Prospectors Cabin Finds

[DigEmAll]

Prospector's Cabin Finds

Make sure you check out my 8oz nugget in the other post!!!!

These are the finds from the last two hunts at the Prospector's Cabin.

Last weekend I found the half shoe, the axe handle wedge, and the trunk handle.

Today, I found the three keys, the cowbell, and the above mentioned NUGGET!!!
I also discovered three more of his mines and a five foot high dam across the wash. Still trying to figure that one out... lots of work, and there is NO WAY that that would have held water, it was made with HUGE rock. Now days, it can't. It is completely filled to the top of the dam with silt! I also found a couple of walls that had no appearant use, only a foot high and about three foot by five foot, "L" shaped. Busy little guy he was....

Anyone ever seen a key like the one with the three holes?

 

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[rvbvetter]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Those walls, sound like maybe for tanning hides. And the large rocks might have been to slow the flow down, so he could run a sluice down stream. Or if there was beaver, maybe to intice them to try and finish the dam, while he trapped them. Great looking place to explore. HH

 

[Monty]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

You dirty rat! I got all excited about that huge nugget until I found out it was copper! I can see how you might have gone berserk when you found it so I'll forgive you! Good job anyway. Monty

 

[seagreen12]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Maybe it was for collecting water? very cool location to explore.
good luck

 

[Leon]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Great digs. WTG!!!
I found a trunk handle just like that awhile back. It was in one of our oldest parks here in Indy...
No help with the key, but I love to find them...
Good luck & Happy hunting~

 

[beetle662]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Great digs! Love those SLQ's... just wish they didn't wear so bad!

Congrats on all the goodies! Lots of neat stuff there!

 

[kermit]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Digem,
Sometimes if I have to camp in high country I will build a quick make shift wall about 6 feet long. I build the small rock wall about 18 inches tall on the windy side of where I'm going to sleep. The wall provides some cover from the chilling wind and just a little taller will help to block blowing rain and snow. That could be the first camp or precabin sleeping quarters.

 

[Nana40]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Nice finds!! Love those old keys!!

Nana

 

[vic910]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

What a cool spot! Hope you find lots of relics!

vicki

 

[DigEmAll]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

I believe that I am just scratching the surface. Heck, I am still finding mines he blasted. I just wonder where his "STASH" is!!!! That's going to be my end-all motivation! It's a long trip to town, I know he hid his finds somewhere! I am now just waiting for it to really cool off so I can crawl around in the rocks close to the cabin. I hate hearing "BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!" and I ain't talking about the bees that I became friends with a couple months ago! Gosh... you just gotta love rattlesnake country!

 

[comfyinvermont]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Great finds Dig. Love the old cow bell. Congrats...Lance

 

[southern gent]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Cool digs, Diggem. I know your right about only scratching the surface. No tellin' if theres gold or not, but all the signs are there. Good luck and HH! Chris

PS. I have a key like the one with three holes, it goes to a trunk. ( I'll bet that helped the imagination!)

 

[Floater]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Great Place Digemall. I would say the silt is probably the holding stage for the Sluice and that this could still hold some nice specks if you could start running water into it again and screen it. Sounds like you might have found a good spot and if he did hide his loot, look uphill from where you think he lived or straight down. One way or the other he wanted to get out quick and take it with him. Also the three walls sounds like a good platform for a tent deck to keep out of the sun while he worked the tailings. Just some thoughts and good Luck. Keep us up to date as this sounds like a great story in the making. HH

 

[DigEmAll]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Just thought you guys might like to see what his rock tailings look like. I'm still trying to find out what these are, so feel free to help out if you can! Some really nice color there! The first picture is one of the "crack piles" as I call them. It's where he took a couple of hours and cracked big rocks into little rocks away from the junk tailings. The second one is a close up from another pile of some really pretty colors. The third is the view from up there.... did I mention that it is a nice hike to get here? The view alone is reason enough for the hike!

ENJOY!!!!

 

[Monty]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

I've posted this before but it bears repeating. My recently deceased uncle found an old prospector's cabin in the mountains up near the divide out of a small town in Colorado. He would go up there alone on weekends and crack rocks to find gold. he got enough to pay for this trip and then some. He found a box under the floor with a pistol and some misc junk. The pistol was an off brand and pretty rusted up. He took me up there once and being a flatlander I nearly died! Quite a hike up from any road. He told me it was dangerous to go poking around those old claims because some of them appeared abandoned but were occupied by prospectors who gurarded them. Several people he knew had been warned off with a shot or two. To this day I couldn't tell you where that cabin is, I was lost most of lthe trip! Monty

 

[mchamby]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

What a find, I would love to be in Arizona in the winter time. Does the blue in the rocks indicate more copper than anything else and if its copper would gold be found near it. I don't know anything about geology. If you answer this question it will be the one thing I need to learn for the day, you know the old say that a person needs to learn one new thing a day.
Mchamby

 

[DigEmAll]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

I don't know what he colors indicate, but I did bring a nice sample of it out with me. I will be taking it to someone who knows about such things this weekend. The area I am hunting COULD be good for copper, gold, silver and some others in less quantity. Those are the metals that the mines in the area have produced.

Monty, rest assured that this is abandoned, but if not..... I SHOOT BACK!!! LOL Part of my gear for the back country is a pistol, an extra magazine, and a whole box of ammo. I believe in going prepared. I worry more about mountain lions than I do people. People tend to be too lazy to get where I am hunting.

Floater, how exactly would a sluice be set up? This wash would only have water if it rains, which is few and far between. If you were going to live up there, you would have to pack in your water. You don't happen to know anything about dry washing do you? Is that a type of sluicing? Panning is also out of the question unless you get your material ready and just wait for a rainy day.

I tell you guys what... I wish I had grown up around this stuff. I guarantee you that my father would have taught my everything there is to know about this stuff! It amazes me how little information there is on prospecting on the net. Everyone wants to sell you a book or something. You can't just ask "What indicators do I need to look for?" and get a simple answer. I don't want to spend thirty bucks for someone to say "Look for gold beneath every third piece of white quartz and dig two feet deep everywhere you find a rock with blue and green specks."

 

[DigEmAll]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

By the way, I did post that question in two different forums in nugget hunting... I have received exactly 1 (one) reply........ Thanks Monty! Think I will post it in the Whatzit forum and see what happens.

 

[rvbvetter]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

Is there any history of silver around there? Some silver ore comes out of the ground blue. Maybe turqoiuse too. HH

 

[Floater]

Re: Prospector's Cabin Finds

DigEmAll. Yes there is a dry Sluice method and it is dirty dusty work. The reason I mentioned it was you said the Area in the Wash with what appears to be a dam. Is filled up with Silt. I thought this was an area that he may have sluiced his material in. Is there a well near there? If the only time water comes down there is when it rains then who knows . Any old pump equipment still laying around? Lots to figure out about his method but there had to be a source of water in my opinion or they wouldn't of gotten that much work done. HH