If they could see us now...

An email from Joel prompted this blog… what would the old timers think?

He was talking about the “gold hog” matting recently released for retail sales. He said, “Tested gold hog mats with SD material, quite impressed.” He then speculated, “If the old timers had some of the new stuff, it’s hard to say what they would have defined as wages on a placer.”
I replied, “I am thinking about those old timers looking into the future with our sluices, 4-wheelers, a metal detector... they would certainly call us a bunch of pansies!

So I envisioned the traditional prospector from gold rush era. There was usually a mule loaded with a pick-axe, gold pan and a shovel. Anything else they needed they used local resources to make. There’s still a few remnants of old sluices here and there in the Hills. They look to me, a lightweight, to need at least two men to transport them. I suppose that’s why the remnants are still visible… they’d just build a new one when they moved on. By the way, they started with felling a tree, not buying wood at the hardware store!

Some of them would take their metal pans and bang riffles into them… I can almost hear it echoing around the campfire!

And what a solitary existence… our prospecting is a family and friends outing! If the old timers got a pouch of dust and nuggets, they had to be pretty careful to not only guard their gold but not let anyone know the source. No wonder they trusted only their mule!

Gold Bug Nelson as portrayed
in "Gold Pans and Broken Picks" by
Christopher Hills.

We take a lot of things for granted. We load up our prospecting supplies in a 4-wheel drive vehicle, stop at the local convenience store, gas up and grab some drinks and sandwiches and drive to our claim. We set up our lawn chairs, unload prospecting supplies and get digging.

If we camp at the claim it’s in a camper with a stovetop to make our morning coffee. I love campfire coffee, but it’s sure nice to have an instant flame! The frig is stocked with whatever we want to eat and there’s a heater if the evening gets too chilly. The camper is also great refuge from storms.

So maybe that has more to do with modern-day recovery methods than anything… I don’t want to work real hard, a good cup of coffee is more important than the weather because shelter is right there.

Now with all the conveniences we enjoy so much, you’d think we would recover a lot more gold. But to recover gold you’ve got to put in those back-breaking hours, no matter what. I’ll just about guarantee that the old timers did a lot more digging and recovered a lot more gold in a day’s time!

　

Safe and sane...

Pine bark beetle damage.

The Black Hills are at risk! Sound like some doomsday prediction?

I’m going to post this as an “extra” blog because I figure some will accuse me of nagging… but I can’t stress how critical this issue has become.

The current year “2012” poses some intimidating scenarios in the Black Hills. There’s a lot negative going on with pine bark beetle infestation growing at an ever-increasing rate. The far-reaching consequences of tourism and timber, therefore the economy, are devastating to contemplate.

We want to stress the importance of safe thinking in the forest. Man-made fire of any sort is a risk. Our worst August weather under normal conditions cannot compare to the risks we see building as spring breaks here in the Hills.

Red tops of the last season, stark black silhouettes of a former Ponderosa Pine… the fire danger is already extremely high. We’re usually cautioning everyone about spring flooding. This season it is a double-edged sword. If you go into the woods, don’t put yourself at risk by being in a remote location that has no alternative escape route. If it floods, you’re stuck… if a timber fire starts, you’re burned out!

As children, Bob and I learned that you don’t have much of a horizon or “window to the weather” in the woods. You might not hear thunder or see lightning until the storm is almost on you, then look out! The same can be said for flood or fire, whether man- or nature-made.

But the bigger picture needs to be considered. When trees die, erosion increases.

The plus side of that for a miner is that increased erosion deposits gold in the creeks. It also exposes bedrock and rock outcrops. We try to find something positive in everything and that’s about the only positive note to the beetle story!

The minus side of erosion means increased flooding of trails and roads, culverts and bridges. It means that all that soil held in place for the age of the forest might move, and move big! This year we will begin to see consequences. Out of necessity, areas are being more or less clear cut to try and stay ahead of the bugs.

Please be cautious. Logging trucks are everywhere. I don’t know if you’ve ever been around a logging operation, but these guys get paid by the ton. Needless to say, they don’t anticipate meeting much traffic on a logging trail. They’re thinking about how much time is left in the day, not how many cars they might meet!

If you’re going into the woods where “bug trees” exist, carry a saw to be sure you can go out. It doesn’t take much wind to bring a dead tree down!

Avoid parking in tall grass, especially since we didn’t have enough snow to “lay down” last summer’s undergrowth.

Any spark… from a campfire to heavy equipment, can start a fire.

Cell phones don’t get a signal in many parts of the Hills, so don’t rely on being able to call for help. It might mean a hike to the highest peak in sight before you get a signal.

If you do see a lightning strike, try to assess the fire potential, then get out and report it! Fire lookouts in the Black Hills are, I believe, usually staffed primarily in the summer. They will spot fires and report them, but outside of the season the watch may not be as active. Irregardless, I’m thinking as early as a potential fire can be reported, the better!

What is it about lode?

The old-timers sought it… the elusive “vein” that meant untold riches.

Placer vs. lode... placer has separated and is re-deposited; lode is still in place.

But the majority of prospectors who flocked to the Black Hills during the rush of 1876 had no more idea of what they were looking for than the modern-day greenhorn!

We’ve talked about “nuggets for the pickin’,” and the very first to the Hills might have seen that after a “gully washer” of a rain. A smart prospector, however, would have looked for the source or lode, doing one of two things… both a promising way to pursue lode gold.

The first and most labor intensive method we see still visible near almost any free milling lode mine that existed in the Black Hills. They will have one common factor. The gulches leading to the mine were placered, with digs going off to each side of the drainage. What were they looking for?

