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Important note concerning Mining & Dredging Seasons on this Property

Google Earth Coordinates: 41 52’43.0″N 122 33’18.0″W

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This property adjoins UK-3 at the lower-end. The upper boundary adjoins private property. Watch for our boundary sign on a tree next to Klamathon Road, near the fence which marks the private property (look for the sign which says “Tres Amigos”).

PROSPECTS: The prospects for high-grade gold deposits to be present on UK-3A are excellent. This is because all or most of the gold which Club members have been recovering from the other UK properties during the past 2 years has washed downriver directly across UK-3A. As high-grade gold deposits exist throughout the several-mile stretch of river just downstream, it is a near certainty that they will also exist on this new property.

Recent large winter storms have made fresh cuts into original streambed along the edges of the river on this property. This indicates that the old-time miners overlooked the area, as they did along our other UK properties just downstream, where nearly the entire bottom of the river is virgin of earlier mining activity.

Aggressive sampling will be necessary to locate the rich gold deposits, because this stretch of river does not include any significant directional changes to help concentrate the main gold path along one side of the river or the other. There is a nice natural riffle (short section of faster water) at the top end of the property which should help create some pay-streaks.

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Upper Klamath :: Upper-mid Klamath :: Mid Klamath :: Lower Klamath
Elk Creek :: Indian Creek :: Scott River :: Thompson Creek
Salmon River Main Stem :: Salmon River North Fork
Master List of Mining Properties

 

 


By Marc Rogers

Chuck and Chris Carfrae have a rich and varied background in gold prospecting and treasure hunting. Their interest began in 1974 when they took a vacation up through the Mother Lode area of California. While there, they decided to try their hand at gold panning.

They didn’t have much luck until they saw a sign offering panning lessons for $2. Their teacher was an old miner who “didn’t hesitate to tell you if you weren’t doing it right,’ and after taking the lessons they fared much better. They finished up that vacation with a week spent on the Feather River where they found 1/4 ounce of gold, panning! They decided that if they could do that well panning, they should get some equipment, so Chris bought Chuck a 2 1/2-inch dredge for Christmas.

The following season they found almost an ounce with Chuck’s little dredge, so Chuck bought Chris a 3-inch dredge with air the next Christmas. They bought a motorhome so they could be comfortable while they dredged, and at home they joined a local club, the PCSC (Prospector’s Club of Southern California), and have continued to be active in the club for many years. Through club outings they gained knowledge and interest in metal detecting and drywashing, bought equipment to participate, and by this time were planning all their vacations around dredging. They spent a number of years visiting different areas of the Mother Lode, eventually dredging every major river from the Merced to the Yuba.

One year they wanted to do something different, so they flew back to Georgia on vacation, taking their smallest dredge, and rented a car. They went first to the Dahlonega area where they spent time dredging and finding gold, and visiting local mines and miners. Then they moved on to Franklin, North Carolina, and other nearby areas, where they dug in the gem fields.

They then visited nearby relatives who told them of a Civil War battlefield where they thought they might detect. After receiving permission from the owner, they recovered numerous minie balls, one of which was unusual. They found that it was a special one shot intermittently to clean the gun. They then moved on to Norfolk, Virginia, where they detected some of the old canals, and made several good finds, the best find being a very old ruby ring which Chris found.

The next year they decided to try detecting in Hawaii. They found most people detected in the mornings. Since there were a lot of nighttime shows on the beach, and all the lights from the hotels provided plenty of light, they did their detecting about 11 p.m., after seeing one of the shows. They had very good luck, and came home with a nice bunch of jewelry and coins.

Both Chuck and Chris have a very mischievous twinkle to the eye, and you know that whatever they do, it will be interesting. So when you hear about the unusual finds they’ve made while dredging, it doesn’t surprise you too much. Most people consider themselves lucky if they find one good cache in their lifetime. Chuck and Chris have found two, and they weren’t even looking for them. They found them dredging and panning!

The first was on some property they own in the Mother Lode area, which has a small creek. They were vacationing and panning in and around some rocks, since there was not enough water to dredge. The material was very hardpacked, and Chuck was having a hard time breaking it loose. He finally got a pan full, and was swirling it around as he worked at loosening it all up when he found a hard rectangular object in the pan. After cleaning it up they could see that it was a hard leather case.

Taking a screwdriver, Chuck worked the case open to find it was full of dirt. He was using the screwdriver to scoop the dirt out when a coin popped into view! They hurriedly got another pan and carefully scooped the contents of the case into it, then carefully panned off the dirt. What they were left with was 19 coins and two gold nuggets. The nuggets were 3 dwt. and 2 dwt. in size; the coins consisted of 3 silver dollars, one $5 gold piece, and 14 half dollars. All were from before the turn of the century. They later learned that the case was an 1870 Spencer rifle bullet case.

When they found this cache, Chuck and Chris didn’t even know what the gold coin was. They thought perhaps it was a token of some kind. They took it to a coin shop in a nearby town, and asked if they could identify it. The store owner told Chuck it was “just an old coin,” and he would give him $25 for it. Chuck almost took it, but finally decided to keep the coin. He later found that the gold coin was worth $350.

The second cache was found on the Klamath River, on New 49’er claims. They had just joined The New 49’ers, and came up to spend a vacation dredging club claims on the Klamath River. Chris was dredging in a shallow spot that bordered an area that had already been dredged by someone else. While she was working a large rock fell on her leg. A trip to the local doctor showed nothing broken, but the doctor told her to stay off the leg for a few days.

At the end of that time Chuck thought Chris should dredge first so she wouldn’t build up a fear after being hurt. While she dredged, Chuck sat on a rock nearby, panning concentrates left from the day Chris hurt her leg. Just as he was picking out the nice pieces of gold to put in the bottle, the pan tipped, and all the gold fell back into the water. The bedrock was clean and smooth there, so he had Chris stop dredging and he maneuvered the dredge so he could pick the gold back up with the nozzle.

When he started picking up the gold it didn’t all come. Some of it had fallen into a crevice, and was scattered along the bottom of it. He worked the crevice as far as he could, but it went under a large boulder. He felt around underneath as far as he could, and it felt like smooth bedrock but, thinking that some of it could still be in the crevice underneath, he got the pry bar and worked until he moved the boulder over. When he went back down, he could see there was some hardpacked streambed there. It was packed so hard, in fact, that the nozzle couldn’t even budge it! He used the bar to loosen it up, and then worked the nozzle in a back and forth motion to try to clean the area down to the crevice. All of a sudden he saw something shiny and large. He laid the nozzle down and waited for the water to clear. Chuck says, “All I could see was a pile of shiny coins.”

