Diane Helgesen helped make this gold discovery

As is normal, we devoted Saturday morning to introductions.  These are always interesting. People come from all over the U.S., and sometimes from other countries.

Then I do a lecture about the fundamentals of following a sampling plan when prospecting for gold. Because gold is so much heavier than the average streambed material in or alongside a waterway, it follows very defined patterns as it is washed downstream during major flood events. It’s important to understand these patterns. This is because they can help guide you through a series of steps that will ultimately lead you into high-grade gold deposits. I believe starting these projects with a review of the fundamentals is important. At the same time, the afternoons can get so hot out on the rocks, that asking participants to work hard out there two days in a row can be too much. My lectures and story-telling in the air-conditioned Happy Camp Grange Hall is much more comfortable.

After lunch on Saturday, we all went down to Wingate to do just a little sampling. We only have two objectives on Saturday afternoon: (1) to teach beginners how to pan gold. This is very important because it is the beginning of the learning curve. On this project, we had at least a dozen experienced members out there working with the beginners. One of the things that makes our group so good is that we have quite a lot of experienced members who enjoy coming out on these projects and helping beginners get off to a good start. (2) The second objective is to locate the richest pay-dirt we can find so we can process as much of it as possible early on Sunday morning.

I was out there watching the activity when “Doctor Gold” presented himself with the results of two gold pans taken out of a single crevice in the bedrock. He had four beautiful nuggets and some flakes and fines to show for his effort.

I said above that I don’t consider myself to be very lucky. By this, I am really talking about the small things. For example, I don’t do very well in casinos because I ultimately make the wrong guesses and lose the money I have limited myself for entertainment.

But I consider myself very lucky and fortunate concerning the bigger and more important things in life.

Internally, I have a strong belief that there is an ever present, absolute intelligent, all pervasive presence of grace and goodness that, more or less, guides how the material universe unfolds as the ever-changing present moment gives us the illusion of time (the present moment is all that really exists). Each of us, with our individual and separate backgrounds, have different ways of defining and relating to this. Some choose to not look at all. The rest of us associate with infinite presence in our own ways. Regardless of the different paths or faiths we have chosen, I personally believe we are all acknowledging and pursuing more understanding of the same thing.

Sorry; I know this is supposed to be about gold mining, not a religious discussion. I am only doing this to lay a foundation for the entrance of “Doctor Gold,” otherwise known as Mike Leamy.

Here is the gold recovered out of 2 pans!

Over the years, I have come to discover that the great intelligence controls all or most of the important things that happen in my life. Even considering the losses and uncomfortable experiences which I have endured, I can look back upon them at a later time and see that I was ultimately lucky that things turned out the way they did.   Over time, more and more, I have been standing back and not internally resisting those things that are too big for me to change, and accept them as they are.  Perhaps this could be defined as a form of faith that everything happens exactly as it is supposed to.  After all, how else could it be other than what it is?

As part of this, whenever I can find a moment, I pause and emanate true appreciation for the good things that come my way. I’m talking about heart-felt thankfulness from the center of my being.  Doing this has allowed me some amount of freedom to step back and be more or less entertained to watch and see what is coming next. Sometimes I don’t recognize the gifts until the moment they are exposed to me.

I didn’t know that Mike Leamy was “Doctor Gold” until he showed me the nuggets he found in a bedrock crevice on Saturday afternoon.  This was a very magic moment for me.  In that single moment, I knew we were going to have plenty of gold to split off amongst the project participants on Sunday afternoon, and I knew there were going to be some nuggets to raise the level of excitement. Here is the moment captured on video:

• Initial gold discovery on Saturday

 

The gold was being recovered out of crevices and holes in bedrock under a beautiful layer of hard-packed streambed.

With the second objective of Saturday afternoon all taken care of, and our project helpers all working with beginners on their panning techniques, I turned my attention to transferring all our project gear and floating sluice 200 yards upstream on the gravel bar.  Two hundred yards is not very far on an open field. But it is a very long way across uneven rocks on a gravel bar out in 100+dregree exposed sunshine at 3 PM in the afternoon. So I had brought my jet boat down to do the equipment transfer.

My boat crew included Scott Coleman and Todd Moody. Music Adame from our office was also along with a video camera to capture any important action.  Launching the boat was routine because we do it all the time. We managed to load all of the mining support gear in a single load for the boat. Other helpers were up at our new location to assist with unloading the gear.

Then we motored back downriver to get the floating sluice. This consists of a modified 6-inch sluice box from a Proline 6-inch dredge that is suspended between two large Keene pontoons. We built the system so that the sluice can be adjusted to capture the exact amount of running water that we need from the river. This recovery system will process the equivalent of around three motorized high-bankers.

 

 

Dickey knows how to feed the sluice just right.

Ultimately, we drifted down into slower, deeper water, flipped the sluice over, lifted it up into the front of my boat, and drove it up to our new processing location. Nobody was seriously hurt. The gear was all recovered. We delivered it where we needed to be. But it was one heck of a lot of adventure on the river!  It was a good thing that Miss Music was there to capture the action on video:

• Sinking the floating sluice!

During the summer months, we do Saturday evening potlucks at the Grange Hall. We had a full house and there was plenty of delicious food to go around. We kept the meeting short; because we were planning on meeting out at Wingate at 6:30 the following morning.

Sunday morning was cool enough that I decided to begin with a long sleeved shirt. Our plan was to dig and process as much pay-dirt as we could before the heat of the day reached the gravel bar.  True to the sampling plan I discussed on Saturday morning, mostly everyone started digging out cracks in the bedrock up and downstream directly in line with where Dr. Gold found the beautiful gold nuggets on Saturday afternoon. Everyone just went right to work filling buckets.

By the time John, Todd and Dickey were satisfied that the floating sluice was set out in the river with the correct amount of water flow, there were already plenty of buckets of material to process. Two fairly large screening devices were set up to eliminate larger rocks from the material we would process.  This floating sluice recovery device has been working out quite well for us, by the way. Here is a demonstration I captured on video:

• Non-motorized sluice recovery system

I looked around on the bar and there was a whole lot of work going on. Some were digging out cracks. Others were using brushes to clean all the material off the bedrock where gold often hides. Others were carrying buckets to the screens. Others were screening the material into plastic wash tubs that had been placed under the screens. Others were placing screened material into buckets and walking them down to the side of the river. Those buckets were being passed out to Dickey who was feeding the floating sluice. Everything was running like a well-oiled machine. Mostly, we were just having a whole lot of fun. Here is where I turned the camera around and put the spotlight on Diane:

• Diane has never missed an opportunity to be part of the fun!
• Getting the work done
• Classifying the pay-dirt in volume

Diane has been our trusted “gold girl” for many years.

After a while, I spotted Dr. Gold coming my way with his hand held out like he had something good to show. I knew this was going to be good the instant I saw him. He had picked a bunch of magical golden flakes out of a crack and wanted to brighten my day. Seeing those golden flakes in his hand heated me up enough to take my long sleeved shirt off even though it was still quite cool out there in the morning air. Our “gold girl” (also known as Diane Pierce) was right there ready to take possession of the gold. By this, I mean that on gold mining projects such as this, we have found that it is wise to have a single, trusted person take careful possession of any and all gold recovered on the project. The nature of gold is that it is hard to find and easy to lose. Putting a single person in charge of keeping the gold safe dramatically reduces the chances of loss. Diane has been our “gold girl” for many, many years. She is quite good at it. If someone is finding gold, Diane will be right there wanting to get it in her special bucket. I only got to hold Dr. Gold’s beautiful flakes of pure wealth for a moment before Diane took possession and screwed the lid back onto her special bucket.

After a while, Dr. Gold brought over a handful of sand that he swept out of a crack that had gold all through it. All of this was a bit unusual. While we always see the gold when we are dredging or crevicing underwater, we seldom see it up out of the water in dry dirt.

Then longtime supportive member, Craig Colt, came over with a bucket with some material in the bottom that he said had lots of gold in it. It was only enough material to fill half his pan. But the amount of gold he recovered in that single pan was the most I have ever seen out of raw material being dug out of the ground. The pieces were sizable flakes with some heft to them. They were just beautiful to look at.

Team Leader, John Rose, confided in me that he had never seen a richer pan of gold out of raw material. Normally, rather reserved, John was lit up like he had been struck by lightning! Fortunately, I had the camera on to catch the excitement:

• That's the best pan I ever saw!

A little while later, Craig came back with another pan that was just about as good. This was definitely one of the better surface mining areas we have worked in a while! Here is a bunch of the action captured on video:

• Dave's Sunday morning intro
• Great teamwork with this crew!
• Are we in the right place or what?
• Doctor Gold's official promotion
• Introduction of the gold girl
• It was right here that the nuggets were discovered yesterday!
• Just three handfuls of Dr. Gold's pay-dirt!
• We could see the gold in Dr. Gold's pay-dirt!
• Another really good pan!

The sun was just lighting up lower Wingate bar at about 10:30 am. Even though Dickey was feeding the floating sluice as fast as he dared (if you over feed a sluice, some of the gold will not become trapped), I estimated that he had enough screened material to last another hour or so. That was plenty. So we asked all the participants to finish up the buckets they were working on and end off on the digging part of the project. After cleaning things up on the bar and putting our gear away, we all agreed to meet back at the Grange in Happy Camp at 1:30 pm.

Some of the participants stayed out there to watch Dickey finish up the pay-dirt and clean the concentrated material out of the floating sluice box. There was a lot of nice looking gold in the clean-up; more flakes and nuggets than we have seen during earlier projects this season.

Gold concentration devices, in this case, our floating sluice box, do not only recover gold. They recover other heavy elements, mostly iron sand and small iron rocks. So when we remove material from a sluice box, we get the gold which is all mixed in with the other heavily concentrated material.

A gold mining program is made up of four phases. The first is sampling or prospecting in an effort to locate a high-grade gold deposit. The second phase is to excavate and process the pay-dirt from the deposit. This usually requires some advanced planning so that oversized material (rocks and boulders) are not placed on top of pay-dirt which has not been mined, yet. The third phase is called final clean-up where we follow a step by step procedure to separate the gold from the other heavy materials which have also been trapped in the recovery system. This was our mission on Sunday afternoon. The final phase of mining is to go back out to the mining site and fill in our excavations and make the surface conform back nearly like it was before we started mining.

Even though most participants are pretty worn out on Sunday afternoon, I strongly encourage them to participate in, or at least watch the final clean-up steps. That’s because this is the part that many prospectors never get to see, unless someone shows them. In this way, our weekend projects take participants through the theory of how to prospect for gold, to learning how to pan gold, to learning how to use a pan to sample, to seeing what a high-grade deposit looks like, to production mining in confirmed pay-dirt on a small scale (hand mining without the use of motorized equipment), to the final clean-up steps which result in all the gold we recovered in about three hours of work.

 

In all, we recovered 339.6 grains. This is just under ¾-ounce of pure wealth.  It would have been about $900 at the going price if traded into dollars.  There were 22 beautiful pieces that qualified as nuggets. These were the first nuggets we have recovered this season. That’s because we were mining on bedrock.

