Nature at work...

        We helped some friends get situated on Boulder Creek 1-1/2 weeks ago for dry digging… no run-off this spring but they were chasing bedrock so they didn’t really mind.

        We got a call from them the following Saturday, said they had found some gold, really enjoyed the week and were headed for home after an evening with rain showers and hail.

        Sunday we wandered over that way since the rain continued and we hoped there might be some sign of run-off.  Keep in mind that Black Hills experience tells us we need in the range of three inches of rain to saturate the ground and begin any kind of flow in the creeks. We also know that our Boulder claim, 40 acres, can have running water toward the top and none near the bottom!

        We had to email this photo, 24 hours after our friends departed, all of the last two years’ workings being flooded. Ironically, we could still cross a dry creek at Camp Five for access in and out.

        A friend, Brian, decided to really experience his first flood event in the Northern Hills, and traveled the area photographing various creeks. We credit this later stage flood photo to him! It features the same stretch of creek with the old pit filling rapidly.

        Now if you are curious, this flood event was pretty specific to the Northern Hills. Spearfish registered around four inches total, with rains tapering to about one inch at Hill City and the Southern Hills having isolated showers and not much accumulation.

        We sit in awe of Mother Nature’s ability to scour any evidence of man and re-create her natural beauty!

       

Spring in the Black Hills...

        Everyone is getting antsy to get out and prospect!

        Chris emailed, “I finally got some dirt! It's muddy muddy muddy! I think I have about 2 inches of mud caked on to the running boards. The dam's filling up though with plenty of run off coming in.”

          We’ve been out and about also, driving mostly on gravel roads since the frost is just coming out of the US Forest Service trails.

          We’ve gotta say, though, that Chris’ comments are pretty unique. We’re not seeing much spring run-off elsewhere.

          Some friends were digging at the Tallent near Rochford… the ground pretty much clear of snow, the creek more like mid-summer than spring run-off!

 

          Further into the Central Hills the weather made a dramatic change to snow, sleet and a few raindrops. We collected some (hopefully) ore specimens, and returned to Rapid Creek. Our friends said they had found some gold, so all were happy.

          About this time every year, we spend a day or two checking winter damage to claim posts, location certificates, signage. We were disappointed on a couple of levels. First we found very little evidence of our lode claim boundaries. We put up new posts, new location certificates and flagging to help make them visible.

          We thought it a little unusual… our spring check usually means putting a post back upright, replacing faded signage, etc.

          One placer claim, location certificate in place, sported a new lode claim post right next to the monument!

          Although the water situation in the Black Hills is pretty grim, there appears to be a fresh “flood” of lode claims staked in the Rochford area. This time they don’t seem to care if there are already claims, placer or lode.

          So again, we are researching new claims. If you have an existing claim in the Rochford area, please be sure your monuments are in place, your location certificate posted.

          You can also feel free to contact us at hillshistory1876@gmail.com and we will research if you have been overstaked.

          Also, we have one lode claim that we may endeavor to open up the addit into the workings.  If you’d like to donate a little pick and shovel time to expose an historic mine entrance, drop us an email! We haven’t made the call yet as to whether we will do it manually or file a Plan of Operation to allow mechanized equipment. A few days of manual labor would expose enough to further investigate the integrity of the old workings.

          A winter storm has us in its embrace… snowed in but breathing easy with temporary relief from fire danger!

"Sand dollars"

        We are reassured of our followers daily, with emails and phone calls regarding prospecting, claims, historic information and where to spend this summer’s vacation!

        Just a few of the states represented are Missouri, North Carolina, Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota and multiple followers in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We get a lot of local inquiries and have developed some great friendships with fellow prospectors.

        Internationally, we see blog visitors from nearby Canda, European countries, Australia… just about every country in the world.

        Who would have thought that a little piece of real estate called The Black Hills would generate so much interest? But then, how many little pieces of real estate contain so much of interest!

        We made the local headlines this week, so we thought we’d talk about our most recent item of interest.