At this point he stopped dredging and worked with the pry bar until he’d completely moved the large boulder out of the way. Then he began working the material very carefully. At one point he came across a piece of wood, so he carefully removed all the material around it, but as soon as he touched it, it disintegrated in his hand, turning the water almost purple.

When he finished cleaning out the spot he had a hole about 3 feet in diameter, and 12 to 18 inches deep. Their cache consisted of 35 silver dollars and 3-five dollar gold coins! They have them in safekeeping with their other finds. They decided they didn’t want to even clean them. The newest of the coins was a 1927 silver dollar. The boulder that covered the cache was about the size of an office desk, so they think the cache was lost possibly in a flood, and the boulder came to rest on it some time later. Last year Chuck and Chris went to Alaska and carried their dredge on the truck for 72 days before they found a place they could dredge. They report that there were a lot of places where you could pan, but not many where you could dredge. As always, however, they enjoyed their trip.

They finished their vacation in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, at the World Goldpanning Championships, where Chuck and Chris entered the competition. Chris was the only American woman entered, and she won the beginner’s competition!

They spent an entire week there, joining in parties every evening with German, English, French, Swedish, and other competitors, and in making friends from all 17 countries represented. Chris says “We didn’t even have trouble communicating with the people who spoke no English. We enjoyed visiting with all of them! We traded pins and sweatshirts, and had a great time. We were even loaned Klondike pans from the group from Great Britain, to use in the competition.”

Whatever else they do next summer, you can bet that there will be a lot of fun involved. Chuck and Chris are great people to be around. They are eager to pitch in and help anyone with almost anything. One thing for sure, if there are any organized activities going on, and Chuck and Chris are around, they will be in the forefront of the activity. Speaking for both of them, Chuck has said it this way: “The most fun is being directly involved; to be helping the people who are getting things accomplished.”

This article was first published in Gold & Treasure Hunter magazine.

 

By Dave McCracken

It’s much better to make your deal to work someone else’s mining property before you locate high-grade gold there!

Dave Mack

Dealings with the owners of mining property should be accomplished in detail before a gold prospector or miner begins sampling around on those particular mining properties. This is for the gold prospector’s protection. I have seen it happen quite a few times where a prospector makes a generalized verbal agreement with a claim owner, whereby the prospector is given permission to prospect around on the property with the idea that they will make a “fair deal” if anything valuable is discovered. An arrangement like this might feel more comfortable than hammering out the details of a structured deal before gold is found. But things always look entirely different to everyone involved once a good pay-streak is located on the property!

Before a pay-streak is found, the mining claim does not necessarily carry any great amount of value to the bargaining table, because no one knows for sure if there is even any acceptable pay-dirt on the property. This is the best bargaining position for the gold miner! Under these conditions, a ten percent deal is very standard within the industry. That is 90% to the person doing the mining. What I mean by this is that a royalty of 10% of the gross (total) gold recovery will be directed to the owner of the property that is being mined.

Once a rich pay-streak is found, if a specific percentage deal has not already been established between the miner and property owner, the mining property suddenly becomes very valuable; and the mining claim owner is in a position to be asking for just about any percentage that he or she chooses. His position will now be that a treasure has been located on his claim, and all that is needed is for someone to come in and develop the deposit. And, of course, he is right!

I have seen it happen that a general deal was made between the gold prospector and a property owner “to be worked out in detail if pay-dirt is found.” Once the prospectors located the pay-streak, the claim owner believed he was entitled to 50% of the gross gold recovery. “After all, it is rich pay-dirt on my claim, and all you have to do is dredge it up: 50%–take it or leave it!” A property owner has the upper legal hand unless you make some kind of firm agreement that allows you the right to develop the gold deposit(s) which you discover on his property. So it is not a good idea to strengthen a property owner’s bargaining position by finding a pay-streak on his property before you finalize a percentage deal. Some final arrangement should be made before sampling is started, with the value of the mining property taken at face value at that time.

Just like in partnership deals, the arrangement with a property owner should be thoroughly discussed: Is the royalty going to be ten percent of recovered gold weight? Or, is it going to be ten percent of the complete range of nuggets, flakes, and fines? Is the split to be done on a daily basis? A weekly basis? Monthly? At the end of the season? Does the owner want to see the gold split up? How many dredges or sluices can you use on the property? Does the agreement allow you an exclusive right? Or might you find yourself competing with other gold miners on the same property? These are the types of things that need to be agreed upon during the very early stages.

The time frame is another thing that should always be discussed with a property owner. You should be comfortable that the property owner is not going to suddenly decide that your time is up on the claim, until after you have had a reasonable opportunity to mine out the high-grade deposit(s) that you have discovered there.

One of the richest gold deposits I located in my early years was turned over to one of my competitors by the claim owner, because my competitor made an offer to give the owner 20% of the gold recovery (from a deposit that I discovered). My deal with the claim owner was 10%, because no underwater deposits had ever been located there before my arrival. But because there was no discussion about my exclusive rights to what I discovered, or how long I could mine on the claim, when my competitor offered the owner a higher percentage, I was told I had to stop mining immediately and move on. That was real disappointing!

If you are not receiving an exclusive right to prospect and mine on the property, it is very important to work out an arrangement that at least allows you an exclusive right to develop any pay-streak that you are able to locate on the claim. Build some protection into the deal so you can be sure that a competitor is not going to be allowed to move in on your pay-streaks; or in the case of dredging, that no one else is to be allowed to move onto the claim up in front of you and cloud you out with their tailings.

Competitors come crawling out of the woodwork, once a rich gold deposit has been exposed. Expect that people are around who will try to figure out how to get some part of it, and they will be in there trying their hardest. The main idea behind structuring good agreements in advance is to minimize the amount of conflict and confusion which nearly always results when high-grade is brought into the picture. Well-structured deals with your partners and the property owner will usually allow you to get directly to the business of recovering gold.

It is not always necessary or possible to get agreements in writing with property owners. Some people simply do not like to commit themselves to anything in writing, and you cannot push it without causing the person to tell you to just get lost. This does not necessarily mean that these people are lacking in integrity. There are some people around who may consider that there is probably something wrong with your character if a hand shake is not good enough to seal a deal. You will have to find your own way through all this as you go along. However, the more you put at stake on a single mining property, the more important it is to have a written agreement that covers the main concerns.

