The Many Lost Treasures of Mariposa, CA (Photos Added)

[EagleDown]

Sorry, I can't get it to upload 2 photos at a time.

 

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[EagleDown]

Your on it, now its time to get the gold:-)

Have patience Brother, I haven't finished the story yet. (lol) I picked up 2 pieces of ore from where it was originally taken into the mill. I 'eyeballed' one speck of gold in one and two specks in the other, so I would guess they were getting some too. Unfortunately, from those two samples, the ore doesn't appear to be near as rich as I had hoped. But, I didn't slide down the hill to where the milling equipment was. I'll have to make another trip up there for more samples and photos. This trip took too much time to find the place, so I didn't have the time to dig around that I would have liked to have had. But now, I know exactly where it is, so the next time, I should be able to get there a lot earlier.

 

[EagleDown]

This next photo is a piece of equipment I could see with GoogleEarth, but though it looked kind of like an excavator of some type, it turned out to be a huge boom truck. I only took this one picture. Funny that it's been sitting here since 1952.

 

[Oakview2]

Looks very familar

 

[EagleDown]

They do look a lot alike, but the ones in my photos have tracks running the length of them. When I get back up to the site, I'll have more pictures showing the tracks and other things I didn't record on this trip. When the mine shut down, it appears that they left all of the equipment sitting there. Of course over the years, vandals have had their way with the equipment. Plus, there was a fire at one time, which burned out all of the wooden super structure in the mill, leaving corrugated sheet metal piled up on everything, as you'll see in these next photos.

This one shows the ball mill, the 'final' crusher before the separation process.

 

[EagleDown]

These next two are of different angles, showing the equipment used to separate the gold from the crushed materials.

 

[EagleDown]

And this angle;

 

[EagleDown]

Hokay, after close to 4 hours of trying to upload these few photos, here's the final one from this trip; The mine portal:
(or, what's left of it).

 

[Oakview2]

Were you able to detect any of the ore you collected

 

[EagleDown]

Were you able to detect any of the ore you collected

I brought a couple of pieces home with me, but I haven't had the time to try the detectors on them yet. Actually, I don't really think there's enough gold in them for the detectors to register it.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Eagle,

It looks like you've found something for sure! I hope it turns out better than your initial assessment, but even if it doesn't, many congratulations on the great detective work.

If all of that work was done in the '50's, maybe they made a go of it to set up all of that equipment and run all of that rock? It's a possibility, and if they made it pay at the fixed price of gold back then, it may be worth some further investigation.

All the best,

Lanny

P.S. Thanks for all of the great pictures.

 

[EagleDown]

Eagle,

It looks like you've found something for sure! I hope it turns out better than your initial assessment, but even if it doesn't, many congratulations on the great detective work.

If all of that work was done in the '50's, maybe they made a go of it to set up all of that equipment and run all of that rock? It's a possibility, and if they made it pay at the fixed price of gold back then, it may be worth some further investigation.

All the best,

Lanny

P.S. Thanks for all of the great pictures.

Considering all of the equipment, along with all of the rail that was laid, etc, I think it would be safe to say that they were operating at a profit. I'll probably go back up Friday. When I do, I'll be checking the mill for any processed ore and hitting the tailings piles with the metal detectors. Who knows?? I've never heard of a gold mining operation that didn't lose some of its gold in the tailings. (lol)

You're welcome for the pictures!! The next time I come down, I'll have some more for eye candy. (lol) I found equipment a quarter mile from the mine/mill area and I wasn't even looking for it at the time.

 

[The_Spider_Man]

Hey Eagle

What kind of rock is prominient in the area? Can't really see from the photos, is it Granite? The portal entrance looks Kinda like this weird fine grain sandstone we get around here... though to my knowledge you don't find gold in quantity anywhere near sandstone..so it can't be sandstone?

Loving the thread and im on the edge of my seat as usual with yours and Lanny's threads.. Can't wait to see more PICS!

Yeah get a claim going.. and i'll fly over and work for you! haha :P always wanted to work on a claim

Cheers

Jace.

 

[EagleDown]

Hey Eagle

What kind of rock is prominient in the area? Can't really see from the photos, is it Granite? The portal entrance looks Kinda like this weird fine grain sandstone we get around here... though to my knowledge you don't find gold in quantity anywhere near sandstone..so it can't be sandstone?

Loving the thread and im on the edge of my seat as usual with yours and Lanny's threads.. Can't wait to see more PICS!

Yeah get a claim going.. and i'll fly over and work for you! haha :P always wanted to work on a claim

Cheers

Jace.

Frankly, I'm not a geologist, but I think it might be diabase-porphyrite. Or perhaps andesite. It's definately not granite, slate, or shale. What ever the host rock is, it's dark grey to almost black. I looked but couldn't spot any greenstone in the area. So far, I haven't spotted any gold in the quartz associated with the host rock, only in the grey/black rock.

