Todays take

[mshanygin]

Today's take

Today's take from Everett Washington.

 

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[et1955]

Very nice gold guy's, Yes I was in the Bat Mine again but realty set as I laid there looking up at the base of a rotting cedar tree ready to come down on me, yikes!!! not mention the 4ft boulders stuck up in the roots. I have new plan on how to mine this area, I took sometime to analyze the way this place was mined and why, first what they did was to mine along the front of the bench, this is where the largest gold was found, I found a spot they missed and got several 1/4" flakes and a lot of 1/8" flakes, following the gold they kept digging further in following the bedrock, I can only imagine how much gold they found but on the opposite side of the river I mined about 2 troy ounces from a bench there. Some may wonder why they stopped mining there, well back in 1993 the way they accessed the mine was to go threw Everett watershed property, due some abuses by some other miners all access by miners was closed, jail time and fines if caught carrying mining equipment over Everett land. Lots of angry miners but the funny thing is, you had to be notified personally by the watershed cop to be kicked out, it took him 5 months to catch me and I was the last one. Now this where it pays off to be nice, I didn't get angry witch threw him off and was able to get a map from him that showed their property's, said goodbye and looked at the map and saw it was legal to get access from the other side of the river, an hour later I back mining. Now back to the plan, as I was laying under that cedar tree sunlight lite up an area that I never saw before, a deep crevasse in the bedrock, this must be where they last mined for it was clean of any rocks, no other place in the mine is like this, it is this crevasse that has me excited, if it goes down to the river there can be a lot gold in it. So the plan is to locate where this crevasse is on the bank and start tunneling in and also clear out the overburden down to the river, all appears to be virgin ground. Mike, do you have hipwadders, you will need them, it would be great to have a little help also to show you and the other Mike this river. I'll show you places that have not been mined yet. Below is a pic of my sneaky sluice, it rolls up so you can put it in your backpack, it's called that because many years ago it was illegal to sluice in the river except for 2 months of the year fortunately that has changed but it also is great for testing areas where I can't get the A52 in. Ed

 

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[Duckwalk]

That sluice is awesome. What is it made from?

 

[et1955]

It is made of hard but flexible plastic, got it back in the 1990's, when you fold up the edges it becomes very rigid as you can see in the pic.

 

[yodi]

Nice color im over in steven county hi me p if you are ever in the area

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

On a day that was yielding nothing but several specks of gold to a pan, the last 10 minutes became the "God send" I was hoping for. After several hours of removing numerous yards of overburden, I had finally reached bedrock. My shovel seemed to be of no use as I wiggled the spade between the dips and cracks to no avail. I soon tossed the shovel and replaced it with a small trowel. As I began scooping the pay layer, I could visually see gold within the gravels. All dark matted material was then classified through a 1/4" Keene classifier into a 5 gallon bucket. I then ran this half filled bucket through a sluice and to my surprise, gold began to fill the black ripples. I estimated about 15-20 colors fell from each scoop. If that wasn't astonishing enough, numerous larger pieces fell into the carpet below. It was definitely a moment for the camera. My guess is that those two holes held at least an 1/8th ounce of gold. The gold take for the day was 4.3 grams. A sweet haul to say the least. Have a look at the photos taken this past Saturday. Cheers - Randy

 

[KevinInColorado]

What dreams are made of!

 

[CApicker]

Thank you for sharing this...

 

[Adventure_Time]

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.

View attachment 1171891 View attachment 1171892 View attachment 1171893

brb... moving to idaho

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Thanks for the comments. More bedrock with good looking pockets. Yesterday's (Saturday June 27th) little work out yielded 2.5 grams. Just enough gold to wet my whistle until I find the bigger strike.
*Keeping the dream alive & Never Giving Up!

