Claims available!!

　
Our weather has been sensational and we’ve been taking advantage of the moderate fall temps to get out on the creek and do some panning!

Before we get into that discussion, we have scouted out some very desirable Northern Hills claims. Bob has personally worked these drainages with friends during past years. There are somewhat remote and good claims for someone physically fit! For obvious reasons, we are offering them for sale, meaning we will prepare claim certificates, give you direction on filing, and help with discovery! Everything in this area is spring-fed and therefore intermittent streams.

We’re also happy to receive word from the U.S. Forest Service is that they are ready to sign our Plan of Operations for our small-scale placer mining permit! Each step we take we learn, and we’re elated that one portion of the permitting process is nearing completion!

We’ve been hearing from the media that a hatch of Pine Bark beetles is going to happen.

I’m not an entomologist, but by the description and photos I’ve seen, I think it has happened… my panning tub seems to attract them, so I have beetles bouncing off my head into the water every time I pan!


I’m not sure if they are suicidal or not, they are great swimmers and get back to the edge of the tub to crawl out, then usually end up dropping back into the tub. Diving antics intersperse attempts to escape.

Seth Bullock, among his many other enterprises, was the Forest Service manager in the Black Hills around the turn of the century (1900).  There was a Pine Bark beetle infestation at that time and a lumber camp employee noticed that the Pine Bark beetle swarmed to a can of turpentine left open, landed and died out in the turpentine. Water in my panning tub did not seem to have the same result.
A later outbreak (1960s) was treated extensively with insecticides that are no longer approved for use in the U.S. Forest.

Despite bouncing beetles, we had a very enjoyable weekend! The colors are at about 50% of their peak, and we suggest a drive sometime this coming week to wherever your favorite viewing spot might be. The traditional drive up Spearfish Canyon is a “must” for many, but any drive will present a plentitude of colorful aspen, birch and undergrowth.



　
　

Claim it... now!!

        We’re almost ready to disclose location of a new claim, but just a little more work to be done first.

        Fall is definitely here!  We spent Saturday on our new claim, putting up final claim posts with a couple of friends who we also found claims in the same area.

        They were nice enough to provide four-wheelers for the excursion, so Alex spent most of the day four-wheelin’ and loved every minute of it, except maybe the final half hour when it began to sprinkle and rain.  Luckily he was wearing a hoody (unlike grandma!) and stayed pretty dry.

        We had referred to this new claim before, how confusing another claimholders’ markers became and we resorted to obtaining his claim certificates to try to decifer claim boundaries. 

        Just for the heck of it, I mapped his boundaries as posted and came up with at least 110 acres he was claiming for himself and his daughter!  Hmmm… at 20 acres per claimant, that seems a little excessive!  Even that 40 acres allowed has not yet been filed with the Bureau of Land Management.  Their certificate was dated July 1, so if not filed with BLM by Oct. 1, the claim is not valid.

        That is only one of many problems… a phone conversation had relayed that his claim covered the ridge and the valley below.  Using the claim boundaries as described on the claim certificate, it not only doesn’t extend to the access road in the valley, it doesn’t extend into the southern sections as described!  That would bump the total acreage well past 40 acres!

        Something is rotten in this process, and we’ve worked with BLM enough to know he’s going to encounter problems re-locating again!

        A word of warning to those who haven’t properly marked their claim boundaries… a “Mineral Trespass” sign does not constitute a claim certificate!  Don’t get me wrong, we use Mineral Trespass signs, but they are supported by a location certificate bearing a map of the claim.  We generally use Mineral Trespass signs to bring attention to the fact the claim is staked, not to try and scare everyone out of an entire region!

        In the meantime, there appears to be another 40 acres available in the area.

        We’re discussing and have already offered to one party a 40-acre claim for sale.  This is an established claim on a well-documented creek.  For more details, contact us at hillshistory1876@gmail.com.  This one bears a pretty hefty price tag as it includes an existing open cut with placer gravel exposed to bedrock, a year-round creek and nice camping locations!

        We’re also contemplating offering for sale our shares in another placer claim which has proven exceedingly rich.  Our problem is we’re “claim rich” with good producers and “cash poor.”

        Contact us now if you still want to locate a claim this year.  There’s a limited season left to be on the ground, prove discovery and get a location certificate posted!  Our instincts are that $1800 gold will seem like chicken feed by next spring!

              

Back to blogging...

        A furious little thunderstorm took out my modem last week, so I’m catching up this week!

A family member did us the courtesy of sending the Discovery Channel series, “Alaska Gold.”

        It is not only the type of show we love to watch, but also plays perfectly with our permitting project.  We have looked at this project from just about every angle, preparation-wise, and were entertained by the manifestation of what can and will go wrong!

        We can’t even begin to enumerate the errors, except to say that if you are not a prospector and used to preparing for an outing, please consult someone who is!

        My first impression was that they were treating this like a weekend camping outing!  Sorry, but families separated by thousands of miles are not on an outing!  This trip to Alaska was a huge commitment treated like a weekend trip to the woods.  There are no available resources in the remote recesses of Alaska… you can’t just hire a hand when someone can’t work and you can’t just pick up some lumber and steel at the local hardware store!

        So this bunch of greenhorns, with a lot of planning and preparation of things that were kindof irrelevant, encountered multiple problems getting there and getting set up.  That took up a good half of the season.

        The only thing I’ll digress to on that portion of the show was guns and bears.  Bob and I both grew up in South Dakota.  That means we grew up hunting, fishing and hiking in the woods. The only reason I bring it up is that it portrays the total lack of reasoning portrayed throughout the show.  Buy a gun, that’s a good idea for working in that area. But if the gun isn’t available, hasn’t been sighted in and everyone taught to use it, why did you buy it?

        So once they get to mining, and you can correct if I’m wrong that they had looked at some drill reports for the area, they proceed to mine tailings for the first weeks.

        Surprise!  The gold is sparse but the digging is easy!  Now if someone has already mined it, wouldn’t it be a foregone conclusion that the ground has been disturbed and is therefore easy to dig, etc.  My next best alternative hobby, gardening (yeah, I love to dig dirt!) follows that same principle.  I’ll even go further than that.  If the same area has been planted over and over, most of the nutrients are gone, right?  Minerals, either way, have to be replaced by Mother Nature or man.

        So they accumulate 30 buckets of black sands, pan it out and have more or less nothing!  Ever hear of a test pan?  But that’s right, only one of them even knew how to pan before they commenced this operation.

        They finally, toward the end of the season, get down to virgin material and start getting some real gold. The problem is the season is over, the snow flies and they are S.O.L. for the season.

        I don’t have to preach each lesson they learned, that would ruin the show.  I do want to say that one really experienced prospector would have made them the money they were looking for.  The claim is good, they lucked out on that.

        Some geology, some mining experience in both equipment and theory, some good common sense and a few less egos butting heads would have made the operation! There’s a whole lot of lessons all encapsulated in one sentence.

        Do you need our help?

        We spent Saturday with some cyber-friends from Pierre interested in geology!   It’s always refreshing to be reminded of the intrigue of discovering a new interest… not to mention a fresh perspective on the always beautiful Black Hills.

        A stop in Keystone was largely enhanced by a generous sample of SilkFudge… we tried the original, dark mixed nut, walnut and krispy caramel treat.  All were sensational and we encourage you to purchase the many varieties for gifts, or just to try yourself!