THIRD QUARTER, AUGUST 2026                       VOLUME 40, NUMBER 2

Newsletter By Dave McCracken General Manager

Quite a few members have visited Happy Camp and/or spent time on our numerous mining properties during the 2026 season. As far as we can tell, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife has only cited a single miner along the Klamath River and tributaries this season. That person is not a New 49’er member and has not approached us for advice or legal assistance.

Golden treasure being dredged on the Salmon River this season

I will cover our views about the legal consequences of suction dredging on our properties as a New 49’er member in the section below. Suffice it to say that most underwater mining is happening along the side tributaries in areas that are not as visible to the open road. Even though we have now won against the three dredging citations that have been written against New 49’er members during the last two seasons, the legal cloud of the possibility of getting into trouble (for a while) is generally undesirable to most honest folks.

We will eventually get it all sorted out. I personally expect the gold prices to perhaps double again during the next upswing, which might even happen before next season.

Let’s face it. The world is a mess. A strong strain of communism has infiltrated the U.S. Democratic party. There is also a strong trend whereby people, and even government officials, believe that their own political leanings justify ignoring legal rules that have been adopted according to our constitutional principles. The U.S. is involved in a war against Iran for multiple reasons; and even though we have thoroughly defeated them on the battlefield, it is definitely not in their nature to ever give up. The war between Russia and Ukraine that is killing more than a thousand soldiers per day does not appear to be getting closer to a final resolution. China continues to threaten Taiwan. Now Japan is beating war drums against China. America is still spending two or more trillion Dollars a year in excess of how much it brings in per year. Our national debt is over 40 trillion dollars not counting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and future military and civil service retirement obligations. Our ongoing interest obligations (on the $40 trillion national debt exceeds what we pay on national defense. In fact, we are now printing money to pay our own interest. This is called a “doom loop.” No country in the history of the world has recovered from a doom loop!

While there are some good things also happening, they are mostly overshadowed by the downward trends.

I’m sorry to burden you with bad news. But I believe it is wise to carefully consider and plan for the actual world that we live in. Trillions in more money printing is certainly going to cause more and higher inflation.

On that note, something I have never seen in any news cycle is the reality of how inflation compounds. This was something I asked from the artificial intelligence on my smart phone. This is very important to understand: When it is reported that we have an annual rate of 5% inflation, I think it is normal to consider that this is a 5% loss of purchasing value compared to some point in the distant past; like the way things “used to be years ago.”

Inflation is actually continuous and cumulative. For example, an average of 5% inflation this year will reduce the purchasing power of a Dollar to around 95 cents during that single year. Then, 5% inflation next year will further reduce the original purchasing power down to about 90 cents over the 2-year period. And it keeps going hour by hour, day after day, year after year as we keep spending more than we bring in.

So when investment advisors announce that a 6% fixed interest rate on a 10 year bond or other paper investment is good, because you will ultimately get paid $1.06, when inflation is running at 4%, they are overlooking the cumulative affect inflation will have on the purchasing power of your dollar over 10 years. Even the smartest financial advisors are not talking about this.

Increasing gold prices over time, more or less, reflect how much value has been stolen (hidden tax) from our money, mostly due to money printing. By printing $2 trillion dollars this year to meet our ongoing interest obligations, if my calculation is correct, with 5% inflation, we will add 10 billion more dollars to our mandatory interest payments next year.

Said another way, America is killing itself. If it wasn’t so serious, it would almost be humorous to hear our politicians running on the platform of “making things more affordable.” It is not going to happen!

Just possibly, those of us who place our savings in precious metals may have a chance of surviving what is coming. This includes investing in the ability to go out and mine for your own gold.

In my view, there are two hopeful considerations that might come out of the current trends:

(1) The value of gold is going to go up as the value of paper currencies declines. This is good for those of us who invest our savings into precious metals. Money saved in the bank or hidden under your bed is losing a small amount of purchasing power every day.

2) I am hopeful that as things get more painful, eventually a bigger portion of our population will come to terms with reality. Honest reality really works for our industry! It is totally unreasonable and anti-American to prevent us from freely harvesting gold off the bottom of our rivers when there has never been any proof that our cumulative activity has ever harmed fish! The truth (reality) will eventually catch up with the insanity and it will be on our side. It has to. Mostly, it is about how much pain we need to suffer as a society before we face reality. It is not just us that are facing the insanity. It is everywhere! So even though present circumstances don’t look so great, I believe it is all going to turn much better for us in time.

