Doyle Hyde Showing off Some Gold he Recently Recovered on our K-17 Property – August 2023

 

Doyle Hyde has been bringing gold into the office that he has been hand-mining on properties upstream and downstream of Happy Camp. This gold was recovered towards the upper end of our property near Seattle Creek.

Three Employees Now Working in the Office

With more members and guests returning, we have added a third person to the office for the ongoing summer season.  Our normal business hours are 9 am until 2 pm on Mondays through Fridays, and 8 am until noon on most Saturdays through the busy season.

It is a good idea for you to call in advance if you plan to visit the office. There are occasional times when we close early or may not open because of any number of reasons. We have voicemail at 530 493-2012. Wildfires and other emergencies, mountain weather conditions and/or health issues occasionally will prompt us to close the doors for a day or more.

Even if our office is closed, our mining properties are always open to members for prospecting and camping.

Two More Potlucks Scheduled in August of this Season

Things along the Klamath River have pretty-much normalized. With more members around, we began doing potlucks again. Turnouts have been pretty good. Two remaining scheduled potlucks for this season will happen at 6 pm at the Happy Camp Community Hall (used to be called the Happy Camp Lions Club) on the following dates: August 5^th and 19^th. Please bring something to add to the meal along with your preferred beverage.

Weekend Group Prospecting Projects

We are trying a new idea this season as a substitute for our Organized Weekend Prospecting Projects.  We are meeting up on Sunday morning after the Saturday evening potlucks. Then we venture to a nearby location where we believe that prospects for finding gold are good. We will provide sampling and panning instruction. Participants can keep all the gold you find. This is a free program available to all members.

Since our normal schedule is still being worked out, if you want to participate in a sponsored prospecting adventure, please call our office and place yourself on the list.

Four dams Upstream on the Klamath River are Being Removed

All of the flood control along the Klamath River is being removed. Here is an article that provides some details and images.

My understanding is that the four dams will be completely drained next summer. Once the excess water is allowed to flow away, there should be a dramatic drop in the water level along the Klamath River. This should help us get down into the deeper gold deposits, some which should be exposed and out of the water.

Trimming the Fat

There was a time when it cost so little to file a mining claim that we would immediately pick up any gold property that was available along the Klamath and other gold-bearing tributaries in the area. But the cost of maintaining a mining claim, along with most other things, has gone up dramatically in recent years.

In a continuing effort to keep our costs in line with income, we have identified properties we manage where members have never taken an interest.  We will let those go, and add new properties where we believe the gold prospects are more encouraging. We have already taken on several new properties in the Wingate area along the Klamath River. Please stay tuned for more information as we make progress.

Television Show Coming Our Way!

I am not able to disclose very much about this without breaking an important trust. Nearly everyone is familiar with the several gold programs that have been playing on various television networks for many years. Some of them are very popular. I was involved several years ago with a 4-part series that involved finding the long-lost Golconda Diamond Mine. That was the richest diamond mine in the world, which is now completely flooded by a reservoir. Links to these episodes are on the left side of this page.

There is a lot of interest in these types of shows where normal folks can go out and find a fortune if fate is on their side. The challenge is that typical commercial mining requires substantial financial and other investment. Setting up a commercial program in India or Alaska is not something the average person can afford to do.

So more recently, the interest of these filming companies has evolved into finding more small-scale mining projects that an average person or family could afford to do. We get queries on a regular basis.

Several weeks ago, a filming company was here from the United Kingdom for a few weeks to capture just regular people using traditional methods to recover gold. They seemed happy with our program. I gather they are planning around eight episodes to capture the “Modern Gold Rush in America.” I’ll keep you posted.

Facebook/Forum

Some of you are aware that we have maintained our own Internet message Forum for quite some time. Our Forum was quite busy years ago when we were in a legal contest to maintain suction dredging in the western U.S. Activity on our forum since then has fallen off significantly.

Our Internet Forum was mostly created by founding member, Jim Foley. Jim has moderated our forum since it was started many years ago. However, I am sorry to report that Jim passed away just a few days ago (stroke). We are all going to miss him very much.

While Jim and a few others have moderated the forum, our office staff have been updating The New 49’er facebook Page on a daily basis. Members come into our office every week and allow us to take images of the gold they are finding. Sometimes, this can be very exciting! Therefore, the latest exciting news, in full color, can be found on our facebook page. Sometimes, we even go down and get some images and video of where members are doing well. Especially since we are not sending out newsletters as often as before, our facebook page is the best way to stay current and even actively participate.

We don’t need both an Internet Forum and a facebook page. They both pretty-much serve the same purpose. Since more creativity is going into the facebook page, we will make this announcement on the forum for a while before shutting off the forum page.

Annual Dues is Billed This Month

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 available to our members.

In real terms, the true value of the gold along these extensive properties may be worth more than the net assets of any financial institution on the planet. Especially these days when the government is printing trillions upon trillions of Dollars out of thin air which is fueling inflation. The reason that prices are going up is not because goods and services are worth more than before. They are going up because the Dollar is not worth as much as before. This happens because too many Dollars have been printed and circulated.

I remind you every year that 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, governments (California, Oregon, Washington and others) have imposed unreasonable regulations upon our industry. Basically, we have lost the use of our mechanical mining components within 100 yards of an active waterway. But all of our traditional mining methods are still allowed.

As long as you guys continue to stand with us, we will continue the fight for our basic freedoms.  There remains hope that America will wake up and realize that we need to produce value and wealth in excess of what we consume.

We all know that these are very troubled times for America. The whole world hangs in this balance. If conservatives win back control in the upcoming elections, it would not be unreasonable to hope that we can win our country back. Then we might be able to win our industry back. There remains some reason for hope.

I am willing to invest my personal resources to keep our 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 assessment of your support will be in what percentage of Full Members are willing to invest $50 a year to help keep our dream alive: The freedom for Americans to go out on the federal lands and invest your personal energy and resourcefulness in exchange for all the gold you can find.

Thank you very much for your support over the many years!

Dave McCracken, General Manager