Before splitting the gold, I asked for a vote on using the gold to buy a whole lot of pizza and beer so we could have a grand celebration. Only John Rose thought that was a good idea. So we split the gold evenly amongst 53 participants, including several rather young children that worked just as hard as us older folks out on the bar.

After all, you can get pizza and beer just about anywhere. Raw gold is Mother Nature’s most cherished treasure. While it still can be traded for paper money, once you have been exposed to it, you begin to gain the perception that gold is true wealth. Paper money is only as valuable as the faith that people have in the governments that print it. Everyone who goes away from our weekend projects with a share of gold that he or she helped recover knows that they have earned some true wealth which will maintain its value long after today’s political systems and paper money have become past history.

In closing, I want to give a special thanks to Lynda and Mike Leamy (Dr. Gold) who honored us with their participation in this project. There is something mystical about this that is beyond my understanding. But I have seen on rare occasions when gifted individuals are able to manifest true wealth just by being present. This was one of those rare occasions.

Annual Dues Are More Important These Days

We bill all Full Members $50 for annual dues in August.  September through the end of the year is when we must shoulder the load of substantial property tax and filing fees to the County and Bureau of Land Management. These are legal requirements which allow us to continue making a very substantial number of federal mining claims (60+ miles of gold-rich river and creek properties) available to our members.

In real terms, the true value of the gold along these extensive properties is probably more valuable than the net assets of any financial institution on the planet. We should be calling our properties the “Klamath First National Bank.” Ours is the only bank in the world where you can go out and make a draw anytime you wish. There are no interest or bank fees to pay.  And you never have to pay the gold back!

This is as close as it comes to an opportunity to maintain some degree of personal freedom during these ever-more difficult and troubling times.  As far as I know, we are the only organization in the world that makes a very large bank of pure wealth freely available to our members.

Having said that, most of us remain disappointed that the State is preventing us from using motors to gain access to the more valuable deposits of gold which are largely out of reach to non-motorized programs.. Even though we have been doing our absolute best to reverse the situation, this is one area in my own personal life where I admit that I have trouble reconciling with the philosophy I explained above that “everything happens exactly as it is supposed to.” Though I do continue to remind myself…

As it is, things being the way that they are; even if every Full Member pays the $50 annual dues, and every Associate Member pays an annual renewal fee, I personally support cost overruns with other sources of monthly income which I earned before becoming a gold miner, along with savings put away during better times.

Costs associated with maintaining our extensive properties, our material infrastructure and to hold onto our very experienced and loyal staff exceed the amount of income we bring in. I don’t expect this reality to change until either we get motors and underwater mining back, or until the dollar value of gold goes up so high that non-motorized mining will produce a living wage.

There remains hope that America will wake up and realize we need to produce value and wealth in excess of what we consume. Mr. Trump and his team appear to be leading the charge on this, though he is not getting as much support from congress and the mainstream press that he deserves. So we must try and estimate the depth of the swamp and predict if Mr. Trump has the capability to drain it. The whole world hangs in this balance. It remains too early to predict the outcome.

One of the developments that gives me hope is the Trump Team’s most recent push to reopen coal mining on the federal lands. This article does a good job reporting the opposing views and demonstrates that there is a strong push right now to develop America’s natural resources in a responsible way, rather than to continue making them off limits.

It would be interesting to see the statistics on how much timber is harvested off the federal lands these days compared to how much is burned to the ground in wild fires due to really stupid policies which have been adopted by State and federal authorities. Or, as in our situation, there is no evidence whatsoever that a single fish has been harmed due to suction dredging for gold. In fact, the most recent study performed on the cumulative impact of all suction dredging was so small that it could not be measured. But the States of Oregon and California will not allow us the use of even a 12-volt bilge pump to operate a mini-concentrator to collect gold.

My gut feeling is that that even though energy (coal) is the first priority, in order “to make America truly great again,” the Trump team will be taking a close look at all of the stupid policies which have been adopted to prevent every different kind of natural resource development on the federal lands. We produce the basic building blocks, the very foundations, of a strong economy and vibrant job market. That the Trump Team is beginning with coal should give us all reason to hope that they will eventually get around to us and the other natural resource development industries which could be responsibly developing wealth opportunities on the federal lands of America.

Integrity and pursuit of the truth is the only road towards enlightenment and prosperity. There seems to be some meaningful progress at the moment.

Largely due to what I have explained in the paragraphs above, I personally believe we should stay the course for a while longer and see how these larger forces play out. I am willing to invest my personal resources to keep the program going as long as you guys, our members, are also willing to hang in there until we overcome what is destroying America, or it becomes clear that there is no longer any hope.

My own assessment of your support will be in what percentage of Full Members are willing to invest $50 a year, and how many Associate Members are willing to renew your annual memberships to help keep our dream alive.

I am eternally grateful to those of you who stick it out alongside me and our loyal staff. 

New Chance to Win American Gold & Silver Eagles!

Grand Prize: 1-ounce American Gold Eagle
Four ¼-ounce American Gold Eagles
Ten 1/10th-ounce American Gold Eagles
Ten 1-ounce American Silver Eagles

Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 would generate 10 tickets, etc.).

This drawing will take place at 2 pm on Friday 27 of October 2017 at our headquarters in Happy Camp. You do not need to be a member of our organization to participate. You do not need to be present to win.  There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win.

Legal contributions can be arranged by calling (530) 493-2012, by mailing to The New 49’ers Legal Fund, P.O. Box 47, Happy Camp, CA 96039, or online.

Your contribution to The New 49’er Legal Fund is tax-deductible.

All contributions are tax deductible. You can find more information about the drawing right here.

Purchase Tickets for the next legal Fund-raiser Drawing

$10.00 each – Enter the number of tickets you wish to purchase into the quantity field then click “Update” before checking out. Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 would generate 10 tickets, etc). There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win.Your contribution to The New 49’er Legal Fund is tax-deductible.

Winter Hours 

As of the 1^st of September, we will switch to winter hours at our headquarters in Happy Camp.  This means the office and store will remain open between 9 am and 5 pm, Monday through Friday, except for normal national holidays.

As we did last winter, we may cut back further on open hours depending upon how many members are around. If we do, we will make an announcement on our web forum and in the newsletter.

Our final evening potluck of 2017 is scheduled for Saturday evening, 26 August (please take note below).

Boy did this season go by fast! 

Legal Update

Four issues are up for decision before Judge Ochoa in San Bernardino Superior Court:  (1) whether the Court should revise his summary adjudication ruling on federal preemption in light of the California Supreme Court decision; (2) whether the California Department of Fish and Game violated the California Environmental Quality Act and Administrative Procedure Act in issuing the 2012 regulations; (3) whether the Legislature violated the “one subject” rule in the California Constitution when it passed the second two bills concerning the California moratorium; and (4) whether takings claims for the regulatory taking of unpatented mining claims are impossible because the regulation makes all discoveries no longer valuable.

After an initial delay on 12 July, the hearing was set to take place on July 25^th. But the attorney who was representing the State came down with some medical condition, so the hearing has been pushed back to September. An exact date is not set, yet. 

Join us for our Group Mining Projects This Season!

There is a learning curve to successful gold prospecting.  One of the most effective methods of progressing through the learning curve is to go on prospecting adventures with others who more experienced than you are.

Our 2-day Group Mining Projects are one of the primary benefits of New 49’er membership which set us apart from other mining associations.  All weekend events are free to Full & Associate Members. All participants share equally in the gold we recover.

Remaining 2017 Schedule of Event: August 26 & 27 

Schedule of Events

In addition, electronic prospecting specialist and New 49’er member, Dennis Dickson, in concert with Whites Electronics and Armadillo Mining Supply will host another two 2-day electronic gold prospecting project in Happy Camp on Friday & Saturday August 18 and 19.  Bring your own metal detectors. Meet at our office at 4 PM on Friday. Bring your own drinks. Dinner will be served.

Group projects are limited to a certain number of participants. Scheduling in advance is strongly advised to ensure a position on any specific weekend project: 530 493-2012.

Important note: Because of a large fire downriver from Happy Camp, the Grange Hall has made it’s facility available to provide fire fighters with a place to sleep. We need an inside space to begin our weekend projects, and to split the gold that we recover. So we were forced to cancel the weekend project and potluck which was scheduled this past weekend. It’s not certain how long this or other fires will burn. So before making a trip to Happy Camp to attend any of our organized events for the remainder of this season, we strongly suggest you call our office for an update: 530 493 2012.

Sign up for the Free Internet Version of this Newsletter

We strongly encourage you to sign up for the free on line version of this newsletter.  The Internet version is better. This is because you can immediately click directly to many of the subjects which we discuss; because the on line version is in full color; because we link you directly to locations through GPS and Google Earth technology; and because you can watch the free video segments which we incorporate into our stories.  Actually, the video segments show the adventures better than we can write them!

Signing up also places you on our Political Action Team.  Things happen so fast these days; it takes too long to organize political action through the U.S. mail.  As an example, by contacting our supporters this way, in a matter of hours, we recently generated a large bundle of letters to the California Supreme Court. All of these future battles will be organized over the Internet since it is so much faster.  Please join us in the battle to maintain our remaining freedoms!

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The New 49’ers Prospecting Association, 27 Davis Road, Happy Camp, California 96039 (530) 493-2012  www.goldgold.com

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Note: We normally avoid publishing stories in our monthly newsletter that are not directly related to The New 49’ers. But since this is mid-winter, and Happy Camp has been, more or less, shut down by severe weather (so there is not much gold prospecting to talk about), and the story below provides an entertaining explanation of why the January newsletter is going out a bit late; I’m going to share with you some of the adventures I have been through since our December newsletter. Now that we are all safely back on land and I have more time, I will add a little more explanation to what originally went out in the hard copy newsletter: 

Message from Dave Mack, 17 December, 2016 4:00 PM, Philippine Islands: 

 

I am talking to you through my brother Tim because my Laptop is not working any longer.

My underwater exploration boat got sucked into a giant whirlpool several nights ago, flipped over and sunk all within 15 seconds.   Jasmin and I were asleep and nearly went down with the boat 30 miles north of the nearest populated island.

We spent the next 14 hours floating around the South China Sea until a boat picked us up the on the following day.  Only wearing panties and underwear bottoms, it was the coldest night of our lives!

I mostly believe in and practice the following two philosophical concepts:

1)  Everything happens exactly as it is supposed to. We do our best to make things go the way we want them. Then we adjust ourselves to the way things actually go.

2) God, or The Great Intelligence, or however we personally choose to define that greater force which directs the infinite creative reality we are experiencing always gives us exactly what we need (but not always what we believe we want).

This underwater exploration boat was one of my most prized possessions. Short of running it into something very hard, the boat was unsinkable. Every system on the boat was working exactly as it was supposed to.

We have had occasional problems with flash storms hitting us all at once during the middle of the night, one time forcing us to cut our anchor line to keep from getting swept onto remote rocks by severe winds, we returned this time with heavy chain and a 3/4-inch braided rope and a buoy so that I could secure the boat to a very large boulder or coral head on the bottom of the ocean. In this case, it was a very strong coral head. This allowed us a totally secure answer to any winds Mother Nature wanted to direct our way.

