Mergen North Fork Preserve Placer County ca

MadMarshall

Hero Member
Nov 12, 2012
942
1,632
na
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
So I have just found out that That 160 acres between Mineral Bar and Yankee jims on the North Fork American river has been sold. to the placer land trust MERGEN NORTH FORK PRESERVE... well firstly I had no Idea that the river was owned in this area.. I have spoken (Argued) with ASRA and BLM about Sore Finger Point Between Yankee Jims and Ponderosa..I was assured that was the only property owned! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what this means for prospecting in that area.. The ASRA is now taking a somewhat offensive against prospecting in their state park. In 2010 ASRA tried to go hands and pans and from what I understand thru the efforts of the GoldHounds it was stopped.. Anyway I figure the next time they will try they will win.. For now Wild and Scenic of the North fork is still prospector friendly.. Though its a rugged place. Over the last few years I have noticed a decline in trail upkeep. And an increase in trash and tagging and carelessness.. It seems the ASRA would rather be making money and catering to the need of their pocket books. They rather have tourits on their lands. And make no mistake it is their land!!! Broken rocks will give way to broken beer bottles. All my activity in the area is over.. My brother and I both agree let them wreck it.. Though we love the area and have spent a many year enjoying it awesomeness and the history of the area..(lots of history lots of forgoton trails mines cabin sites)..The times dictate a change. a person must adapt and overcome.

Also for a while now I have noticed Bright red signs on BRUNCH CREEK .. Untill the other day I ignored them but finally being disturbed by their unnatural presence I took a look..
It say the creek has a possible water contamination though I cant find any info on what this contamination could be.. Was wondering if anyone might know?
 

Upvote 0
Thanks for the info MM.
 

Thanks for the info MM. These clowns will probably put up a toll booth on the river. Sounds like another scam organization. Look them up under Placer Land Trust scam. They are extortionists.
 

Last edited:
Sorry to hear about all the crappy changes Marshall, as I know from
your posts you really put the hours in on the trails to get to your
areas.

As for contamination, it could be they are "stacking the deck" against
prospectors by warning people about the potential of mercury being
present, whether it is or not. Could also be they've simply found chemical
traces of polluted runoff from a timber cut.

Far as I'm concerned every creek is "polluted", and I sure hope no one
drinks it straight. Water born pathogens will ruin your day, and in a hurry.
Most common on the list is Giardia (aka: Beaver Fever), and a good dose of that
will put ya on the couch for a week, minimum, and probably another week to
get your strength back.

If there's a number on the card I would call them and ask what the concern
is, as that's about the only way to really know.
 

MM, it is your land, they are supposed to be the stewards of it. So much for benevolent dictatorship:laughing7:
 

Been patented,private property just not enforced, since days of old and can be legally sold to anyone. Gonna google these folks and take a looksee. Patented property downstream from Cherokee Bar(we dredged 24/7) in the ARA and many pieces throughout. No new news.....John
 

Most of the land inside the triangle formed by Jefferson Canyon, Yankee Jim and Bunch Creek has always been private - as in not open to prospecting or claim. Heck most of the North Fork drainage below Giant Gap is private land. How does another group owning the private land change the fact that it's not open to prospecting or claim?

The Auburn SRA is not a State Park and the SRA has no control over those private lands. How does this change anything? The land ownership and management maps are publicly available, neither the SRA nor the BLM have "hidden" that fact, not sure why this would be a surprise.

What am I missing here Mad Marshall?
 

Not just the enviro' tree huggers are CLOSING public lands and posting privately owned ones. As our relations deteriorate further, exports of rare metals from China are declining to a dangerous level. It takes lots of rare metals to construct those high-tech cruise missiles. The solution is to close public lands to ANY mineral extraction and REOPEN previously "played out" commercial mines. When it bonds with gold tellenium is called "Telluride". And the Pentagon dearly needs every speck of telluride it can get its hands on.
 

Not just the enviro' tree huggers are CLOSING public lands and posting privately owned ones. As our relations deteriorate further, exports of rare metals from China are declining to a dangerous level. It takes lots of rare metals to construct those high-tech cruise missiles. The solution is to close public lands to ANY mineral extraction and REOPEN previously "played out" commercial mines. When it bonds with gold tellenium is called "Telluride". And the Pentagon dearly needs every speck of telluride it can get its hands on.
Sort of, they are def in need of REE for weapons and electronics I don't think that it relates here with the ARA. Obviously we've seen the Russians and Chinese buying and stacking gold and REE's as fast as they can, there are military and economic reasons overlapping, meanwhile we all watch American idol and eat a Hot n' Ready pizza, everything's fine sheeple:)
 

The dirty secret behind REEs is the fact that most of the deposits are mildly radioactive. There are plenty of REE deposits in North America but no experienced mining companies are willing to put up with the heavy regulation and expense of mining them.