These are the rules of the game that you will be playing. So it is wise to discuss them long enough, and thoroughly enough, to insure that everyone directly involved understands the essential details and are in full agreement with them.

PERCENTAGE DEALS

In small-scale mining such as hand-sluicing and suction dredging, for the most part, at least in most of the places where I have operated for the past 30 years, the property owner usually receives ten percent of what a dredging operation recovers off of his property. I am talking about 10% off the top of the gross recovery.

I believe that it is excessive to pay more than 10% to a property owner, if I have to locate the pay-dirt myself. If the property owner can tell me right where the high-grade has already been located, and it is just a matter of my going in there and developing an established gold deposit, maybe a higher percentage might be justified, depending upon how rich the location is. Seeing is believing!

This mostly comes back to basic economics. You are paying for the mining and support equipment in the first place. You are going to pay the operating expenses, the repairs on your gear, and the living expenses for yourself and your crew. You are doing all the hard work. You are taking nearly all the risk. This is all on the possibility that there might not even be any high-grade on the property in the first place. Twenty percent is too much of a demand by a property owner under these conditions. But some will ask or insist. So I just walk away. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of proven mining property available to you these days!

One thing to keep strongly in mind while negotiating a mining property deal, is that the bigger piece of the pie you agree to pay the property owner, the less percentage of the pie that you will end up with as your own reward after all the other expenses are paid. This means that the more you agree to pay, the richer the gold deposit has to be in order for you to make anything for your effort. While giving away a higher percentage might not seem very important before you sample an area, just remember that there is a lot of pay-dirt around that will meet your minimum requirements on a 10% deal, which might not meet those very same requirements if you must pay 20% to the property owner.

Please keep this in mind: We are talking about giving away a portion of the gross (total) gold recovery. You will still have to pay yourself back for your investment in the mining gear, set up of the operation, repairs, operation expenses, and then split what is left over with the other guys who are helping you on the mining operation. Or perhaps they are also receiving a portion of the total gold for their participation. In a marginal pay-streak, the only person who might be making anything from all your hard work is the property owner! Or, after everything settles out, you might discover that everybody involved is making something, except you! So it can undermine the entire viability of your project if you agree to give away some higher percentage of your gross gold recovery to the property owner or anyone else. When someone asks for an additional 5% or 10% of your gross recovery, the number does not sound like very much. But in the end, that person could be making more gold from your mining operation than you are!

Some years ago, a person hired me to help him set up a production dredging operation in Cambodia. The guy was very excited about his prospects for success, based upon some very positive results that I obtained in a different area of the same country. But in order to gain all of the necessary permits and licenses over there in a hurry, he ultimately agreed to give away 90% of his gross gold and gemstone recovery to various officials in the country! And he had not even sampled for a deposit yet!

I did not find out about this until I arrived over there and got into a discussion with him about what percentage of gold he was planning to give the guys who would operate the equipment. He was asking me to help him arrange an experienced dredging team from the west. His idea of a partnership arrangement was to allow the crew to split 2% of the gross recovery. Here is an example of someone who liberally gave away the whole pie! Nice guy! Because he had already made his deal with the officials, they were unapproachable on the subject of a renegotiation. Since he could never get help from an experienced crew in exchange for such a low portion of the recovery, the operation never even got started. But the guy did end up losing all his gear and his full life’s savings trying to set it all up. Moral of the story? The more of the pie (especially the gross recovery-pie) that you give away to others, the less chance your operation will succeed, and the less chance the other pie-holders will get much out of it, either.

For a claim owner to ask, without a good and visible reason, for some unusually high percentage of the total gold recovery, he is inviting the dredgers to set their personal integrity aside and steal from him, and he most likely will end up receiving less than what would be reasonable. I have talked with a lot of miners over the years, and have found that for the most part, unreasonable property owners usually get treated unreasonably!

KEEPING QUIET

One good way to get yourself into all kinds of trouble, is to start yelling and screaming out your excitement for the whole world to hear when you have just made some kind of gold discovery. This is just as true even it is just a little find – or even if you are just goofing off! Those people who hear you and your excitement imagine gold finds and bonanzas probably far better than what you are actually into. That includes the property owner. If you make big noise about a small find, word is likely to get around, and the property owner might start wondering if he is being cheated!

On the other hand, if you find something nice and contain your excitement, it will be a pleasant surprise to the claim owner when you pay your royalty and he gets more than he or she expected. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying to withhold information from the property owner. I am advising you to not allow your own excitement and enthusiasm to create false perceptions which can thereafter get you into trouble.

When a person suddenly starts to do really good at something, there might someone else around who wants to make some trouble. This can be especially true when you start turning up high-grade gold deposits! It is better to not advertise for trouble!

When you are into a high-grade pay-streak, as difficult as it may be to do, it is good policy to keep pretty quiet about it until after you have finished cleaning it up. Then you can make all the noise you want to, as long as what you are saying is true. But while you are into it, if you do not tell anyone who doesn’t really need to know, you are less likely to become distracted by others who would like to get in on a piece of your action.

One other note on this: Since pay-streaks usually form in groups, where you find one, it is likely there are one or two more in the immediate vicinity. Perhaps the others are even richer! So there is something to be said about keeping things on the quiet side until some later time when there is not so much at stake.

BUYING MINING CLAIMS

Mining claims sell for just about any amount, depending upon how much value is being attached to them. Notice I didn’t say: “How much value they really contain!” Mining claims can sell for $200, or they can sell for a million dollars!

The best way to determine the actual value that a mining claim holds for you, is to thoroughly sample it. If you are thinking about buying a mining claim that you intend to dredge, it is not good enough to take samples up on the banks with a gold pan. It really takes going out there with your equipment and dredging sample holes to obtain an accurate idea of how valuable the claim is going to be to you as a gold dredger. It also is not good enough to dredge just one or two sample holes and stop there if you find pay-dirt. If you are going to pay a lot of money for the claim, it is wise to dredge more holes to see how long and wide the pay-streak actually is. Sometimes you can choose just the right spot to dredge (or the seller tells you where to dredge) a sample hole and put down in beautiful pay-dirt, only to find out later that it was a single deposit, or a very small pay-streak! This can be very misleading. I have seen it happen a few times!