Meanwhile, gold prices have doubled since last year, we have a lot of gold mining property available to us, camping is free; and our members are getting good prospecting results above or alongside our waterways, or even on the bottom of the waterways using methods that are comfortable to them.

Note that thousands upon thousands of Americans survived the great depression with little more than a gold pan. If gold doubles in dollar-value again this next year, a pennyweight will be worth $400 or more.

• Panning Gold

Ongoing Legal Explanation from the New 49’er Legal Fund 

First of all, thank you sincerely to all of you who contributed to our Legal Fundraiser last season. We raised enough money to support all of the miners and members who requested assistance, mostly on the matter of suction dredging. So far, we have not lost a single case.

Tucker’s second suction dredging citation by the Department of Fish & Wildlife (for the same offense which was defeated by Tucker the first time) under a different code sub division of California Section 5653 was defeated in Siskiyou County Court a second time by Tucker. He accomplished all of that completely on his own! Since we are not aware of any rulings in Siskiyou County that have penalized suction dredgers, we are still assuming that suction dredging under a partnership, corporation or other organization (Section 5653.8) remains legal in Siskiyou County. It appears that they have refused to honor Siskiyou Counties’ Superior Court Decisions because DFW has continued to write several citations and seize dredging equipment. Note that the deep state refuses to honor Decisions made against them from the very same judges that they expect to penalize us!

We need to watch carefully the situation where our law enforcement agencies choose to ignore the very same laws they are imposing upon us. What kind of government would not respect the Decisions of it’s own justice system? Are we there, yet?

DFW issued a citation to Gerard Buggey in September of last year for “possessing a suction dredge within 100 feet of a closed waterway” (5653(e). Through quite a lot of time and expense, determined to defend himself, Mr. Buggey submitted a substantial Motion to Dismiss to Siskiyou County (not the same judge that decided Tucker’s cases early last season). Mr. Buggey’s hearing took place over a Zoom call on or around 8 July of this year. After some back and forth, over the DA’s objections, the judge Decided to place Mr. Buggey on a 1-year deferment scheme; which, if I understand it correctly, places the charges against Mr. Buggey on hold for one year. If Mr. Buggey does not get into trouble during the next year, the charges against him will be dropped and his dredge will be returned to him.

We were hoping for an immediate dismissal; but sometimes you have to take what you can get. The most important part of this hearing, from my perspective, was when the DA was arguing that Mr. Buggey’s dredge should never be returned to him. The judge responded by throwing up his hands and sternly instructing the DA that the suction dredge regulations are so confusing and complex that no person of average intelligence should be penalized for not understanding them. This was, almost word for word, one of the primary arguments made in Mr. Buggey’s Motion to Dismiss.

Meanwhile, DFW continues to ignore the Siskiyou County Superior Court’s Orders. Here is their latest press release on the matter.

Because a lot of time and money went into Mr. Buggey’s defense, we are publishing a cut & paste version of his Motion to Dismiss right here:

https://goldgold.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Motion-To-Dismiss-REDACTED.pdf

This motion includes all or most of the important legal arguments for defending suction dredgers from DFW’s maligned intent to ignore their own regulations.

Perhaps, sooner or later, DFW will stop harassing honest, hard-working Americans that simply want to earn a sustainable living on the public lands. Even a pennyweight of gold these days is worth $200! The volume of a pennyweight is about the size of an eraser head on a pencil.

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 (who are dealing mostly in paper assets). Especially these days when the government is printing trillions upon trillions of Dollars out of thin air. The dollar-value of our gold and mining properties has doubled during the past year!

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, they are arguing that we no longer have the right to excavate or process minerals using motorized mining components within 100 yards of an active waterway. 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. The mindset that we should all get everything we want without having to work for it will only increase the downward spiral of America. That so many people have locked themselves into this mindset is a strong symbol of how far we have slid into the abyss of national bankruptcy.

We all know that these are troubled times for America. The whole world hangs in this balance. If conservatives win 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 past 40 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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FOURTH QUARTER, OCTOBER 2025                            VOLUME 39, NUMBER 2

Newsletter By Dave McCracken General Manager

We are dredging again! One ounce of gold now is worth more than $4,000! That means a pennyweight is worth $200. Nearly anyone can recover a pennyweight of gold or more per day out of the Klamath River!