Think about it. As they dig up the drainage they occasionally encounter an area that has more gold. They would expand their hole sideways to recover as much as possible. If good gold recovery continued so would digging!

Now what would happen when they continue digging and recovery keeps improving? Maybe they’d eventually encounter evidence of the source, the lode!

Now if you’re digging up through a drainage and the gold stops, you’d best look further to see if the rock formation has changed? Your source, or lode, might be right under your nose!

So, placer mining often resulted in lode mining!

Now this wasn’t always the case! Maybe the source is at a distance, or maybe they found lode first and the placer mining happened later.

The other possibility for discovering lode is a surface outcrop which, ideally, has visible gold! More than likely though, that surface outcrop was crushed down to a fine powder, panned and showed gold.

These days, a lot of old mines have small to large dumps that appear to be lode ore. Historically, these dumps may have been left for many reasons including low-grade ore and low gold prices that did not justify processing; the mine shut down for lack of money, an accident, lack of local processing, etc. etc.

These dumps, however, are classified as placer by the U.S. Forest Service. The rock is no longer “in place” in the lode! It makes sense, just took us by surprise the first time we were told.

So which came first? Kindof like the chicken and egg question… but that one’s been answered! All we know is that stories of the old-timers often told of following a placer deposit quite often led to discovery of the source.

Another story we often read is of a vein “pinching off” and being left, only to have another miner digging feet further and finding a bonanza! I took the opportunity to photograph a quartz vein to give you a visual of how this might happen.

You can see that although the vein travels from top to bottom, it pinches off to almost nothing at points then “blows out” again. If you imagine this being gold-bearing quartz, the pay would be pretty frugal when it narrows.

So goes the story of lodes… a placer might get you there!

Congratulations this week to Autumn and Dave, pround owners of two placer claims!

Run-off?

The local weather channels have just officially declared this the warmest March in recorded history. We’ve been discussing it with you for a while, but now it is official!

A subtitle of that would put moisture at an all-time low also. We haven’t kept record, but a couple of small snowstorms, a couple of rain showers would constitute moisture this month and be about the average for each month this winter.

So we noted the dust in the Southern Hills last week. This week we checked out the gulches of the Northern Hills.

It all started with a couple from East River who are interested in a claim. We met them at Cheyenne Crossing, then took the roundabout way into the Tinton area due to continued road closure past Roughloch Falls.

First I want to say that although self-proclaimed “greenhorns,” the couple had done their research and were pretty sure what they wanted to find. That’s pretty helpful.

So I can establish status quo in the Black Hills… a trip to Cheyenne Crossing this time of year usually means driving between snow-plowed drifts, the top feet being fresher snow atop at least a couple feet of winter-packed ice. These are some of the harder hit winter areas of the Hills. When they measure annual snow pack, this is the place!

 We found relatively little snow, northern exposures with some snow pack but the majority open of snow. Spruce-filled gulches were a beautiful spring green as long as you stayed at eye level. Higher on the hills were patches of “red tops”. Sprigs of green grass were coming up everywhere!

We’ve been this way many times in the spring, and the norm would be gushing creeks if not still frozen, seepage in every road cut!

We stopped at Little Deer Creek and saw the only spring run-off of the trip! A trickle came over the bank to the creek, creating a slightly muddied flow.

Hiking in the clearings was no problem… a few remnants of drifts up steep gulches and under groves of trees.

We didn’t drive off the main roads at all… it was still soggy enough to rut up roads.

A little to add here from Patricia and sons, who emailed about fishing and picnicking at Deerfield Lake, the most oft reported for extreme winter temps… “mostly an ice covered lake except for the edges but that didn't stop Gerald, lots of bites but no dinner!”

So we don’t know what to expect… a blizzard is always still possible. We can recall just a few years ago a blizzard causing a three-day power outage. The reason we recall it so well is that it happened a few days before Robey’s birthday in late April. We found him a Power Ranger bike, and when the power guys showed up to restore power told him the Power Rangers must have brought it for being such a good boy while the power was out!

We’re going to hope for rain… no lightning and thunder please! The last thunderstorm that blew through started multiple fires!

Permit updates include an on-site inspection at Friday Gulch in May.

And a big congratulations is in order for Ronnie, Casey, their baby that Bob calls their "little nugget", Trent and Julie on acquisition of the “Lucky 7” claim. They’re all looking forward to weekends in the Hills.

That's a weekend!

       We spend a lot of time in our office here, running reports and searching for information. We enjoy all that or we wouldn’t be doing it, but what we really love is being in the Hills!

       Saturday dawned clear, so we took off to further explore the claims we are in the process of permitting at Friday Gulch. We had a couple of missions…. Take a bunch of photos; check all alternate routes; and of course have fun!

       Alex brought along a deck of cards so we played “Go Fish” to while away road time. Also observed a lot of logging, a lot more “red tops” to be logged, and what little snow we have in the Northern Hills diminishing as we traveled south.

       First thing I noticed when we got out of our friend’s truck was dust…. Yes, dust in March! There was no snow to be seen, even in the gulches. Okay, maybe that was the second or third thing because I first smelled a hint of pine in the air, then felt the warmth of the sun, the light breeze and reveled in the fact I didn’t have to be wearing a coat!

       Rain is in the forecast and that is a good thing. However, along with the thunderstorms forecasted is a fire warning. Every fire department in the Black Hills has to be hoping torrential rain and little lightning!