        Last summer we became aware that the Black Hills was a good prospect for a different commodity.

        It’s been called Wisconsin gold, sand dollars and a lot of other catchy names. We spent days which turned into weeks, then months and now about one year prospecting, sampling, staking claims.

        Test results came back exceeding our expectations… the silica sand we sampled met preliminary specs for fracking sand.

        The news broke in our local newspaper, where you can read more about it:
http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/article_f46ecafa-90ad-11e2-9219-0019bb2963f4.html

And another article: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_7d2126f9-a5cc-56bd-bd76-1b0d40a1ce0e.html     

        Simply put, frac sand is crush-resistant sand of a specific particle size that is used by the petroleum industry in the hydraulic fracturing process. The general opinion was that it does not exist in our area.

        We’ve put a lot of time into this by traveling throughout the Black Hills and surrounding regions, sampling, analyzing, choosing locations. We’re here to say it does exist and we have secured, through the process of elimination, the areas with the best potential!

        I do have to say that proving discovery of silica sand isn’t anything like prospecting for gold. Where there’s sandstone, there’s discovery!  Proving frac sand, however, is a more complicated issue. The majority of sand grains are angular, diluted with natural impurities and break up under compaction.

        I never thought looking at a piece of sand under a high-powered microscope could be quite so interesting!

 

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!

 

Spring fever...

We should be armchair prospecting but we’ve got a lot going on and weather has turned nice! That usually means, at least for us, getting out in the forest and doing some tromping around.

We’re still not at liberty to discuss our current mission, but it does include prospecting of a slightly different nature.

We’ve had a recent rush of emails. Spring fever in prospecting also means people planning their vacations, looking to secure their little piece of the Black Hills. In some instances they want a claim of their own; others are looking to rent or lease for a few days at a time. They all have a story and our common interest in prospecting binds us into a nice little community.

Other emails regard those who have, or almost have, invested in claims sold over the internet.

I’ve discussed this multiple times and won’t get into all the detail, but warn you to check with us at hillshistory1876@gmail.com or the Montana-Dakota Bureau of Land Management to make sure they are valid claims before you buy. We have three recent examples of those being dupped:  1) claim was staked in an area with a Public Land Order withdrawing minerals, 2) claim was staked in an area unlikely to produce gold, and 3) paperwork at BLM was not maintained and selling parties cannot quit claim an expired claim.

 

We are still watching the lode claims being staked in the Rochford area and have noticed that although they put stakes on the ground across both private property and placer claims (mineral trespass), those conflicting claims are not being filed at BLM.  We’ll give them to benefit of doubt and say they are diligently researching infringement on other’s rights.

This brings up another subject! Do not, and we repeat… do not remove location certificates, corner posts, or any claim marker on the ground. Even those markers on private property should be left alone. If it makes you feel better, maintaining those markers is evidence of mineral trespass! We don’t remove another parties paperwork or monument even when we KNOW they have fraudulently overstaked us.

So with temps in the 50s today, we’re off to look for outcrops!

 

 

Back in the routine

 

 A little guilt trip here... I've been neglecting the blog and am trying to get back in the routine for those readers who keep clicking in to find nothing new!

We’ve been doing a lot of research and that is how I've been spending my time. A part of that research includes getting copies of location certificates and claim maps. That introduces the subject of what is required for a location certificate by federal and state law.

 What we learned from this research is that a location certificate can “look” anyway the preparer wants it to, but must contain a few items of critical importance.

The State of South Dakota more or less avoids the discussion of placer claims, but federal law stipulates that:

43 CFR §3833.1-2(b):

(1) The name or number of the claim or site, or both, if the claim or site has both;

An example would be: Robey No. 1.

(2) The name and current mailing address, if known, of the owner or owners of the claim or site; Example: your name, your address and we recommend your phone number.  We’ve received phone calls multiple times when persons got the information off the location certificate and wanted to talk to us. Same info required for each claimant, but maybe only the phone number of contact person.