If a claim owner is asking a lot of money for a mining claim, based upon his assurances that it is “very rich,” then he should have no objections to you doing some testing to see for yourself. It would be unreasonable for a seller to expect you to rely entirely upon his assurances. By the way, under the circumstances where someone is telling you how much gold they dug or dredged from the property, ask immediately to see the pictures! What, they got all that gold and didn’t bother to take any pictures? Seems unlikely to me! If there are pictures, match up the background to make sure it is the same property?

Watch out for the seller who plays it up real big and tries to get you so excited about all the gold you are going to recover, that you do not feel the need to do any testing! “Oh man, this claim is so hot that it kills me to sell it—but I’m too old to work it and I need the money …” This is where the con-man is going to try and get you.

When dealing with mining claims, if it is worth a lot of money, then it is definitely worth a lot of sampling first!

Another way that you can get stung on a mining claim deal, is by buying one from someone who does not really own it, or by paying royalties to someone who has given you permission to mine on the claim, but who does not really own it.

With some research, you can locate any active mining claim in the County Recorder’s Office and the Bureau of Land Management records, and find out who really owns it and make sure the yearly paperwork has been kept up. At the same time, you can research to see if anyone else has filed a mining claim over the very same location. If two or more people have filed mining claims over the same ground, future conflicts are likely, so it may be wise to look for another mining claim.

Perhaps it is not necessary when you first make a percentage deal over a claim with a person who apparently owns it. But if you get into large amounts of gold, it could be worth the little time it takes to verify who the actual owner is.

Or, rather than buy a mining property, perhaps the better idea is to join up with a prospecting organization that freely makes mining property available to its members. You can turn up a large number of such organizations simply by doing some word searches on the Internet. Just as an example, our organization makes 60+ miles of gold-bearing property available to our members at the cost of just a small fraction of what a single mining claim would cost to buy in the very same area.

 

 

Google Earth Coordinates: 42 25’ 33.8”N, 123 14’ 35.8W

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Pearce Riffle Park Access 20

River Access, Boat Launch Ramp, Parking, Bathrooms

This is a relatively small park. There is another Pearce Park about one mile from here, which doesn’t have a boat launch so we did not include it as an access point.

Click on thumbnails to view images full size.

Upper Klamath :: Upper-mid Klamath :: Mid Klamath :: Lower Klamath
Elk Creek :: Indian Creek :: Scott River :: Thompson Creek
Salmon River Main Stem :: Salmon River North Fork
Master List of Mining Properties

 

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Legal Affairs

 

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FIRST QUARTER, JANUARY 2010 VOLUME 24, NUMBER 1
Dave Mack

By Dave McCracken General Manager

 

 

 

 

 

Gold in panHigh-banking

Clarence and Cindy and Adelma Kaiser show off some gold they mined at K-15A using a home-made high-banker. Look for the full story in next month’s newsletter!

As most of our subscribers are aware, California has placed a temporary moratorium on suction dredging until the State completes an update of the Environmental Impact Statement which supports our suction dredge regulations. The process is already well underway. We have created a special page on our web site so you can follow the progress if you are interested. While the process is moving along, we do not expect it to be completed in time for the 2010 dredging season in California. So we have identified around 40 miles of suction dredging opportunity in Southern Oregon for our members who prefer this type of gold prospecting (see below).

The moratorium on suction dredging in California only stops suction dredging within California’s active waterways. It does not have anything to do with the other types of prospecting or mining that we do. Unaffected prospecting activities include panning, sniping & vack-mining, sluicing & high-banking, electronic prospecting and other types of prospecting that do not use a suction nozzle within an active stream, river or creek. It also does not affect our group weekend projects.

There are no seasons imposed upon these other types of mining activity. In other words, you can do them at any time of the year.

Please be advised that these other types of mining activity along New 49’er properties are subject to a strict set of Surface Mining Operational Guidelines.

Fantastic Prize Blowout; Here are the Winners!

Fantastic Prize Blowout!

1. Daniel Cutshall: Grand prize trip to Alaska from Roger Larson
2. Richard Godbey: Minelab Eureka metal detector by Steve Herschbach
3. North American Miners Association: Garrett Infinium metal detector by Garrett
4. Raymond Powell: Keene 3-inch Combo High-banker by Keene Engineering
5. Jem Payne: Blue BowlKkit donated by Frank Sullivan, Pioneer Mining
6. Frank & Catherine Omstead: Whites (slightly used) GMT Metal detector by Dan Robinson
7. Terry Stednick: 3-inch Proline Combo High-banker by Jeff Kuykendall at Proline
8. Eric J Poos: Micro Sluice 2 by Martin Hach at Micro Sluice Gold Products
9. William Finnegan: BuckABilly Sluice donated by Bill & Shelley Webb
10. Tom Chambers: BuckABilly Sluice donated by Bill & Shelley Webb
11. James Newell: 2-speed Mechanical Winch with Honda motor and high-speed winder donated by Michael Dunn
12. Jerry Van Myden: Extraordinary Platter, created by Lonnie Harris McDowall ‘Old man panningâ?
13. Tom Chambers: HystWare Computer Software program for windows
14. Raymond Perry: Bazooka Gold Trap donated by Bazooka Gold Company
15. Alexander Anderson: New H2 Odyssey wet suit donated by Gary Standefer
16. Steve Trent: Beautiful Hand-made Pendent donated by JoAnne McClure
17. Daniel Cutshall: 25-troy ounce silver bar with Whites emblem on it, by Whites Electronics
18. Trent Pierce: 1-ounce silver round by Mr. Anonymous
19. Prospectors Club of Southern California: 1-ounce silver round
20. Flint Stearns: 1-ounce silver round
21. Gary Standefer: 1-ounce silver round
22. Randy Green: 1-ounce silver round
23. John Morone: 1-ounce silver round
24. Willamette Valley Miners: 1-ounce silver round
25. Judy Shirey: 1-ounce silver round
26. George R Skog: 1-ounce silver round
27. Del Miller: 1-ounce silver round
28. Ray Creson: Certificate for Wines Camp Gold Mining Trip, donated by Dave Rutan of Oregon
29. Gene & Diana Clayton: Certificate for Wines Camp Gold Mining Trip, donated by Dave Rutan of Oregon
30. Jerry Van Muyden: Certificate for Wines Camp Gold Mining Trip, donated by Dave Rutan of Oregon
31. Kenneth Payne: 10-inch Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica
32. Julius Stegman: 10″ Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica
33. Brandon Rinehart: 10″ Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica
34. Bela & Barb Kovacs: 10″ Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica
35. Randy Green:

10″ Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica
36. George Skog: 10″ Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica
37. Dave Thomas: 10″ Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica
38. Myrna Karns: Certificate for Rachel Dunn’s fabulous Chocolates
39. Bela & Barb Kovacs: 18th Century Collectable Coin from Stan Meager
40. Paul Hillery: Beautiful Gold Nugget Picture called “Sierra Gold” by William Lundeen
41. Ron Griffin: $50 Gift Certificate for the Miner’s Cache by Chip Hess
42. Bill Jonsson: 10″ Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica
43. Jan Stromme: 10″ Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica
44. Frank Mastrilli: 10″ Blue Gold Pan with instructions donated by Bill Lamica

Congratulations to all of our winners!