Here are the winners from the Legal Fund drawing on 9-30-2025

Twenty five 1-Ounce American Silver Eagles: 1. Ray Sterner; 2. Rebecca Parrish; 3. Bernie O’ Connell; 4. Dennis Zander; 5. Peggy Johnsen; 6. David & Linda Ballard; 7. Ryck Rowan; 8. Ryck Rowan; 9. Dennis Zander; 10. Rich Helburg; 11. Edward Murphy; 12. Michael Carter; 13. Bernie O’Connell; 14. Peggy Johnsen; 15. Robert Deknes; 16. Rebecca Parrish; 17. Ryck Rowan; 18. Robert Andrekewics; 19. Ryck Rowan; 20. Josh Kirby; 21.Ryck Rowan; 22. Robert Brandes; 23. Greg Yager; 24. Greg Yager & 25. Roy Davis

Grand Prize #1 (.385oz. Nugget) John T. Hawthorne; Grand Prize #2 (.467oz. Nugget) Peggy Johnsen; Grand Prize #3 (.273oz. Nugget) Ryck Rowan; Grand Prize #4 (.347oz. Nugget) Barbara Pettigrew; Grand Prize #5 (.557oz. Nugget) Ryck Rowan

Thank you very much to everyone who contributed to this legal drawing!

Note that some contributors won more than one prize. Since we are very careful to honestly perform Legal Fund drawings in front of whoever wants to watch, and we are also careful to issue exactly one ticket for each $10 contribution we receive, it is possible that those who won multiple prizes contributed more money to the drawing. There were some substantial contributions. But it could just be luck of the draw!

Here is some video I captured during the drawing:

• New 49'ers Legal Fund Drawing 9-30-2025

In any case, the drawing generated funds to launch our defense of the new case law that was adopted in Siskiyou County during April of this year (Tucker) that now allows suction dredging and motorized mining if you belong to a partnership, corporation or other Association. I’ll cover this in the next section.

Operating Motors and Using Suction Dredges Again Has Been Ruled Legal Under Specific Circumstances by the Siskiyou County Court!

Note: the beginning of this section is partly repetitive from an earlier newsletter so as to bring everyone up to date on the existing state of our legal affairs:

New 49’er member, Tucker Clements, was cited last season by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (F&W) for operating a suction dredge up on the Salmon River (California river). His case was dismissed in April of this year by the District Attorney (DA) and by the Superior Court of Siskiyou County.

This is a huge win for our industry!

Tucker made his defense by demonstrating to the Court that he was dredging under a partnership, rather than the F&W regulations created for individuals. In short, F&W 5653 regulations state as follows:“(a)The use of vacuum or suction dredge equipment by a person in a river, stream, or lake of this state is prohibited, except as authorized under a permit issued to that person by the department…”

And then, 5653.8 “For purposes of Section 5653 and 5653.3, “person” does not include a partnership, corporation, or other type of association.”

Because Tucker demonstrated to the Court that he had a partner involved in his operation, the entire case was thrown out of Court. Here is the written Order from Superior Court of Siskiyou County:

Order: “The defendant has produced evidence that shows that he substantially complied with the scope of conduct allowed by Fish and Game Code 5653(a). Pursuant to 5653(8), “For purposes of Section 5653…’person’ does not include a partnership, corporation or other type of association.” The defendant has substantially complied with the requirements of Section 5653(a) because he was acting as an agent of a partnership.”

The Order was signed by the District Attorney (DA) on April 15 2025, and the Superior Court judge on April 17^th. Since the case was not appealed by F&W, our assumption has been that the law is settled in Siskiyou County.

I have to admit that we were all surprised by this revelation. Therefore, our dredging and other motorized mining season did not really begin until sometime in June. By that time, Tucker had already departed to begin his dredging season in Alaska.

After Tucker departed, a notation turned up on Tucker’s docket in Siskiyou County Court that the DA had refiled the Section 5653 violation against Tucker. That was confusing, and it created a shadow over the legal rights of small-scale miners in Siskiyou County. We could not get at the citation, because Tucker was out of state; so we placed our efforts on raising Legal Funds (section above) to be prepared for the coming battle.

