7/26/23

I have been asked for any stories I have of when my wife and i were gold mining ,,,,,

It all starts with a gold pan ,,,,, It all ends with a gold pan . You "see" likely , or interesting or ground that "calls to you" . You take a garden trowel and fill you're pan . You work that down to the black sands ,,,, That's hematite and magnetite . Thats when the gold will show it's self . Unless all you find is leverite..... Leave it right there ...... Three to five small spots of gold is called "colors" and is a good indication that you are close to finding something worthwhile . Or that you are just pissing in the wind ,,,,,

Ok I need to tell you many if not most look to gold to pay the bills ...... It won't ,,,,, It is a good excuse to drink beer . Sometimes it will pay for the beer . If you are lucky,,,, If you really work at it ,,,,, It might buy you a used truck . Stick to it ,,, put all you got into it ,,,, It might .... If you are very lucky ,,,, It might buy you a "needs work " home . Then comes the time that you need to sell the truck ,,, Or you need to sell the "needs work still" home . Or even worse you wish you had a truck to sell . But if you did it right ,,,, If you don't get greedy ..... You will have a beer to drink and a fun camping trip .

One trip .. I took Bill Harris and Mickel Shawn to the lost lepercon to do some suction dredging , This was in deep woods behind Quincy California .

After we had set up camp and unloaded the Equpment trailer Mick asked if he could use my quad to explore the road next to my mining claim .

I told no problem ... As it gave Bill and I more time to drink beer . Now my quad ran good ,,,, But the muffler was about burned out and so was a little ......LOUD ..... Well he fired it up and spit gravel going out and Bill and I opened our first beers . Thats when we heard a really loud WHOOP scream about 50 yards away . Bill and I looked at each other and both of us asked at the same time .... WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ..... I have heard mountain lions scream , I have heard rabbits caught by mountain lions scream . I have heard elk scream . The closest to what I heard was at the San Digeo zoo ,,,,The howler monkeys going off . The further Mick got ,,, The further away that scream was . Ok . Bill and I opened our second beers ,, Now damnit we are trying to make lite of what we just heard ..... Bill said it must be a female bigfoot trying to catch Mick and is pissed off he won't slow down . I blew beer out my nose . It was about then I noticed Bill was wearing his Ruger Redhawk .44 mag and was drinking left handed . His right hand resting on his gun . As I went for my third beer , I grabbed my BlackHawk .44 mag . You could hear that burnt out muffler for more then a mile . And you could hear that WHOOP scream following the quad . And bill wouldn't shut up about the female bigfoot chasing Mick . I didn't know weather to fall down laughing or start shooting wildly into the woods . Then Mick started back ,,,,, And that scream got louder . And Bill's bigfoot jokes got cruder .. I couldn't stop laughing .... 4th beer ,,,, 5th ... Bill wouldn't stop . Mick got closer ,,,, That scream got louder .... Finally Mick rode into camp ,,shut off the quad and wanted to know what was so funny ????? Bill told him about the female bigfoot that had been chasing him .

He said "pull the other leg , Its got bells on " It was right then that damn thing screamed WHOOP , Not more then 50 yards away just inside the woods . Mick turned white as a sheet , Bill and I dove for cover . I was proud of myself as not only did I flawlessly draw my gun ,,, I didn't spill my beer . All week we knew/felt something was there watching us .