Nearly every problem (many near disasters) we have encountered while doing these underwater search projects for the past several years have had to do with severe winds, usually in the total darkness. Though we have seen a number of very powerful whirlpools out on the South China Sea, they are usually associated with strong tidal flows which rush around the larger islands – though we did see a very large whirl pool one time out in the middle of nowhere with no visible reason for it being there.

 

Jasmin likes to drive the boat.

Even though I have seen them, nothing in my life experience jolted me into the realization that we could encounter a powerful whirlpool while at anchor. This is something that is very unlikely to happen when taking shelter in a protected bay. But on this night, we were secured to the bottom of the ocean so far out in the South China Sea that we could not see land in any direction.

I am not at liberty to discuss the nature of these boat exploration adventures we are doing. The truth is that we do some spear fishing to supply the boat with fresh meals.

Since the seas were mostly calm on this trip, we had made the 200-mile voyage down to our destination on a single day. It took us 8 or 9 hours, including one stop to top off our fuel. Unless the seas are bad, Jasmin normally likes to drive the boat. She drove most of the way. She also cleans the fish we catch, cooks all the meals, keeps the boat shipshape, and participates in most of the underwater work. Jasmin is the best boat mate I have ever had.

Our destination was a place where several volcanic rocks protrude out of about 180 feet of water way out in the middle of nowhere. The water is about 50 feet deep near to the rocks, then drops off rapidly into depths too deep for scuba diving. The location is 90 miles out in the South China Sea from the large island of Mindoro, and about 35 miles north of the Large island of Busuanga – which you cannot even see out there unless it is a very clear day. Hardly anyone goes out there, though it is not uncommon to see and visit with local fishermen from remote islands that are shorter distances away.

These rocks extend up out of deep water way out in the middle of nowhere.

Our surveys around these rocks have a lot to do with the fact that they are full of natural caves. The caves provide hiding places for fish and interesting places to explore.

We were tired when we arrived at the rocks. Even though the weather was mostly fine during our voyage, we were seeing threatening storms on the horizon all around us. So I went down on a hookah system (tether line to supply air to me underwater) and shackled a very strong chain around the base of a huge coral head in about 50 feet of water. Then I connected the heavy rope and buoy to the chain. This would serve as our secure connection to the ocean bottom for the week or so that we expected to be there. That connection was so strong, there was no storm in the weather forecasts that posed any threat to us, day or night.

Since it gets dark early and we were tired, we settled for a snack and went to bed early. There was some mild rain and we could hear thunder in the distance. But since I set the anchor mooring on the down-wind side of the rock, the sea was pretty quiet in our location.

I’m estimating that it was around 9 pm when I felt the boat leaning strongly to the port (left) side.

Being in charge of a boat and passenger(s) out on the open ocean is a big responsibility. Murphy (as in “Murphy’s law”) lives out on the water. Even when you do everything right, unexpected surprises come up that can be catastrophic.

There were some smaller storms around us which prompted me to connect an unbreakable bond to the ocean bottom.

In addition to those who depend upon me, I also have a sacred responsibility to care for the boat – just as the boat has an unfaltering duty to keep us safe. This is not something easy to explain in human language. But anyone who has ever spent a lot of time on the open seas in a vessel will likely agree with me that every boat has a life force, even if it is not the same as what humans experience.

I don’t sleep very deeply when we are out on the ocean, even on a calm night. When I felt the boat leaning to port, I sprang out of my bunk to see what was causing it. This boat had floor lights which we kept on all night.  So there was plenty of light to see a very substantial wave of water rushing in through the stern (rear) door opening. The whole deck was awash with water and the boat was leaning hard to the port side. Water was flowing in so fast, my first thought was to wake Jasmin and tell her to grab the life preservers. She was still trying to wake up.

There was the loud sound of rushing water coming from behind the boat and I could see that the water was moving past the boat kind of like a river, but at a tilted angle. A large standing wave of water just behind the boat was sucking us deeper into the water.

Looking back, I immediately recognized that the boat was going to go down. So I turned around, got on my knees between the boat seats, reached under the bed, and tried to pull out the heavy life preservers – which we keep right there for when we need to get to them quickly. What I got was the waterproof bag which contains our bedding when we are on the go. In just that moment, the boat flipped over entirely upside down. Something heavy smashed me in the head; probably a set of divers weights. After the boat flipped, the heavy motor dragged the stern of the boat straight beneath the rest of the boat. It was all I could do to get out of the canopy-covered area of the boat without passing out for lack of air.

I was worried Jasmin did not get out of the forward cabin where I saw her just moments before.

When I came to the surface, the bow (front) of the boat was still floating a few feet above the water, pointing straight upward as if giving a final farewell to the above-water world. I held onto the bow. The boat was not drifting anywhere because of the way I had it attached to the ocean bottom. To my surprise and relief, I spotted Jasmin holding onto the large Yeti cooler that was floating like a cork. But the cooler was being pulled directly towards the whirlpool.

Jasmin is a good swimmer, and joined me at the boat, which was ever-sinking deeper into the ocean. There were no life preservers on the surface. But there were two inflatable boat bumpers (they keep your boat from getting scraped up when up against docks) there still tied to the boat. The first one came undone quickly. Determined to have more floatation, I was pulled at least 10 feet underwater by the boat before getting the second bumper untied. I tied the two bumpers together to provide us with some floatation.

Then, my diving equipment bag popped up to the surface. We had that out of storage earlier in the day when I set the mooring on the bottom of the ocean. Inside the dive bag was my buoyancy compensator (BCD) – which is basically a life preserver that you can blow up through a mouth piece. There was also an underwater flashlight, my spare face mask and my titanium dive knife. The waterproof bag that I pulled out from under the bed before the boat flipped over also floated to the surface. I used the straps and snaps to connect everything together.

So there we found ourselves floating in the ocean out in the middle of nowhere, with a light rain coming down on is. Best I could tell; the whirlpool had either spun itself out or moved off.

We were together, unhurt, and alive.

The volcanic rocks there are too steep and sharp-edged to climb up on.

We fit Jasmin into the BCD; I used the two boat bumpers for floatation; and we crawled into the diving bag together as best we could and hugged close all night to preserve our heat.

The ocean water was 86 degrees. Sounds warm, right? And it is, if you are not going to spend hours and hours in the water. But the 12-degree difference between the water and our normal body temperature eventually had us so cold that our teeth chattered with shivers when either of us had anything to say – which, by the way, caused us to giggle at our predicament.  Though internally, both of us were feeling a deep loss for the boat which has served us so well.

At first, I believed a local fishing boat would be by in just a short period of time. I had the flashlight tied onto Jasmin’s BCD, ready to use as a signaling device at any time.

I also tied the knife there. There are a lot of sharks in the South China Sea. We see them on nearly every dive. My own experience with sharks is similar to dogs. If you boldly charge forward at a shark, he will normally go away in search of easier prey.

The rain picked up after a while and was very cold on our heads. So we draped the waterproof bag over us for the rest of the night. It helped to preserve the warmth that we were breathing out of our bodies.

I was really surprised that we did not hear or see a single boat all night.

First signs of daylight show themselves at 5 am. That’s what I was waiting for. With the light would come a new day, warm skies, and at least a few local fishing boats.

Warmer air was nothing short of nourishing as the sun rose. But there was still not a single boat to be seen.

The problem was that the ocean currents were drifting us to the northeast out towards Apo Reef. Apo is the second largest coral reef in the world and is designated as a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site. That means local fishermen don’t go out there (those that do, end up losing their boats to the authorities).  So that was not the direction we wanted to go…

At about 7 am, facing the prospect of another night or more slowly freezing to death out in the ocean, I pointed to an unoccupied island that was seven miles away. Jasmin and I know the island from earlier voyages. We know there is clean drinking water there.

If you don’t drown, die of exposure or get eaten by something, it is the lack of drinking water that will kill you when you are lost out in the open ocean.

If you look close, you can see the small island way off in the distance that we were going to swim to as an attempt to save ourselves.

Nearly anyone else would have laughed at me under those circumstances if I suggested we needed to swim to an island that was so far away, we could only see it when the ocean swells allowed us a slightly heightened view. Jasmin started paddling even before I finished the suggestion. This is what ultimately saved us. She paddled and I pushed. After a few hours, I was estimating that we had moved about a mile in the right direction. My concern was that changing tides would create currents that would defeat our effort. All we could do was try.

When I first heard the boat, both of us thought it was an airplane way up in the sky. But the sound grew louder; and pretty soon, we saw that it was a boat coming from the direction of Apo. It was coming straight at us. In fact, our intersection was so perfect that the boat would have run us over if we were not seen. But the guys in the boat saw us long before stopping to pick us up.  “Man are we glad to see you!” is all I could get out of my shivering, teeth-chattering voice. This turned out to be quite a large fiberglass speed boat that had been designed and built for a dive company in El Nido, Palawan, maybe about a hundred miles further to the south.

The guys helped us into the boat and served us up with drinking water and fresh sandwiches. We were not hungry. But the water went down like the elixir of life — which it is! Jasmin really appreciated a warm shirt. Under my BCD, all she had on was a pair of panties. My body was too large to fit into any of their shirts. But I was content to be up on a warm boat, even in just my underpants.

After hearing our story, the guys in the boat offered to take us anywhere we wanted to go.

In my mind, there was only one place to go. I had to get back down to the boat where we had clothes, footwear, money and identification. The boat was in 50 feet of water.

I had plenty of diving gear and full scuba tanks on the boat. But I needed help getting down there. There was a time that I could reach down to 50 feet on a single breath; but not anymore.

So we settled on my original plan, regardless of what boat eventually picked us up. We were to be dropped off at Dimpac Island. This is a very remote place just north of Busuanga.  There is a small, friendly fishing community there.  We take shelter at Dimpac during bad weather, and have made friends with some of the locals. I was hoping someone might have a compressor that would help me reach the boat.  This idea was a long reach; but it was the best I could do under the circumstances.

Here are just some of the goodies we recovered the first day. Everything was rinsed in fresh water and stored away in a safe place.

When we reached Dimpac, we discovered that there was quite a substantial tourist diving boat there with divers in the water. What a stroke of luck! This was one of Dugong Dive Center’s several boats. Over mobile phone service, they arranged to immediately dispatch another dive boat with a crew of 4 dive-masters and a boat crew to help us do initial salvage. It was 4 pm that afternoon when we arrived back out where the boat sank and made the first of 2 dives.

Four of Dugong’s divers and myself worked until dark to recover most of the valuable items off the boat.  I don’t have images of this, because my underwater cameras came up with bags full of disorganized salvage. All I can say is that these Filipino dive-masters working for Dugong were highly professional, hard workers, and maintained a good natured and supportive posture throughout their involvement.

The dive service arranged for Jasmin and I to stay in a very comfortable resort  named Cashew Grove Beach Resort. The resort manager (Melody) was waiting for us on the beach when we stepped out of the boat and escorted us to a warm shower and hot meal. She and her staff arranged a secure place to store our salvage.