We Raised $33,536 for Industry Defense!

Here is how our legal fund did during this latest fund raiser (between 7 July 09 and January 4 2010):

We brought in a total of $33,536.70 to the legal fund. We expended $34,241.45 directly to legal and lobbying expenses (this means only to attorneys and lobbyists).

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you loyal supporters out there who have been helping us keep up the good fight — and also all of the venders and individuals who contributed prizes to our drawing.

We should all pause for a moment and give ourselves a pat on the back for doing a great job. We are still in the game!

On a more sober note, our legal fund contains $1,128.18 as I write this newsletter, and we owe $11,224.03 for past legal services to our attorneys. Our legal expenses will continue. So I encourage everyone to please keep helping us to pay our specialists.

Even though we are not yet advertising the next fund-raiser, our girls will automatically create prize tickets in your name (for the next prize drawing) for all contributions that we receive (this began immediately after the drawing was completed on 4 January).

I met with Jim Yerby a few days ago, and he says we are already off to a good start in bringing in new prizes for the next drawing.

In addition to that, long-time highly-supportive member, Steve Kleszyk, has organized a ‘Pound of Gold for the Legal Fundâ? campaign on our Internet Message forum. So far, we have brought in nearly 3 ounces of gold. Likely, we will use some or all of the gold received in this program as prizes in the next big legal fund-raiser.

Thanks for whatever you can do to help us continue to pay the legal and lobbying specialists who are defending our industry!

Donate

2010 Winter & Spring Show Schedule

All members are invited and encouraged to participate in our booth at the following shows. We have a lot of fun. Doing these shows allows us to share some quality time together outside of Happy Camp.

GPAA Gold show Lancaster California
A big thank you goes out to Mike Belza, Mike & Rachel Dunn, Sean Hart and Shawn Higbee — all who helped in our booth at the GPAA gold show in Lancaster (California) on 16 & 17 January.”

If you can work a day or two into helping us, please contact Montine or Myrna in our office so we can schedule and plan on your help. Montine or Myrna can be reached at (530) 493-2012.

February13 & 14, 2010: Arizona State Fairgrounds (602-257-7118) Phoenix, Arizona

February 20 & 21, 2010: Fresno Fairgrounds (559-650-3247) Fresno, California

March 20 & 21, 2010: Puyallup Fair and Events Center (253-845-1771) Puyallup, Washington

March 27 & 28, 2010: Oregon State Fair Center (503-947-3247) Salem, Oregon

April 17 & 18, 2010: South Point Hotel and Casino (702-797-8052) Las Vegas, Nevada

We Have Suction Dredge Opportunities in Oregon

Oregon’s annual suction dredge permit presently costs $25 per year for both residents and non-residents.

We struck high-grade gold on our dredge sampling project along the Rogue River. So you will be hearing much more from us during the next few months about how we intend to support our members who wish to operate your dredges over there. We are in the process of printing maps and an Access Guide for all members who wish to suction dredge during the 2010 season. Members are invited to contact our office for more information.

Meanwhile, as you know, we continue to have the best high-banking opportunities anywhere — along the Klamath River in Northern California for members who prefer prospecting for gold above the water.

 

 

SECOND QUARTER, MAY 2009 VOLUME 23, NUMBER 4

By Dave McCracken General Manager

Note: This was originally intended to be the April 2009 newsletter. But I have been pretty certain that we were finally going to close a deal on the purchase of a hot new mining claim. So I have been holding off for the past few weeks, hoping to bring you this great news in time for the start of the season. And here we are in May! Because this is going out so late, I am calling it the “May Newsletter.”

 

Many of you will remember a few years ago when we decided to let go of several mining properties along the lower main stem of the Salmon River, that I said we had our eyes on some very special areas which we wanted to purchase along the Klamath River. I am very happy to announce that we have just purchased one of those properties. This property is located in the heart of the Gottville Mining District, which historically was one of the richest areas for placer mining along the Klamath River. This new mining property will soon be found on our maps and claims guide as the K-2A, Gottville Mining Claim.

Location: This property is located around 4 miles upstream from the community of Klamath River. The upper boundary sign is posted on a tree near mile marker 92:33. The lower boundary sign is posted on a tree near mile marker 91:83. You can get onto this claim using Google Earth by using the following coordinates: 41 51’31.3″N 122 45’1.5″W

Access: There is a really nice developed USFS river access which can be found at mile marker 92:14. A high-quality, permanent toilet facility exists there, along with a special disabled parking location. There is even a special sidewalk to allow disabled persons more-easy access to the river. As other river users make use of this developed access, we will please need to be very mindful to not block the access with our own activity. By this, I mean we will not be doing any camping down on the river access, and any parking must be accomplished in such a way as to not block access to others who will want to get in there with boat trailers and turn around.

There is also some pretty good access on the far side of the river. The best way to get over there is to drive down river on Highway-96 to the Walker Road Bridge (at mile marker 84:04), turn left, and drive about 7 miles upriver on a pretty good road which exists on the far side of the river. We have our claim boundaries posted over there, as well.

Camping on upper-end of claim

Camping on other side of river

Camping: There is a limited-sized camping area on the Highway-96 side of the river towards the top-end of the claim. There is a larger camping area at the river access area on the other side of the river. It would be smart to look at either one of these before deciding to drive RV’s down into them (to make sure you can get back out of there!). By the way, there is developed fresh water on the claim flowing from spring on the far side of the river.