       It was with a great sense of relief that our friend out hiking found some old lode workings. It was way up on a hill, well out of our proposed placer operation. We were pleased to see that the shaft he found also had an adit entrance further down the hill. This could serve us well as shelter from a storm or forest fire.. We will explore it more extensively another day… we didn’t really come equipped for underground work!

       To dramatize how dry the winter was we had previously documented two seep areas within the claim boundaries for the permit. This is done to help mitigrate how we go about avoiding impact to the existing ecological balance. To our surprise, one of which was noted as a seep area last August is now completely dry! Too little winter snow to generate spring run-off had dried up and eliminated standing water.

       Now that may make permitting easier, but I sure don’t care for the long-term implications. There is little water available in that gulch. You can bet every type of wildlife knows where to get water and just like that, one of their sources is gone!

       The trip concluded with finding a good access that will allow haulage of campers and equipment; a very good day indeed.

       One footnote to add is during our day’s travels we explored an area that left us a little awestruck! We happened upon what is called in mining terms, an “arrastras.”

       The definition of the word is, “Drag-stone mill for pulverizing ores to isolate silver (or gold) by the patio process, apparently used in pre-Columbian America. The ore was crushed and ground by mule power in the arrastras (shallow circular pits paved with stone). Large blocks of stone attached by beams to a central rotating post were dragged around the arrastra, reducing the ore to a fine mud. Further steps resulted in the isolating of the silver (gold).”

       Bob (of course) figured it out, saying he had seen few remaining examples of it in the Black Hills. We can’t be positive that’s what it was, but the symmetrical shape and level ground indicated the possibility. It wasn’t fancy… the ground had been leveled, a rock boundary laid out and the center was composed of finely ground rock. I could almost hear echoes of the mule braying, or horses whinny as their hooves trod in a never ending circle.

       Sunday it was back to the Rochford area to look at a possible claim, but also to meet for the first time in person our friend Pat and her two sons. The weather was beautiful with a little snow still on the ground under trees and deep gulches. Time was limited, so we showed them to the Montezuma for a little exploration of the geology there. Hope they had fun!

       So if we had our druthers, this is how we would spend our days… a little hiking, a little prospecting, and a little bit of “Go Fish”!

Spring?

        It’s usually kindof a bad joke when spring officially arrives in the Black Hills.  As the month of March passes mid-point and heads toward the first day of spring, we have to think that this is a rare year indeed!

        The first week of March is usually host to one of a series of spring blizzards.  We’ve passed that milestone unscathed and forecasts look to another week of balmy weather.



Minimal ice, minimal run-off

      I can’t help but recall last year, when the 80 degree high of yesterday and the 45 degree low overnight would have been an event left unseen until June!  We are enjoying every minute of it; also mindful that minimal snow pack is already melting with little chance of saturating the ground let alone look forward to run-off!

        Our best bet is to hope for rain… crops, fire danger and prospecting all being weather dependent!

        First draft of our U.S. Forest Service plan of operataions is on our desk and we want to talk about some of the “common sense” elements that have to be on paper to avoid destruction to public property.

       

         We always chuckle at these items… everybody should know, right!  Liken it to the 10 pages of warnings packaged with the simplest item these days!  The bottom line is, however, if someone hadn’t been injured or a home hadn’t caught on fire, you wouldn’t need to tell people that using an electic appliance in the shower might electrocute them or bring their home down in ashes!

        “Solid waste generated at the site such as broken equipment, scrap metal, trash, garbage, tires, etc., will be promptly disposed of at an off-site approved facility.”  This has been a golden rule in both families since childhood in the forest and on the prairie… take out what you bring in!  Bob and I grew up in rural areas before the “clean up a stretch of highway” projects became popular.  In those days, mom and dad got the family together in the fall and spring and we ALL spent the day cleaning the road ditches that ran along our property lines.  My first paying job, at the ripe age of 10 years old, was for my sister and I to ride our bikes ¼ mile to town (uphill all the way J) and pick up garbage during the summer months in the city parks. 

Now if you’ve ever had to pick up other people’s garbage, you don’t spread it around yourself!  Even our kids will get an indignant look on their faces and immediately correct their friends, “don’t throw that on the ground!”  Saves me a lot of talking!

Next on the agenda… “Refrain from removing material at the toe of a slope greater than 30% to prevent mass movement.”  There is a good-sized hill behind our property which shows a pretty distinctive slough area. Two years ago we woke to the sound of a dozer on the abandoned railroad grade on the back of our property.  Although they have no right to work that grade, a neighbor had hired them for dirt work.  A quick trip to the railroad grade showed that a good-sized boulder, probably six feet across, had been removed from the toe of the slough area!  An unhappy dozer operator when confronted said he was trying to help!  That would be the difference between a driver and an operator… anyone who has operated heavy equipment knows what I mean!

And last but certainly not least… “Store fuel and keep the camp site, fueling sites, and other concentrated-use sites outside the Water Influence Zone.”  May I say…. Duhhhh!  But then I stop to think about how many times we’ve had to caution prospectors about the simple possibility of a flash flood!  It’s so easy to pick that perfect campsite by the creek, falling asleep to the lull of the babbling brook…

        So this also brought to mind something I hadn’t thought about in respect to dredging.  South Dakota water officials frown on dredging.  I’ve always been a little puzzled by that…  here in ag country stock dams are often dredged to improve habitat, water storage, etc.  A motor of any kind, however, will drip fuel, oil and grease into a creek.  Maybe that’s the reason! So maybe we want to address that when we talk about the possible benefits of dredging.  Anyone got a solution?

 

        Anyway, this will remind you of a few simple rules that any prospector should follow.  Use common sense and the rules are second nature!

Spring break...