The following day, Melody arranged with a second dive service from a nearby resort, Club Paradise, to provide a boat and 4 more dive-masters who turned out to be just as helpful as the team that helped us the day before. In just a few hours, we recovered everything else off the boat that could be removed.

 

The boat remains on the bottom of the ocean at the time I am writing this message.  I have pretty much written that off as a loss. I’m thinking the nearly new 200HP Suzuki 4-stroke outboard motor, with all of its high tech electronic systems, would cost as much to refurbish as to buy a new one. This aluminum hull was the nicest boat I have ever had. But even if we could get it floating (likely), we would still have to tow her 200 miles to Subic Bay, strip out everything, and begin from scratch.  I have already done that once.  Makes me tired just thinking about it!

My brother Time and I celebrating just weeks before when we finally had this boat totally ready for its mission.  That was a very happy day.

Immediately upon my return to Subic Bay, my most trusted and experienced boat mentor convinced me that we could fully recover and restore the blue boat and motor if we moved fast.  I had my doubts about a full recovery and the costs involved with a project of that magnitude.  But I know that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I did not do my absolute best to recover the boat; an almost sacred friend that would have given up its own existence to preserve mine and Jasmin’s.

So Tim and I immediately pulled our 2nd (white) underwater dive exploration boat out of dry storage and assigned some work orders to the local boat shop. This was all in preparation for a recovery expedition to try and raise the blue boat and get it back to Subic.  We needed to make two voyages down to pick up our salvage at Cashew Grove, anyway. So there was not much to lose in trying to raise the boat.

A longtime friend of mine who does mechanical work all over the world agreed to accompany me and try to get the motor operating on the 1st boat.  We were just waiting for Super Typhoon Nock-10 to pass by before making the 200-mile voyage to the south where the boat is waiting on the bottom.

Message from Dave Mack, 4 January, 2017 9:00 AM, Philippine Islands:  Once again, I am forwarding this message by mobile phone through loyal brother Tim who has provided very close support since you last heard from me.

As luck turned out, we managed to get my new Laptop going and I was back in live communication with our Happy Camp office the very day that Super Typhoon Nock-10 passed directly over my present location.  All of the weather forecasts predicted 7 days of fair and calm seas.  So, my friend (who I am deliberately not naming) and I departed immediately to Busuanga Island in the Philippine South.

White boat to the rescue!

We only provisioned the boat for one week because we were carrying a lot of gear and bulky flotation devices to support the recovery mission. We expected to be finished with our mission in less than a week.

It took us two days to get down to Busuanga.  This was not because of the distance.  It was because of my increased concern about the need to drop anchor at night in protected coves.  The problem here is that the weather does not always do what the forecasters say. A calm night can turn into a ferocious storm in just minutes. We have resolved how to sustain very strong winds and seas. Whirlpools in the darkness are another matter altogether!

Our first stop on day-2 of the voyage was where the first boat sunk. Unfortunately, all that remained was the 650 pound 4-stroke Suzuki 200 HP motor.  Someone unbolted the motor and took away the hull.  This is very unfortunate, because these types of aluminum Aussie-Built special long range dive boats are hard to come by in the Philippines.  Having said that, I keep reminding myself everything happens as it should. Clearly, someone else is more enthusiastic than I am about investing the resources to resurrect that boat.

Fortunately, we still have another boat.   Though I will not be putting down anchor in unprotected locations…

Which brings me to the present:  With the boat gone, we devoted a full day searching the entire north coast of Busuanga to see if we could find it. No luck. So we made fast work on day-4 in recovering about half of the salvaged items (the other half will be recovered on the next trip) which were being stored safely at Cashew Grove.

Checking in with Tim over mobile phone service, even though it was too late in the day to start our voyage back, Tim informed me that an entirely new storm system was moving in and that we had to depart immediately to avoid getting caught in it.  Tim strongly emphasized the need to head north as fast as the white boat would take us. The surface of the sea was already choppy even before we departed.

The first 100 miles of our voyage to Lubang Island was just plain brutal.  I am talking about strong winds and waves coming straight at us from the north, sometimes getting slammed so hard, I had concerns about the boat breaking up.  My friend screamed and cried with every slam.  But there was no choice to turn around or stop.  My sole objective was to make it to a small protected cove on the West Side of Lubang Island where we could get certain shelter.  There was no other place we could go get out of the storm’s blow.

We came into the storm that Tim had warned us about 30 miles south of Lubang Island; which, by the way, is the Verde Island Straight.   When the tides are running, these are the most treacherous waters in the Philippines.

Fortunately, the wind and waves were battering us from the East.  With only a few hours of daylight left, this allowed me to direct the boat parallel to the peaks and troughs of the 6-foot waves.  Even so, we were taking a lot of water over the windshield and into the boat, along with occasional punishing slams. These caused my friend to scream out in pain.  I was hurting, too. But he was beyond miserable.

We could have put up the flexible storm window to keep more water out of the boat and my eyes. The reason I decided against it is because so much water on the windshield blocks all or most visibility forward of the boat. Take it from me when I say that running 25 MPH sideways to 6-foot seas requires that you see where you are going.

It didn’t take long for the water coming over the windshield to flood out both of the boat’s GPS sounders.  This was not a serious problem during the daylight.  But after dark, without the sounders, there would be no way to find the protected cove on Lubang.  Just as the sun was on the horizon, with darkness fast approaching, I gave the boat full throttle.   This was a race that we were about to lose!

I was taking a severe pounding myself; but the salt water and spray in my face was so severe that I was having trouble keeping my eyes open.   At one point, my eyes swelled completely shut.  That was when we slammed so hard that my friend fell out of his seat and was writhing in pain on the deck, pleading with me to stop the boat.

I stopped the boat long enough to flush my eyes with fresh water and explain to my friend that we were either going to make it to the protected cove on Lubang or die trying.  Then I suggested he sit in the back of the boat where he might be more comfortable.

It brings me no pleasure to inflict so much pain on another person. But pain is better than dead! Getting swept out through the Verdi Island Straight into the South China Sea overnight during a tropical storm is something we probably would not have survived.

Back to full speed, we pulled into the protected cove just as total darkness set in.   Fifteen minutes later and we would not have made it.

The following morning, my friend wanted off the boat at any cost.  He was so desperate, he pleaded with me to drop him off on a remote coral reef down on the Southwest corner of Lubang which has no roads or trails leading to it.  It would have been a death sentence! He just wasn’t thinking clearly.

Over his strenuous objections I drove the boat around the island and dropped him off at a ferry port where he could catch a ride back to the mainland, and a bus back home. I took on fuel and limited provisions at the port.    As my friend stepped off of the boat, it was the first time in my life I ever saw someone express true joy.  I am talking joy on the level of being in the presence of god.  You would have thought it was New Year’s Day (it was)!  He did everything except kiss the filthy ground at the port.

On that note, this was how we spent both Christmas and New Year’s.

By mobile phone, Tim told me the weather forecast was showing 3 foot waves and 15 knot winds out of the Northwest.  I still had a 100 mile crossing directly to the North of Lubang Island to reach Subic Bay.  So I decided to go for it.

But the waves turned out to be 6 feet and larger coming directly out of the north on such a short interval that the bow of the boat torpedoed through nearly every wave.  I had the foul weather windshield zipped in for this trip even though it prevented me from seeing clearly what was in front of the boat in heavy water.  My plan was just to follow north on the Boat’s Compass until I reached Subic.  After 10 miles of submarining through waves, I decided to turn back and wait out the storm.  That was five days ago.

So I am on the boat alone, having returned to the protected cove.  By driving 2 miles to the north, I am able to pick up a mobile phone service and get daily weather reports from Tim.  The forecast is for high seas and strong winds for at least the next week.

Low on provisions, I am feeding myself mainly on the fish I am shooting with my spear gun. This second boat has a hookah compressor on board, much like the compressors we use when dredging for gold. Most others might consider this over the top; but I have been having good luck by dropping anchor out on reefs in 60 feet of water, and going down to use the anchor to drive the boat. By this, I mean when I free the anchor from the bottom, high winds on the surface sweep me along the bottom of the ocean at high speed until I come upon habitat that is supporting game fish. Then I plunge the anchor again into something solid. I do this over and over. As I only need a single fish a day for myself, I have continued to make more friends with local fishermen by giving my extra catches away.

Once the dive is over, I float the anchor with a lift bag to make sure I’m going to recover it in those strong winds.

Since there is nothing else I can do to get this boat back home at the moment, I’m making the best out of my situation. Underwater adventure has been my life passion; and honestly, the solitude is allowing me some valuable time with myself.

Yesterday, I decided that I should have a larger boat. Up until now, the reason I have used smaller boats is that I can take them out of the water between voyages – and especially when I am not in the Philippines. I’ll be looking towards future seasons to trade this convenience off with the benefits and increased safety margins associated with a larger platform.

Like I said, the adventures just keep getting better and better.

With the need to put out a January newsletter as one of my primary responsibilities this story is the best I can do in my present situation.  This is especially important since we have a Legal Fund drawing coming up very soon.

Please indulge me as I provide several lessens I have learned from these experiences:

• Nothing is unsinkable! I’m not talking only about boats. I’m talking about everything.

• We should make the best we can out of every day we have remaining in this life. Because when your time is up, you don’t want to leave important unfinished business behind. I’m mainly talking about relationships. But I’m also talking about pursuing our life dreams.

• It’s very interesting how quickly and how substantially life’s most important things can change. It all starts with a breath. Without that, nothing else matters for long. Sometimes we get all tied around in circles worrying about things that are of little or no consequence. Perhaps this is why some forms of meditation focus entirely on breathing. Want to experience the miracle of life? Just relish in a single breath of air.

• During 14 hours of misery on the water, there was never a single complaint from my loyal boat-mate, Jasmin Montes. Though, there were numerous times when we found ourselves giggling at the difficulty of our situation out there in the middle of nowhere with our teeth chattering. Courage is a wonderful thing to share!

• I’m already on the lookout for a larger boat. Good chance when we pull that altogether, I’ll be glad things happened the way they have.

• As it turns out, the exact right boat came along and picked us up with perfect timing. If we had not tried to swim for the island, that boat would have never seen us. Think about that a second: That resort in El Nido ordered their new boat months and months before, took delivery hundreds of miles to the south, chose their exact path out of the infinity of routes they could have taken to the south – only to intersect with Jasmin and I like a bullseye at exactly the right time to rendezvous with a commercial diving company. What are the odds of all that happening? The odds were far more likely that we would still be out there floating around as shark bait!

• These near death experiences help me to appreciate my truest and most loyal friends. I’m talking about you guys!!  And of course, the thousands of close supporters from around the world who appreciate my adventures.

As it was, the weather eventually cleared up enough to allow me passage across to Subic Bay from Lubang Island. The boat has been washed down and placed in storage. I have ordered replacement GPs sounders and placed several work orders with the boat shop to bring the boat back to full readiness. The local dive shop will replace the scuba compressor that went down with the first boat. Jasmin and I are gearing up to recover the remainder of our salvage and resume our exploration adventures shortly after I publish the February newsletter.

