CHARLES SAWYER Greenhorn Posts: 
| 17 Apr 2016 05:02 PM |
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4/17/2016
I was out riding in a friend's 4 wheeler, and I spotted an old Chinese rock wall on the edge of a wash, I noticed that the wash had cut away a bank about 6-10 ft tall for about 100 yrds. upstream from the Chinese rock wall. There were several layers of different size gravels all through the bank. A few days later I drove back to the wash in my PT cruiser, (not a 4 wheel drive) and with careful navigation, I made it all the way out to the wash, (approximately 6 to 8 miles). I took some samples from one of the layers along the bank. The bank was mostly caliche, and it was hard to get material out of the bank. When I panned the sample from the bank, I wasn't finding any gold, so just out of curiosity I dug up a small scoop of flow sand from behind the rock I was sitting on, and I actually found one small flake of gold. so I dug up about half a bucket of the flow sand and took it home with me. I panned it out today, and I found about 10 small flakes of gold. The hole I dug was only about 8-10 inches deep, and I only classified the flow sand and gravel through a 1/2 inch classifier. So I am thinking if I can get 10 flakes from 1/2 a five gallon bucket, I bet I could get quite a bit more if I ran several buckets through a recirculating power sluice. I would like to get the opinions of some experienced prospectors, on weather or not 10 fine flakes of gold in 2 1/2 gallons of material is an amount worthy of staking a claim on it. I think it might be a good place for a GPAA claim, because it is easily accessible by 2 wheel drive vehicles. If anybody knows Kevin Hoagland personally, maybe you could mention the idea to him, I'd be glad to show him around if he's interested in helping me file a claim that I could share with the GPAA. Here are some pics I took of the bank.
  
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Tim Leibel Buzzard Posts:608
| 18 Apr 2016 09:05 AM |
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Charles, Kevin is a very friendly guy always willing to talk mining. You can email him at khoagland@golgprospectors.org direct. I am sure he would love to hear about your find. Just this time of the year they are doing the Gold Shows and the 7 day outings. Kevin goes to every single one and handles his other duties so be patient. I oersonally would look him up at an outing and have some fun too.
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Paul Louly New Member Posts:81
| 18 Apr 2016 09:47 AM |
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Sounds really promising Charles, thank you for sharing and all the great pics. Tim, as always you are a big help and went ahead and forwarded this to Kevin so he doesn't miss it. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?
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Tim LeibelBuzzard Posts:608
| 18 Apr 2016 01:47 PM |
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Or you could go for option 2, claim it yourself and share it with your GPAA brothers nd sisters.
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William HallBuzzard Posts:650
| 18 Apr 2016 03:30 PM |
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Charles,
I wouldn't be to excited after 2 1/2 gal of dirt and 10 flakes, you could do better buying pay dirt
Go and sample the S**t out of the area, working several different areas, deep, shallow, is there any bedrock in the area, check that
Sample, sample, sample and keep sampling
Try to have a good idea where your working for best results
But before you do, do your home work research. find out if it's claimed, if it's open to claim, privet property, ect....
You don't want Baba to come around and see you digging his dirt
don't tell ANYONE where it's at, even Kevin, or your so called friends will swoop in and clean it out (been there done that)
If your not finding anything in the bank, it may not be there, in the flow chase that down
Too many questions to answer before considering a claim
Bill
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ARTHUR WAUGH Advanced Member Posts:967
| 18 Apr 2016 03:32 PM |
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First off, check and make sure the area is open for claiming and is not already taken. The last word will be the county recorder, as it has to be filed with BLM and the county yearly. Second thing is that if you are finding it in the wash bottom and not the side wall, that tells me it is flood gold coming down from somewhere upstream from where you found it. Take some time, and if open, sample you way up, checking any side washes until you run out of it. When you hit that point look ariund and see if you can locate the source.
Good luck.
WH beat me to most of it.... |
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CHARLES SAWYERGreenhorn Posts:
| 18 Apr 2016 04:05 PM |
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Thanks for the good advice. I think there could be gold in that bank, I only checked in one small area. I plan to do a lot more sampling of that area before I decide to claim or not. If I do, I plan to share it with the GPAA. I did a preliminary check on the area, and as far as I can tell it's on BLM public lands with no claims on record for that section. The whole area upstream is full of placer and load claims on both sides of the wash, so I'm pretty sure it's flood gold in the flow sand, but according to articles I read in the Gold Prospectors magazine online, This summer should be one of the wettest in 50 yrs, due to a strong el nino affect, so there is a good chance that wash could load up even better with flood gold during the monsoon season. Thanks again for the advice, I appreciate the assistance.
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ARTHUR WAUGHAdvanced Member Posts:967
| 18 Apr 2016 04:48 PM |
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Sounds like you have a handle on it, the only thing to add is keep an eye on weather for heavy thunderstorms in the area and have a way up and out to high ground in case of a flash flood roaring down that wash.
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William HallBuzzard Posts:650
| 19 Apr 2016 03:20 PM |
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El Nino ?
Don't know what part of the world your in, here in NorCal we are done with el nino, and it didn't live up to the hap
Yes we are expecting some nuisance showers this weekend but over all we are done
Not trying to rain on your parade (grin)
Bill
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CHARLES SAWYERGreenhorn Posts:
| 19 Apr 2016 07:28 PM |
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Arizona has it's monsoon season from late June through August. I've still got hope for some flash floods in the area.