       Spring break is true to name this year… temps in the 60s and 70s allow shirtsleeves versus winter coats!

       I took a little time to enjoy the weather and dipped into my winter stash of gravels toted home last fall.

       While I (Teresa) was panning (one of those people who can’t ever do just one thing at a time), I was thinking about making a panning video for our website someday. 

       The reason for “some day” is simple.  We live in a rural area, do not have satellite, so therefore depend on a dial-up connection for the internet.  Guess I’ve never taken the time to explain, but that is the reason our website isn’t updated often.  It involves a whole day (at dial-up speeds) to change out the website… that’s if everything is working okay and I’m in a patient sort of mood!  That might happen once or twice a year that those two elements actually mesh!

       So I thought, swirl of pan… swirl of pan… that I would give you a simple verbal panning lesson.

       I’ve gone on-line, I’ve read books, I’ve read instructions packaged with gold pans.  I’m thinking that somebody didn’t really want me to pan; I usually get lost with Step 3 or Step 4!

       So I’m going to keep it simple.  I will address panning what I call dry “screened” gravel. The only difference between that and what I call rough panning (meaning everything dug in a shovelful) is that you don’t have as much material in your pan and it’s easier and generally a better return for a beginner to pan material put through a concentrator.  I usually reserve rough panning for a new dig site where I’m not sure of the pay zone.

       Step 1 – Fill the pan with a couple of scoops of material.  First time out, keep it at less than about 1/3 the capacity of the pan. The reason is that first timers need to take their time and half or heaping full pan can take you quite a while to pan down.  Secondly, less weight makes it easier to control motion of the pan. The flip side is your probability of gold lessens but is counter-balanced by the fact you are reassured the control lessens chance of losing gold!

       Whether creek panning or tub panning, you want to start in relatively still water.  It will evolve that you can pan just about anywhere, but a calm spot in the creek is by far superior for visibility and avoiding turbulence in the pan.

       From this point on, I will discuss how I pan versus how everyone else pans!  That’s strictly because I feel that everyone develops their own style and I’m not here to call them right or wrong.  It’s kindof like this… if a person’s panning technique doesn’t lose gold, it must be right!

       Handy tip:  Right-handers need to be on the right hand side of the creek looking upstream; lefties like me on the left side of the creek. In short, you want your pan when angled facing downstream.

       Step 2: If possible, completely submerge the upright pan in water, keep it below water and in an upright position, swirling contents to insure complete saturation.  If there is any current in the creek at all, as you swirl the really lightweight materials will wash out along with any debris (pine needles, grass blades, leaves). It wouldn’t hurt a bit to get rid of as much of this material as you can at this stage.  You can be rough at this point as long as all heavier material does not slop over the side of the pan. As long as the pan is upright, you can shake and bounce the pan, loosening light material.

      

Step 3:  I don’t know about you, but angles don’t mean much to me, so as you dip the pan imagine your wrist slanted vertical at about noon and 6 o’clock. A circular panning motion allows water to wash into and out of the pan at a depth that covers material being washed. Do this to a count of 10.

Step 4:  Bring the pan back into an upright position.  Use a circular motion underwater in that upright position, give it a little shake to insure heavier materials sink, then angle and start circular motion again.

Step 5:  Repeat… repeat… repeat.  Take it at your own pace, adjusting angle so that an even layer of material flows out of the pan with each swirl.  Here’s where practice counts, increasing the angle as material reduces.

Tip: You can pick larger pebbles out of the pan to get rid of them to help speed up the process.  The golden rule here is keep the pebbles submerged as you pick them out.  A fleck of gold in residence under a pebble can pull right out of a dry pan with the pebble!



Surprise!  I didn't even salt it!

          When material has reduced to a few spoonfuls, you can swirl the pan outside the creek with about 1/2 cup of water in it to look for gold!  This takes a little practice and patience also, but watch toward the back of the swirl for heavier materials, including gold!

Looks easy, huh?  It is... with a lot of practice!

       So, simply put:

1.   Submerge upright and wash out lightweight materials.

2.   Angle and swirl to a count of 10.

3.   Return to upright position, swirl and shake.

4.   Repeat steps 2-3 until material reduced to a few spoonfuls.

5.   Swirl and look for gold!

       I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done this… I can’t remember exactly when I developed this method… I can’t tell you there isn’t a better way.  I can tell you it works for me!

       Happy panning!

        

Winter forecast... snow???

          We’re experiencing a little winter here with daily snow and temps ranging in the 30s (F).  We’re hearing that several feet of snow has fallen in the Hills, but we only have a 2-3 inch covering here in the foothills.

          The forecast is iffy... storm warnings for tonight, with snow depths anywhere from a few inches to a few feet!

         We talked with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) this week, and heard that our Notice of Intent on the Friday Gulch placer project has been received.  They haven’t looked at it thoroughly yet, so no progress report there.

          This is an important phase of the permitting process.  We will learn from this application whether there are any special, exceptional, critical or unique lands impacted by our mining plan.  Fingers and toes crossed… this has a lot of impact on the time frame for the permitting process!

          We want to take a moment to applaud Roberta Hudson of DENR, who is handling our applications.  She works very hard to establish and maintain a good working relationship.  Our Iron Creek placer project is still in the permitting process and the phone call regarded steps she is taking to assist in acquiring information to complete the permit. 

          Equipment is the other priority.  We’ve already adjusted the Iron Creek permit to reflect use of a trommel and/or shaker screen. There’s a possibility we (partners) have acquired a 50-ton per hour shaker screen.  The other option is to build one.  It needs to be portable enough to transport on a car trailer.  This is going to allow us to determine the most efficient means of processing gravels: trommel or shaker screen!  It is intended for the Friday Gulch project, but will ultimately determine which application to use on both projects.  It could result in a combination of both!

