Chasing the lode...

        Sometimes it feels like we’re there, in the heart of the 1876 Gold Rush.

        We’ve talked about how the true gold rushers who knew anything about mining weren’t here to placer mine. They panned with a purpose, and that was to find indications of gold that would lead them to a lode (hard rock) discovery.

        We ran across such a prospect this weekend, or so we think.

        I say we think because we left home in pleasant though cloudy weather. As we progressed into the Central Hills, rain developed into snow. The main roads remained pretty clear, a bit slushy in places.

        We neared out destination, but there was an inch of new snow on the roads and two inches covered the ground.

        We were persistent though. What we had researched were some claims staked in the 1950s and held until around 1990. It was obvious that someone had worked and held those claims for 40 years.

        We pulled off on a side trail that showed on the map as leading to private property. We found the gate to private property, but off to our right was another trail where some logging activity had occurred in the last few years.

        It was still pretty pleasant, just snowing a bit. We could see even with the snow cover that placer mining had taken place. Mother Nature doesn’t leave things that untidy!

        As we walked up the trail further, obvious diggings were blanketed with snow. The digging got more intense as we went, some deep trenches and tailings piles underfoot.

        Now you’ve got to be careful in these situations, especially with snow cover. At least we could still see slightly clear areas on banks and weeds sticking up through the snow in the depressions.

        Bob ventured further than I and found that the placer diggings lead to what appeared to be some small quartz veining that the prospectors had developed!

        They call it “chasing the lode” and it was pretty priceless seeing how the old-timers had followed the placer to that quartz veining. We felt at one with those miners, following their historic footsteps from discovery in the spring run-off, working up the gulch toward the source. Our expectations would be that we might be able to chip away at some quartz and find gold also!

        We’ll return another day and report what we discover.  Meanwhile, we’re expecting about a week of cooler weather with chances of rain and snow.

        I firmly believe that some of our best prospects are found “just in time” to justify another trip!