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

[EagleDown]

I'm going to try and be up there eagle I think I can do it this weekend, i'll turn work down if I have to

oakview can you make it also? And i yet to meet up with Shep so hope a few of you locals can make it up

Great!! Hope to see you both there.

Eagle

 

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[Oakview2]

I am going to try and make it, Mcabe is that the second to last campground, and what time...

 

[EagleDown]

I am going to try and make it, Mcabe is that the second to last campground, and what time...

McCabe is the first actual campground. (Permanent toilets). I'll be just past McCabe. Look for an older, dark green Ford Explorer, 4X4. (And an old guy with a long pony tail). (lol)

I'll try to be there by 10:30am

Eagle

 

[vini]

I'll be there maybe bring metal detector some pans and le trap shovel and lunch

 

[Oakview2]

Lunch, now you're talking

 

[vini]

Lunch, now you're talking

bologna n cheese or maybe stop at the burger place in mariposa

 

[Oakview2]

Best burger on the Hill at the Jefferson Hotel and Saloon in Coulterville. The longest continous running saloon in the state....

 

[vini]

OR the bar in Bear valley where the locals get shat faced on small beers LOL I got a story on that note.

Me and a bud were dredging bagby all day long decided to go to mariposa for a burger instead stopped in at the bar. only a few folks all old timers haven cool ones at the bar and they had a menu so we ordered up burgers. Guy next to me was about half lit we started talking, he owned some land close by and we started talkin gold.

He said he walks along one particular creek in a gully close by sniping the bedrock picking up the gold nuggets said on a bad day he'd pull an ounce or more, then he pulls out a medicine bottle from his pocket with nothing but nuggets in it, talk about impressive...

ok im heading out in a few can't wait to see the river again hope to see a few of you guys up there today..

 

[EagleDown]

I just wanted to take the time to thank vini, Oakview2 and rik for showing up at the river today. I really enjoyed pointing out some of the highlights, even though there is a lot more that we didn't have time for. One of these days, I guess I should plan on spending the night, then we could continue the "tour" the next day. It might be better to make it in the fall, when the grass is about gone. We still have a lot of area to cover upriver from McCabe Flats. (lol)

I do hope that you learned a little on this trip, that will help you in your quest for that ellusive gold.

rik; I was thinking about that harmonica reed and possible melted silver. It's not unheard of for someone to hide money in a hollow tree. And the way that area had been burned, perhaps the silver was from the saloon owners tree bank. Something to think about.

Oakview2, thanks for bringing along your son and others. Sorry, but I don't have a great memory for names. Anyway, thank them for me please.

Again, thanks for being there!! (You too mgb. I know you've been there many times, but at least this time, you got to see some gold come out of that aluvial I keep pointing to) (lol)

Eagle

 

[vini]

Well eagle I know we all had a great time I did for sure. I learned quite a bit today and I know theres so much more you have to share and places we need to go looking into since now we can't dredge we need to find other ways of getting gold, and it was great meeting you and Rick and mgb. Can't wait for Rick to post that nugget he got and I came home and cleaned up 1/2 bucket of the aluvial and got some small but very rough pieces, thats a spot worth working though i'm sure they'll stop us at some point once someone gets smashed by a boulder

It was a great day thanks so much Eagle, heres some allusive stuff

 

[Rik]

That was fun. It was nice seeing Eagle and MGB again. Thanks for showing us around. We do need to go camping there. I can imagine campfire stories going on long into the night. It was also nice meeting everyone else. I stopped picking at that wall when every one left. I dug around a few other spots until the sun left. Then I followed it home. As for the white metal chunk, all I know is that it's not lead. As for the gold, I tried to post a picture, but I don't see it. I didn't clean it up yet, too dark. My scale is also broken so I won't know what it weighs. All and all, a great day. Thanks again everyone.

 

[Oakview2]

Nice meeting you Rik and congrats on the finds. I have a couple of buckets to pan. Got home too late last night because we stopped and the gem and mineral show in Mariposa on the way home..... It was free and the museum was open for free also, but all the gold is still offsite as they are still upgrading their security features...

 

[EagleDown]

Well eagle I know we all had a great time I did for sure. I learned quite a bit today and I know theres so much more you have to share and places we need to go looking into since now we can't dredge we need to find other ways of getting gold, and it was great meeting you and Rick and mgb. Can't wait for Rick to post that nugget he got and I came home and cleaned up 1/2 bucket of the aluvial and got some small but very rough pieces, thats a spot worth working though i'm sure they'll stop us at some point once someone gets smashed by a boulder

It was a great day thanks so much Eagle, heres some allusive stuff

View attachment 777518

Not too shabby for a half bucket. The next time you all go there, I would recommend using the one tool that was noticably absent; the lowly 'wisk-broom'. Great for sweeping gold out of those small cracks and crevasses. (lol)

Glad that you enjoyed the trip AND got some gold!!

Eagle

 

[EagleDown]

View attachment 777612

That was fun. It was nice seeing Eagle and MGB again. Thanks for showing us around. We do need to go camping there. I can imagine campfire stories going on long into the night. It was also nice meeting everyone else. I stopped picking at that wall when every one left. I dug around a few other spots until the sun left. Then I followed it home. As for the white metal chunk, all I know is that it's not lead. As for the gold, I tried to post a picture, but I don't see it. I didn't clean it up yet, too dark. My scale is also broken so I won't know what it weighs. All and all, a great day. Thanks again everyone.

I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself, and even happier that you found some gold. If I wasn't so lazy, I would have torn up that ancient material a long time ago. But, I guess you've proved the difference between a prospector and a dredger. (lol)

That harmonica reed you found kinda dates to the era of the saloon. And the melted metal is probably silver. If so, a simple acid test on a small clean area of it would verify it. Coin silver is so close to sterling, that it should show as sterling also.

Thanks for being there, and congratulations on some great finds. I think I'll change your name to; GoldMagnet. (lol)

Eagle

 

[mariposagoldbag]

Damn, thats crazy Rik. It was defiantly good to meet all of you who attended! Oakview, be sure to let us know what you get out of those buckets!

 

[Blauth]

Eagle and all congratulations for getting together and enjoying the good life together. Life does not get any better than that.

 

[Oakview2]

Great looking material, no much au. Lots of clay, lots of dense impacted gravels, had to classify it to try and get it to pan. I like Vini's idea of bulldozing the hill and running it through a washplant, not for the gold, just to protect the road.

 

[Rik]

Great pictures. I didn't find much in that material either, after that one good pan. I got my scale working. It was a 1.10g nug and .10g in fines.

 

[EagleDown]

Eagle and all congratulations for getting together and enjoying the good life together. Life does not get any better than that.

You're absolutely right my Friend. The only thing that would have improved the day would have been sitting around a fire in the evening, swapping stories over a bucket of KC Original Recipe chicken. (lol)

 

[Oakview2]

Don't forget a fresh pot of coffee