We’re going to lecture a little here on riffles, which seems to be an on-going discussion/argument regarding placer mining.  Expanded metal works great…. but how long does it take expanded metal to bind up and slough off the gold?  It could be minutes depending on material! That is why it is critical to have riffles in the sluice box to help avoid compaction with a larger vortex.  Expanded metal is only going to hold flour gold long term… larger stuff eventually just washes out!

In an operation where loader buckets are being processed as opposed to 5-gallon buckets, you can fully justify the relatively small expense of installing riffles by comparing to a full-time paid laborer on the sluice! Riffles are both a time and money saver.

Additional equipment in the works are a backhoe, a water truck and tanks, 25 feet of sluice, generators… just to name a few items!

I digress a little… several inquiries this week about Sunset Valley and claims for sale.  Please email us if you have doubts about their listed properties! I finally went to look at their Blue Moon properties near Jewel Cave which I had read so much controversy about in various discussion groups. Bob’s first reaction was, “You can’t claim a cave!”  They’ve got that covered… they call them limestone lodes and list a variety of minerals.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t really explain the emphasis on proximity to Jewel Cave (tourist attraction potential?) or the price tag attached!

But we thought, tongue in cheek, we’d offer to find you a natural cave entrance for a mere fraction of the price listed -- there’s only several thousand available! Let’s see, we don’t really even have to find one; there’s natural caves entrances on some of our existing claims. One even looks as if a mountain lion hangs out there; we don’t suggest exploration of that one!  Sorry, Teresa’s sense of humor goes south with the winter months.

So as the wind howls and the snow piles up, we’re doin’ what we’re doin’, getting ready for a summer of mining!

Road trip… Southern Hills!

          Every once in a while a plan falls together… this weekend was one of those times and we never fail to take advantage of opportunity!



Forgot to baby-proof Zia's ahir!



          We had word from one of our kids that they would be visiting over the weekend.  We had previously planned a trip to the Custer area, now it was a matter of making the plan work.  We spent Friday doing our best to “baby-proof”, knowing our 8-month-old grandson Rylee was now mobile! We got a call from them Saturday morning that said they would take off after work and arrive here late that night.

          I said I guess I could do some more cleaning or… we could head for Custer!  Guess you know how Bob answered that one.

          We haven’t been down toward Custer exploring for a season or two, but we knew what we were looking for… bench gravels hopefully exposed with minimal snow cover.

          There’s always surprises though… more development in the Custer area; more “red tops”; lots of logging trucks hauling timber; and a very small mining operation obviously shut down for the winter but pretty much ready to go with nice weather!

          Now when we head for a specific area like we did, we often get distracted by the site of old placer or lode workings.  This particular time we found both… one area clearly claimed as a placer, but also an abandoned pegmatite mine that will need further exploration.  We’ll go into what we look for in pegmatite mines one of these days!

          Creeks were looking dangerous, with water running through and under ice.  What snow cover we encountered was firm enough to walk, so that made hiking around a lot easier.  We actually were able to drive over a really shallow creek that with moderate temps had thawed and re-froze into an ice plain.

          What we found shouldn’t surprise us anymore, but it does!  Several areas that visually looked very promising turned out to be open for claims when we returned home to research!  We also posted a new claim, which is always an exciting event!

          We returned home via the Rochford route, checking out Mystic claims as we passed through that area.

          We may return to this area yet this week, as the weather man is telling us we have a cold snap headed this way!

         

What to do?

What would you do?

There’s a popular TV series which poses scenarios and films reactions to test people in situations which should incite political correctness, well knowing that humans often “overlook“ what should be done and choose to show indifference.

We though it would be fun to share some scenarios regarding prospecting protocol and how people overlook so much of what should be done and choose to ignore or feign indifference.

Locating a mining claim is a dream for many and a task often performed with little research or care for what the law outlines as a necessity. We often pull locations certificates for research and find them lacking not only the required information but not meeting physical (on-site) requirements.

What would you do?

Federal law states: STAKING A CLAIM--Federal law specifies that claim boundaries must be distinctly and clearly marked to be readily identifiable. (Argument 1: We have direct feedback from Bureau of Land Management that many location certificates do not define corner and side markers; and we know from experience they are not often visible on the claim itself). Most states have statutes and regulations concerning the actual staking and recording of mining claims so claimants should refer to the appropriate state agency for additional requirements before locating a claim.

Prior to locating a claim, a prospector should check BLM records for prior recorded claims (Argument 2: The overwhelming evidence using BLM LR2000 shows a lot of overstaking, most of it on well established claims). Ultimately, the prospector must check for prior existing claim markings on the ground (as addressed in Argument 1).

Departmental decisions require a discovery on each claim, based on actual physical exposure of the valuable mineral within the claim boundaries. (Also, each 10 acres on a placer claim, after a discovery, must be mineral in character). (Argument 3: So you can‘t just locate a claim anywhere! Also, if for instance Sunset Valley Mining Co. staked an 80-acre claim and is selling it by 10-acre lots, legally they have to have proved discovery on each 10 acres., not just the original discovery. Wonder if that has happened?)

So what would you do? We’ve talked this over time and time again. There are literally hundreds of claim locations in the Black Hills which do not even come close to meeting federal guidelines not to mention state requirements.

