New 49'er Newsletter

THIRD QUARTER, AUGUST 2024                            VOLUME 38, NUMBER 1

Dave McCracken

 

 

 

Newsletter By Dave McCracken General Manager

 

Longtime supportive member, Robin Burgen, is using a hand-operated dry-washer to mine gold along the banks of the Klamath River. And he is getting nice gold! He has taken the time to demonstrate his methods in a series of helpful videos.

gold-nuggets Robin Burgen

Like the rest of us, Robin begins with a gold pan to locate productive pay dirt:

Here is the rest of his story:

More Members are Returning to Happy Camp this Season!

More members and guests are returning during this 2024 season and we have also had somewhat of a surge in new members. There are so many people in the office some mornings that it reminds me of the good old days before we were reduced to mostly hand mining for gold. We attribute some of this to the excellent television coverage provided to us by a recent Discovery Channel Special. Gold has increased as much as $500 since last year at this time. This has also spurred interest. Imagine that just a pennyweight of gold is now worth around $122! One pennyweight is 1/20th of a troy ounce. Just a single grain of gold is worth around $5! It takes 24 grains of accumulated gold to make up a pennyweight. A grain of accumulated gold would be around the volume or size of a matchhead. In any good place along our properties, some members often recover a grain or more than a grain of gold in an average pan, and a pennyweight or more of gold in a day if you are working at it. Many members do better.

We now have a third permanent person in the office. Our normal business hours are 9 am until 2 pm on Mondays through Fridays. 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. Namely wildfires, power outages or other emergencies. Mountain weather conditions and/or health issues occasionally will prompt us to close the doors for a day or more. We also have voicemail at 530 493-2012.

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

Two More Potlucks are Scheduled in August of this Season

We scheduled two potlucks in July, which should have taken place by the time you read this newsletter. All of these events are being announced on our Facebook page. The two potlucks in August will take place at 6 pm on August 10 & 24. This is as long as wildfires don’t force us to cancel them. So far this season, we have not had any wildfires in our area and the skies have been clear and blue.

Turnouts at our Saturday evening potlucks this season have been pretty good. We are doing them at the Happy Camp Community Hall (used to be called the Happy Camp Lions Club) down towards the river in the middle of town. Just ask anyone for directions. Please bring something to add to the meal along with your preferred beverage.

Four dams Upstream on the Klamath River are Being Removed

All of the flood control along the Klamath River is actively being removed. Here is an updated article that provides some details and images. It is not a pretty sight! But it should get better in time.

As I write this, the Klamath is flowing at the normal summer flow rates that we have always seen. Therefore, there must still be some dam waters being held back and released further upstream. The US Forest Service has announced that this will be the final season for commercial rafting on the Klamath. That’s a signal that water levels should be dropping. The water is muddy, though there is now about a foot of visibility at the surface in Happy Camp and further downstream. Some members are working out in the river next to the banks and recovering good gold for their efforts. Most members, like Robin’s story above, are prospecting up off the river or along our creek properties. 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. Dam removal may turn out good for gold prospecting in the end.

Trimming the Fat

Last season, I announced that in a continuing effort to keep our costs in line with income, we had identified properties that we managed where members have never taken an interest. We let those go. As far as I know, nobody even noticed. Though there are several out-of-state companies that have filed claims directly over our traditional and popular properties and put them up for sale. This has happened numerous times over the years. Because I made that announcement last season, several members on our Facebook page assumed that we sold off our best properties and there was some alarm and disappointment until we straightened it out. First of all, we have not sold a single claim. If someone else files paper over our properties and tries to sell them, it does nothing to eliminate our control over the properties. Please have faith that I will never let any of our good properties go. We are not planning to let any other properties go at this time.

However, we have taken on several new properties in the Wingate area along the Klamath River – which filled in the last openings in our continuous stretch of the Klamath river from above Happy Camp downstream to just above Clear Creek (around nine or ten continuous miles). Most of it has never been mined due to the higher flows (because of flood control). This might be fantastic for gold recovery once the river drops, and it is only one of many long, continuous stretch open to our active members.

Our Facebook Presence

Our staff and others have been updating the Newfourtyniner Facebook page on a regular 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! Sometimes we even go out and capture some images and video of where members are doing well. Therefore, the latest exciting news, images and video, in full color, can be found on our Facebook page. Especially since we are not sending out newsletters as often as before, our Facebook page is a good way to stay current and even actively participate.

New Email addresses

Because of ongoing Internet changes, we have decided to perform our email functions with a different provider. These changes will be reflected on our Contact web page. Please try and remember that our @goldgold addresses will only be active for a short time longer. As of now, we expect to be using the following addresses: Office: <49ersmemberservices@proton.me>; Billing & administration: <teyaw@proton.me> and <dickey49er@proton.me>; Internal Affairs: Rich Krimm: <rckrimm@att.net>; Dave McCracken: <davemack74@protonmail.com>

Member Accident Insurance

Our group insurance plan is great for those who do not have an insurance policy to cover you in case of a minor accident. All members are eligible to receive our low-cost group accident plan.

Our plan covers an individual for $15,000 in accident insurance, including dental, during any mining venture on New 49’er properties. It covers bodily injury caused by an accident and resulting directly and independently of any other cause. It is a supplemental policy, meaning that if you have some other form of insurance, this policy only covers you when the other runs out. It is also a $2,500 life insurance/dismemberment policy if your death or dismemberment is the result of a mining accident.

The policy costs $30 per person, per year—at this time. This covers from October 4th of the existing year through October 3rd of the following year. There is no rebate if you purchase the policy later in the year; the fee is still the same.

With insurance companies, you never know when rates are going to be increased; so we suggest you obtain your policy in early October by printing out this form, filling it out, and sending it to the office with your check for $30 per person.

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 increased property taxes and filing fees to the County and Bureau of Land Management. These are legal requirements which allow us to continue making a 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. The reason that prices are going up is not because goods and services are worth more than before. Prices are going up because the Dollar is not worth as much as it was before. This happens because too many Dollars have been printed and circulated. More or less, on the long term, increased gold values signal the reduced purchasing power of paper currencies.

I remind you every year that we should be calling our extensive properties the “Klamath First National Bank.” Ours is the only bank in the world where you can go out, set up your own camp, and make a draw anytime you wish. There are no interest, rent 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. Not to mention that we are located smack in the middle of some of the best Pacific Northwest country you will ever see. 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 right to excavate or process minerals using motorized mining components within 100 yards of an active waterway. But all of our other traditional mining methods are still available to us. We have not given up hope that American policymakers will eventually wake up to the fact that our natural resources are what will fuel the economy of the future if we want to be prosperous. This goes for farming, ranching, timber, mineral, oil and natural gas development. Since this is an important election year, I urge you to vote for leaders that support natural resource development. You know, “Drill baby drill!”

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.

We should do all we can to maintain our Klamath First National Bank. If lost, we will never get it back! We are enormously lucky to have access to it. Thank you very much for your continued support over the many years!

Dave McCracken, General Manager

 

New 49’er Gold Prospecting Association
27 Davis Road P.O. Box 47, Happy Camp, California 96039 (530) 493-2012
www.goldgold.com

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