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2013 Season is off to a Great Start! – June 2013

New 49'er Newsletter

SECOND  QUARTER, JUNE 2013                                VOLUME 27, NUMBER  6

Dave Mack

 

By Dave McCracken

highbanking fun Pan Sample

Lots of members are arriving to prospect along the Klamath River this year.  While some are attempting to dial in different kinds of underwater gravel transfer concepts, most are using conventional pick and shovel mining techniques.  There are a bunch of members working gold strikes on both the new A&D #3 and the new Middle Independence Properties.  We are seeing more cars parked along the side of the road on our other properties. It all reminds me of our very busy years in the early 90’s!

Mike Highbanking

 Our pot luck get-togethers these past two weeks have mostly been full.

People Working People Watching the Work

Somewhere around a hundred people were involved with our organized weekend activities several days ago. About half of them were beginners. We had ten experienced members out on our K-15A property demonstrating and critiquing sampling and gold panning techniques on the weekend:

Final GoldEveryone had a good time, and we recovered twelve pennyweights of beautiful gold while feeding three high-bankers for about three hours on Sunday morning.  This included nine nice gold nuggets.

These video sequences have captured how we demonstrate the entire prospecting process, from identifying naturally-formed streambed (hard-pack), gathering a proper sample, gold panning, to production, to final clean-up of the gold.  Our free weekend projects are the only organized events in the world which actually demonstrate gold prospecting from A to Z, allowing people to participate in every step along the way.

 Pretty girl Steve

California Fish & Wildlife officials were active during the early part of May, mostly checking on underwater gravel transfer systems to make sure they do not meet California’s definition of a “suction dredge.”  They don’t want to see a motorized suction system directing material into a sluice box.  To my knowledge, they did not find any violations. By all reports, the California officials have been very polite and courteous.

close smileThe U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has been mostly invisible during the past month.  However, unless we have an active fire season (which is definitely possible), I am predicting they will start to come around to visit with prospectors at some point.  I ask that you please review the suggestions that I provided in last month’s newsletter concerning our (your) relationship with USFS officials.  We still have three Internal Affairs guys on staff that are prepared to assist any members in the event that you are approached by USFS staff or other officials.  You can reach them by contacting our office at 530 493-2012.

The days in Happy Camp have mostly been warm and sunny for the past several months, and it appears as though summer has arrived for good. The Klamath River has already warmed up to about 69 degrees, and climbing fast. The water in the river is already at summer lows and very clear.  I believe that we are going to have a very low-water year on the river.  This makes for easier prospecting and more access to otherwise difficult areas – where Mother Nature hides some of her richest treasures.

Morale is very high on the river and around the office. There is a wonderful sense of motivation and quiet determinism in the air that I have not witnessed along the Klamath River since the mid-90’s. Happy Camp is actually starting to look more like a bustling economy. I am told that the paid RV parks are already booked full for the season.  We are seeing more and more small camping communities springing up along our mining properties and in the roadside pull-offs alongside Highway 96. Things are lining up in Happy Camp like we are going to have a great season!

Pick miner Big smile

Schedule of Weekend Projects for 2013

All members are invited to attend our weekend Group Mining Projects and keep an equal share of the gold that we recover.  Here are our remaining events for 2013:  June 22 & 23; July 13 & 14; August 3 & 4; August 24 & 25.

Schedule of Events 

Better News in Oregon!

I want to thank everyone who responded to our Action Alerts to help overcome several anti-mining bills that were fast-tracking through the Oregon State Senate. If those destructive bills were passed into law, it would have put a complete end to suction dredging and all other forms of motorized gold mining within a quarter-mile of all or most waterways in the entire State of Oregon!

Those bills were being pushed by the very same anti-mining activists we are up against in California who want to eliminate the last remaining productive economic activity on America’s public lands.

The good news is that some of the bills now appear to have stalled.  Though SB 838 remains alive in the Joint Ways & Means Committee, and our adversaries are pushing very hard right now to have their supporters push the Rules Committee to pass the Bill.  Therefore, we are requesting one more hard push at the Oregon Senate to help kill that bill.  You can find all the important details right here.

Unless SB 838 gets passed into law, it appears as though Oregon will have a normal mining season this year.  Both Oregon State Lands and Department of Environmental Quality are presently issuing their standard recreational mining permits.

Giving Away Dave Mack’s Gold Nuggets!

Twenty-five prizes in all

We are nearly a month away from giving away three ounces of my personal gold nuggets, and hardly anyone has entered the contest!  I know you guys normally wait until the final month to participate.  Please don’t wait too much longer. I’m sure you don’t want me to have a heart attack worrying that we could have raised more money for the legal fund if we just sold the gold to a jeweler. Oh my! 

Grand Prize: 1-Ounce of Dave’s Gold Nuggets
Four ¼-Ounce Bags of Dave’s Gold Nuggets
Twenty 1-Pennyweight Bags of Dave’s Gold Nuggets 

This drawing will take place at our weekly potluck in Happy Camp on Saturday evening, 13 July 2013. 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.

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.

Legal contributions can be arranged by calling (530) 493-2012, by mailing to The New 49′ers, P.O. Box47, Happy Camp, CA 96039, or you can do it online by clicking here:

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.

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, just two years ago, in concert with other mining organizations, our Internet Action Team killed anti-mining legislation in Oregon in less than a week.  It is a near guarantee that we will be calling for another industry-wide action to defeat this new legislation being proposed in Oregon before you even see another of these newsletters.  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