Note: I want to extend my most sincere thank you to Ian and Melody, along with their entire staff at Cashew Grove Beach Resort in northern Palawan, Philippines. In addition to providing an extraordinary service to their customers (diving, trekking, exploring, enjoying the beach, fantastic meals and lodging), they deliver hospitality far beyond what you would expect from anyone short of family: +639 98 5533 184.

Legal/Political Updates

I know we all have our own views on this. We will have to allow things some time to see how things work out.  My own initial impression is that Donald Trump is going to be very good for America. Looking at the team he is building around himself, I get that his full intention is to pry the government off the backs of working America.

In my mind, it’s not a matter of whether or not Mr. Trump wants to “make America great again.”  The question remains how he is going to deal with the substantial forces which fully intend to obstruct his efforts.

For about as long as I have been an adult, liberals have been having things go their way with so little effort that they have not had to work very hard to make life much more difficult for those of us who have had to make our way by creating wealth and wealth-producing services. Having been on the front lines doing battle with liberals for quite a long time, I have come to the conclusion that very few of them are willing to accept reality as it actually is.

So I am predicting that there will be lots of commotion as the new Trump administration and republican majorities begin implementing policies which will force our liberal brothers and sisters to confront a whole new reality.

In a similar way that Jasmin and I intersected with that boat out in the middle of an open sea, Donald Trump has arrived in American politics at just the right time to turn our country around. He is just the right guy, and perhaps the only guy, who will hopefully be prepared to reverse decades upon decades of misguided, socialist policies which have all but destroyed the American dream.

I’m not concerned about Mr. Trump realigning the federal government to support working America. My foreboding is more about how he will persuade obstructionist States and localities. It is State policies that have destroyed so many wealth-producing industries. Imagine, as gold prospectors, the State of California has made it against the law for us to use any mechanized device to locate and recover gold within 100 feet of a waterway – even if there is no measurable impact upon the environment.

That’s liberal thinking; totally divorced from the reality of economic principles.

I predict the Second American Revolution has already started; and it is likely to get ugly (and perhaps violent) as the Trump Team increases pressure upon powerful liberal forces who will do everything within their power to obstruct his progress.

Since the future of America’s “greatness” will largely depend upon our rediscovering the values and principles which made our country great in the first place, along with the future of our small-scale gold mining industry, I strongly encourage you to keep an open mind, contribute in a positive manner, and stand firmly behind Mr. Trump’s efforts as he faces off with the enemies of America’s traditional way of life.

And just remember: (1) Everything happens exactly as it is supposed to, and (2) Each of us gets exactly what we need, even if it’s not what we are asking for! And (3) if it’s not what you think you want, just take a breath!

California Waterboard Scoping Hearings:

The California State Waterboard is conducting Public Workshops in anticipation of creating a new Suction dredging permit. Here is their announcement. I would advise those of you who live close enough to attend the Workshops and put in a good word for our side.

Legal Fund Drawing Coming Soon!

There will be 25 prizes in all:
Grand Prize: 1-ounce American Gold Eagle
Four ¼-ounce American Gold Eagles
Ten 1/10th-ounce American Gold Eagles
Ten 1-ounce American Silver Eagles
Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 would generate 10 tickets, etc.).

This drawing will take place at 12:00 Noon on 24 February 2017 at our headquarters in Happy Camp. You do not need to be a member of our organization to participate. You do not need to be present to win.  There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win.

Legal contributions can be arranged by calling (530) 493-2012, by mailing to The New 49’ers Legal Fund, P.O. Box 47, Happy Camp, CA 96039, or online.

Purchase Tickets for the next legal Fund-raiser Drawing

  $10.00 each – Enter the number of tickets you wish to purchase into the quantity field then click “Update” before checking out. Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 would generate 10 tickets, etc). There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win. Your contribution to The New 49’er Legal Fund is tax-deductible.

Thanks for anything you guys can do to help!

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We strongly encourage you to sign up for the free on line version of this newsletter.  The Internet version is better. This is because you can immediately click directly to many of the subjects which we discuss; because the on line version is in full color; because we link you directly to locations through GPS and Google Earth technology; and because you can watch the free video segments which we incorporate into our stories.  Actually, the video segments show the adventures better than we can write them!

Signing up also places you on our Political Action Team.  Things happen so fast these days; it takes too long to organize political action through the U.S. mail.  As an example, by contacting our supporters this way, in a matter of hours, we recently generated a large bundle of letters to the California Supreme Court. All of these future battles will be organized over the Internet since it is so much faster.  Please join us in the battle to maintain our remaining freedoms!

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The New 49’ers Prospecting Association, 27 Davis Road, Happy Camp, California 96039 (530) 493-2012  www.goldgold.com

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We demonstrated in last month’s newsletter how water can be gravity-fed off the mountain to operate gold recovery systems without the use of motorized pumps. The single drawback to that method is that you have to locate a rich deposit of gold near to where there is a source of water flowing from the hillside – or perhaps a pond of standing water from which water can be transferred through a syphon.

We have access to miles and miles of gold-rich property along the Klamath River where side streams do not exist. Therefore, over the past month we developed a non-motorized, portable gold recovery system that can be set up anywhere along a waterway where there is at least a moderate flow of water.

Normally, a sluice box is set up along the bottom of a shallow portion of river or stream where the water is moving fast enough to carry your sample material or pay-dirt through the sluice. Riffles (gold-catching obstructions) are placed along the bottom of the sluice. Because gold is about five times heavier than the average sand and gravel in a streambed, even the smallest particles of gold will fall down between the riffles and become trapped, while the lighter material washes through with the flowing water. Sluice boxes have been used by prospectors since the earliest days of gold mining.

But the normal limitation with a gold sluice is that it can only be done where the water is moving along rather swiftly over top of a shallow place in the waterway.  Shallow, faster portions of waterway are common along the side tributaries of the river. But there are long distances along the Klamath where the gold deposits alongside the river are very productive, but the water is too deep to set up a sluice in the normal way.  We overcame this during past years by using a motorized pump to supply water from the river to our sluices up on the streambank.

Most of you are aware that California recently passed a law which prohibits the use of a motorized pump to support gold prospecting activities unless you first obtain several permits – which are not being made available.  The New 49’er Legal Fund and several other prospecting associations are actively challenging the State’s authority to impose such laws upon our American freedoms (“You must have a permit, but we are going to make it next to impossible for you to get one…”). We are hoping that the California Supreme Court will reel in these overbearing, unreasonable State agencies in the landmark Rinehart case which will be decided in the coming weeks or months (more on this below).

Since we have already won these arguments conclusively at the District Court level, and through a unanimous Decision by California’s Third Appellate Court, The District Court in Siskiyou County has ruled that it will not entertain any State prosecutions of gold prospectors until the California Supreme Court provides guidance.
Because we have won at each level of State Court, and the Siskiyou County Superior Court is not accepting State prosecutions, many prospectors are using motors to support their gold mining activities this season.  In fact, we have not heard from or seen a game warden along the river in two months.

What we do in our individual mining programs is our own business. The New 49’ers have a set of reasonable operational guidelines which we enforce along the extensive properties which we make available to our members.  But there is nothing in our guidelines which prohibit the use of motorized systems or suction dredges.

Having said that, we do not want to take any chance of having a bunch of our members hassled by State authorities during the Weekend Group Mining Projects which we sponsor. So until the California Supreme Court provides some helpful direction, we have been developing different ways to continue our mining projects effectively without the use of motorized pumps.

It is inconvenient for us to overcome the nonsense being forced upon us by State officials who don’t have a clue that efficient economic systems are the foundation of a free and prosperous society. I believe Donald Trump would use the word “Stupid” to describe public officials that are doing their absolute best to undermine the American economy. We can expect more and louder objections from hard-working Americans as they wake up to the realization that government has grown too big and is strangling the life out of America.
Since it was freedom of spirit and application of our intelligence in overcoming hardship that made our country great in the first place; for the moment, we choose to look at overcoming unreasonable laws and regulations as doing our part to make America great again – for everyone! We hire the best attorneys to fight the legal battles in court. And we put our thinking caps on to make the best out of the freedoms that are still allowed to us.

One of the many very proven gold-bearing areas along our extensive properties can be found nine miles downstream of Happy Camp alongside the Klamath River on a property which we have identified as K-23AA.  This is just one of dozens upon dozens of very extensive properties which we make available to our members.  Because the gold deposits are plentiful and very shallow, we have been doing our weekend group projects on K-23AA for several years.  There are several large parking and camping areas in the immediate vicinity, toilets, and even a river access where we can launch our boats.

There are some places where members are sluicing in shallower water. But the river is too deep along most of K-23AA to support conventional sluicing. So we decided to develop something entirely new; a sluice box which is suspended just below water level by a set of floating pontoons. By “we,” I mean we have a dozen or more active members who volunteer to participate in all or most of our New 49’er events and projects. It would be fair to describe this group as The New 49’er “insiders.”  They are insiders because they don’t hesitate to walk in the door whenever it is open. The door is open to all members. Some people like to be more involved with management and sponsored events.  Others like to do their own thing.  Our program provides the freedom to enjoy the opportunities any way our members wish to.

We had perhaps eight people working on this floating sluice idea. Making the system work had us out on the river doing trial and error on three different occasions.  There were also some late nights in our fabrication shop. This is not only about work.  We have a lot of fun developing these systems. Sometimes there is disappointment when they don’t work as planned. But we take a lot of pride once we get a new system dialed in.

The good thing in all of this is that R&D on the river nearly always involves the use of my jet boat. Boats have been my personal passion for my entire life. Sometimes I even let the others drive! Check this out:

• Exciting boat ride

Our first try at the floating sluice worked well enough to keep us encouraged. But we realized almost immediately that the sluice box was nearly impossible to keep stable on the water by using floatation alone.  Once we added some adjustable legs, we were able to support the platform off the bottom of the river.  Then all we needed was some fine tuning adjustments to dial the sluice in to work perfectly. This is very cool; because it now provides us with a non-motorized gold recovery system that can keep up with the digging activity during our weekend group mining projects. Here is some video of the moments when we finally had the system dialed in:

• Testing the floating sluice

Sixty-three members were signed up to participate in our most recent weekend project. Some were not able to show up.  But we had quite a willing team.  We always begin these projects on Saturday morning in the coolness of the Happy Camp Grange Hall with introductions.  People join us from all over the world. This was a very lively bunch with plenty of enthusiasm.

While my project helpers were down getting things set up on K-23AA, I entertained the participants with some stories about our 31-year history as an association of miners along the Klamath River. It’s helpful to know how things got where they are. I also provide some helpful theory on how to carry out a sampling plan in search of rich gold deposits.

We like to take it kind of easy on Saturday during these projects. This is because most of the physical effort is needed on Sunday morning when we all work together to recover as much gold as we can. We use boats to transfer members across the river where we have discovered extensive, rich gold deposits.