(3) The type of claim or site; Example: lode (20 acres) or placer (up to 160 acres with 20 acres per claimant)

(4) The date of location; Example: Dec. 1 you have 60 days to file at the county; 90 days to file at BLM

(5) For all claims or sites a description shall be furnished.

(i) This description shall recite, to the extent possible, the section(s), the approximate location of all or any part of the claim to within a 160 acre quadrant of the section (quarter section), or sections, if more than one is involved, and the township, range, meridian and State obtained from an official survey plat or other U.S. Government map showing either the surveyed or protracted U.S. Government grid, whichever is applicable. Example: NW1/4 of the NW1/4 Section 1 extending into the NE1/4 of the NE1/4, Section 2, T5N, R1E, Black Hills Meridian, Lawrence County, SD.  Now there’s a couple of options here because it is only required to the ¼ section, but either you want parties to know where your claim is… or not! 

(ii) The location of the claims or sites shall be depicted on either a topographic map published by the U.S. Geological Survey or by a narrative or a sketch describing the claim or site with reference by appropriate tie to some topographic, hydrographic, or man-made feature.  Such map, narrative description, or sketch shall set forth the boundaries and position of the individual claim or site with such accuracy as will permit the authorized officer of the agency administering the lands or mineral interests in such lands to identify and locate the claims or sites on the ground. Example: We recommend a tie point to a Benchmark or a Section corner on a topo. One claim we researched used a building which had been demolished years ago, so we were hunting in the weeds for some sign of a foundation. Roads and bridges change, creeks move, anything man-made is subject to change!

(iii) More than one claim or site may be shown on a single map or described in a single narrative or sketch if they are located in the same general area, so long as the individual claims or sites are clearly identified;

(6) In place of the requirements of paragraph (b)(5) of this section, an approved mineral survey may be supplied. A mining claim described by legal subdivisions, section, township, range, meridian and State fulfills the requirements of paragraph (b)(5) of this section.

(7) Nothing in the requirements for a map and description found in this section shall require the owner of a claim or site to employ a professional surveyor or engineer.

So what we have observed is that about 10 out of 10 location certificates we look at superficially meet federal requirements and that is why they are recorded. The trouble starts with either a discrepancy between the location certificate and map (most commonly the description on the location certificate doesn’t match the map); markers on the ground do not reflect map and/or description); or in a lot of cases there is no sign of location certificate or markers on the ground!

One recent example had us completely confused. We’re old-times and still use footage to describe our claims. Example would be: Tie point begins at NW corner of Section 1, proceed 25 feet west and 250 feet north to Stake #1 (NW corner). Now we love using a GPS and acknowledge they are “the new prospecting tool”… but, when we looked at this description we couldn’t figure out what the numbers meant! We forwarded the information to a friend Brian, who makes a living mapping coordinates.  I didn’t feel so bad (or old) when he called to ask what the numbers meant, since they didn’t look like any coordinates he was familiar with! So if you use GPS, make sure those figures are accurate.

Another map we looked at was for a lode claim. The location certificate was misleading at best, sending us the opposite direction on corners as marked. Then we look at the map, which depicts about 5 acres of the 20-acre claim!

Remember we said the location certificates superficially meet federal requirements? I am reasonably confident that about two of those would allow an official or fellow prospector to accurately locate the claim on the ground.

Once they got on the ground, the State of South Dakota requires 8 monuments to be erected and a copy of the location certificate on display. Monuments are required by law to be “substantial” and blazed or marked with the name of the claim, post number as noted on your location map, and depict coordinates of post (example: west side center).

I hate to try and guess, but I know we have looked at hundreds if not thousands of location certificates throughout the years. We can readily, off the top of our heads, cite only a few that we felt even an experienced prospector could find on the ground.