The law does, however, protect those ignorant of the criteria in that “good faith effort” is recognized, meaning for instance that you put in monuments but grazing cattle, a snowmobile or a vandal destroyed it.
It seems to us that good faith is used as an excuse a lot around here… if you can find no sign of a monument; if there is no visible paper anywhere on the claim; if the location posted misrepresents the area in which it is posted… there’s a lot of “iffy” claims out there.

So back to our discussion. These claims are technically invalid. The catch is you may have to prove it in a court of law.

What would you do?

partners...

Many of the inquiries we get about claims are asking for large claims… up to eight locators are allowed on a placer location. At 20 acres per locator, a claim can take in up to 160 acres.

We have claims we’ve located with friends/partners, and we have claims we’ve used just Bob’s and my name.

Here’s what we’ve learned. A friend, just like in a workplace situation, can become either a better friend or foe very quickly when it comes to gold!

One of Bob’s earliest partners taught him much about prospecting, staking claims, etc. They had a few differences of opinion and Bob located his own claims to avoid dispute.

About then Bob and I “partnered” up and we’ve managed to keep it pretty civil J !

Throughout the years since, we’ve sworn many times to NOT take in partners, but often the necessity of a larger claim means either bringing in partners or forfeiting a chunk of really good mineral ground to someone else’s location.

Probably the most irritating aspect of sharing a claim is not your fellow locator, but the “friends” they bring with them! I don’t know how many times Bob and I have started a promising dig, returning to find it gutted by friends and friends-of-friends!

Beware… if you find gold they will jump right in there!

I have my own idea of how a dig should develop. Once we find a promising spot by test pan, I try to clear as much overburden as I can to expose gravel layers. I’ve learned very quickly not to expose any more than I’m going to work that day. One friend-of-a-friend shadowed us to a good find. Several days later they had taken out about 3-4 yards of material!

So I learned that lesson -- expose only what you are going to work that day. Pile the overburden away from anticipated direction of digging. You’d be surprised how often I’ve had to remove someone else’s overburden piled in front of pay dirt!

Mark your hole in a way which will allow you to recognize new disturbance. Strategically arranged rocks will let you know immediately if someone else has been digging there. It doesn’t hurt to slough a little overburden in on top of the rocks. It will camouflage your digging and when you clean back to the rocks you placed, you know you’re back in “the zone.” Also, if someone test pans the overburden you knocked into the digging, they’ll probably get zip and go away!

Another lesson to learn: Alert fellow claimholders from Day One -- DO NOT dig in my diggings! It will save a lot of grief!

Probably most irksome to me personally is to return to a digging and find the pay zone gutted from underneath with a shovel, six feet of overburden collapsing into the pit! You probably don’t want to be ANY WHERE near when I discover this!

Pick your partners carefully. If you operate independently, set some ground rules right up front. It’s probably most prudent to designate portions of the claim to each locator. Gold may not be magnetic, but it does magnify the worst character traits in a friend or partner!

Let’s see… we’ve lost a nice nugget when a friend tripped over the pan (accident?) and later saw that nugget displayed by the friend thinking we wouldn‘t recognize it. Must have tripped right into his boot! We’ve had digs gutted and left to cave in multiple times; had digs cut to within inches of a flowing creek which we had to reclaim to avoid diverting the creek; failure to expend labor for assessment; failure to help establish monuments and maintain paperwork… the list goes on!

Choose carefully… a friendship might not be worth it’s weight in gold!　

First time out!

Patricia, an email and website friend, was reluctant to guest blog but allowed me to edit parts of her emails for publishing… I like the way she tells a story and hope you will enjoy!

How naive I was when I look back and how I thought like so many that you dip a pan in the creek, slosh it around a little bit and expect that pan to be filled with shiny nuggets!

My first experience was more like this: A friend of mine had two rusty older pans and we decided to pick a creek this past summer and dip in! Well, fall in was more like it as I kept slipping on mossy rocks trying not to get wet! I gave up since I was soaking and sat down on a large wet rock in the middle of the creek and proceeded to dip my pan in the creek on the downstream side of the rock. Each time I did, the pan went "clonk" as I was hitting large golf ball size gravel, not the soft sand I thought I'd be scooping up with gold in it.

Lesson one learned: this was not going to be as easy as I thought, and probably a lot of other newcomers have found this out also.

It was good that it was a warm day, as I was now pretty much soaked up to my waist hopping from rock to rock, so I just waded in. (hencethe waders as a Christmas present from my sons).

We finally got down to some finer gravel sand and proceeded to pan away for a couple hours. I have to wonder now how much I washed away not really knowing what I was doing.

So off to the library to check out every book they had on Black Hills gold, and cruised the internet and youtube for "how to’s" on panning and placer mining. That’s when I discovered the creeks may have some gold, but better yet to find out what gravel benches and old diggings look like and try that out!

Finding available unclaimed places to dig/pan was not easy, so when you offered to lease the Tallent, I was ecstatic. The Tallent has so many unusual features with the cut /old diggings/gravel benches, so much to actually see and learn first hand about what I was reading!

I have to wonder how many people who stake claims actually realize how much work is involved in finding a claim let alone working one? For me the work is enjoyable, the locating part frustrating. Still have a lot to learn, and I have been grateful for your help by email, and the info in your blogs. --ttyl, Pat

Pat added this when I sent her a copy to look at…

I know that in finding you and Bob on the web was truly amazing. Not only are you both incredibly knowledgable but your willingness to share what you know with every one and being so supportive in the search for a claim of one’s own is amazing and seldom found in a world where people seem so self centered. I enjoy reading your blogs not only for the knowledge you two impart, but because of the enjoyment you both seem to get in sharing what you know with others as well as really enjoying helping others find a claim! I know a few of us who have tried to find one on our own have found the maze of information to finding and filing a claim frustrating and almost impossible and it wouldn't have been possible for me and others to find one without your help. You and Bob understand men & women who truly enjoy prospecting with their friends and families, and sharing and encouraging them and realizing it’s the enjoyment of the process of looking for that gold, with the emphasis on the process not just the finding of the gold or silver or mineral one is looking for.