 

[et1955]

Hi guy's, finally got go mining, just finish working 21 day's straight, wanted to do the Sultan but the gate was locked so I went to the Sky. Saw your post Mike, looks like you had a lot fun and also learned some new mining techniques, nice gold. I got a nice surprise when I started digging, I hit clay and there was a lot of gold on top of it. Only ran six buckets, the heat got to me, wearing rubber hipwadders in the sun when it's 90 plus not recommended. Just to let you know the river is really low now and very warm, just means setting up your sluice gets more difficult and further away from your dig site. Ed

 

[mshanygin]

Thank you Ed. I learned a ton. Had a blast. I can only imagine what the river looks like.. Is it worth digging further towards the water? Moving a bigger boulder and digging down?
Mike

 

[et1955]

Hi Mike, next lesson, what you have been mining is an ancient bench deposit created by that 2 story high boulder upstream. You may have noticed that right behind it, nothing there, the old timers mined it out. Now as to your question, first when the river floods around that bench, yes some gold may be deposited but on it but because of its steep angle the river actually is stripping gold from the bench and depositing it else ware, for me my focus point would be where the bench ends and the gravel bar starts. I have tested that area and found good gold. IdahoGoldgettr, awesome work and gold, Ed

 

[fowledup]

DAMN IT!!!! 8 pages and I totally missed it, I get so caught up in the political and regulatory BS, it's effected what I click on. I forget what brought me here in the first place! Dang nice gold guys! I been asking my wife if she'd like to move up north, now I'm gonna start begging! What you all are doing is what it's all about!

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

I may not have found the Mother Lode just yet but it certainly feels like I'm within arm's reach! This past Monday found me once again removing an abundance of unwanted over burden to reach bedrock. At first glance I wasn't too optimistic but despite all the muck and debris, I did find a few dips in the bedrock that would change that tune drastically. All it took was one scoop with the trowel and BAMMM! There staring me in the face was my first nugget of the day (see 1st photo: nugget circled in yellow). With a feeling of euphoria, I felt compelled to capture the moment and so I quickly grabbed the camera and began the photo shoot. Little did I know there would be many photos to follow.


As I unearthed the nugget to reveal its true beauty, that sense of excitement would soon escalate. Next, I began panning the contents of the trowel and as I got down to just the black sands, I heard that familiar "scratch" sound. There wasn't a rock to be had in the entire pan but yet it sounded like there was one. Needless to say, a quick flash of the pan revealed a little larger nugget than the previous one. Wow I said, that's amazing, both from the same little hole! I just had to get a photo of the two together and so I captured another moment (photo 3). To be perfectly honest, I was willing to work more ground, get little in return, and be happy going home with my recent finds for the day. However, the best was yet to come. Ten minutes later and six inches further, I soon discovered another small pocket. There was a possibility of the walls collapsing and so getting a trowel in this confined space was a bit of a challenge. To avoid further work, my objective was to get in & get out as quickly as possible with the contents of the hole. Upon dumping the sediments safely into a pan, I gave it a quick swirl of the water and did a double-take. My first look was one of mixed emotions,,, no way, that can't be what I think it is. The second look put a twinkle in my eye and huge smile on my face. "They keep getting bigger," I said as I looked to the sky and gave thanks. It was time to cap the evening off with some more photos. Definitely a day to remember. Please take a few minutes to view the photos below. Hopefully these pictures will put a twinkle in your eye and convince you....... *They (Chinese / 49ers) did not get it all!

The weigh in: (1st nugget) .6 grams. (2nd Nugget) .9 grams. (3rd nugget) 2.6 grams. Total weigh in was 5 grams even.

 

[WickedHunter]

Great take

 

[mshanygin]

Beautiful gold. The post played like a movie in my head. Like I was there. I wish I WAS there to be honest. Let us know how it goes.

 

[IdahoGoldGettR]

Thank you both for your comments. While I may not be a very good writer, I am pleased to hear that this recent editorial did allow you (nshanygin) to share in the experience I witnessed this past Monday. Besides having a great day finding gold, your comment is one that I truly respect, cherish, and enjoy hearing. I will certainly continue on this quest and hope to post more treasured moments. Thanks again to all. Cheers - Randy

 

[mshanygin]

Gold in them hills.

Thought I would re awaken this thread. Found some nice gold and just had to share.
I have had average success lately. Nothing to really post about. Yesterday I went to my favorite spot. I think I did 10 buckets. 5 gallon buckets. I was happy with the outcome.

 

[mshanygin]

Another pic of same pan. All in a pile. My precious.

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

Don't worry about that guy behind you, just me following you to that spot