The great thing about this is that a quick and simple, not to mention economical solution, exists.  It is called an amendment which costs $30 to file at the county and $10 at BLM (costs may change depending on when you read this). Need some help or just wondering how accurate your information is?  Email us a copy of your location certificate and map at hillshistory1876@gmail.com… we’ll look it over and give you our opinion! An amendment maintains your original location date, so why not firm up your location certificate and make sure your claim is clearly marked on the ground!

 

 

Black Hills gold rush...

       The rush is on, or so it seems!

       We have multiple parties contacting us about lode claim staking in the Rochford area. The catch is… most of the contacts are from private property or existing claimholders!

       Rumor has it that over 500 lode claims have been staked in Pennington County alone. We’re starting to see evidence of that at Montana-Dakota BLM’s website with 25-50 claims being added each day as they are processed.

       We have multiple lode claims and a placer in the area, not to mention several people we have helped get claims. We’re keeping an eye on the situation and invite anyone who is having problems to email us at hillshistory1876@gmail.com.  We think as a group we might be able to resolve some of these problems.

       Here is just one of the many scenarios we have encountered.  In the area of the old Standby Mine there are existing placer and lode claims.  Most have been there for years; some added or changed hands in the past few years. There’s also a lot of private property. We are getting phone calls and emails from claimholders that their monuments and location certificates are gone or in the case of private property their fences have been crossed and new posts erected.

       So far this activity is not contributed to a single mining company, but small blocks of claims under individual names. Several blocks are being staked at a time.

       If you find a location certificate, jot down the name, address and phone number of the claimant, date of location, filing dates at county and BLM. If BLM has issued an MMC #, write that down too.  It would also be of interest as to who prepared the location, their address and phone number.

       We haven’t seen any location certificates on the ground, only boundary posts. That in itself is not the legal way to stake a claim.

       Right now we’re just collecting data; this may lead to nothing.  We have an idea, however, that as everything shakes out an exploration permit will be applied for and eventually a mine developed.

       Have not doubt, this area has huge lode mine potential. Geology and history both prove it!

       If you already have an existing claim, maintain it with boundary posts and location certificates. We’re making a trip that way as soon as possible to re-post locations and check that posts are in place.

       Also, if you are a private property owner and don’t have winter access to your property this time of year, drop us an email with the legal description of your property and we will let you know if claims are being filed over your property.

       There are situations where surface rights are owned but mineral rights are not. We can check that too, but it should be clearly stated on your property title.

       We also have had forwarded to us an article on Dakota Territory acquiring more claims in the Northern Black Hills. This company has already blanket claimed the area from Spearfish Canyon to Iron Creek Lake and is now acquiring claims between Deadwood and Spearfish.

       The news last week was that Tinton may have new owners, and that operation hopes to resume. That isn’t a gold operation… at least right now!

       Winter weather descends on us again, but its been an unusually warm winter and we know we need snow!  The grandkids are all hoping for a “snow day” Friday! The phone rang at 5:30 this a.m.... wish granted!

      

      

Blanket... and not of snow!

 

 

        I think it was a year ago or a little more, when we cautioned those interested in placer claims to get them now!  We talked about a new gold rush to the Black Hills and the fact that once a company or two figured out that Homestake didn’t get all the gold, lode claims would again blanket the Black Hills like blizzard snow cover.

        So here’s what we’ve heard reported recently… 600 lode claims filed in Pennington County from Rochford to Keystone. Just so there’s better comprehension of that impact, that totals 12,000 acres. We’ve already heard from multiple parties on this that they are overstaking placer claims and private property… the intent to work all that out later.

        So what is the impact to placer mining, you ask?

        Well, existing placer claims are still in place but we caution anyone holding a placer claim in these areas to maintain it!  Paperwork comes due twice a year, with maintenance waiver or fees by the end of August. Affidavit of assessment deadline is approaching Dec. 31. Do not, and we cannot stress this enough, allow any deadlines to pass or you have forfeited your claim. The only choice then is to re-locate, which gives your claim a new location date.

