Whispers of gold...

One questions we get a lot… how to get to what the old-timers found?

I’ve tried to explain this verbally and always seem to fall short. I recently took a photo of an old open cut which will help, I think?

First of all, this placer pit was pushed out with equipment, probably a dozer, sometime in the last 50 or so years. So it was originally a vertical on each side, which I will roughly represent as |____|. As time passed, it eroded to more of a \____/ configuration as shown by my chicken scratching in the photo.

What did they find? We were pretty excited to see, at one end, a pile of river washed gravel! Maybe I should explain that we had hiked up a hill to explore, hoping to find a high bench gravel commonly referred to historically.

The old timers really whispered in our ear on that one, like they had left us a clue to what was in store!

Now how to go about finding what they found at the bottom of the pit? I show an arrow pointing down, indicating that whatever they exposed in the bottom of the cut will give you another clue. Dig down… chances are they exposed bedrock in the bottom of the cut. It’s going to be your call, by sampling and observation, whether they cleaned the bedrock or left you something to represent the ore they exposed. In this instance, chances are they mechanically pushed out the ore and did not manually clean up what was left. Nice of them to leave you that little bonanza, huh?

Cleaned or not, you eventually want to expose the original cut to see the gravel bands that they saw. So now start removing overburden on the floor of the pit toward the original highwall, restoring it to more of a \____|. This exposed highwall will display the gravel bands, allowing you to sample and find out if there was only gold on bedrock or if multiple pay zones exist.

This method works on any old workings, especially manual digging. You can bet those old timers didn’t waste energy digging any deeper than they had to, but by the same token they didn’t stop digging until they ran out of gold!

Bob sometimes jokes about the really old diggings that we encounter, saying “this must have been a left-handed miner!” Have you ever noticed that waste material on those diggings is usually thrown to one side or another? Consistent shoveling is efficient shoveling, so the miner threw material to one side or the other depending on whether he was right- or left-handed!

So whether you believe in ghost miners or not, the “whispers” are there in evidence of what they did and how they did it. Listen… whether it’s with your ear or mental logic!

Mine safety

 

        We’ve talked about this before, but a sit-down session with Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) brought back into focus some issues that all miners, small or large scale, need to always keep in mind.

        There I go, using one of two words I say you should never use… always and never.  Okay, I used both!

        I guess this is the exception, because we’re talking safety here.  Historically, the newspapers regularly reported accidents occurring at the mines.  Fatalities, obviously, made big news. They also reported, however, loss of vision, smashed feet and hands, and a large variety of head wounds. The details were often gruesome, but here’s one that applies to placer miners and isn’t quite as grizzly:

        “Troy, Dakota Territory June 4^th, 1877

        Editor Times: -- During the forenoon yesterday, while John Lutz was at work underground, sluicing on claim No. 7, Bobtail Gulch, the earth fell in upon him, completely covering him.  The miners in the immediate vicinity ran to his rescue and succeeded in releasing him after being much bruised and mangled externally, and severely injured internally.  He was carefully conveyed to his cabin where he remained conscious up to about 5 p.m., when he expired.”

            Now I will ask you… how many times have you undercut an exposed wall of gravel, thinking to get that shovelful or two of good ore? Then, when you see multiple flecks or flakes… you take enough more to run a bucket ot two through the sluice.  Pretty soon, you’re flat on your stomach, head and shoulders deep getting just a shovelful or two more!

        Did you notice that dribble of gravel by your left hip? John Lutz probably didn’t notice it either before the rock caved in on him!

        Ignorance can kill… a classic example being when we toured a claim with US Forest Service and Department of Environment and Natural Resources.  They know their stuff, right?  I can tell you which ones knew and which ones didn’t by how close they ventured to a historic shaft on Forest Service property.  Five out of nine surveyed the shaft from a safe distance, three ventured too close for safety, and one grabbed a wire fence straggling from an old rotted post and swung to and fro looking down the shaft!

        Speaking of old mines, we captured this photo of a historic mine and millsite over the weekend. We caution all to avoid entering such workings.  This property is extremely remote and a mine rescue would constitute several hours to just access the location!

        So stop, think and even listen!  If I’m digging and a few pebbles rattle down, I immediately address that potential failure and bring it down in front of me rather than allow it to drop on me!

        Also, you rock hounds out there… when you buy that rock pick you’ve been lusting after, be sure to buy those safety glasses to save your eyes!

 

        I’ll conclude this with something not always considered a safety risk in the Black Hills… livestock. We took this picture over the weekend after determining that a log fence provided substantial barrier for protection.  Grazing livestock should be respected as much as any wildlife you might find out there.  We’ve seen aggressive cows protecting their calf, and a bull is about as unpredictable as it gets!

        So no loader buckets of gold yet, but we’ll be mining safely when we do get there.