Load up!

Getting Ready to head out in the morning to start a long day of mining. We don't like to make many trips so we pack as much on the 4-wheelers as possible. Sometimes though there just has to be multiple trips. The camper you see in the picture we have sold and we now have a bunkhouse built on an old boat trailer sitting in that same exact spot.  The bunkhouse by the way is awesome, in fact we are going to be having thanksgiving up there.  I will get some better pictures of the bunkhouse then, so check back for updates.
   

Everyone loves Chicken(no, not the animal)

This is a photo from one of our family outings to Chicken Gold Camp.  We had a ton of fun, found some gold visited with friendly people enjoyed the sights and scenery.  I cant say enough good things about the Chicken gold camp.  Anyone who gets a chance to visit chicken should look these guys up they are very friendly, they provide a lot of conveniences at their campground that would otherwise be unavailable to the recreational miner.  Here is a link to their website - Chicken Gold Camp.

Is there gold there, I think there is.

This nugget my wife picked up just walking by the pile of dirt we stage for processing.  There is gold up in them there hills!  Maybe we could get on a TV show, just a small family operation, having to fight nature and breakdowns, no big wallet to fund the operation just two grandparents(Elaine and Antonio),Two Parents(Robert and Teresa), and a three year old(Lyra).  Add in a bit of creative and inventive personalities, some wishful thinking and the fever for gold.  I think it would make a great reality TV show.

Some Science At the Gold Mine!

Grandma and Lyra like to take hikes through the woods up at the mine.  The came across this birds nest(sorry for the out of focus picture).  They found it when there were just eggs in it and they monitored it every weekend we were there until the birds left the nest.  Lyra was very insistent as we were driving to the mine that her and grandma had to check on the birds and make sure they were ok.  She was sad when the birds finally grew up and left the nest.

How could I have done that?

Stella the Dog

So I have left out a very important individual to a mining party, so here is an introduction if you see her in some of the photos.  Her name is Stella, Black Lab, Rottweiler mix.  She is a super good dog and the best bear early warning device you could have around.   She Plays all day with Lyra(she does have to take some breaks to rest).  When we are split up she will run between the groups of us checking in to see if everything is alright.  She rides the 480D tractor with me, and she rides the Kubota by herself.  Just a super good, "mans best friend."

To Hardrock or Not to Hardrock?

Not all of our Stories are at quartz creek.  We had a Partner in a group of claims call the Gilpatric, They were a very historical hard rock play.  I do have a lot of information regarding this claim and the history of the claim that I could put on this blog if anyone is interested.  It is a beautiful area to be mining in, very difficult to get the ore off the mountain.  We never actually processed any of the ore, we did however find a vein of quartz we sent out to be assayed, from very random grab samples and it was very rich with gold.  This mine was really our start into real gold mining, not just hopping from tourist trap to tourist trap panning for gold.  We learned a lot from our mining partner, but in the end we decided that we much more enjoyed the instant gratification of placer mining so we began searching for our own little mine. 

BRING ME A SPOON!!!

Everyone once and a while our friends will accompany us on our outings.  Well this is my buddy, Dom.  He is playing in the waters of the Resurrection creek in Hope.   This is a little blurb about him and the spot he is in.  We were here for the 4th of July weekend, and as those of you know running a dredge is cold hard work so it is nice to be able to take turns with people.  Well it was Doms turn to run the dredge and the rest of the group is up above him at camp relaxing around the fire when we hear Dom scream, "BRING ME A SPOON, I NEED A SPOON!"  So of course we all go to see what is going on.  Dom was very insistent on needing a spoon and at this point we still did not know why he needed a spoon.  Well the reason Dom was so frantic was, as he was dredging he uncovered a piece of gold about the size of a rice grain,  He could see it from above the water and he wanted a spoon to pick it up with.  He wanted a spoon quick because he thought it would wash away in the current,  well the current in the spot where he was working was not really that swift.  I gave him simple instructions, "Just reach down and pick it up."  He looked at me kind of skeptically, but did it, I believe that was the first large piece of Gold Dom found.

A Story to Remember!

My Father in Law Just Published a great book Where the main character is my daughter, Woohoo!  Its a gold mining story, some truth in it, some not so truths.  A little bit of history, and alot of excitement.  Those of you who know me, you will recognized some of the names in the book, some of the places.  I have included a link to the store and intro to the book below.  If interested the book may be purchased on Amazon, the name is "Talking Ice."

Here is the intro:

Lyra Winter the main character in the Novel and she is the Author’s grand daughter, three years old at the time Talking Ice was published. It is an actual account of small scale mining methods on working claims and the story is set twenty two years in the future. The Action/Adventure, Fiction is the story of a young woman who inherits mining claims on the Kenai Peninsula and all the dangers of mining and those who would do anything for the price of Gold. 

Locations on the creek, named by previous owners after special events or earlier gold discoveries have been carried through the years along with some history of the claims. Placer Bluff is at the opposite side of the main camp on the first claim, in an area that was mined by hydraulic methods. Three hundred yards up the trail is Mastel’s Dig, a large area of exposed large rocks and boulders and gravel where the most recent previous owner mined two half gallon jars of “wheat size,” gold, prior to 1990.

Dead Dog bluff is a location just past the Mastel Dig, on the right side of the trail, overlooking the creek, still using the creek, left or right designations as a reference, where a previous owner buried his dog. Midway into the next claim going north is Seven Hundred, an area on the left side of the trail on the first shelve where seven hundred ounces may have been mined using placer methods with machinery and possibly even high pressure pumps.

No records were found to authenticate the existence of the Chinese mine, but as all legend goes, it may have existed and might have been buried rather than continue the risk of a cave in. The large deposit of black Slate where the mine may have been located is so unstable, it would have been dangerous work to keep it open or even dig. The fictional account of the Chinese mine in this work of fiction was a result of conversations around a late night campfire and speculation about where the mine may have been located. The "Talking Ice," is located on the lakes West of the Authors home. The ice resounds in the deep of winter and brings images of eerie shapes and wisps moving over the ice. The sounds can be heard in the bedrooms at night and have been known to influence dreams.

I Dont Think So!

My daughter loves the tractors and every chance she gets when they are not running she climbs up on them and pretends she is driving.  We will make a gold miner out of her yet.  I must confess I too love the tractors and climb up on them whenever I get a chance, of course if she see's me getting on the tractor she will want to go for a tractor ride too.  Big repairs had to be made on this tractor this winter, so I will be getting a logbook for the tractors to track maintenance schedules,  man there is a lot more to gold mining than just mining for gold.   I love it ALL!

Everything Needs to be Cleaned.

At the end of the day we do a clean up of the material we ran all day.  We take the concentrates from the big red and blue wash plant, then run that dirt through a small mini high-banker to concentrate the material even more, we call this the end of the day clean up.  After that about a gold pan of material is left to have to work, and that is what My mother and father in law are doing in this picture, they are also the ones that take care of most of the equipment construction, like the Wash plant, Trommel, High-Banker and Bunk House.  We would not be able to mine without them.