Cold nights, beautiful days at Stanton
Jan
7
Written by:
1/7/2010 8:16 AM
By Ken Rucker
The final outing for 2009 took place at our camp in the Arizona desert, the famous ghost town of Stanton. The Stanton New Year's outing has become a favorite for many of the members over the years.
This outing is a three-day event that ends around noon on the final day of the year. For those lucky enough to stay for another day, we have for many years put on the world famous stage play THE SHOOTING OF CHARLIE STANTON followed by the New Year's Eve party. The much enjoyed play is referred to as slightly off Broadway while at the same time being enjoyed by the audience who, often, become part of the play.
Stanton gave us some cold nights and beautiful days. The week before the outing, local rains saturated the grounds and left the soil too wet for the drywashers, so it was a highbankers and trommel operation for the gold recovery. With pickers being found in the first pan, we were all happy to see several pickers as well as a good amount of fines in the cleanup.
The caretaker and the crew had to put in a lot of time from camp preparation and parking clear through to make sure there was enough ice for the final party.
Stanton is always a good camp for catching up with old friends and even an occasional family reunion. We were also lucky enough for the first time to have an organized metal detector trip out of camp to a known nugget area of Arizona.
All went well and I am looking forward to the first outing of 2010 that will again take place at the Stanton camp.