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CHARLES SAWYERGreenhorn Posts:
| 21 Apr 2016 02:43 PM |
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I've filled 10 one gallon zip lock bags with material from different spots around the area I am thinking of claiming. My first sample was taken from that same rocky bank, so I wasn't expecting any gold, since the first time I panned it I came up dry. I panned it out this morning and was surprised to find about 14 super fine flakes, and about 6 flour gold specks. about 20 pieces from that one gallon of material, not a bad start. I still have 9 more bags to pan, and there are a few I'm really excited about, like the one I got from busting bedrock. I found a nice deep crevasse and pulled as much material as I could without a vacuum. There is bedrock in the stream, quite a lot in fact, and I also found an exposed quartz stringer in bedrock up a smaller wash that flows into the main channel. I'll let y'all know how I do as I pan out the rest of my samples.
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William HallBuzzard Posts:650
| 21 Apr 2016 03:42 PM |
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Charles,
Looking at the pics you put up, I'm curious what the other side of the road/trail looks like ?
Next time you make it out there, check the wall for exposed bedrock and work around that
Also sample the layers, work each layer separately and keep separate, this will give you an idea how much overburden you may have to deal with and which layer is carrying the color
One or more of those layers most likely will have color
In your first pic, it looks like maybe six different layers. In that same pic in the upper right side looks to be a clay layer, try and sample the layer above or any others that you may see
Clay can act as a false bedrock
Good hunting, keep us informed on your finds
Bill
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Christopher Satkowski Highbanker Posts:112
| 06 May 2016 04:14 PM |
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I would recommend you stake it, which will cost you around $350 total for a twenty acre claim with the BLM, filing fees at the county, stakes and gas to get out there. I give the recommendation because some day you'll find that perfect claim, and you'll want to know the system at first. It took me 8 months to teach myself, with help of other forum members off the old GPAA site to stake a claim. It takes a little to learn the muscle memory of the process of checking land status, checking county filings, and checking the BLM filings, and then which paperwork to file. You'll want to get the claim filed before someone else does. Also, once you know the system, you'll see when the good claims close, that you can then file on.
Also, once you get your own claim, you will really learn how to prospect an area. Go through the different layers of dirt, seeing how deep bedrock really is.
One thing I will caution you on, is the worst thing you can find, from my experience, is a claim that produces just enough gold to keep you coming back, but not enough to really produce. You'd be surprised how much time slips by doing this. I am still looking for that perfect claim, but enjoy going way out in the desert.
Lastly, please do not let that gold fever take you too far put in that PT cruiser. My gold fever got me way farther down the trails on my mini van than I should have went. I made it out, but was really good luck and nothing more. I got a 4 WD after that. People tell me you don't need 4WD if you know how to drive 2WD. Those guys have never left the pavement, so be careful out there.
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ARTHUR WAUGHAdvanced Member Posts:967
| 06 May 2016 05:02 PM |
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Take it from someone who has used 4x4's for going on 50 years, it can be a lifesaver, but can get you further back into trouble that can be a lot harder if not next to impossible to get out of. Especially if only one vehicle. When possible try to travel with at least two, and if not possible at least carry a Hi-Lift jack and some other extraction gear. A few of the larger carpet samples can act as a traction mat to help get you out of a sand trap, etc. 2wd owners need to be a little more cautious about how far to push into rough country, and a hike in a short way beats a long hike out to help. Always carry enough snacks and water for a couple of days, especially in desert conditions.
Last year our MD club president lost a dog due to heat on a 2 hour hunt that turned into 8 looking for the animal, and they were in dire straits themselves a 1/4 mile from the rig in 105* temps. |
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Christopher SatkowskiHighbanker Posts:112
| 07 May 2016 07:03 AM |
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First time out in my 4WD got it stuck w/ no recovery equipment. 3 of the longest, loneliest hours of my life. I bought some recovery equipment right after that: Tow strap and attachments. Winches are great, but if there's nothing to tie them to as in the Phoenix valley, it becomes tough. I was told all I had to do was dig a hole 6' deep attach my wench to it and bury my spare tire, and I'd have no trouble pulling it out. If I got the energy to dig a 6' hole, I'd be lucky to dig more than a three or four feet before I hit bedrock. I found this on the internet http://www.pullpal.com/quotes.html, and its on my wish list. Although I offroad, I truly don't "off-road." If it gets to the point where I need 4WD Low to continue, I've gone too far and its time for me to turn around. At the very least, an off road vehicle will have protection others don't, such as the transmission cooler being placed somewhere safer instead of directly underneath the vehicle. That's what I'm really surprised I did not tear off my mini-van when I took it off road. |
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WALTER EASONBuzzard Posts:581
| 09 May 2016 07:06 AM |
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Carry a hi lift jack (Trail Jack or 4x4 Jack) also a rear axle shaft form a full floating axle and a sledge. Pull as much cable out as possible, drive the shaft into ground on slant with sledge attach cable as close or even below ground level. Make sure sand and rock is out from in front of wheels and this will usually work. Afterwards hook the jack to the top of the axle shaft flange and jack it out.
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