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

[GarretDiggingAz]

Eagle,
Sorry to hear about your heart problems. I too seem to have issues which kinda put a wall up for me that I keep hitting. Just can't get energy right. Pain doc has been weening me off my meds. Then put me on others as the receptors reset. Not much luck in this as well. So pain just keeps me lazy.
So heck with it. I'm going to get out and do some detecting again. I'm hoping to hit some spots in a month or two. Just got to research area a bit and hope it's not too hard to get to.
If I had some venison I'd send ya some. Maybe this season we might get one and possibly send ya or drop off some. That time of year is easier to take more time away from pools. Lol. Wife and I need a vacation.

 

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[usher21]

Hey Eagledown! Gotta say I wish I had read this a while ago. I love prospecting in coulterville out dog town road on maxwell creek. I was wondering if the area you talked about platinum, between bagby and coulterville, was north of bagby on 49 to the right side? Am I correct? Yep this goes back to the first five pages. Thanks, Mark

 

[EagleDown]

Eagle,
Sorry to hear about your heart problems. I too seem to have issues which kinda put a wall up for me that I keep hitting. Just can't get energy right. Pain doc has been weening me off my meds. Then put me on others as the receptors reset. Not much luck in this as well. So pain just keeps me lazy.
So heck with it. I'm going to get out and do some detecting again. I'm hoping to hit some spots in a month or two. Just got to research area a bit and hope it's not too hard to get to.
If I had some venison I'd send ya some. Maybe this season we might get one and possibly send ya or drop off some. That time of year is easier to take more time away from pools. Lol. Wife and I need a vacation.

Halito My Brother,

Darn, we haven't heard from you in so long, I thought you probably found a nice cool tunnel and was sleeping in it to stay cool. (lol)

Come on out; if nothing else, we can lay in the cool river water and swap lies. (lol)

 

[EagleDown]

Hey Eagledown! Gotta say I wish I had read this a while ago. I love prospecting in coulterville out dog town road on maxwell creek. I was wondering if the area you talked about platinum, between bagby and coulterville, was north of bagby on 49 to the right side? Am I correct? Yep this goes back to the first five pages. Thanks, Mark

Uhhh; Did someone ask a question?? (Or tell me something)?? (lol)

In any case, yes!

 

[usher21]

Thanks EagleDown. Gotta say your yarns speak to me. Thank you for the "treasure" of the tale. A master story teller you be, sir. . Blessings to you sir. Mark

 

[usher21]

Eagle, You have given me many hours of great torment reading your tales. Yes torment...due to work I cannot get out yet and look around some of these areas. Aarrgghh!!! I have finished 30 pages and have many more. Thank you for the stories and the stoking of the "bug." Mark

 

[GarretDiggingAz]

Halito My Brother, Darn, we haven't heard from you in so long, I thought you probably found a nice cool tunnel and was sleeping in it to stay cool. (lol) Come on out; if nothing else, we can lay in the cool river water and swap lies. (lol)

After my last outing, which I still got some material, I ran out of juice. The thing was, I ran the material through the sluice (about 50 gals) and didn't even get a speck. That was material closer to bedrock from a bench I wanted to test. Right in the middle between two big boulders. I was surprised to find nothing. Then again, it could just be in topsoil. Still need to get back there. My buddy says the area down spring from him is open. I could send you a pic and show ya. Upstream there's some lode claims of producers.
I took some samples, but still haven't smashed them up. Got some great chrystaline looking stuff.
So needless to say. It got hot and my drive was taken away. Then there's my detecting. More off than on. I keep letting pain/energy level get in the way. I know there's nothing better than getting up and moving, but my 20's were 20 years ago.
My buddy who lives in payson, AZ pointed me to an area around the oxbow mine area. He told me to check this wash. He found a nugget near there, but this wash he hasn't fully hit. So who knows. Maybe I'll come back with some cool pieces of metal or that elusive golden beauty. Our monsoons have been more off than on. So hoping nobodies been there since the last downpour.

 

[Gold Maven]

Really? You expect ME to remember what you've done?? (lol)

Well, never mind, I'll just put you down as #22. (I picked up #21 last night).

Thank you my Friend!!

Please put me on the pre-pay book list as well, Eagle.

Thank You.

 

[usher21]

Well.....let me see; I started prospecting in the Spring of 1955. I had recently come from Florida with my Sister and Brother-in-law. I walked into a sporting goods store in Bishop, CA and on impulse, bought the biggest gold pan they had on display. I think it was a 16" pan. I learned to use it by panning along Buttermilk Creek and the Owens river. Actually, I was more inclined to come home with some frogs legs for dinner, than with a couple of specks of gold. (lol) Though I soon found that I was on the wrong side of the Sierra Mountains for any sizeable gold. Even so, I spent the better part of the Summer months looking, until August when I went into the Navy. As far as a "love for gold", I wouldn't say I have a love FOR gold, but I do have a love for the chase of gold. (lol) There is just something about looking at an area, or river, and saying; there should be a deposit right over there. Unfortunately, I'm not always right. But, I've been right often enough, that I still enjoy the chase. (lol) As far as I'm concerned, gold is just another form of money.

I gotta say that I agree with you, eagle, and Robert service: that it is not the gold that is what we prospect for but it is all about the searching and finding of the gold. Mark

 

[usher21]

Put me on the pre pay list, also. Hope all is well.