Some members did not want to take the chance of being cited. Others of us decided to rely upon the original court ruling. My estimate is that we had an average of 25 members dredging and using motors on our claims between June and the end of August of this season. As far as I know, there was not a single F&W warden on the Klamath River or our creek properties all the way through August. Because of these new developments, The New 49’ers have had the best season in at least a decade! There are generally more cars out in front of out office in Happy Camp. A group of active miners accumulate inside our member space to socialize and exchange information and excitement nearly every morning.

Most members depart in early September because the weather normally gets cooler, the rains usually begin, and children go back to school.

In early September, several wardens came down and wrote a few citations to dredgers. The citations were for violation of Section 5653, possession of a suction dredge within 100 yards of a closed waterway. Each time, the wardens explained to the miners that they were aware of the Siskiyou County Court’s Order Dismissing Tucker’s case in April; but that “suction dredging as part of a partnership was still against the law!” What?

How can a State agency force a criminal procedure upon you in front of our local Superior Court; and then completely ignore the Court’s Order because they do not approve of the outcome? This sounds a lot like the California Deep State to me!

A more clear idea about the F&W position can be found by reading their statement in their latest newsletter, which can be found here. I’ll just make a few comments, because most of it is just nonsense: The newsletter states, “No partnership, membership or business relationship provides an exemption from this prohibition.” Note that F&W’s own Section 5653.8 is ignored entirely! And then, assuming they are referring to the Tucker case in April, the newsletter says, “Due to a clerical error the dredge case was temporarily dismissed.”

That was not a clerical error in Tucker’s case. It was a formal dismissal! Once again, we have California Deep State Officials deciding that a Superior Court dismissal was nothing more than a clerical error because they don’t like the outcome. I believe the proper (and only) remedy for a court decision that you disagree with is to file an appeal. But they did not file an appeal. Rather, they decided to ignore the Court Order!

The problem with DEEP State officials is that they believe they are so powerful that they can ignore a Decision from the very same Court that they use to prosecute everyday citizens!

Question: How can these wardens and our court system believe they can be respected by the public if they can just make up their own rules and force them upon us? What happened to, “Nobody is above the law?” These are the very same guys who have sworn an oath to uphold the law! This is exactly what motivates the “defund the police” movement! If there is no longer rule of law, America is doomed!

Governor Newsom has already announced that he will soon propose the elimination of 10,000 state jobs as just one of additional cutbacks to resolve California’s overspending problem. These officials have no problem with eliminating the livelihoods of small-scale miners. But they will be crying when California runs out of money to pay them! California has already run out of money. We, and our gold deposits will still be here when these government officials are long gone!

Tucker’s new (old?) case is now scheduled to be heard (heard again as if the first time didn’t count) in mid-November. He has agreed to assistance from our attorney, James Buchal. We really need to win this because then they will have to dismiss the few other citations F&W has issued and we can make our plans for the 2026 season.

If we lose, we will not have the luxury of just deciding that the new Decision does not even count. We will have to file an appeal. That means I will need to pull out more of my personal treasure to be prizes for the next Legal Fund-raiser. Whatever it takes!

Four Dams Upstream on the Klamath River Have Been Removed

The Klamath River is flowing about a foot lower than before the dams were removed. When we started in June, there was three-to-five feet of water visibility depending upon the location. The Klamath was never a very clear river to begin with. I can do fine with three feet of visibility as long as I am not working under a tall working face. The river was running with six feet or more visibility when my season ended in late August.

The Scott and Salmon Rivers, and our Elk and Indian Creeks are running crystal clear if you prefer the smaller waterways. We have extensive properties for you to choose from.

Some members are working on the edge of the Klamath River next to the banks and recovering good gold for their efforts. Some members are also dredging on the creeks. Others are running high-bankers or dry-washers, using their vacuum mining machines, sluicing, electronic prospecting and panning.

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.

You can expect to see updates on the Tucker case as it unfolds on our Facebook Page.

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 4^th of the existing year through October 3^rd 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.

Conclusion

Keep the faith, you guys. We have been holding on and praying since suction dredging was eliminated in California during 2009. If things go our way this time, we can all start looking towards recovering more of that $4,000+ gold!

Reminder that you can sign up to receive this free newsletter right here.

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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THIRD QUARTER, AUGUST 2024                            VOLUME 38, NUMBER 1

Newsletter By 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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