FOURTH QUARTER, NOVEMBER 2011 VOLUME 25, NUMBER 10
Note: Oregon Now Has Placed a Moratorium on Motorized Prospecting!
Longtime, supportive member, Alan Mash, just completed another productive dredging season along the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. Since he has just gone public with his personal story on youtube.com, I now will not be betraying Alan’s secret that he recovered 6 ounces of beautiful gold this past summer, a lot of it in gorgeous nuggets and jewelry gold.
Of all the members we had dredging along the Rogue this past season (plenty), including Jim Yerby, Mark Chestnut and I, nobody out there was working any harder than Alan.
Alan’s secret is to sample around until he finds the right kind of hard-pack; which he says, is loaded with gold. He normally targets his sampling in locations where he spots boulders, or compacted gravels with large rocks. When his patches of high-grade hard-pack play out, he just keeps sampling forward in line with where he is fining high-grade (looking for more boulders) until he locates another patch. Alan works the river from one patch to the next. Sometimes when sampling, he just allows his dredge to motor along behind him with no tie-off lines. He covers more ground that way. Although, that would not work in fast water – which he also works.
We were out dredging near Alan on the Rogue towards the end of this past season, so we had the opportunity to capture the following two video sequences. They go a long way to demonstrate how much fun we were having:
We struck high-grade gold while dredging along the Rogue River during both of the last two seasons.
We have a Map and an Access Guide for all members who wish to suction dredge along the Rogue River in southern Oregon. Members are invited to contact our office for more information.
Drawing Winners for 3 Ounces of Gold!
Our most recent Prize Drawing for 15 American Gold Eagles took place on 4 November at our headquarter office in Happy Camp. Here is a list of the winners:
Grand prize of One-ounce American Eagle: Gary Fox
Quarter-ounce Eagles: Michael Rock, Harold Griffith, Nate Crawford & John Barrier
Tenth-ounce Eagles: Rusty Garrison, Mark Olson, Les Martin, Kerry Seifried, Roland Shafer, John E Smith, Lynn Quist, Gary Weyandt, Kenneth Payne & William G Marshall
I want to personally express my gratitude to all of you who are supporting our legal fund. I know it is not easy these days to contribute money, especially when sometimes it feels like we are not winning the ongoing battle for freedom in America. Your support gives us the encouragement we need to keep trying.
Any contributions which were received beyond 4 PM on 4 November have, and will continue to, generate drawing tickets for our brand new fund-raiser, which will be for three more ounces of the beautiful gold which I personally dredged along the Rogue River during this past mining season.
Meanwhile, the girls in 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. The drawing will take place on 9 March, 2012. Contributions can be called in to our office at (530) 493-2012, mailed to The New 49’ers, P.O. Box 47, Happy Camp, CA 96039, or completed on our web site by going to our web site.
We greatly appreciate help from you in regenerating our legal fund!
Ten More Miles of Dredging in Southern Oregon!
I am really excited to announce that we have identified more than ten miles, in 19 separate locations, along the South Umpqua River in the vicinity of Roseburg, southern Oregon. This is located about 1.5 hours north of where we have been dredging on the Rogue River.
The South Umpqua is a smaller, slower, warmer waterway than the Rogue! There is also a lot of exposed bedrock showing. Local miners have told us this is a sniping and underwater crevicing paradise! This will be a much easier place to work, especially for beginning-dredgers.
We now have enough of our details together that I am comfortable in adding a preliminary map with this newsletter. Check it out! The dredging areas are shown as green patches on the map. Note that the specific map details may change a bit as we continue our research throughout the winter months. We have founding member, Mark Chestnut, to thank for the substantial amount of work he has invested into this project on behalf of The New 49’ers.
We will be writing up general details, along with an Access Guide, and a list of the camping and lodging facilities which we have identified so far. The DEQ and Oregon State Lands dredging permits mentioned in the section above also apply to the South Umpqua, with a 2-month season extending between 1 July and 31 August.
As long as we can locate high-grade gold deposits, I intend to devote a big part of the 2012 season assisting members over on the South Umpqua.
Stay tuned for more information as we add it to upcoming newsletters. Or you can contact our office at (530) 493-2012. We will be devoting a lot of space to the South Umpqua on our web site with plenty of images, and also Google Earth links so you can go and look at the places yourself on the Internet!
2012 Weekend Projects
Our weekend group mining projects are scheduled for the upcoming 2012 season as follows: June 2 & 3; June 23 & 24; July 14 & 15; August 4 & 5; and August 25 & 26. These events are free to all active Members, and everyone is invited to attend. Please contact our office in advance to let us know you will be there: (530) 493-2012.
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The New 49’ers Prospecting Association, 27 Davis Road, Happy Camp, California 96039 (530) 493-2012 www.goldgold.com
