distance to source,, but the bigger it gets the closer you are usually,, and sometimes its not even a vein that is the source.. could have been an ancient river bed deposit.. if the water was that big it can move gold very far or much deeper usually.. gold is where you find it, very hard to figure sometimes.. like those huge nuggets in austrailia with no host rock, mountain or river in sight,, figure that one.. just sayin..
no arguing points.. i mine quite a bit.. i know many miners... no one i know can evaluate distance.. just always prospect forward...towards a real strike...

i've seen alot of guys try to trace placer gold back to the source ..never seen one that was successful....the main reason it is almost impossible is because it is often not one big vein feeding the placer but many small stringer veins on the hillside

 

[PotBelly Jim]

Every single place that produces placer is different based on about a thousand different variables...I wouldn't waste a second looking for the source of placer...now, if it was rough and still bound to rough matrix, maybe I might try...but in my experience every placer I've worked in AZ was redeposited about 100 times...best advice I could give anyone placering in AZ is to ignore everything you think you know about placer deposits and just focus on the heavies...not black sand, but small black pebbles. If there's any gold, it will be a few inches below those...Seems to work well in AZ. Woody taught me that one and it worked better than anything I've ever tried.



EDIT: This came from just walking down the Agua Fria and looking for little areas with black pebbles on the surface...probably about 20 mins of just scooping a few inches under them...probably filled about 2 inches in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. The deeper I dug, the less gold there was...it was all right under the heavy pebbles...we threw the bucket in the trailer under our ATVs, and my nephew panned it out when he got home.

 

[azdave35]

Every single place that produces placer is different based on about a thousand different variables...I wouldn't waste a second looking for the source of placer...now, if it was rough and still bound to rough matrix, maybe I might try...but in my experience every placer I've worked in AZ was redeposited about 100 times...best advice I could give anyone placering in AZ is to ignore everything you think you know about placer deposits and just focus on the heavies...not black sand, but small black pebbles. If there's any gold, it will be a few inches below those...Seems to work well in AZ. Woody taught me that one and it worked better than anything I've ever tried.

great advise jim

 

[Idahodutch]

The Four Peaks view . . . of One Peak

Well .... I never looked for the other 8 .... the old topo maps showed lots of prospects, but just as you say, many have been looking. Many have dug holes.

When I went in the last time .... was to collect concentrated samples to test for presence of gold, and go up through saddle to the view spot and check for Four Peaks.

Found gold in the samples, strongest samples were from just below the ravine.
And had a spectacular view of A peak that was lined up just perfect in the viewing window ...

It’s not finished yet, still need to make another trip.

I wish I had something to get a picture of the view with me on that trip, but didn't.
I did go to Google Earth and the view is available, ..... I went ahead and positioned the viewing for standing on the high point of the low ridge, and looking to the north ...... it just is enough for one peak to be visible above the skyline in the lazy v section ... as soon as you leave that point, the view is gone.

CLICK IMAGE FOR BETTER VIEW



To confirm it is Four Peaks, just go to Google Earth and go higher in elevation ..... so the skyline is no longer obstructing the view of the rest of Four Peaks.
It is just as the clue describes.

 

[Idahodutch]

According to the clues, once you find yourself standing on the high point of the low ridge, with the view of one peak ....
Below you in the ravine somewhere .... is the LDM.

 

[wrmickel1]

Idahodutch
No
I think your following to much of the creative yarn then clues. Just saying.
Maybe the Dutchman’s mine isn’t a Peralta Stone mine but I think it is. And I think most stoners wondered what the back of the Heart meant with the zeros scratched in it

Well it’s every stoners dream comes true, here it is carved into solid rock the steps that bring you to the mine. On the right side of the pick.




Babymick1

 

[wrmickel1]

This is what put Waltz on the trail high mineralization and Quarts vain.



Exposed Quarts




The quarts vain disappears and comes back up top of the stairs to a mine

babymick1

 

[Idahodutch]

Idahodutch
No
I think your following to much of the creative yarn then clues. Just saying.
Maybe the Dutchman’s mine isn’t a Peralta Stone mine but I think it is. And I think most stoners wondered what the back of the Heart meant with the zeros scratched in it

Well it’s every stoners dream comes true, here it is carved into solid rock the steps that bring you to the mine. On the right side of the pick.


View attachment 1912133

Babymick1

Babymick1,
I thought the yarns and clues were the same thing ..... my bad.

I have to confess, I’m not a stone maps guy, so you’ll have to explain the zeros and stuff.
I could not find the pick axe in the picture ...

 

[wrmickel1]

The Mine



babymick1

 

[somehiker]

For Russ......

View attachment 1912148

A round ruin in a low saddle would be rare.
This is the only one I know of.

 

[somehiker]

again.....

 

[Idahodutch]

somehiker,
Russ can’t get the attachment link to work?
Idahodutch

 

[somehiker]

somehiker,
Russ can’t get the attachment link to work?
Idahodutch

did the second try work?

 

[Idahodutch]

did the second try work?

Russ said works good now