The main objective on Saturday afternoon is to help beginners perfect their gold panning skills.  Gold panning is the first thing a prospector needs to learn.  Once a person can pan gold without losing any, he or she can begin a sampling program. Then, step by step, the person can walk him or herself into a rich deposit of gold. It all begins with a gold pan. I captured just one of the many ongoing panning lessons in the following video:

• Gold panning lesson

 

This Saturday afternoon was particularly exciting because nearly everyone was turning up plenty of gold in their sample pans. John Rose confided in me that the pans were producing more gold than he has seen in five or more years. Everyone was having fun out there. Participants get to keep all the gold they find on Saturday afternoon. Here is some video that will give you an idea of what good sampling pan results look like:

• The gold is fantastic in this place
• Another great sample

We started shuttling people back across the river at about 4 PM. This was so they could have time to freshen up and prepare for our Saturday evening potluck. We filled the Grange Hall that evening. There was enough food to feed an army!

To stay ahead of the summer heat, we all agreed to meet out at K-23AA at 6:30 AM on Sunday morning. Several of us arrived early to get the boats ready; and it was not long before we had a small army of gold prospectors digging out exposed bedrock cracks and filling buckets with pay-dirt from the more productive areas we had discovered the day before.

 

While most everyone was busy filling buckets, the experienced project helpers and I moved the floating sluice out onto the river, tied it off where there was a nice steady flow of water, lowered the legs down to the river bottom, and adjusted the sluice so it would work perfectly. It was just like clockwork! Here is some video that captured the action:

• Getting the sluice into position
• Adjusting water flow through the sluice
• Floating sluice in action

 

We dialed in the water to flow perfectly over the floating sluice.

The buckets of pay-dirt were packed over to our rubber raft which was positioned next to the floating sluice. Then one-by-one, material from the buckets was fed into the recovery system.

It only took a few buckets before we started seeing gold glimmering in the front of the sluice box. Then a nice golden nugget showed itself.  Then a few more.  This was very cool! Normally, we don’t see the gold we are recovering until we clean out the recovery system. Here is some video which we captured on Sunday morning:

• Dave's intro to floating sluice
• Introduction to a floating sluice

We encouraged all of the participants to take some time during the day to go over and watch our floating sluice.  I saw several people go over and look.  But most just wanted to dig the pay-dirt out of those cracks!

The pan samples on Saturday afternoon turned up a lot of gold flakes; more and larger than we normally see.  These were showing up in the sluice box as the pay-dirt was processed.

My job on this particular project was to capture images and video of the action. So I got around to see what most people were doing. Everybody out there was having a great time!  Here is some video that captured the fun:

• Gold is pure wealth
• All the way from China
• That's my first gold
• It's all about the fun
  
• The gold is coming off the bedrock

The highlight of the day was when Dennis Kim from Hawaii pulled out his dowsing tool and began asking the guardian of the river to reveal where the richest gold deposit was located in the area of our dig. He made quite an interesting presentation out of it.

I personally have seen dowsing work for locating water. But in 40+ years of gold mining, I have never seen dowsing successfully locate a rich gold deposit.  Even so, as I have gotten older and maybe a little more wise, I have become more reluctant to pass judgment on things that I am not certain about – which I suppose covers just about everything. The battery on my own camera ran out of steam, so one of the participants captured this on a mobile phone:

• Dowsing for gold

 

Once the river guardian directed Dennis to a place that looked like a good gold trap, a bunch of us started pulling rocks out of the way, and I grabbed a single handful of material to get a quick pan sample.  And I swear it was one of the best grab samples I have ever panned!

This all created quite a lot of excitement, and everyone redoubled their efforts at digging pay-dirt from the exposed bedrock cracks out there on the streambank.

But it is not all just about the gold. We have many members who come back time after time to enjoy the whole experience:

• We do it for the fun and the gold

There are plenty of rafting groups that float by when we are out on the river.  We go out of our way to make friends with them.  If we have gold to show, we call them over to see it. This always creates a nice bit of excitement. Sometimes we ambush rafters into a water fight.  It’s a good thing to have harmony out along the river on one of the most beautiful places on earth. Here is just one interaction we had with some rafters who were floating by:

• Making friends on the river

We started winding things down at about 10 AM, just as the heat of the day was bearing down on our project.  After pulling the gold out of the sluice box and putting the gear away, we ferried everyone across the river with plans to meet back at the Happy Camp Grange Hall at 2 PM.

 

Final cleanup of the gold, and the gold split. took a few more hours to complete in the coolness of the air conditioned Grange Hall. The excited chatter of all the participants was almost deafening as we passed out equal shares to everyone.  In all, we recovered 12.5 Pennyweights that were split amongst 44 participants.  We recovered 11 nice gold nuggets.  In some very magical way that I don’t fully understand, Dennis Kim ended up with the very special gold nugget that the river guardian wanted him to have.  He was so excited that he was beyond words. Everyone else shared in that magical moment.  And that’s the way we ended off on another great weekend project.

As a side note on this, we have perhaps 10 members collaborating on a non-motorized underwater mining system that does not meet the definition of a “suction dredge” under California’s most recent laws. Our prototype is already being tested on the river. The following video shows our first test of the device. Further modifications have created enough suction-power to pull gravel from the bottom of the river, but we still need a little more. I hope to have some exciting news for you in our August newsletter. Stay tuned:

• Non-motorized underwater suction mining

Legal Fund Drawing Winners

The New 49’ers Legal Defense Fund gave away three ounces of Klamath River gold nuggets, which were split into 25separate prizes, at our Saturday evening potluck in Happy Camp on 25 June 2016.  Here are the winners:

One ounce of Klamath River gold Nuggets:  William Hinkle of San Diego, CA.

Quarter-ounce of Klamath River Gold Nuggets (4 prizes):  Richard Kelly of Moxee City, WA; Joseph Sawyer of Dayton, NV; Dane Petersen of Aloha, OR and Uwe Martin Mueller of Miami FL.

One pennyweight bags of Klamath River Gold Nuggets (20 prizes): Ryck Rowan of Spokane, WA; Frank Collier of Yreka, CA; Kenneth Mulholland of La Habra, CA; Vicki Byrd of Wenatchee, WA; Irene Standley of Troutdale, OR; Paul Gokey of Maricopa, AZ; Bruce Morton of Prosser, WA; Joe Martin of Willits, CA; George Shorter of Mobile, AL (George was the only winner present at the drawing); Dan Christenson of Sidney, MT; Daniel Court Sr of La Pine, OR; Dennis O’Shea of La Haina, HI; Richard Kelly of Beaver Creek, OR; Scott McGrosso of Escondido, CA; Scott Hagen of Livingston, MT; Scott Langston of N FT Myers, FL; Richard Smith of West Jordan, UT; Dennis Taylor of Sherwood, OR; Robert Gauf of Clear Lake, CA; and Ryck Rowan of Spokane, WA.

Congratulations to all the winners and a great big thank you to all the contributors!

Since this was one of the more productive legal fund-raisers we have had in quite a while, The Legal Fund has decided to do it again with three more ounces of Klamath River gold nuggets, once again split into 25 prizes. The drawing will take place on Friday afternoon, 21 October.

You do not need to be a member of our organization to participate. You are welcome to be at the drawing, but you do not need to be present to win.

Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 would generate 10 tickets). There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win.

Legal contributions can be arranged by calling (530) 493-2012, by mailing to The New 49’ers Legal Fund, P.O. Box 47, Happy Camp, CA 96039, or online.

Purchase Tickets for the next legal Fund-raiser Drawing  

  $10.00 each – Enter the number of tickets you wish to purchase into the quantity field then click “Update” before checking out. Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 would generate 10 tickets, etc). There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win. Your contribution to The New 49’er Legal Fund is tax-deductible.

Unfinished Business

Legal Update:  The California Supreme Court listened to oral arguments in the Rinehart case on the first of June. As I have explained in earlier newsletters, the Rinehart case is perhaps the most important litigation concerning mining that has happened during our lifetimes.  The question in front of the Court is to what extent the State has the authority to materially interfere with or prohibit different methods of mining on the public lands because of real or imagined environmental or social concerns.  In this case, the controversy is over California’s refusal to issue any suction dredge permits without even providing a process to consider if any impacts exist in the first place.

Nobody knows how long it will take for a written answer.  Though it would seem reasonable that they would try to finish it up while the material remains fresh on their minds. The Court has a heavy case load.  I’m hopeful that they would prefer to finish each case as soon as possible.

All or most of the ongoing litigation over suction dredging in California State court is on hold until the California Supreme Court issues a decision on the Rinehart case.

The True Value of Gold:  Someone sent me a link to the U.S. Debt Clock last week, and I was shocked at how fast the millions upon millions of Dollars are stacking up on the U.S. national debt. You can find the link right here:

One of the most interesting pieces of information on the page can be found in the bottom-right hand corner of the chart which shows what the actual value of gold should be, based upon the number of U.S. Dollars that have been created since gold was unpegged from the fixed Dollar value of $35 in 1971. According to the chart, gold should be trading right now at $7,642 Dollars per ounce. That is $382 Dollars per pennyweight. It is $16 Dollars per grain.

What this means is that if gold were trading at its true value, nearly anyone could sustain a living along our mining claims with just a gold pan.

One day, maybe soon, all the nonsense is going to settle out and gold will return to its rightful place as the world’s only true currency.

Once gold is trading at its true value, the extensive properties we make available to our members could be considered one of the most ideal banks in the world.  You will be able to go down to the river or creek and make a draw anytime you want to do a little exercise.  The gold you recover will be free; yours to keep or trade for the things you need or want.  You won’t even have to pay it back. How’s that for the right kind of bank?

The Debt Clock is a clear demonstration of how badly America is being managed. Sooner or later (probably sooner), this ticking time bomb is going to affect everyone on the planet in one way or another.  But especially everyone in America. We should begin adjusting ourselves to the reality that the future is not going to be the same as the American dream we have experienced for several generations.

My advice would be to put some gold away in safe keeping if and while you can.  And don’t retire your gold pan. One day it may keep you and your family from standing in a government food line.

I’m sorry to voice this reality.  Go to the Debt Clock and look for yourself.  This cannot go on for much longer.

“Gold Warriors” is a book everyone should read:   Someone very kind sent me a copy of this book a few months ago. Even though I seldom have time to read books, I made the time for this one.  Drawing on a vast range of original documents and thousands of hours of interviews, this book exposes one of the greatest state secrets of the 20^th century. The book provides an incredible history lesson that is not taught in any school or university. The book provides important insights into many things; but here are the two most important revelations to me:

• Despite how well we have been misled to believe that gold is not important to world financial affairs, the truth is that the health of all financial systems on the planet revolve around gold. Paper is nothing, even if it is a gold certificate. Even if it is a receipt from the bank or storage facility that is “keeping your gold safe.” Read the book and you will realize that the entire 20^th century has revolved around gold. This reality has been completely hidden from us. Read the book and see for yourself.