        So where does that leave the greenhorn prospector, looking for their first placer claim?  We get mixed reviews on this… the old placer over lode, lode over placer discussion.  The bottom line is that either way, you have to prove your case in a court of law. The county and BLM are happy to file your location certificate but it comes back to you to prove ownership!

        We’ve spent many, many hours finding placer acreages that were previously blanket claimed by Homestake and became available these past few years. We’ve also got lucky and found some gaps between existing claims. Now we see history repeating itself and we hope these lodes will be developed, because it’s leaving the recreational prospector in the dust as far as available acreage.

Brr...

 

        This weekend is confined to home with temps in the low 30s, a bit of snow and wind.

        We’re not really complaining, though, about two days of inclement weather compared to what the rest of the country is experiencing!

        The last several weeks have been spent on a prospecting venture of another sort, but I have had an opportunity on those nicer days to do a little panning, see a little gold.

        Our Iron Creek project progresses and weather may still allow us some mining this year.  The trommel has met safety standards for a small scale operation and Bob is certified as an experienced miner, so things are happening that at least get us closer and closer.

        We’re hearing, indirectly, that a court case has ruled lode claims are allowed over placer, but not vice versa.  We had heard rumblings of this before and it makes sense, to a point. If you have to have discovery, it’s pretty easy to either find gold or not find gold by placer mining. Proving discovery for lode is a lot more difficult, involving sampling, crushing and assaying. The obvious exception would be to find visible gold in ore… an experience we’ve had only a few times through our prospecting ventures!

        What I find really ironic about that is we have a few lode claims with proven gold. Those same lode claims have old dumps, both ore and waste. To process those dumps we would need to file a placer claim, thereby voiding our lode claim? Some things just baffle the mind!

        An apology to all those out there reading… blackhillsgoldmines.com has expired. We hope to get back up and operating, but we’ll keep blogging until that happens!

Guaranteed gold!

I often joke with new prospectors, “Of course I found gold… I always find gold!”

So maybe I’m to blame, but when we steer people the right direction on a good creek and they don’t find gold, they come back to us with, “There’s no gold there.!”

Now with a few exceptions, there’s gold on most of the creeks in the Black Hills.  Common sense tells you that if it is a gold-producing area there is probably gold in the creek.

There’s a lot of “if” in that statement though… If you’re not digging old tailings (easy digging would be the first clue); if someone (or maybe many) hasn’t/haven’t already beat you to it; if it’s been worked and re-flooded (possibility of a little new flood gold)… the list goes on and on.

We remember way back (the good ole days some call them), when our expectations were high and our knowledge low.

Since then we’ve learned a lot.  I posted a graphic photo a few weeks ago about how to dig in old placer workings.  It utilized a \___/ concept for old workings.  Since then I’ve heard from several out there digging it was helpful and they discovered a little gold.

So I’m going to reinforce that with another thought.  Yes, the books and guidelines always preach to run everything.  Personally, I look around and find a spot to “stockpile” the topsoil and subsequent layers until I find what looks to be a gravel layer or clay zone near creek or pit bottom level.  Those top layers may or may not contain small gold, but do you want to see what is really there?  Also it’s a lot easier to fill that hole back in if you don’t find any indication of gold.. just toss it back in after an hour of work instead of laboring for a day running material that doesn’t show any gold!

Several times I’ve been really lucky.  I toss aside the top layers, dig down into gravels a foot or two and test pan out a piece or two of gold! The average scenario, however, is that I find black sands or some indication to “dig deeper!”

That’s what I would term a “guaranteed gold” claim!  It’s not quantities of gold, it’s not nuggets of gold, but I’ll bet I could have started a gold rush from the streets of Deadwood.

 

So a dose of reality to greenhorns.  If you as an inexperienced prospector find gold, it’s probably a really good area and teaches you a great lesson on what to look for!  I well remember days spent digging for a show in a sluice box!  These days I’m still thrilled to find a show in a test pan! That would be when I would start testing the upper layers!

