Prospecting

[Gary]

Any of you on here do any prospecting while out Jeepin on the weekends?

My brother and I have just started bringing back a bucket or two of dirt/sand and panning it. Haven't found any color to speak of yet.

What got me started was, I was way out in the desert and found an old tabacco tin in a wash. In the tin was a prosepctors quartz claim dating back to 1939. Paper was in bad bad shape, was a puzzle but got a little info off it. When i dumped the can out and tapped on it there was some small flakes of gold. Not sure if it found it's way into the can after years of being in the wash or if the prospector put some in there? The can had a quarter sized rust hole in the side of it. Anyways this got me going so I checked with the BLM online to see if there was a claim filed in 1939 in this specific area. I only found one claim filed in 1939 in the desert. Don't think it was the same person. Claim was expired long ago anyways.

After doing some research I found out it's very easy to file a claim.

I know I'll probably never strike it rich but it sure ads to the fun of jeepin on the weekends.

[Roger]

I have been a little "poking around" lately. It's a lot of fun. I do expect to find the Mojave Desert Mother Load! That will supplement my retirement just fine!

That claim you found is a treasure in itself. When my middle son was about 12 he came home with a tobbaco tin with claim papers in it. He may even still have it. He's 29 now.

[Gary]

Yeah it's kinda neat. Finding this tabacco tin with the claim in it kinda revived my interest in this sort of stuff. When I was a little kid my parents use to take my brothers and I up to a ranch in Acton. The ranch had a stream flowing thru it. One day I was sitting on the bank with my feet in the water and I flipped a rock over. Under the rock was a old pocket watch. I always wondered how it got there and how long it was in that stream. I think thats when I started getting curious about the history of the area.

One things for sure, we have it a lot easier than the early prospectors had it.

[Ol Man]

I have come across a couple of folk doing some dry panning up in the Big Bear area. One was friendly and showed what he had found and jewelry they had made.

[blackZZR]

Most people kin da will laugh at you if you do. I usually will get a few ounces every year so it pays for all yhe equiptment I own. Azasa canyon is much better than BB. I run a sluicf or a high banker. However I always have the pan with me and stop a lot to pan or dry pan, last year I sold about three grand of dust.

[Mitch]

Gary,

There are a few that are bringing home material to pan. I do know of someone in our group that has had a recent success. So it is worth checking out places we have been going to. Ords, Fry's, Big Bear......... Happy hunting

Mitch

[blackZZR]

Most of my sucess has been in Azusa canyon. I have found small amounts in the areas east of big bear, biggest problem you have is getting to know where gold is.

[Gary]

Yeah I've also heard Azusa is a good spot for this. I use to live down the hill and 4 wheeled in Azusa as a teenager, never really thought about gold being there back then. LOL.

I was just thinking, it might of taken early prospectors their entire lives to cover the ground we can cover in our jeeps in just a few months. Although covering the ground as fast as we do it is always possible to miss something they might of seen while walking it. I still think we have a huge advantage over the early prospectors.

I have a lot to learn about prospecting. I've found quarts with black all thru it and a few tiny specks of gold, a few guys have told me it's good indicator that there could be a lot of gold there. The question is how deep is it going to be in the mountain? Getting it out of rock requires a lot of hard work.Those ealy miners worked hard for their money.
I also found an area with what looks like gold dust, it's kinda chunked together with dirt and breaks apart real easy. I need to buy a gold tester and test it. If it turns out to be gold dust I could of hit the mother lode because I've found a lot of it. It'll probably turn out to be fools gold. LOL

Like I was saying it just ads to the fun of exploring the desert in my jeep. At least I'm getting some good exercise hiking around a bit.

[Roger]

I definetely like picking around looking for gold. I have been carrying a miner's pick/hammer, small pry bar, 3 lb single jack sledge hammer, & a gold pan.

I recently read "Where to find gold in the Desert". Very basic but pretty good reading.

[Gary]

I was thinking about picking up a copy of that book. Seen it on a website yesterday. Besides my normal tools, I'm carrying some prospecting gear also. Gonna need some air shocks or over load springs if I don't stop adding stuff. LOL

[Schmo]

I didn't know this, but Rickashay told me that you have to have some type of documentation with you if you plan to do this kinda thing and can face some nasty fines if a ranger sees you out there without the proper claim rights or whatever it's called.

[Gary]

Yeah thatnks for the heads up. I've been reading for weeks now about this stuff in my spare time. I still have some reading to do.

If your on an active claim your not suppose to do any prospecting, mining or anything like that. I'm researching the areas I'm visiting before going out, the areas I go to are all either closed/inactive claims or areas that have never had a claim filed. The closed claims may have been closed for a few different reasons but the majority just let the claims expire. Every year a claim holder has to pay fees to keep his claim active.

A website for investigating if a claim is active or inactive is,

http://www.geocommunicator.gov/GeoComm/index.shtm

once there click on the mining claim map.

Before going out rock hounding, meteorite hunting or any type of prospecting I recommend visiting the BLM website and reading up. A person could easily get in trouble.

For instance when it comes to meteorites, I've read where you can go to Prison, get a $100,000.00 fine and lose the vehicle you drove to the site.

When it comes to stone/rocks I've read that your allowed to take a trunk load.

I read in a old newspaper article where some guy found a 8.7 oz nugget here in the desert metal detecting. It was the largest nugget ever found out here. The guy has been offered $20,000.00 for it and said no thanks. The offer exceeds the current value if you just go by weight. Because it's the largest nugget ever found the guys holding out for more money. I'd almost bet the BLM wanted to know exactly where he found it and if he had a claim for the area. LOL

[Britain]

I carry a Whites gold master detector. Good enough to check if theres any trace to come back to later.

Plenty of small mines in the areas I back pack into some new claims also.

Got my eye on an area which seems to have a lot of boot prints and its not from hikers....

[4rheel]

I use to take the family to the Red Mountain area and fill 5 gal buckets up and bring it home,we always found color in almost every pan. nothing big but color. the devore wash between keewood and cleghorn holds gold and garnets ,lytle creek can work too if you can get thru the diapers and trash.
use to 4 wheel Azusa cyn back in the 70's in my fj40 and did some prospecting on the east fork,can be a real productive area.
Rich:gun:

[chris142]

Gary. Ck your PM box