Hmm, actually, it kind of reminds me of some pitch-blend (uranium ore) that I was shown years ago. Maybe I should take a geiger counter in with me. (lol)

 

[The_Spider_Man]

Frankly, I'm not a geologist, but I think it might be diabase-porphyrite. Or perhaps andesite. It's definately not granite, slate, or shale. What ever the host rock is, it's dark grey to almost black. I looked but couldn't spot any greenstone in the area. So far, I haven't spotted any gold in the quartz associated with the host rock, only in the grey/black rock.

Hmm, actually, it kind of reminds me of some pitch-blend (uranium ore) that I was shown years ago. Maybe I should take a geiger counter in with me. (lol)

Bahah Oh god, as i read that last sentence i was like OH DEAR!! TAKE A GEIGER METER WITH YOU! lmao Don't want to be hanging out in a rock tunnel with radiation bouncing around.. Could shorten your prospecting days significantly! Glad you thought of it anyway mate, hanging out to see some more pics of the tunnel and anything else you find. I'm living vicariously through your adventures! lol Just no good gold country around here :/

Keep us posted matey!

Jace.

 

[EagleDown]

Friday morning, I met with Rik, in Mariposa, where we transferred his prospecting equipment over into my Explorer. By about 10am, we were on our way to the mine/mill by way of Coulterville, Greeley Hill and Dogtown. This time, I managed to find my way in to the mine/mill without getting lost. (lol)

When we got to the site gate, the first thing we noticed was that the gate had been opened since the previous week when JHA and I finally located the place. Looking ahead, we could see a bit of a pickup down near a building. So, we walked on down and found 3 pickups, 4 young men and a woman already there. They were prospecting and found the place and decided they would camp there for the week-end.

Rik was kind enough to go back and get my vehicle. I had him park it near the hoppers, where it would be convenient for unloading our equipment.

Rik went down into the gulch and took (vacuumed) all of the milled materials he could find. (Out of the flotation cells and under the equipment off of the concrete pad), while I ran some of the ore from under the hoppers through the dry-washer. Though I got 2 or 3 thin flakes smaller than the head of a pin, all of the rest was 'ultra-fine'.

Rik managed to scrape up about a half bucket from the mill to pan down, while I ran a half tank of gas through the dry washer. All in all, we 'might' have recovered an eighth of a gram for all of our work. Unfortunately, we couldn’t think of any way to separate the gold from the other heavy concentrates without the use of chemicals, which neither of us have. So, the recovered amount is just a wild guess and could be a lot less.

ALL of the gold was 'ultra-fine'. Nothing big enough for a metal detector, or for that matter, nothing big enough to pick up with fine point tweezers. Don’t misunderstand me here, there was enough gold in our sampling to show that with enough money, modern equipment and extraction techniques, a dedicated company could probably turn a profit on this site. But with the average prospector’s equipment, it would be a waste of time.

So, the search is back on for the "old mine", and a suitable place to file a claim on.

Actually, I’ve found what looks like it could be an excellent spot for a claim. There’s enough water flowing (right now), to operate a couple of sluice boxes. And, it’s so secluded, a guy might even be able to operate a 5” dredge without being noticed. Not that I would ever do anything like that. (lol)

We got busy, so there were a couple of things I didn't get pictures of. But, it doesn't really matter, since I've decided it isn't worth filing on.

Anyway, here are the final pictures on this particular site:

This is the first piece of equipment you see once you're past the gate.

==============================================================================================

 

[EagleDown]

Two large cargo containers that would make great shelters for camping.

 

[EagleDown]

Of course, you could camp in here, but it has a dirt floor. I guess you could use it for a big kitchen. (lol) The engine is gone, but it still has the big winch that was used to pull the ore bucket up the rails for dumping in the big hoppers. (Two of the men that had opened the gate and were setting up camp for a few days).

 

[EagleDown]

I'll upload the rest of the pictures later this evening, when I have a little time.

 

[Rowdy Yates]

There’s enough water flowing (right now), to operate a couple of sluice boxes. And, it’s so secluded, a guy might even be able to operate a 5” dredge without being noticed. Not that I would ever do anything like that.

Jeez, with the water (drought) situation going on, you must be out by the North Fork of the Merced! I was out and about yesterday, near the Bondurant Mine, ended up going back down the hill to Moccasin Creek near Jackass, and got a few pickers in the sluice. Water running out, no more sluicing in the smaller creeks soon, gotta' get a Highbanker....... wah wah wah..... This year might the only year in a long time that a Dry-Washer might do the trick, unless you want to pan..... Oh, the pain

Rick