Friday the sun rose into a clear blue sky and neighbor Bob is ready to go. Got loaded up and headed out to the much talked about 24KT Gold Hunter's claims. After what turned out to be a 2+ hr drive we finally arrived in the ghost town of Stanton. Stanton AZ. has 1 old building and a much improved camping area for RV's. From what I could see they had water and electricity. Campers were hooked up to the little tote porta potties. I didn't stop to see what kind eminities where available, but there where probably somewhere in the neighbowhood of 60 or more RV's there.
Found a couple of gents walking along the dirt road and asked directions to the 24kt claims. Turned out they are well marked. When we got to the claims, I found several members right off wanting to tell all and I wanted to know all, so we jawed for quite awhile. Finally we were given directions to find Elly. She is a diehard miner if I ever met one. Elly recently came down with a strain of Ecoli and was in a coma for several days. During that time she developed blood clots in her right hand and they in turn caused gagnrene to set in. At the point of almost having to have the fingers of her right hand amputated, surgery was preformed on one of the fingers and they were able to cure the gangrene. She's recovering pretty well and is back up on her horse riding the claims again.
OK, the claims. We were located on the east side of Rich Hill. They currently have 5 "pushes". They strip off about 12" each push making it easier to metal detect or drywash. This mountain, as you can tell by the pictures, is an elephants playground as far as boulders go. By pushing, Elly opens up areas so that they can be accessible, and in the past were not worked. This area is very hard on dozers etc due to the roughness of the area, but she gets it done. The west side has some claims that haven't been worked except by one couple from back east. They worked and paid for their trip and put a considerable amount in the bank. Good summers work.
Having a conversation with Elly is just about impossible, as someone is always running up to show off their latest find. One couple came up with a 2.6 gram nugget. Since they call themselves newbies and just learning, they were really proud of that first nugget. I also saw several pans of fines that was drywashed. One member told us that over 250 nuggets were taken out the day before. Just like me to show up a day late. This area they are working, well I would say the only way you won't find gold is to stay in camp. And even there, if you started digging, I'll bet you get gold. The gold you get is in direct proportion to how much effort you put into looking. The ultimate goal is to find a commercial vein and to develop it. All members are partners and if a "find" is made and operations start, then each member is part of that.
There is a well up on the hill and she has plans to flood an area below for highbankers and dredges up to 3". Each member will mark off their "claim" and then she will flood the area. Now what I would like , which is impossible, is for the whole area to be flooded. Boy, you talk about a dredgers dream< working unworked ground with a big dredge.
I never talked to a single prospector that wanted their money back, in fact they all wish they had started earlier. Elly was very gracious and gave us a "day pass" so we could go play on the other side. The pushes are reserved for payed up memberships as it should be. Ok, so how much did I find? None. I walked the west side exploring. The west side is very different in that there is a lot of greenery. If its green, then it has thorns or needles. Yep, I fell into some cactus and am still pickin out needles from my knee. They are easy to remove once the fester up.
I would have to give this project 2 thumbs up and the price is right also. $350 for a years membership, and an lifetime membership available also. AND NO HASSLE MINING
If you meet Elly, have here point out the potato patch area where potato size nuggets were recovered and considered to be the "norm" for that area. How would you like to find a 4 or 5 lb nugget? There are still some there. Real rugged area, takes a special person to go up on the mountain. Everybody seems to stay on the bottom claims. Imagine what is still up on the hillside.
Thats about it,
Lee (socalgold )
Their web site here:
http://www.24kgoldhunters.com/
Good description here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/37-Rich-Hill-Mining-Claims-24K-Gold-Hunters-Membership_W0QQitemZ130048896020QQihZ003QQcategoryZ16709QQcmdZViewItem
Some pics of the mountain:
http://www.nuggethunter.com/photo.htm
Links of interest:
http://www.marialanger.com/2004/02/23/barnstorming-in-a-ghost-town/
http://www.minsocam.org/msa/collectors_corner/arc/azgold.htm
http://www.nuggetshooter.com/FeaturedSites/WeaverRH.html
http://www.azcu.org/historyofmining/index.html
http://www.placenames.com/us/p33142/