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Prospecting Trip Reports
Started by C-17A at 09-23-2008 5:25 PM. Topic has 10 replies.
  
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 09-23-2008, 5:25 PM
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C-17A
Joined on 01-30-2006
Posts 376
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![Geeked [8-|]](/forum/emoticons/emotion-15.gif)
Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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Greetings GoldGrubbers,
As promised, here's my latest gold prospecting trip report to the rich goldfields of Northwest Georgia....
Day 1: Friday 19 Sep 08. Had coordinated prior to meet Steve from Florida at the GPAA claim in Buchanan, GA, and spend a couple days enjoying the great out of doors and use his Keene 4 inch dredge to go for some high-purity GA gold..... Since he had the long haul drive, and I didn't, we agreed to meet about noonish and get set up in the very nice and quiet campground there at Buchanan. I had great luck and no real traffic, just high gas prices and some gas shortages at some gas stations were in the news, and arrived about noon. I got my tent and all my camping gear out and set up in no time. I could see another prospector was already set up in camp, but obviously gone prospecting. It was so very nice a day.......light breeze, cool temps about 72 degrees and real low humidity and clear/sunny skies. I walked up and down the creek looking at previous dredge efforts and the schist piles of rocks left here and there........just wondering how much gold was left in the creek... Not long later, Steve showed up in his almost new stretch white van and we introduced ourselves. After some surveying of the available camp sites, he picked one on the East side of the camp and set up. We had a great afternoon talking and setting up his camp and generally getting to know each other and the local gold experiences he's had in the creek. Later Joe from Mobile, AL, came back to camp, and we proceeded to chit chat about just how nice the weather was and about prospecting there in the creek. Before you knew it, it was time for dinner! I grilled up a huge Rib Eye steak on my gas BBQ and had some cheese sticks and white corn too. What a feast! Then we gathered around the fire ring and got a nice fire going. I enjoyed a nice Rocky Patel double maduro cigar and some very flavorful Islay Scotch whiskey, sharing stories and dreaming about all the gold we'd get on Saturday.
Day 2: Saturday 20 Sep 08: After sleeping in WAY longer than I planned (late night at the fire), I arose and got my scrambled eggs going and all the necessary breakfast stuff to eat and load up on fuel for the day. After 3 huge egg breakfast burritoes, with loads of Tabasco sauce, I was "fired up" to get wet and dredging with that Keene 4 incher. Steve invited me over for some fresh hot brewed Java, and soon we were assembling his dredge, as he had to break it down to fit in his new van. With that task complete, it was time to slide it into the creek and float up stream to a spot he'd wanted to dredge for a long time. We fired up the dredge and Steve showed me a lot of the fine points of set up, how to string the restraint lines, priming the pump and so on..... Getting under water at first was real challenge, as my wet suit made me float like a cork! Luckily, Steve had a weight belt made out of an old military ammo-type belt, and after adding 20 more pounds of lead then he had in it, I was finally able to sink and control the suction hose. So off to the races........sucking up anything that would go up the nozzle and withhold the rocks that might cause a jam. We took 30 to 45 minute turns under water, as the water was kind of cold after a while under water, and your knuckles could only take so may rocks slamming up against them as you blocked the inlet with 3 fingers in the nozzle. Every big cave in caused a huge cloud of silt, totally obscuring your vision, meaning you had to press on with nothing but feel. After about 2 hours we got down to virgin bedrock! The last 10 or so inches showed a nice red iron/rust layer and then the final rocks on the bedrock were literally glued in place with a fine gray clay. It took the prybar and/or the blast nozzle to loosen them up and sweep/vacuum the bedrock for gold! We expanded our hole and moved a lot of aggregate over the 5 to 5 1/2 hours we had in the creek. About 4:30PM we decided to stop and clean up. Steve showed me the finer points of clean up and sampling for "color". Luckily, we had a couple nice flakes on the black mat but more important was the copious amounts of fine gold in the cons as we cleaned up and sampled 3 pans worth. Must have been at least 50 to 100 colors in several of those quick samples! I'll post a pic when I pan these cons out. Back to camp, change into dry clothes and grill my second great Rib Eye steak, and meet at the fire ring for yet another great cigar and to sip on some more great Scotch, and each of us recounted the day. Joe had been dredging way down stream with his home made unit, and found some color. Brian, the owner/caretaker joined us and we stayed up until late just talking and talking.....and talking.