As is true on any of our properties, you are only allowed to camp there if you bring along some sort of self-containment system (and use it) to take care of your personal business. We have very low-cost systems available in the store that will meet even the lowest budgets. Please be mindful that our internal affairs people will be looking in on all campers to make sure you have a self-contained system (portable toilet) present. No exceptions!
In my own view, for members who intend to work on this new claim, the best camping available is located on K-2 at Skeahan Bar, which is located just three miles upriver. Skeahan Bar provides an extensive camping area. It is also a really good place to mine!

Prospects: This section of river has perhaps the most proven rich mining history of all our mining properties. As I have repeated over and over in my books, the best way I personally know of to establish rich gold deposits today is to go to the exact areas where the old-timers found them. To see where the old-timers struck it rich, just look for where they left the large rock piles behind. You will find more huge old rock piles in the Gottville Mining District, than anywhere else along the Klamath River. There are a bunch of them on this new claim!

When looking at these single, stand-alone rock piles, it is important to understand what they are. Most of them were not formed off the backside of some massive gold recovery systems. In other words, they are not actually “tailings.” The huge single piles, as we see them on this new claim, were mostly associated with large, mechanized derricks. These were used to drag buckets of material and boulders out of large hand-excavations that were being dug out in the river – or sometimes in the bars alongside the river.

The old-timers would construct diversions (called “wing dams”) out in the active river to direct the water’s flow around where they wanted to dig. Then they would roll and shovel river-material into a large bucket or sling down in their excavations and use the derrick (often powered by a steam winch) to drag the material out of their way and into huge piles alongside their active excavations. They did this to get themselves down to the deeper pay-layers, just like we do these days. In other words, the material you see in these piles consists of the overburden and big rocks that the old-timers dragged out of their holes so that they could gain access to the richer pay-layers that were present deeper in the streambed.

Most often, the material you see in these big piles on the banks was never processed for gold-content. This explains why some of our members are already starting to recover gold out of the huge piles on the new claim (we posted the signs a few days ago, and members are already getting started). It also explains why some of our members have been doing so well processing the huge piles along other sections of the Klamath River.

Here are a few important things to understand about the huge piles:

1) Wherever you see them, you know the old-timers were working very rich ground. Because, even though a mechanized derrick was used to drag the material into a pile, it was all hand-work that placed the material into the buckets in the first place. Take a look at the size of those piles! They represent an enormous amount of organized physical effort! That labor had to be paid for. Mining companies paid for labor to perform that much work only because they were getting a return on their investment!

2) When you see more than a single huge rock pile in proximity, you know that the labor was paying off. Miners do not make repeated blunders in proximity. This new claim has lots of huge piles. The whole Gottville mining district has them!

3) Since the rock piles did not wash away in the major flood events which occurred since they were made, we can look at the piles to get a good idea where the old-timers mined the claim. Looking at the piles, it looks to me like most of the claim has yet to be mined. There will be serious, original (virgin) gold deposits present there. This is the reason we have been quietly, patiently waiting for our opportunity to buy the claim.

4) We must keep in mind that there was zero flood control (dams) on the Klamath River at the time when these rock piles were created. This means that all of the work to create the diversions (wing dams) and dig the excavations had to occur likely between the months of July through October. The first big rain in the fall would have put an end to the entire investment for that particular season. Following winter storm events will have completely buried the excavations. This means there was a short life span on each excavation where you see the rock piles.

5) It is likely, in many cases, that more time and effort was invested into getting an excavation down to the pay-dirt, than the time and effort invested into working the rich material.

6) No question, whatever was remaining of exposed pay-dirt had to be abandoned once the first flood event of the rainy season arrived. While it is likely that some mining companies returned to the same places during the following year, I’m sure that many did not. The fact that you don’t see continuous piles up along the whole claim is evidence that much of the claim remains un-mined. It is a good thing the old-timers did not have access to modern suction dredges or the whole claim would have been mined out!

7) Since a mechanized derrick could drag material from a long distance away, the height of the pile is not a read on how deep the streambed material is in the river. But you can look at the size of the piles to get a reasonable idea how big the excavation was in the river or on the bar.

8) To some degree, you can expect that a lot of the material you will find at the top of these rock piles will be from the places closest to the pay-layers which the old-timers were working. Add 60+ years of natural weathering (heavy rains), and you can find some nice gold concentrations in some of these piles. Otto Gaither showed me quite a stash of gold that he and some of his friends were mining out of one of their secret rock piles on the river several years ago. The gold was so good that I actually went to look at the pile. They were getting their gold right out of the top!

9) A wing dam was usually constructed on top of original (virgin) streambed and positioned to keep the water flowing on one side so they could excavate the material on the other side. I’ve seen or heard of it many times that all you have to do is mine under, and to the other side, of a wing dam to get at the very material which the old-timers were mining. My personal best day on the Klamath River (24 ounces of beautiful nuggets) was where Eric Bosch and I went just to the other side of a wing dam out in the river. We would have found a lot more gold that day, but we were too excited to work! That’s a true story! The wing dam was placed right adjacent to a huge rock pile like the ones on this new claim; a rock pile which was producing really well for several guys using high-bankers to recover gold out of the piles…

10) By now, everybody ought to know what hard-packed streambed is. This is compacted gravel and rocks which were laid down in layers during major flood events. Nearly all the high-grade gold we are going to find in the river or on the bars is going to be associated with hard-pack. I cannot overstress the importance that you need to know what hard-pack is. If you don’t, I strongly urge you to read my books and/or attend our scheduled weekend mining projects. There is a learning curve to prospecting for high-grade gold. The sooner you get through it, the sooner you will be pleased with your results. We are here to help. But it is up to you to make use of the services which we provide to help all members.

The days of just going out and claiming rich mining properties along the Klamath River are long gone. These days, you have to pay big money for the best claims. As New 49’er members, we are all pooling our resources so that we have the resources to acquire the best properties when they become available.

Fortunately, in this case, the previous owner consented to allow a small team of New 49’er members to do a few days of dredge-testing before we finalized the deal. Each of these members participated in my week-long dredging projects, and I have strong confidence in their abilities and work ethic. They just happened to be available when the sampling opportunity presented itself. Hold onto your hats; here follows their sampling report:

You will be happy to know that we also have our eye on several other, similar very rich sections of the river. Please be patient with us. Real treasures like this take time to acquire!

If you look at the images here, you will see that there is some fantastic river-diversity on this claim – nice river bends, and at least four natural riffles (rapids) which will have contributed nicely to forming well-developed gold paths and pay-streaks in the river and on the banks. While we already have reports of nice gold coming out of the piles, I am not aware that any sampling has been done yet on the banks. My guess is that there will be good potential there, too.

