Wanderings....

        A little cooler these days, we’re able to be out and about without total melt-down!  A little rain here and there keeps the workings a bit damp, but at least the undergrowth isn’t snap, crackling under our feet.

Exposed bedrock on privately owned claim, Sand Creek.

        Just a few of the places we’ve been recently include the Tinton area of South Dakota and Wyoming, Castle Creek area, Boulder and Bear Butte creeks and whatever we find of interest in between!

        I’m going to stress something here that we take for granted, but is confusing to many.  We were recently asked where all the homes were at Tinton because people often comment, “Well, we have a cabin at Tinton.”  Locals (maybe a habit acquired from the gold rushers who settled the Black Hills and didn’t want claimjumpers) tend to attach our location to a general geographic landmark.  We say we live at Whitewood.  We actually live a couple of miles out of town, but our address is Whitewood. 

        I try to say “Tinton area” rather than Tinton, but that includes pretty much everything from Iron Creek Lake to Sundance, WY.

        So we stay really busy prospecting areas, helping people locate claims and exploring with various prospectors we meet either through our blog or just traveling from place to place.

        Right now we have some company from Texas;  Randy and Steve try to get to the Black Hills once a year.  They enjoy digging, which is always a plus to us geriatrics!  We give them a few maps and they go dig prospect holes on potential claims!  They also helped me remove some boulders from my current dig, making it possible to keep digging to bedrock.

        Randy and Steve like to take a little gold home, but this year they are also collecting black sand from various areas to test an extraction process.  We’re also trying to help them locate a claim so they can commit themselves to developing a dig on their very own location!  They also visit a few favorite sites in Deadwood, so if they end up with gold and winnings it will be a good trip.

        I forgot to throw the permitting process into the works here.  We will appear before the Board of Minerals this month in the hope of obtaining a small scale placer permit.  We’ve got a whole list of “to do” for an on-site with the US Forest Service and BME.

       One interesting claim search this week involved two conflicting maps regarding private property, three calls to the Bureau of Land Management which resulted in the land office division needing to consult.  A possible claim area, shown as US Forest Service on the Lawrence County GIS site conflicted with BLM Glo as to ownership.  It turns out that it was originally a homestead, then sold to Homestake, which deeded surface rights back to the Forest Service but retained the mineral rights. A big thank you, as always, to BLM staff in sorting out this puzzle!

        As often happens, the mailing from the Bureau of Land Management arrived the day after we posted the last blog.  Everyone who has a claim registered with BLM should get this envelope with maintenance and affidavit forms, plus some information on new rulings being implemented regarding maintenance fees.

        We’re proud to announce that, due to his diligence in researching claims and information we try to get out there through our blog, the Bureau of Land Management has named Bob a “land man” for the Montana-Dakota Bureau.