Just today, someone forwarded me a link to an article about Japanese investors rushing to turn the last remaining value out of the failing Japanese Yen into gold and store it in Swiss banks. Sounds like a good idea, right? But “Gold Warriors” carefully documents how all of the world’s largest banks, especially those in Switzerland and America, with the full support of the U.S. government, have refused to honor the gold certificates they have issued, or return deposited gold to its rightful owners – and even have gone so far as to completely destroy prominent legal firms that have attempted to gain satisfaction in court.  Like I said, the book is a real wakeup call!

• The government is not here to help us. We cannot believe anything the government says. Nothing is truly as it seems on the surface or in the news. If there were no other lessons from Bengasi, it is clear that the government will not even be there for its own best people when the chips are down.

You have to look to your own available resources to secure your future. Stay out of the government’s way or it will run you over like a freight train. The Debt Clock I linked to above is just one of the freight trains coming at all of us full steam ahead, and increasing its momentum every second of the day.

While the book makes this entirely clear, anyone following the ongoing election cycle and other events happening in the news just this week should have already come to the conclusion the something is very wrong with government in America. Dark times ahead. We should prepare. If you cannot afford to buy gold, allow us to teach you how to mine it.

We must fight to hold onto the extensive gold properties available to us and for the freedom to extract the gold from them. Once they succeed in taking that away from us, our program in Happy Camp will no longer be the lifeboat that it is today for freedom seekers who hope to retain some personal control over our destinies.

I’m sorry for this sobering discussion.  You guys that have followed my writings know that I always try and find the positive and hopeful side.

Between the history lesson in “Gold Warriors,” the ever-accelerating debt being piled upon us by our “leaders,” the realization in recent days that top officials in government are above the law, widespread increasing disrespect for government due to multiple reasons, including the State’s ongoing unlawful scheme to undermine our industry, and the political rhetoric in the ongoing election cycle, it seems perfectly reasonable to be very concerned.  I remain hopeful about a lot of things.  But it still feels like the right time to ring the alarm bell.

2016 Weekend Group Prospecting Programs

All weekend events are free to Full & Associate Members!

This season, at least until the legal question about using motors is resolved; we will be demonstrating how to recover volume-amounts of gold using non-mechanized methods of mining. Believe me when I say that there still remain viable methods of recovering Mother Nature’s golden treasure!  You might be really surprised! With all the people who participate in our weekend projects, my guess is that the gold production will not change by much. All participants will receive an equal share of the gold we recover.

Schedule of Events: June 4 & 5; June 25 & 26; July 16 & 17; August 6 & 7; August 27 & 28

The New 49’ers provide all of the sluicing equipment and boats used in these projects. You will need to have your own basic digging tools, gold pan (available in the prospecting shop in Happy Camp) and transportation. You will also need to provide your own lodging and nourishment.

Group projects are limited to a manageable number of participants. Scheduling in advance is strongly advised to ensure a position on any specific weekend project: 530 493-2012.

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We strongly encourage you to sign up for the free on line version of this newsletter.  The Internet version is better. This is because you can immediately click directly to many of the subjects which we discuss; because the on line version is in full color; because we link you directly to locations through GPS and Google Earth technology; and because you can watch the free video segments which we incorporate into our stories.  Actually, the video segments show the adventures better than we can write them!

Signing up also places you on our Political Action Team.  Things happen so fast these days; it takes too long to organize political action through the U.S. mail.  As an example, by contacting our supporters this way, in a matter of hours, we recently generated a large bundle of letters to the California Supreme Court. All of these future battles will be organized over the Internet since it is so much faster.  Please join us in the battle to maintain our remaining freedoms!

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The New 49’ers Prospecting Association, 27 Davis Road, Happy Camp, California 96039 (530) 493-2012  www.goldgold.com

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SECOND QUARTER, JUNE 2015                               VOLUME 29, NUMBER 6

 

 Newsletter By Dave McCracken General Manager

Not to get overly religious on you guys; but I have realized time after time in my own life experience that if your heart is in the right place, and you really need something important, and you put out just the right kind of hope and patience, the universe that we all share will reorganize itself and bring what you need right to you.  Sometimes it takes a while.  Sometimes my hopes come through almost immediately.  This is especially true in gold prospecting.

This story actually started late last season as we were going into our final Group Mining Project.  Early in the season, we had discovered a fantastic surface gold deposit on one of our newer mining properties, K-23AA, which is about nine miles downriver from Happy Camp.  The gold discovery was on the far side of the river.  You have to go to the places where you find the best gold.  So after many years of not using boats to support these projects, we pulled one of our large rubber rafts out of storage and got back into the business of transporting large numbers of members across the river.  The season worked out really well.  All of the participants seemed to enjoy the added adventure of a few rafting trips, in addition to working the high-grade gold deposit across the river.

That deposit sustained all of our weekend projects last season, in addition to all of the members who went over there to recover gold on their own.  But as the season was winding down, all of our loyal project helpers and I agreed that, while there was still plenty of gold there to support individual mining programs, we were going to need to find an entirely new gold deposit to support the weekend projects for this coming season.  We had no idea where we were going to turn that up.  I’m not sure about the others, but I put out a strong hope (some might call it a prayer) that something would turn up.

“Dave and Alice”

It was with that hope in mind during our final project last season that I spotted a man and woman couple excitedly showing off some gold in a bucket to others on the project.  I could see that something good was happening by the way others were gathering around.  I zoom right in on this sort of thing!  If somebody has discovered something good, I want to know about it.  Sometimes I refer to this as dialing in on the right frequency.

The members showing off the gold in their bucket were Dave Mackenzie and Alice Leverenz, both from Oregon.  They said the gold came from panning a single bucket of material from a new gold deposit they had located a little more than half-mile downriver on the very same claim. It was a lot more gold than the average material we were working during the project. They said the deposit appeared to be absolutely huge, and there was room there for everyone.  To top off the excitement, Dave pulled out of his pocket a bottle of beautiful nuggets they had found down there in their first sample hole near the river.

This is one thing about The New 49’ers that sets us apart from any other mining organization I have ever seen.  With very few exceptions, when our members make a new gold discovery, they share the news with others and excitement levels go through the roof.  I cannot even count the number of mini gold rushes we have generated over the years!  Perhaps this is because we have so much gold-rich property, members are confident that there is plenty of gold to go around.  Perhaps it’s the nature of our members and the combined culture we have developed to help each other out.  Our motto is “Miners helping miners.”

Assuming this was the answer to our hopes for a new location to do our Weekend Group Mining Projects in 2015, several of our project helpers and I made an appointment to meet Dave and Alice on the following day. Their deposit is also on the far side of the river from Highway 96.  The only way over there with gear is by boat or raft or some other floating platform.  We launched my jet boat from the developed river access on our Wingate property about a half-mile downstream from the new discovery.

As they took the time to show us what they had found, they also told us of their personal story; a story which could prompt you to ponder the larger mysteries of fate and hope that affect each of our personal destinies. It turned out that they actually did not intend to sample in this new location at all.  Their vehicle had broken down alongside the highway. It was going to take a week for the parts to arrive.  Since they were not going anywhere, Dave lowered his raft and prospecting gear down the embankment and decided to make the best use of his time prospecting on the far side of the river.  He was rewarded with good gold in his very first pan!  Then he just kept on going, only to realize they had discovered a rich gold deposit by accident – and already arrive at the place they really wanted to be!

There is a good lesson in this.   No matter how big the problems are that you are confronted with, there is usually a good opportunity in there somewhere if you just look for it.  I can look back at the most difficult times I have experienced in my life; and now that I am beyond them, I realize how lucky I am that things happened the way they did.

Here are some video segments that I captured while Dave and Alice were showing us their discovery:

• Finding the Gold at the Perfect time
• This looks like virgin streambed!
• There is a distinct layer change in the material.
• Getting Gold right on the Ground

“This is gold Alice panned out of the leaves on the ground!”

Just as Dave and Alice had told us, the size of this gold deposit is enormous.  There is a very wide section of mostly exposed bedrock that extends from the river about a hundred feet or more to a very long section of what appears to be original streambed.  By that, I mean streambed material which has never been mined before.  Samples from the cracks and irregularities in the bedrock are producing excellent panning results.  This place is a vack-mining heaven!  There are also places down closer to the river where shallow layers of hard-packed streambed are overtop of cracks in the bedrock that contain very exciting gold nuggets.

I am personally experiencing a lot of enthusiasm over the virgin streambed material.  That’s where Dave and Alice were recovering the most gold for their effort.  I could see a distinct layer change there which is certain to concentrate gold.  Alice showed us a single pan with a nice display of gold she said she panned just out of the debris on top of the ground!

Dave and Alice made it very clear that they had no problem with us running the group projects in this new discovery.  So our prayers had been answered this time with almost no delay.  Is that cool or what?

The problem is that this new discovery is in a rather difficult location to gain access with large numbers of people.  There is plenty of parking and a rather easy trail from Highway 96 located about a quarter-mile upriver from the deposit.  There is a set of rapids between the trail and this new discovery.  So while we could transfer people down to the deposit with our large rubber raft, we were not going to be able to get the raft back up through the rapids using its own small outboard motor, even without passengers.  There is a trail on the far side of the river.  But it’s a long way to walk at the end of a hard day of mining.  Anyone who has participated in these projects will tell you that we work pretty hard on Sunday morning, especially when we see how the gold is adding up!  So walking out of there is not a great option.

We have learned over the many years that it is better to find the balance between working hard to recover as much gold as possible, while not killing off the participants.  My helpers all agreed that the long trail on the far side of the river was going to be asking too much for some people.  So we put our heads together on coming up with a plan to move everyone by rubber raft through two sets of rapids on both days of the project.  This is something we have never attempted before.

Before I go further into the story, I want to introduce an important new member of our team, Shawn Tilton.  Shawn has a vast background in many areas, but he actually arrived in Happy Camp with the purpose of creating a New 49’er Facebook page to capture the day-to-day excitement for the whole world to see.  Shawn has a lot of filming and editing experience.  He is working closely with our new office manager, Tony Balderrama, who also has a very strong background in the ever-changing developments in the high tech world of social media.  You can find our New 49’er Facebook page right here:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-49ers-Prospecting-Association/1396597950668824   Please take a look.  This new program was only started about two weeks ago, and we believe you will be impressed at our progress.  We hope you will “like” the page and help us spread it around. Once we gain some steam, Shawn intends to put fresh material up every day; gold prospecting developments and adventures you would never know about unless you were part of the ongoing action.

• Introduction to Shawn

Shawn

Here is a video segment I captured with a short introduction to Shawn, since you will probably be seeing him on the scene if you visit Happy Camp this season.  Shawn was present last week while we were out reconfirming the gold deposit on K-23AA.  We were also working out how to move large numbers of people on the river without it taking too much time away from our mining project.  All video as we go forward will be material which Shawn captured and edited together. Note that Shawn increases the video speed in places to allow more emphasis on the important parts without taking up too much time. It’s pretty cool!

Before we even began working out the transportation challenges, John Rose, Rich Krimm, Derek Eimer, me and several others returned to the new discovery point on K-23AA.  Other members were in the area, but nobody was working the place where Dave and Alice left off last year.  Just to be certain the gold was there, Rich took one pan of material from the deeper, darker brown layer, and I took one pan from the lighter brown contact zone just above.  The pans were not full.  But they had enough material to confirm (or not) what Dave and Alice had showed us last season.