I consider this could potentially be the richest claim we have ever had. Only a bit of time is going to prove this out. Based upon the sampling report authored by Sean, I predict there is going to be some, for lack of an easier term, “recreational” excellent dredging opportunity within a re-deposited pay-layer that is close to the surface of the river-bottom. By “recreational,” I mean perhaps the pay-dirt can be reached with smaller-sized dredges or members who are not able to invest substantial time and/or physical effort (we all have our personal limitations).

While it might take some time to develop the potential, I believe there is going to be some very serious, commercial dredging opportunity for those members who possess the experience and resources to access the remaining original streambed at the bottom of the river. There will be some rich gold deposits on this claim! As much as I would like to be amongst the first to tap those deposits, I’ll wait patiently for the first and second waves of other members. You guys and gals can make your go at it, first. I’ll get my chance later…

Who gets to go first? Our agreement with the authorities is to limit the number of suction dredges on our properties to no more than 10 dredges per mile on the Klamath River. This includes dredges in the river that are just sitting idle. Under normal circumstances, it is not difficult to maintain this level of activity. But when opening up a hot new claim like this, I suspect there will likely be more than ten members who would like to dredge in there at the beginning of the season.

I have to start by telling you that I committed first option to the three members (Sean #905, Wendell #1514 & Steve #1250) who sampled the claim before we made the purchase, and pledged to be straight with me about how well they did on the claim. The reason this was so important to me is that several years ago, I trusted a very experienced member (I won’t name the guilty party) to sample another of the

(very) rich properties we wanted to buy (which was available at a very reasonable price). That property turned out to be so rich that the guy betrayed me and the Club, and went ahead and negotiated his own purchase with the owner!

It will take me a long time to get over that one!

In this case, I committed to Sean, Wendell and Steve that they would have first option to put their dredges on the new claim (60 feet each on one side or the other of the river) as long as they arrive with their dredges on opening day, which is 23 May this season in that part of the Klamath River. They will have first choice of where to go.

Because of the amount of money involved, we would not likely have bought these claims without the positive test results from these three very loyal members. We are also very lucky these guys kept quiet about the test results (very hard to do when you find so much gold); or it is likely the price of the claim would have gone beyond our means. Jason Inks could bring in a fortune for this claim on his on-line auction! We are very lucky to have it!

I have given this considerable thought; and since there is not enough time remaining to have a debate, I have decided that we need to do a lottery to choose the first 10 members who will be allowed to place dredges on this new claim. It will actually be an additional 7 dredges as long as Sean, Wendell and Steve move their dredges onto the claim on opening day.

Any other members who wish to place a dredge on the new claim on opening day must make contact with Montine or Myrna in our office (530 493-2012) and have them place your names on the lottery-list. Membership accounts must be up-to-date for you to qualify for this lottery. To avoid causing confusion, please don’t enter in this lottery unless you fully intend to place your dredge in the water on opening day.

So that people can plan in advance, Montine will arrange the initial lottery drawing to take place on Saturday, 16 May. That is one week before opening day. She will then contact the lottery winners so they/you can make plans. If any of the 10 original dredgers are not present to put their dredges in the water on opening day, they will be disqualified (no exceptions); and our staff will immediately draw others who will be allowed to place their dredge(s) in the water on the following day, 24 May.

Original lottery winners should let us know as soon as possible if your plans change, so we can draw someone else in time for opening day.

This means you will have to be present to get in on the first wave. For management purposes, we just want to get the first 10 dredges in there as quickly as practical, using the fairest process possible. I’m sorry if this system does not work for everyone. We have to come up with something, so this is the way we are going to do it!

The lottery will be closed as soon as there are 10 dredges on the claim using this process. Afterwards, it will be first come, first served when one of the original ten dredges is pulled off the river. Our internal affairs staff will work out any disputes the best they can. I ask that everyone please cooperate with them.

Important: It is the responsibility of all members to do a dredge-count before placing your own dredge anywhere on our mining properties. We cannot have more than 10 dredges per mile on the Klamath, no more than 8 dredges per mile along the Scott and Salmon Rivers, and no more than 3 dredges per mile on the creek properties. If you place an 11th dredge in the river on this new claim, you are just going to cause all of us and yourself a lot of trouble. Please cooperate!

On that note, we have 60+ miles of good properties, most which have yet to even be sampled! I will start my own (part time) dredging season down on K-17 and expect to do quite well. There are plenty of places to go! Wait it out. Long experience in this Club has shown that the first wave of dredgers on a new claim usually don’t do very well, and usually are long-gone before the first important discovery is made. It is the second and third waves which usually develop the hot new claims. I can wait. So can you. It is going to take many years to develop another half-mile of the Klamath River!

There are no limits placed on the numbers of high-bankers, gold panners, vack-miners or electronic prospectors. You guys and gals can get started right away if you like. We just need to keep things spread out. For members using pumped water to process material on the bank, I ask that you please carefully review the Club Rules about not allowing dirty water to flow back into the river, and about back-filling any holes which are dug up out of the water. I don’t believe there is any need to backfill work done on the huge piles; because in that case, we are actually helping to level-off piles made by an earlier generation of miners.

No motorized mining should take place within 100 feet of any river access ramp. Please, no digging of any kind around this river access, since it is popular with other types of river users, and was especially created for disabled access.

Since some people either do not read this stuff, or refuse to cooperate, we will rely upon all of you other members to do your part to help us prevent:

A) An 11th dredge from being placed on the claim.

B) Camping at the river access, or any parking that interferes with free use of the access by others.

C) Any type of digging or dredging anywhere near the river access.

Since our Internal Affairs guys cannot be everywhere at once, I am thanking you guys in advance for helping us from allowing things to get out of hand!

Legal/Political Updates

California Senate Bill 670: Our lobbyists in Sacramento have been working on our behalf to overcome California Senate Bill 670 which was introduced by Senator Wiggins on February 27. This bill is another gift to us by the Karuk Tribe and its allies. If passed into law, the bill would prohibit the State of California from issuing any further suction dredging permits until the Department of Fish & Game (DFG) has adopted new regulations pursuant to a full update of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that was completed in 1994.

The earlier EIR is what has supported our existing regulations for the past 14 years. This was completed after a very long and contentious process in which every potential impact upon fish from suction dredging was carefully considered. While they have refused to present any evidence showing that suction dredging under our existing regulations has ever harmed a single fish in California, the Karuks have been challenging the earlier EIR because it has not been updated since 1994.

