Todays take

[mshanygin]

Today's take

Today's take from Everett Washington.

 

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[et1955]

Awesome gold, great job, Ed

 

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[mshanygin]

I dared the train tracks. That is soo much faster. I am ever grateful to Ed for all his mentoring. This is my todays take.

 

[et1955]

Did you walk or run, nice gold. Well you passed your yearly physical. Be careful, if the train is coming down from the mountain you won't here or see it till it's to late and it is a long way down to the river. Ed

 

[Echoplex]

Yesterday was awesome. Got to run my mini highbanker for the first time and hang out with my friend mshanygin. Found my first picker (well I suppose by Washington standards) and the total take was the best I've ever had by at least 4x. Considering I spent a lot of time figuring out angles and learning the nuances of the banker, my goal is to double it next time mshanygin, where's your take? Did you go back again? lol

 

[mshanygin]

Yesterday was awesome. Got to run my mini highbanker for the first time and hang out with my friend mshanygin. Found my first picker (well I suppose by Washington standards) and the total take was the best I've ever had by at least 4x. Considering I spent a lot of time figuring out angles and learning the nuances of the banker, my goal is to double it next time mshanygin, where's your take? Did you go back again? lol

View attachment 1163134

View attachment 1163135

Yes I did. I know, it is sad how bad the goldbug got me. So I went back to check out the other side of the bank. So that I wouldn't have to cross the bridge and to get in and out fast. Only had a couple of hours. Was there from 12 until 2.30. Sampled 6 spots and I got 2 measly flakes. Worked my a*# off. I can't tell you how much I wish I would have crossed the bridge. My arms hurt and for nothing. There was no spot to set up the bazooka at all. I didn't make it all the way downstream to the next bend. Also didn't sample anything upstream from that side of the bank. I will have to just to satisfy my curiosity next time. I am jealous to death that you got that picker. And the highbanker is pretty sweet. I really really want bazooka to come out with that highbanker kit. Well, here is my take for yesterday.

 

[et1955]

Hi to the Mikes, first great job with the highbanker, that picker is nice but rare these days but right after 1995 flood they were fairly common. As for the other side of the river where you park, I have worked that area seriously for 20 years, why because it was easy and it had a lot of 1/4" flakes, there is an old fishermans trail that I used to take to get to the richer area but it is very over grown now but if you do make it down to the turn look for the lone cottonwood tree on the bank, start there but I wouldn't waste time on it until we get a really big flood. I've been mining a place up river from you to get myself in shape for my next prospect, going back to the Sultan, there is a stretch of river that I know has not been mined for over 30 years and with the 2 major floods it had in 1990 and 1995 there will be a lot of gold there and it is course gold. Here's my take from yesterday and all the gold that I have gotten since we first met. I'll keep you informed on my journeys, have fun. Ed

 

[mshanygin]

This "todays take" forum might continue forever. Here is what I got yesterday. Thank you Echoplex and LRC253 for keeping me company. Hope we all got more than we hoped for.Thank you Ed for all your knowledge. You have and will be an inspiration to me. Every time I look at a potential spot, I try to think "like Ed does". Either it works or I am just lucky. I still have to do my second cleanup which usually has some extra smalls.

 

[et1955]

Great job Mike, I went up to the Sultan Sunday, it was one of those day's, was trying to test an area I have never mined on that river and I know it is virgin ground. First I should say only use google earth as a reference not fact when analyzing access to an area. Arrived at the gated road, raining, still I was determined, got the bike out and started down the road, I have been there several times so I know the way, 2 mile ride and walk in, well when I finally got to the critical turnoff it wasn't there, all burmed up. Went around the burm and then more burms and more and as I went further in the once nice road started to get narrower from all the vegetation encroaching on it, then I noticed something interesting on the narrowing trail, " Bear Poop and really big Poop". No steaming poop but I did start making a lot of noise, it was about this time I started getting a blister on my right heel " hipwadders are not the best to hike in " still I trudged on, soaking wet but still determined. For those who would think carrying a gun would have been a good idea, not in this situation, imagine a trail that is only 1ft. wide and the vegetation is 4ft. tall and taller as it progresses out from the trail, this is dense foliage and you cannot see more that 2 ft. on each side so no time to react if attacked. Finally made it to the place, 2 hrs. later and checked on access down to this new place, all I can say is what google earth showed it was not a to difficult 300ft. slide down to the river turned out to be an almost vertical drop down. After all that I was still determined to find gold so I went a little further up river to an old hydraulic gold mine I have been to several times, spent an hour there and found some gold and then tried to find another way out and did, 2 hrs. more walking and biking to get back to the car. Interesting thing happened when I was loading up the car, I heard a truck coming up the gated road I just came up on my bike, it stopped at the gate and a guy came out to unlock it, I yelled out " How do rate to have a key to that gate and be able to drive in the area " Response was it is Spring Bear season and they got one, took a look and the bear was 5ft. head to tail, said good bye and went home very tired. Spent 7 hrs. total on this trip, was it worth it ? Yes. What did I learn, first the place that I suspect is untouched, confirmed, did I find another way in, yes. Making a new plan to get to that bar, prospectors never give up !!!!! Ed

 

[AuSomeness]

You guys are making my gold fever rage! LOL. I can't wait until I end the day with a pan like that! Great pics, thanks for sharing! Best wishes!

 

[Echoplex]

 

[Echoplex]

Finally finished cleaning up. Man, I really need to get a finishing sluice or miller table to speed things up. Monday's take was better than the last one (the rim of gold in the photo below is pretty thick). My gold fever has gotten worse. This is what it's all about - Refining your techniques, using the appropriate gear for the place you are working, and, of course, hanging out with friends at a beautiful place on the river (Ed we miss you, man, but know you are busy prospecting good things!).