The Chinese could give a flying fart whether their miners are exposed are not. Lack of regulation and cheap labor keep the prices of REEs low enough that it's just not economical to mine them elsewhere. There is an entire beach of REEs in India that will not be mined because it's cheaper to buy from China. Heck even Florida has significant REEs in some of their beaches. I know of two major Rare Earth mines in the US that were closed because they can't make a profit at current prices.

Tellurides are not REEs. Tellurium is an element that when bonded with gold (also an element) is most commonly found as the mineral Calaverite. There are many other bonding groups with other elements including silver and the platinum group metals. Each of these different possible combinations have their own mineral name and characteristics.

Tellurium is rare - much rarer than any of the REEs. It's most commonly used as an alloy of copper or steel to improve the machineability of those alloys. There are several more common elements that can substitute for Tellurium in those applications should there ever be a shortage of Tellurium.

REEs are Rare Earth Elements. They are NOT rare as a group. Cerium (one of the rare earths) is very common - way more common than gold. The group of elements known as rare earths consist of:

Lanthanum
Cerium
Praseodymium
Neodymium
Promethium
Samarium
Europium
Gadolinium
Terbium
Dysprosium
Holmium
Erbium
Thulium
Ytterbium
Lutetium
Scandium
Yttrium

Oops! I've got to run now, my pizza is dinging in the microwave and American Idol is about to start. :hello: :laughing7:
 

Similar issues exist around the Yuba Gold Fields near Yuba City, CA. People have been chased off public roads near the pool tailings witch are now being worked for their potential millions of dollars worth of aggregate.
 

Clay, I was at my uncle's house and he and his friend were playing the video game Battlefield 4, it was China vs Russia in the game! I guess we've been phased out of the more modern video games portrayed in the future because we forgot to mine the REE's to make weapons or electronics lol. He said the US was probably in the game but every round that I watched was China Vs Russia so I'm not so sure, maybe we're in the game but instead of rifles we only get slingshots:) The Pentagon released a report last year or early this year stating they need REE production here increased ASAP follow-up article Pentagon & Dept. of Defense reverse position on REE's | Pinnacle Digest - Your Online Investment Growth Resource. Sorry got off topic, Marshall, I bet they end up saying there's PCB's in Brunch Creek.
 

Found this two web pages appear very similar where they ( ??? ) seem to be doing the same type conservancy down next to the gold fields in Madera county. Something doesn't smell right here. About Placer Land Trust and San Joaquin River Conservancy Who What When Where How
Interesting Johnnysau, it would be interesting if the money to buy all the land is from PGE or HP as their board members are still working there or did. I wonder if it could somehow end up being placed in their control assuming PLT suddenly couldn't raise donations etc to maintain the land down the road... It seems that it would cost a lot to buy so much land and there has to be money trail for where PLT got the millions to buy the land.
 

Interesting! I've noted that along the Foresthill Divide Road from Mumford Bar Trail head and further out there are a bunch of Private Property signs have gone up along the road IN the national forest! What is with this??.............................63bkpkr
 

Interesting! I've noted that along the Foresthill Divide Road from Mumford Bar Trail head and further out there are a bunch of Private Property signs have gone up along the road IN the national forest! What is with this??.............................63bkpkr

Most of that land on both sides of the Foresthill Divide Road is private property. Those are the Golden Fleece and Hogs Back Placer patents from 1893 and 1892. That area has never been Forest Land.
 

Interesting Clay, How do you find that type of info, the county recorders office. Things are never what they seem.

Thanks johnnysau
 

We do a lot of research when we map these areas. To discover where the old private property mineral patents are the County Recorder won't help you much. The tax assessor will usually be able to show you where private land is but that's not going to establish where the patented claims are. The County really isn't going to be able to do much but confuse the issue because these mineral patents are granted by Congress under the 1866 Mining Act.

To find mineral patents (or any other patents) we first get the Master Title Plat (map) for that Township and Range from the BLM. On that Plat the mineral patents are identified by a simple number. We then take that number to the Government Land Office and look for the patent associated with that number. In California that information gives us the name of the patent, the date it was issued, the name of the person granted the patent, the rights granted (surface/subsurface, use restrictions, etc.) and the type of patent (mineral, homestead, railroad etc.).

You can then take that information and get a copy of of the actual Official Mineral Survey from the California BLM Cadastral Survey Department. In California you will need to visit the Cadastral Survey office or order the survey from them and pay to have a copy mailed to you.

The official Mineral Survey map describes the land granted in the patent. It is the legal survey and if it is not the same as what's on the BLM Master Title Plat (not uncommon) the Mineral Survey is the actual legal boundary of the private mineral patent.

Virtually all of the private land in the western US came from Congressional Patent Grants so these survey maps are very important to determine exactly where any private land is actually located.

I know that's a pretty complex answer but we do this all the time and, at least in California, there are no shortcuts to getting the information onto our maps.
 

Ok, I will post my ignorance.

Clay Diggins, I notice in the above reply discussing how you gather information about "the land" your last sentence ends with "there are no shortcuts to getting the information onto our maps". What maps are you speaking of? I've no clue!

Thank you.........................63bkpkr
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top