 

Other than that, we're completing some MSHA red tape to get mining and also entertaining another prospecting venture that we'll fill you in on at a later date. We also have found several acres of very locatable creek in two different areas, one a most prominent gold producting area.  Drop us an email if interested at hillshistory1876@gmail.com.

 

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.

           

       

What's all the fuss?

        First of all we’ll give you an update on our small scale mining permit.  The US Forest Service signed off on the Plan of Operations for the Iron Creek permit.  We meet with a ranger this week to walk through the site which archaeology has marked out for our disturbance area.

        Everything at the state level (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) is in the works, bond awaiting approval before permit issued.

        We also attended the GPAA Gold and Treasure Show, running into a couple of our prospecting friends there. Alex wanted everything, but we kept our purchases to things we have trouble finding locally. We did see a really nice little 5-gallon bucket buggy that I’m still contemplating… but it can be found here at a local ag-related store that we patronize.

        Now we’ll get back to the “fuss” regarding our small scale permit versus any other small scale permit!

        We have discussed that our mine site falls within the Spearfish Creek watershed.  This fact automatically put us in a position for a hearing before the Board of Minerals. There was also an “intervener” due to this designation, worded that he did not request denial of permit but wanted to make sure the watershed was properly protected.

        So we are first-timers in the permit process, and although we understood the implications of this ruling as setting precedence, we did not know the technicalities required by the hearing for approval.

        The first surprise to us when on-site with the Board of Minerals was that placer mining is an unknown other than that people like to pan gold.  Several members had questions as to how we go about it, what equipment is used, etc.

        So the discussion quickly shifted from emphasis on our project to placer mining in general.  It sure made it all a lot more fun for us, talking about what we love to do!

        The intervener made an attempt to discredit the project with a sweeping gesture from rim to rim of the meadow, telling all that massive flooding had created that drainage and massive flooding can occur at any time.  We’ll get back to this shortly…

        So that was the on-site.

        Now we get to the hearing itself, which is available on audio at SD DENR website.

        The Attorney General staff outlined what needed to be addressed in the hearing.  This gets a little complex…

        The Board of Minerals in previous years negotiated and approved the Spearfish Creek watershed to a preliminary list of unique and scenic properties in South Dakota.  This was based, as far as we can tell, on the fact that Spearfish Creek is able to sustain a trout population.

        The Board, because of our permit, was assigned to determine our four-acre mine site as either removed from the list (or) finally designated as scenic and unique.  This ruling, it was made clear, applied only to that four acres and there were only two option available.

        There was quite a lot of discussion of pre-existing donut holes, something we weren’t aware of.  These occur in the area called the Deadwood Standard project.  Those areas were already permitted at the time of designation to this preliminary list, therefore were left out of the watershed.

        DENR was next on the agenda, with a gratifyingly complete report on not only our project but geology of the area, hydrology, and a very thorough explanation of placer mining and equipment that we would use in the project.

        So we get to my testimony, which was made blessedly short by the thorough DENR presentation. It was my opportunity to address the intervener’s broad statement regarding historic flooding.  I agreed with how th3 meadow was created historically by flooding, but pointed out that Iron Creek Lake exists just a few thousand feet up the gulch.  Little spring run-off occurs in our mine area.  In fact, our creek flow is primarily dependent on discharge from Iron Creek Lake.  So historic flooding as portrayed, will fill and flood Iron Creek Lake, not our mine site.

        Time for testimony of the intervener, James Nelson.  I recall last week’s Rapid City Journal story about the Lawrence County Commission and the Deadwood Standard project… ½ hour of scenic shots of Spearfish Canyon.  That’s about what we saw and heard also.  It came time for us to ask questions and Bob addressed the impact of 200 homes and septic systems in Spearfish Canyon versus a four-acre mine a couple of miles up Iron Creek.

        It was then the Board of Minerals chance to ask questions and it got a little pointed in that scenic and unique does not define in any way the “McMansions” and septic systems allowed in Spearfish Canyon. These homes are permanent footprints on the Canyon. We were gratified to see this same comment reflected a few days later regarding the Deadwood Standard project.