I have nothing but great things to say about the MacKirk highbanker. It is a little workhorse. No classification, easy to tune, lightweight... I feel really good about that investment. Just gotta make a splash guard for it so my drawers aren't soaked all day long!

I know WA gold isn't the most impressive thing, but I just love looking at it under the scope. Interestingly, I keep finding "s" shaped flakes:







Happy hunting!

 

[arizau]

If you are considering a finishing sluice you might want to look at this too. Gold Washer Mat - Concentrator Sluice Mat

Good luck

PS: Many of us would love to have your problem.

 

[et1955]

Hi guy's , today I went to a very secret place on the S river, I call it the Bat cave. It is a bench 30ft. higher than the present river level and 60ft. in and it is only about 200ft. long. Checking on Topo maps it is shown and it is very distinctive, at both ends it drops off, no continuation, I am assuming this an ancient remnant of an old inside bend of the river and that explains why there is so much gold there. So the lesson today is to use all resources possible to when analyzing an area you want to mine, Google Earth is great but a good Topo Map will show you more regarding the terrains hidden potentials. It was hands and knees to get in the mine and out and all mining was done buy hand, no shovel because at present from all the stuff that has fallen down over the years I only have a 3ft. floor to ceiling space to work in, it's fun to have the ceiling come down on your head. Let you know I wasted a lot time on another spot hopeing I would find good gold but not the case, actually I was trying find the courage to crawl into the mine, got it. The gold you see in pic is from only 2 buckets, what I had to do is go in with a bucket and fill it up and crawl it out and classify it and go back in and do the same and the climb down to the river to run it threw my sluice. The next pic is of the wall I was mining, you can see the layers of deposition between the rocks, great way to see how floods deposit gold. Right now trying to figure out how mine this place efficiently, not going to be easy but I think there are many ounces in this place, between 5 to 10. I pulled 3Tr. on the other side of the river and that is from more recent flooding. Ed

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

There are some days I'd rather leave politics in the rear view mirror and trade it all for the sweet sound of rushing water through a sluice box. This past Friday was one of those days. Talk about a golden day,,, how about a 6.7 gram gold take from a hole that was no more than 1 ft. wide, 18" in length and 8 inches in depth. This strike had me thinking of the editorial post I made some time ago; A face from the past,,,, reveals itself on my claim. Perhaps this "ghostly figure" I saw on that latter day led to such a find. All I can say is that there is more to this spot than what meets the eye. Here are several photos of this Friday's gold and a pic of what I found previously to this discovery ( a partial wooden bench made by hand and a broken spade shovel blade - guessing the date to be early 1860's). "Never give up & keep on trying," John Schnabel.

 

[et1955]

Hi Mike, next time we get together I will teach you a technique that will allow you to separate your gold from the black sands very fast and all you need is your pan, no fancy equipment. Ed

 

[et1955]

Hi guy's, checking in to let you know the progress on developing the Bat Cave mine, just to let you know what it takes to get to this mine. First from where I park it is a 1/4 mile walk down to the river, road and dense woods and then climb over a log jam then cross the river, I'll tell you it gets real interesting when the water comes up to within an inch of the top of my hipwaders, nothing worse than the felling of that cold water flowing into your waders. Now I have walk about 100ft down river to get to the place, crossing a river is not easy, you have to not only judge the water level but also the flow that will be hitting you. Last week I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to mine this place efficiently, crawling in with a 2ft clearance and crawling out a bucket of material and then classifying it before carrying it down 30ft down to the river to run threw my mini sluice is not effective, solution, use a 6ft X 10ft tarp laid at and in the entrance of the mine, I then crawl in and shovel the material onto the tarp and when I think I have enough I crawl out and then pull out the tarp and then classify and carry down to the sluice, worked great. Also spent time to develop the area and try to figure out or should I say prospect and analyze the deposition of flood lines of the gold deposits, I believe I figured it out, look at the first Pic and you will see a red layer,that is the terminator layer, what does that mean, well during a flood certain materials will be deposited and act as a false bedrock so the gold will rest there and not go further down as for what is below that line is where ground water flows and the material is very granular and has little gold in it but I also know that any gold that was there has worked it's way down to bedrock and that will be very rich material, one hole I dug on this river the first 18inches had gold and the next 4ft. barely nothing but when I got close the to clay I found an iron rich red layer full of gold right on top of the clay. I'll be going back there Sunday, wish me luck. Ed

 

[mshanygin]

Ed. Your adventure is hardcore. I am amazed at your tenacity. I hope your Sunday was successful. Thought about calling you. If you want some help, it looks like we could drag some of those bottom boulders out to give you more room. I had limited time this Sunday or I would have asked you if I could come with you. Instead I spent a good 4 hours at the train bridge spot. Got there early enough that it wasn't sweltering hot. Sluiced 7 semi full buckets. Here is my Sunday take.

 

[mshanygin]

Another pic, same pan.

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

You've heard the term, "They (Chinese / 49ers) got it all." And I say to this,,, no they didn't. I am still working the old bench area which by the way, is near an old tailing pile. I call yesterday's work, "A cut above the rest." What pond water that does remain in this area has made working the bedrock a tremendous task. A problem I'll gladly accept knowing that there is a potential find for gold.

*For every great pan that is credited with a photo, there are a dozen or so average to mediocre pans that have been perhaps over shadowed. It is because of these pans that keeps the "dream" alive.

I'd like to show you an example of such a gold pan - yesterday's find. Note the two pockets of bedrock that where worked with low water.

 

[Echoplex]

Awesome stuff guys. Keep em coming. I'm off to Europe for a while and hope to get back out on the river next month.