We’ve asked a few of our friends made through our website and blog to share their prospecting experiences… Joel sent this:
February 2, 2012 
DIGGING FOR GOLD IN THE BLACK HILLS
for no other reason other than, we just like to….. 

I spent a few months in Colorado back in 1978 with a long-time friend, mostly rock climbing and trout fishing. It was the summer before my senior year in high school, Volkswagen Camper all the way! (No flowers)

We had a goal at one point of fishing a different trout stream everyday as we traveled throughout the state.  We failed on several occasions because we came to streams that were so good that we couldn’t leave… we caught a lot of trout and on many occasions were catching four species of trout within the same creek system.  

Then one day along a creek in Gilpin County. Colorado, I came upon an old timer running a sluice box. I knew what it was that I was lookin’at and what he was doing, but my knowledge of working placer ground ended right about there.  Trout fishing was gonna have to wait for a bit!

The next three days he taught us how to run a sluice, how and where to dig in the area, all the basics. I was fascinated by the process. 

The old timer was getting by, making his grocery and gas money selling one ounce jars of gold to tourists and anyone else curious enough to stop by wondering what he was up to.  I wanted to buy one of those jars so bad it was killing me, but if we could cobble together enough cash to fill the gas tank we were grateful. 

In fact we ran out of money along the way and found light construction work in Aspen a few weeks later, enough cash for the return trip home to Minnesota.  The old timer built us a wooden sluice box that we still have to this day, that was a long time ago. 

They say this is incurable. They are probably right, I never got over the feeling I experienced looking at the old timer’s gold and I did not forget the stories he told.  We didn’t actually recover that much gold, most of it probably went out the bottom of our sluice but that’s ok. 

The gold we did recover remains to this day in the same glass tube with a cork in it, I glance at it once in a while and think of the old guy and still thank him for helping us out.

Over the years I dabbled panning here and there, nothing very serious. Now it’s time to catch up a bit; which I have done in the Hills over the past few years. There’s success on some days and less on others, it’s all good.

My daughter Luella, aka Lala, or Lalabuggy now wears her Gold Nugget earrings quite often, a great reminder of one of our trips to the Hills this past summer.  We were fortunate to find two pieces of similarly sized and shaped gold to make a perfect pair!  We brought them to a jeweler and had posts soldered on.  This was last August when we camped out with tents in the Black Hills National Forest very near the location we were digging and finding gold. 

That dig site now lies adjacent to my first actual gold claim in the Black Hills!  We named this claim GALA GOLD, after Lala and Gabe, her older brother.  In addition to the GALA claim we now also own claims in the Northern Hills, named LALABUGGY and NUGGETCITY.  The detailed stories about how these claims were acquired would find us at the bottom of at least one bottle of wine or several beers, not enough time here today, subject for another blog…

 I pondered and dabbled with the idea of owning a mineral claim in the Hills for a few years, believing that eventually I would have a small dig to call home.  The learning process started out slowly. I read several books and talked to various people about the subject, those that would lend an ear and actually offer up an idea to help me along my way. I also spoke with several folks that were like asking a trout fisherman where you would go to catch 16” brook trout… these secrets are well kept.

I traveled through various websites and investigated several companies that offer these services and claims for sale. All proved in the end to not be worth dealing with for a myriad of reasons, some unscrupulous.  I kept asking questions and digging deeper and learning what I could, sponge-like with desire to learn how to “really accomplish” what I was after. 

I have some training with the US grid system for land surveying, plotting, description and map reading, so I considered attempting the process on my own.  However, there is far more to this process than knowing how to read a map, and recognizing a posted claim site that may or may not be valid.  Proper research through the local governments (county) and governing federal agencies (BLM) is required to gain full understanding of private property boundaries, existing valid claim sites, and other roadblocks such as monuments and areas not open to the staking of mineral claims, not to mention finding an area where there is gold to the extent that the ground is worth staking. 

In step Bob and Teresa Fox, the team who made my mineral claim ownership a reality.  I could not speak more highly of their knowledge of the interworkings of this entire process.  I learned volumes working with Bob and Teresa over the past several months, details that experience only can teach.  They guided me through the process and advised me along the way and tailored the claims to fit what I was looking for. More importantly they became great friends during the process.  If you are considering a mineral claim in the Black Hills, I would not look anywhere else.  The experience was a lot of fun and I enjoyed every minute of it along the way. 

I enjoy everything about searching for gold in the hills: the history, the hunt, the dig, the adventure, the geology, finding a flake or a nugget, and revisiting digs that may not have been worked in 130 years.  Then there’s also some fantastic trout fishing, hiking, camping, and a myriad of other things to do. 

In our diggings, we’re picking up where they left off… those old timers who searched for gold during the rush and during the years that followed.  What we wouldn’t give to talk to them now as I did with the old timer in Gilpin County.  What questions would you ask? “How ya doing?” or “Find any gold in this area?” Maybe you'd inquire, “Did you do well in your diggings up on that bench gravel?”  These old miners have all gone home, as they say, returned to the very ground they spent their lives working.  Like our ancestors past, we can’t ask them any more questions; we have to go learn it for ourselves, discover and have our own fun.