 

[EagleDown]

Put me on the pre pay list, also. Hope all is well.

All is well. I haven't been in lately as I've been pretty busy with Dr.s appointments, medications and various other excuses. (lol)

Actually, I've been in several times to make a post and every time, the phone has interrupted. I haven't made that post yet. Perhaps tomorrow. Man, all this smoke makes it hard to go outside.
You're on the list. During the last stay in the hospital, I lost track of the numbers though. (lol)

Eagle

 

[angelus2k5]

All is well. I haven't been in lately as I've been pretty busy with Dr.s appointments, medications and various other excuses. (lol)

Actually, I've been in several times to make a post and every time, the phone has interrupted. I haven't made that post yet. Perhaps tomorrow. Man, all this smoke makes it hard to go outside.
You're on the list. During the last stay in the hospital, I lost track of the numbers though. (lol)

Eagle

As always it is good to know your still doing well. If ya need anything just give us a shout!

 

[EagleDown]

1. I was just thinking about nuggets IN the bedrock, and ran across this post I had left in Lannys thread back in 2010. Darn, I think this was my first mining post after joining Tnet. (lol)
I had found a small nugget wedged in a fine crack, in about 7 ft. of water. I took my pick, (screwdriver,) and worried it for a few minutes and couldn't even move it, much less get it out. So, I came out, walked back to my camp and got a chisel and a single jack. I started working the crack beside the little nugget. Imagine my surprise when the single jack hit the chisel and the chisel was knocked out of my hand and dropped about 6" into what was now a crevasse about 7" or 8" long and maybe 7" deep.
Fortunately, the sun was almost directly overhead and I could see the nugget, chisel and 5 or 6 other nuggets at the bottom of the crevasse. (Actually, these days, I would think of it as a small pocket in the slate, rather than a true crevasse).

And then there was another trip back to the camp for a spring loaded "mechanics finger" and a magnet with telescoping handle. But it was worth it. Almost a half oz in nuggets.

Through studying rock formations over subsequent years, I found that there can be a crevasse in bedrock, gold falls in, then, the next spring runoff, boulders roll over it, causing the sheets of slate to separate minutely, (or swell if you prefer,) closing a decent crevasse, leaving the crevasse "proper" totally closed at the top, but still a crevasse just a few inches down, with any gold in it still trapped at the bottom.

If it had not been for that one little piece of gold pointing the way, chances are I would never have found out about this little quirk of bedrock. And, I’ve never forgot it. (lol)

 

[usher21]

It is good to hear from you, Eagle! How far is the fire? Praying for rain to help out, or at least a good drop in temps. Gonna be out by Bagby this Monday. I just finished all 161 pages. Thank you for the tales. Gotta say it spurred on my my desire to prospect (deep sigh).

 

[NaturalJWL]

Eagle good to see you still kicking and back posting !!!

 

[Rik]

Still some pickers in the Merced River.

 

[usher21]

Ohhhh my. Nice yeller metal! I will be down around bagby tomorrow lookin for eagle's platinum. Unless the area has been claimed

 

[EagleDown]

I was dredging just a few feet up river from the mouth of the North Fork, in about 4 ft. of water. I wasn't finding much with my new Keene 4" surface dredge, so I drifted over a little closer to the bank. Now keep in mind that back then, I was young, dumb and of course, I didn't need anyone telling me how or where to dredge. (I sure wish I had been around to tell the young me what to do). (lol)

Anyway, there were several isolated boulders scattered about with grass growing from the sand and gravel around them. Of course, I wasn't concerned about rolling the boulders out of the way and dredging up the sand and gravel. I wanted to work the easy stuff. So, I started dredging in an open area and worked toward the riverbank.

Hey, this was great, there was only about a foot of overburden. ‘Yeah, nothing but sand and fine gravel’.

Then, I uncovered a vein of quartz about 4”, maybe 5" wide. Right away, I saw a small "match head" size nugget go into my suction nozzle. As I uncovered more of the quartz, I found 8 or 10 more of the small nuggets. Funny thing was, only a couple of them were sucked off of the quartz.

I had to take my pick, (a thin bladed screwdriver,) and "pop" them loose before the suction would pick them up. I cleaned all of the exposed quartz and figured that was all there was. (Wow, was I really all that dumb when I was a kid)??

5 or 6 years later, I was telling a friend about this wonderful experience and he, (having a Masters in Geology,) started laughing. Of course I was expecting oohs, and ahhs, but not humor. I asked him what was so funny and he replied, "Man, you don't even realize what you had there do you"? "Uuh, some gold stuck to the quartz"?

"No", he said, "More than that"!! "What you had was some very rich, gold bearing quartz. The reason the little nuggets were "stuck to it" was that they were coming OUT OF THE QUARTZ, through little capillaries". "The gold is squeezed out by pressure and as it hits the surface, rocks and boulders pound the little tendrils down into nuggets, but, they're still part of, (and stuck to) the main vein of gold".

I don't know if this will help anyone in the future, but I felt that this was an experience worth sharing.

 

[EagleDown]

Still some pickers in the Merced River.

Good show Brother!! Now, we need more postings like this. Hey, there's a lot more where that came from.

 

[Oakview2]

With the water so low, perhaps you should go back and beat some gold out of that load :-)