Rich was first to finish his pan.  The gold he found surprised Rich so much that he ordered Shawn to turn the video camera off.  Ladies and gentlemen, that’s called gold fever!  Shawn complied with Rich’s demand, so unfortunately we did not capture Rich’s pan to show you.  All I can say is the result was outstanding.  My smaller pan result was just as good as Rich’s in proportion to the smaller volume of material that I sampled.

Craig Colt has returned!

That’s all we needed to see.  This new gold deposit is a huge gift that we never expected.  The area is so large, as far as I was concerned; all of this year’s Weekend Group Projects are going to be a success.  Everyone out there agreed.  The following video sequence captured a lot of the action:

• First day of sampling

A few days later, I got the word that one of our more experienced members went down to our discovery and only found very little gold out of a full bucket of material.  That was quite a shocking report!  There have been times in the past where I made an initial discovery of really good gold, only to realize after I moved all my gear there that the gold in my initial sample was the only gold present. It’s one thing if I make this kind of mistake on my own.  It’s quite another thing to bring a large group of people to a place where we are not going to recover much gold — especially since I am the one who has to split the gold up at the end of the project!

So as to not take any chances, me and our sampling crew found ourselves back out on the river to reconfirm the gold deposit once again.  This time, we were joined by Craig Colt.  Craig was one of the key players in all of our weekend and weeklong projects for many years.  He is a very well-respected gold prospector who is now coming out of self-imposed retirement in hopes that we will have a dredging season this year.  I expect we will be seeing more and more of our longtime, experienced members on the river if we get dredging back.  I even heard Otto Gaither may return. Oh my! 

Craig and I both took a pan of material from the contact zone at the initial discovery point, and all I can say is that the gold is fantastic!  My pan had nine nice-sized flakes of gold and at least 100 colors.  Craig’s pan produced a similar result.  Here it is on video:

• Second day of sampling

This is from a single pan of the pay-dirt!

When we returned to the boat, John Rose was relaxing there in the warm summer sun with a big grin on his face.  We were all excited to show him what we found.  Without even looking at our pan, he laughed and said, “I’ll bet I got more than you did!”  And he was right; he had a lot more gold than Craig and I recovered combined.  And that was just out of a third of a pan of unscreened material that he dug out of a bedrock crack next to the boat.  Man, this K-23AA is rich!  Shawn captured the moment on video:

• John’s fantastic pan of gold!

“This deposit is rich!”

Now, with 100% certainty about the gold deposit, we switched gears into the challenge of moving large numbers of people on the river.  By large numbers, I mean we are expecting at least a hundred members to participate in this weekend’s project.  That’s a whole lot of people to move around on the water!

So we came up with the idea of using my jet boat to tow one of our large rubber rafts.  We needed to see if we could pull it fast enough to get it up on a plane and through a set of pretty fast rapids.  We have never tried this before.  My first idea was to tie the raft as close as possible to the jet boat so we could direct the jet blast under the raft to help pick it up.  This first experiment worked. Getting up through the rapids was easy, even with two guys riding in the raft.  The problem was when I needed to turn the boat; the jet blast was directed right over the side of the raft and almost filled it with water in just a few seconds.  We all got a good laugh out of that.  Shawn caught it all on video:

• First try at pulling the raft

From there, we did several experiments pulling the raft further and further behind the jet boat.  We finally discovered the right distance and realized that not only could we pull the boat up through a set of rapids, but we could do it with passengers aboard.  So we took it to the next step and added the smaller outboard motor to the raft; the one we normally use to maneuver the raft around on the river.  That improved our new ferry system so much that we scattered out across K-23AA to find all the members who were working out there for a test run on the river.  The idea was to use the large raft to launch and recover people without disconnecting the jet boat.  We got it right on the first try!  Shawn was right there with the video camera:

• We finally got it right!

Afterwards, we realized that with a little creative carpooling at the beginning of the day, we can park most of the vehicles down at the Wingate River Access and ferry people downstream from the work site at the end of our day.  That will make the process go faster.

There is a longer video segment Shawn put together on our facebook page that shows all the action spliced together with interesting parts which were not included above.  Please remember to “like” our page so we can spread our adventures around to others who might take an interest.

This is all something new:  We have worked out a system of moving large numbers of people through difficult river conditions to gain access to and from perhaps the largest and richest gold deposit we have ever discovered during thirty continuous years of prospecting along the Klamath River in northern California.  The proof will be this coming weekend during our first project of 2015.  Watch for how it turns out on our Facebook page and in next month’s newsletter.

Suction Dredging Situation for 2015 Season Should be Decided on June 23rd!

Superior Court Judge Ochoa has set a hearing date for 23 June in San Bernardino for our motion for relief from the Department of Fish & Wildlife’s (DFW’s) continued enforcement of the unlawful moratorium on suction dredging for gold in California.

In an effort to get the matter resolved more quickly, several suction dredgers on the Klamath River refused to sign the promise to appear portion of the criminal citations they were being issued (“unlawful dredging”), opting instead to be arrested.  Ultimately, one of those very courageous guys ended up in jail with The New 49’ers Legal Fund hiring James Buchal to represent him.  That hearing in front of a Siskiyou County judge was to take place within 48 hours.  Mr. Buchal was motioning the Court to dismiss all charges, order a return of all seized equipment, and order DFW to not bring any further dredging cases in Siskiyou County.  Had we got our day in court, this seemed like it would have been a slam-dunk for our side.

What we had not planned on was that the Siskiyou County jail is completely full of people either arrested or serving time for felony convictions.  Our local sheriff Lopey was objecting strenuously that in order to incarcerate a suction dredger for a rather minor misdemeanor, he was going to have to release a hardened criminal back onto the streets.  This all caused quite a stir at the jailhouse in Yreka while all the key players were trying to figure out what to do.  Ultimately, according to my limited understanding, the District Attorney decided to defer the charges (or something like that) and let the dredger out of jail with no agreement that he appear in court at any later time.  Once the dredger was released, the required 48-hour hearing in front of a judge was lost.  So it was kind of like being arrested and let go.  What can I say; it’s California.

Therefore, it appears that the earliest chance we will have to get hassle-free suction dredging restored in California is on June 23^rd.  Yes; I know there are some very important due process issues in play here.  We have considered all possible options, and have decided that our best course of action is to wait it out a little longer and place our hope for a 2015 dredging season with Judge Ochoa.  He knows more about our plight than any other judge in the country.

Several dredgers have signed a promise to appear (for “unlawful dredging”) in Siskiyou County on 9 June.  I’ll be surprised if the State moves ahead with that, but we shall see.

Update note: We went to court on June 9th, and the names of the two dredgers were not even on the docket, so the court clerk wrote them in by hand. When it was their turn in front of the judge, they were informed that no criminal case against them had been filed with the court. The dredgers asked if the judge could help them with a return of equipment which the wardens took from them. The judge’s answer was that his hands are tied until a case is brought in front of him, which he did not believe was likely to happen. The judge explained that the State has up to a year to file a criminal case on a misdemeanor. So it would appear as though the State can rob you of your possessions with impunity for up to a year if they suspect you are guilty of a misdemeanor — or they just want to punish you!

You would not have to look much further than this to wonder why rioting in the streets is on the increase!

The only remedy is to file a civil lawsuit; but judge Ochoa has instructed us to not do that. So we are crossing our fingers for June 23rd in San Bernardino.

We filed our opening salvo in San Bernardino on May 18^th.  The relief we are asking for is to return to the 2009 suction dredge regulations which were in affect at the time that the unconstitutional moratorium was imposed upon our industry – and stick with those until they can be updated in a way that does not break the law.  You can find the documents we filed right here:

Shortly after we filed these documents, the State filed something with the Court that appeared to argue that judge Ochoa could not return us to the 2009 regulations because the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) process they used to enact the (illegal) 2012 regulations was followed properly. In turn, The New 49’ers and PLP filed a joint response demonstrating conclusively that the State’s process did not even come close to following the law. I suggest you read this document, because it is very reveling about who and what we are up against.

Since the Court in San Bernardino will likely decide the immediate fate of suction dredging in California on 23 June, and we will not publish another newsletter until a few weeks later, for updated news, I suggest you “like” our Facebook page (link above) and/or join our free Internet chat forum.

Meanwhile, just in case you do not know, this ongoing conflict with the State only affects motorized suction mining within 100 yards of California’s active waterways. It does not have anything to do with the other types of prospecting or mining that we do in California. 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 100 yards of an active stream, river or creek. It also does not affect our Group Weekend Projects.

To continue prospecting the bottom of active waterways, some members have converted to underwater crevicing, using the hookah and pump from their 5 and 6 HP motors on floating platforms to provide air for breathing and a jet of water to help move material out of the way, thus coining the new method as “underwater blow mining.”

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.

Don’t Forget About Our Ongoing Legal Fund-raiser!

I am very pleased to announce that Garrett Metal Detectors is generously supporting this next fund-raiser with their brand new top-of-the-line ATX pulse induction gold detector.  That is a $2,500 machine!

Garrett is also donating a refurbished AT Gold metal detector as a second prize (“refurbished” means the unit was used as a demo at a trade show, but never used in the field, and then put back through quality control and repackaged in new condition). This is an $800 machine!

These are both fantastic gold machines which can actually be taken underwater to shallow depths!

The drawing will also include 20 American tenth-ounce American Gold Eagles.

The drawing will take place at our Saturday evening potluck on June 27. You do not need to be a member of our organization to participate. You are welcome to be at the drawing, but you do not need to be present to win.

Having said all that, I am starting to get concerned that the drawing date is fast approaching, and The New 49’er Legal Fund has only brought in enough contributions so far to about equal the value of the prizes. It is less than a third of what the Fund brought in on the previous legal fund-raiser.  We know you guys out there support our efforts or we would have not been able to get as far as we have on the legal front.  Right now, we are closer than we have been since 2009 to getting legalized gold dredging returned to us in California.  This is just a reminder that the very hard push we are making at the moment is costing a lot of money.  Please get behind us on this as much as you are able.

Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 would generate 10 tickets). There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win. Look for our new Paypal contribution link here.

Remember, all contributions to The New 49’ers Legal Fund are tax deductible.

You can find out more about The Legal Fund’s ongoing fund-raiser by going right here.

Once again; thank you guys very much for standing behind our efforts!

Join us for our Weekend Group Mining Projects This Season!

There is a learning curve to successful gold prospecting.  One of the most effective methods of progressing through the learning curve is to go on prospecting adventures with others who are more experienced than you.

Our 2-day Group Mining Projects are one of the primary benefits of New 49’er membership which set us apart from other mining associations.  All weekend events are free to Full & Associate Members.

Schedule of 2015 Events: June 6 & 7; June 27 & 28; July 18 & 19; August 8 & 9; and August 29 & 30.

Schedule of Events

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The New 49’ers Prospecting Association, 27 Davis Road, Happy Camp, California 96039 (530) 493-2012  www.goldgold.com

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