It’s our turn. Heck, I can’t wait for Spring! We’ll be out there digging and having fun and I hope you do too!  Maybe you’ll see us along the road with our old red Cherokee. If you do, stop by and say “Hello” or “Are you finding any gold?” or “Do you know where I can catch 16” Brook Trout?”  

I might tell you…good digging!  

Joel
 

 

　
We’re excited and intimidated to see that 10,000 have logged on and found the time to read our blog!

Excited because we love talking to people about mining… intimidated by the sheer number. Please take the time to comment at hillshistory1876@gmail.com if you have a subject of interest, a claim you want researched, or any question you might have about information we post.

We’ve promised a couple of time to “tell you a story” about some of our research ventures. One was outlined in our last blog. There are so many “characters” in the Black Hills (probably including ourselves!) that there is an unlimited supply of stories to tell…

One of these characters suits the profile of the old-time Black Hills prospector to a tee. He’s a little gruff and rough, a little grizzly and a lot evasive when you talk gold. We’re sure of his knowledge as to where to find gold; we’re not so sure of his ability to stake a claim and hold it!

We have a claim on Rapid Creek. We found that claim about eight years ago using BLM to verify it was available. The problem was that a sign on the property stated it was already claimed. We checked at the county… yes, a location certificate had been filed in May. It was June.
We checked again at BLM, but it hadn’t been filed there yet. That’s okay, you’ve got 90 days from date of location to file with BLM.

We kindof forgot about it… already staked. Then one day 90+ days hence, we decided to check again with BLM. Hadn’t been filed!

What we found was this. The party who had the claim located did the same thing each year. He’d file a location certificate with the county each year which held the claim for 90 days. He never followed up with BLM.

We obtained the claim by locating in April of the following spring!

A friend of this guy must have taken his advice! We helped a group of friends find a claim on California Gulch last year, or was it two years ago! We had an eye on adjacent Friday Gulch for ourselves.
Winter arrived and we didn’t get to the area that fall. The following spring we couldn’t make it down that way but asked a friend, in exchange for including him on the claim, to take a location certificate with him, make discovery and hang paper.

We found out a month or so later he never made it, wasn’t interested.

We finally made it to Friday Gulch despite some wrong turns, engines overheating, weather allowing!
What we saw when we got there made our hearts stand still. Rim-to-rim of the gulch there were signs posted, “Mineral trespass”. At first we were disheartened – a wasted trip. Then we started thinking… BLM showed no claims here since 2005. Is it a valid claim? If it is… it’s gotta be 160 acres (maximum allowed) plus!

We found he had filed a 40-acre claim in June with the county. So we just worked around that 40 acres! We posted a location certificate. When the 90 days was up and he hadn’t filed at BLM, we helped some friends stake more claims!

So let us take a look… if you know specifically where you want a claim we might be able to find one of these exceptions for you!

We’ve still got an excellent location available in a highly acclaimed gold region… we need at 4-wheel drive! Wanna trade? Maybe your car dealer might want a claim? Email us at hillshistory1876@gmail.com

Location... certificates!

        We’ve created several hundred location certificates. It all started with a large claim block in the Tinton region in the late 1980’s  .

        We’ve looked at a bunch of certificates also… they range from pretty straightforward (a minority) to so vague or so contradictory that it is mind boggling!

        This past week was just one example of many… the claim location didn’t have a clear starting point for the claim and it just got worse as vague directions left us wondering not only where does it start but where does it end!

        A phone call to the Bureau of Land Management confirmed what we had concluded, “Go with what’s on the ground.  If there’s nothing on the ground go with the map!”  Many trips to the area had already confirmed that there is nothing on the ground.

        Technically that makes the claim invalid, but we try to be good stewards and don’t really want to take the time or spend the money to fight it in court! 

        We’ll take a minute here to urge claimholders to have their location certificate on the claim as required, to mark corners of their claim with substantial posts (not PVC pipe please!), and post a copy of current affidavit of assessment.  Contrary to our frequent complaint of claim jumpers, it does slow the tide to a somewhat manageable trickle! 

The old-timers didn’t want to do that… they didn’t want the “rushers” to swarm onto their claim!  Technology is such these days that not only is it wise to have your claim posted, you may be challenged based on various factors if it isn’t!

        Now we fall back on the map which was created and filed in the 1970’s.  I guess there must not have been townships, ranges and sections at that time J because the map shows none of the above!  A good tie point to start description of your claim is a section corner or an existing benchmark… not a bridge on a road that floods and is re-built every few years, not (like the old-timers did) from the corner of the local sawmill or cabin or blazed tree!  Luckily, again, we are familiar with the area, the roads, the creek…

        From this map we were able to verify that not only was the claim we were researching for a friend available, we were able to see another 20-acre claim is possible! 

Interested?  We’re between a rock and a hard place here.  We can’t locate any more claims under our name because we want to maintain small miner status.  Also, we desperately need a reliable 4-wheel drive vehicle to take the resident grandkids to and from school!  Email details of the vehicle to hillshistory@gmail.com if you want information on locating this available claim and we’ll start discussion on a trade!   We won’t disclose location here, but there’s a year-round creek, gravel bars, proven gold because we’ve panned there.  If certain parties knew of the location it would be advertised as two 10-acre claims at $20,000 each! We’re willing to guide you through the claim process at this location.

        We urge anyone with old locations to contact us.  A location certificate can be amended within certain criteria and filed for a few dollars.  That sure beats the cost of a court battle!

        My brother asked me this past week if, with warm temps and creeks breaking through the ice, I was doing any panning?  I just shivered!