        So the result of all this is the permit was approved, the four acres designated as scenic and unique but conditions put in place to allow mining.

        If you waded through all that and still don’t understand, drop me an email at hillshistory1876@gmai.com!

        We conclude this with little else to say except that I will attempt to explain in a future blog some of the Deadwood Standard project questions we are getting as to the why and wherefore of events happening.  We’re not involved in that project, but do have a better understanding  of the whole permitting process!

        Support your local miners… we contribute to the local economy and reclaim as we go!

       

       

       

Pie panning...

We’ve got a story we just have to share!

Some friends of our family missed the opportunity to prospect one of our claims recently, so they picked a day and visited on their own, grabbing a couple of buckets of material to take home.

We did receive a phone call (never underestimate how many people watch for claim jumpers) about a party prospecting. We were happy to learn in the next few days that is was our friends, therefore we have this great story!

These friends have not done a lot of prospecting but had helped dig previously at the site, so they took what they thought were good gravels.

Now let’s talk about beginner’s luck! They didn’t have a gold pan so… they improvised with a pie pan. Pretty innovative, I think!

I’ve lectured that it’s not the pan that you use, but how you pan. This is a stellar example! The first pie pan full of dirt gave them a fingertip sized nugget!

Speaking of prospecting equipment, we’re pleased to see that the GPAA Gold and Treasure Show is at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center this weekend, Aug. 25-26.

It’s always fun to see what’s out there, but I doubt you’ll see any pie pans there! Do keep in mind though… you can spend a lot of money but you’ll still get the same gold!

We’ll conclude with a brief summary of our permit process. To make a very long story short, the permit site was declared not mineable unless conditions were imposed to ensure the integrity of the watershed. Those conditions… mining outside of the creek, erosion control, protection of creek resources… were all part of our plan from the get-go!

So don’t let politics get in your way… when it comes to permitting, where there’s a will there’s a way!

Public hearing... decision in the near future

        We’re a little nervous, a little excited, but most of all happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

        We’re talking small scale placer mining permit. We have a hearing before the South Dakota Board of Minerals on Aug. 15-16 in Deadwood. 

        Wednesday will be an on-site inspection to view the project. We spent a few hours today (Thursday) putting in pin flags to represent the buffer zone written into the permit for Iron Creek, drainage areas that will not be mined, and a general idea of where we will be mining and access to the property.  Whew! Thanks Brian, for all your help.

        We were visited by some very friendly but inquisitive US Forest Service personnel.  We don’t blame them… just doing their job.  Once it was ascertained that we had legitimate reason to be marking out boundaries, that we have a Plan of Operation that allows our activity, and we had no campfires or cigarettes burning, they departed on friendly terms.

        We don’t mind… would rather see them out watching for fire risk than out fighting fire!

        That brings us back to a discussion we’ve had frequently.  We toured the claim with Ms. Hudson of DENR this time last year.  She suffers from allergies.  It was hovering around 100 degrees, there was a slight flow in the creek and numerous wildflowers blooming!

        Flash forward to this year, same time, same place.  The wildflowers and grass are cured, the creek has been dry for at least a month.  It looks and feels more like late September!

 

        But back to the permit.  I’ve been wrestling with our presentation…  I’ve sat thru so many of these speeches on the other side of the table as a reporter!  What I know is this… keep it short and simple! The Board of Minerals, after touring our little four acre project, go on to tour the Deadwood Standard and Wharf Resources. Thank goodness we’re on the agenda first or they probably wouldn’t even remember us!

        We’re hoping the impression is good and the project sets an example of what really constitutes a small scale operation. It will help in the long run, I think, to distinguish that so many of these permits are really recreational mining (a tiny pit dug with a backhoe to allow user-friendly recreation) from active placer mining with loaders feeding a recovery system.

        That is what we are striving to do… and get some gold while we’re at it! 

       

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.