During earlier litigation which we Intervened in, the Alameda Superior Court in California Ruled against the Karuk Tribe and DFG, deciding that DFG could not change our suction dredge regulations without first reviewing the existing EIR through the proper administrative process (which requires the least-restrictive regulations to be imposed upon private industry to resolve problems which must be demonstrated by best available science).

Ultimately, the Court Ordered DFG to conduct a proper review of our EIR. But the review process has basically been stalled because California is having serious financial difficulties (which are likely to continue).

If the Karuks have their way, this legislation will prevent further suction dredging in California until the full environmental review is completed. Then they will continue to do everything within their power, as they have already been doing, to make sure the review process is never completed! You guys see how this works?

Our lobbyists are right on top of this as the legislative process is underway in Sacramento. I will keep you informed how you can help as the process moves forward.

New anti-dredging litigation in Alameda Court: Meanwhile, we are continuing to defend against the most recent lawsuit which the Karuks and their allies have filed against the State of California to stop all suction dredging in California until the EIR process has been completed. We are basically defending against the very same Karuk attacks both in the California legislature (with our lobbyists) and in the California Court system (with our attorneys).

In the litigation, we have begun with a Petition to the Court to allow The New 49’ers to Intervene in the Litigation. Our team of attorneys has been right on top of this.

Petition to challenge the special fishing privileges being allowed to the Karuk Tribe by DFG: In light of the unending attacks against us and the other productive enterprises within Siskiyou County, I authorized our attorneys to draft a Petition to challenge any “right” which the Karuk Tribe possesses to kill fish along the Klamath River. This Petition was filed with the California Department of Fish & Game (DFG) on 2 March, 2009.

Our Petition basically challenged California DFG on two arguments: First, that since the Karuks have no recognized federal fishing right in the first place, the State Constitution prevents DFG from extending any “special” right upon the Karuks that all other citizens may not also enjoy.

Our second argument basically mirrored many of the arguments which the Karuks have used against us and other productive enterprises. The Karuks are actually out there deliberately killing fish without any environmental oversight whatsoever! How can the State of California continue to use its environmental laws to regulate all productive activity out of business (activities which they cannot prove that are even harming fish), while they completely turn their backs upon the activities of the Karuk Tribe that is out there killing as many fish as they can pack off the river?

Unfortunately, several weeks ago, the California Fish & Game Commission voted to deny our Petition. Our attorneys believe that the justifications used to support their denial provide us with a good opportunity to sue the State of California. But, in light of the other challenges we are facing at the moment (all which are costing plenty of money), we have placed that on the backburner for the time being.

New developments: It turns out that there are a growing number of active Karuk members coming to the surface who are voicing increasing discontent with existing Tribal leadership. My understanding is that they will file the first motions to intervene in the ongoing litigation as early as this week. These are Karuk members who do not want to lose their own mining rights; who believe suction dredging is good for fish (they know from direct experience), who are strongly objecting to the substantial corruption within existing Karuk Tribal management; and who are saying that they more accurately represent the interests of the general membership of the Tribe. I understand they have already succeeded in having Leaf Hillman suspended from the Tribal leadership (turns out Leaf was arrested in January for possession of methamphetamines), and they are actively working on other corrupt leaders. I am being told that if this group of concerned Karuks cannot expunge the existing leadership, they are planning to split the Tribe in two separate units.

In the middle of all this, the Tribe is on schedule to bring a motion before the Court to stop California Fish & Game from spending any more taxpayer money on the suction dredge program until the updated EIR is completed. If all remains on schedule, the Court will decide what to do about this motion during the second week of June.

While our attorneys are on top of this, it is impossible to predict what a judge is going to do. With this is mind, once again, I suggest if you have not yet applied for your 2009 suction dredge permit in California, and you intend to dredge this year, that you get your permit before the end of May!

Please Continue to Support our Legal Fund!

I want to thank all of you who have responded to our calls for financial assistance to pay the specialists we have hired to defend our industry. Your help has pretty-much allowed us to stay even with the increased costs associated with all this additional legal and political activity.

Because our need to raise funds is immediate, once again, we have our ever-vigilant member, Jim Yerby, to thank for organizing yet another set of very valuable prizes for a prize drawing – which is already in progress. In addition to 53 very nice prizes which have been donated by others, we also are expressing big thank you to Jeff Kuykendal at Proline for donating a brand new 3-inch Proline dredge (worth $2,500.00) as our main prize, and to Louie Welding for donating a 2 ½-inch dredge/high-banker combo!

If anyone would like to contribute a prize towards our legal and political fundraising, please contact Jim at grizzwag@charter.net. What do you have that might be a good prize in our fund-raising?

Here is a link to the prizes included in this latest fundraiser.

The contributors of these prizes have authorized the girls in our office to print a ticket on your behalf for each $10 contribution that we receive from you ($100 contribution will generate10 tickets, etc.). This prize drawing will take place on 4 July, 2009. There is no limit to the number of tickets you can accumulate, or the number of prizes that you can win in this drawing.

Paypal has informed us that we are not allowed to transfer money over their system if the money is associated with any type of gambling activity (like a prize drawing), so we are no longer promoting the use of our Paypal link for financial contributions associated with the prize drawing. This unfortunate development has sharply reduced contributions over the past several weeks. So I am asking that you guys please try and help us make up the difference by calling in to the office at 530 493-2012, or mailing in something to The New 49’er legal fund, 27 Davis Road, Happy Camp, CA 96039.

We need your help on this more than ever!

Thanks very much for whatever you can do to help with the immediate matters at hand!

Other Announcements

Please register your presence or your guests on our properties! If it is inconvenient for you to come to Happy Camp, you can call Montine or Myrna at the office (530 493-2012) and have them make an entry in the log book on your behalf. If you are bringing guests, please call them far enough in advance that they can mail, fax or email a guest pass in advance. We appreciate your cooperation on this!

The USFS finally repaired the bridge which leads to our West Branch claims (I-3) on Indian Creek. To avoid confusion this year, we have asked the USFS to open both gates on the roads which lead to our West Branch claims on 1 July, which is the opening day of dredging season there.

2009 Group Prospecting Programs

All weekend events are free to Full & Associate Members. Here follows the Schedule of Events for our upcoming 2009 season: June 6 & 7; June 27 & 28; July 18 & 19; August 8 & 9; August 29 & 30.

 

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