Day 3: Sunday 21 Sep 08. Got up early, and packed up 90% of my camp. I was lucky to get a 1/2 day extension to my kitchen pass from mom, as I'd originally planned to be gone only Fri/Sat, but after the gold we'd found and the hole we'd started, I wanted to get cold and wet again sucking up even MORE bedrock and clay and rust red gravels and of course -- gold!! So, carbon copy breakfast, and soon Steve and I were back at the dredge going for more pure GA gold. The water, strangely enough, seemed a bit warmer......probably because the sky was now a little overcast, as compared to the last 2 days of clear skies and warm sun. We dredged for about 2 hours, taking turns in the hole, making it bigger, deeper and vacuuming up the virgin bedrock. I really loved that water blasting nozzle........a neat way to "herd" sand/rocks/aggregate into my waiting nozzle and a way to easily losen compacted material and blast out every crack/crevise, hoping to free up any "hostage" gold. About noon I had to quit and go...........sad really. We looked at the black mat and saw some gold specks and small lead bird shot there.....so we knew we were in a great location. Steve followed me up and as I packed out I said my good byes to Steve and Joe. What a fun almost 3 days. Wish you all could have been there. Steve gave me the bucket of cons we got on Saturday to take home and pan out. THANKS STEVE! I'll let you all know how we did after I get them panned out. One thing is for sure -- these GA cons are way better than anything I've been playing with for the last few years...so nice to be in a real gold state.
Summary: Spent 48 hours over 3 days camping, prospecting and enjoying life. I found some real nice GA fine gold and had a blast running a Keene 4 inch floating suction dredge. I got to get me one of these! Thanks again to Steve for meeting me in Buchanan, and passing along a lot of the "tricks" from years of dredging. As a newbie on a floating dredge, I am always open to learning new techniques and ways to do things better, faster, easier, cheaper. Hope all of you get out soon before the Wx turns cooler and Fall/Winter returns. Posted 3 pics.....
As always, God bless, and prospect safe and heavy pans to you.
Respectfully, Randy a.k.a. "C-17A"
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09-23-2008, 6:03 PM
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GasCan/SW-GA
 
Joined on 01-25-2006
Summerville, Ga
Posts 654
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Re: Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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Randy, you've done it again! What a trip, thanks for taking us along.
You better be looking for a second retirement home here in Ga, summers in Co, winters here. You know it doesn't get that cold, and we always have some nice warm days; I've seen it 70 at Christmas time.
Again, thank you, and the pictures are beautiful!!!!!
GasCan/NW-GA, Formerly SW-GA
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09-23-2008, 8:34 PM
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twig/al
Joined on 01-24-2006
Gadsden, Alabama
Posts 4,627
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Re: Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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C-17A, Another great story... I wish I could have been there...
twig/al
Alabama Prospecting Supply
www.alabamaprospectingsupply.com
Email: tom@alabamaprospectingsupply.com
Southeast Treasure Hunters Forum
www.southeasttreasurehunters.com
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09-25-2008, 3:56 AM
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C-17A
Joined on 01-30-2006
Posts 376
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Re: Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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Brian,
Well..........now get going an that "Herschel Bag".....Ha! Nothing but the "finest" gold for you my friend..........get it?............."finest gold".......anyways, that is truly -100 flour in that bag. Hope you got JetDry or a drop or two of dish soap! Post your results after you at all 16 grains...
Yeah, the Wx was near perfect and no bugs too. Steve's dog this trip was "Bill".....a little black/white dog that was friendly and always loved petting, attention and food. He was fun to play with and wasn't afraid of the water. Same dog??
Waiting for your trip report next.
Randy
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09-25-2008, 8:47 AM
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ghost
Joined on 03-17-2006
Marksville, LA 71351
Posts 474
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Re: Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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Rex is the Hethringtons dog. A very old Chow / Golden Retriever mix. A big dog that likes pizza.
Paul
Prospector and small scale miner (so far)
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09-25-2008, 5:15 PM
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C-17A
Joined on 01-30-2006
Posts 376
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Re: Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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Ghost,
Now you jogged my memory...........yep............Rex was Brian's dog there.
Bill was Steve's dog.
Randy :)
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09-26-2008, 3:24 PM
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Stevefl
Joined on 01-29-2006
Orlando
Posts 148
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Re: Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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Hey Randy,
Yup Bill's my prospecting buddy, I can't leave the house to go digging with out him.
I stayed till Tuesday afternoon, Joe and I really opened that hole.
We dredged all the way over to the grass line and doubled the size of the hole. The color looked as good as the partial clean up we did. Joe turned out to be a good dredging partner, we never did start early cause the water was pretty chilly in the morning. We would dredge till 5:00 or so so we had a nice day in the water.
Had a good time, maybe we will be able to do it again
Steve
GPAA Florida State Director
When shooting High Power, 600 yard ain't much further the 200 yards if you aim small
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09-28-2008, 6:19 PM
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C-17A
Joined on 01-30-2006
Posts 376
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![Stick out tongue [:P]](/forum/emoticons/emotion-4.gif)
Re: Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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Steve,
Neat you got Joe into the hole too and let him take turns with you on your Keene 4 incher! That was really good bedrock!
Wow...........doubled that hole size..........very nice! Wish that could have been me working with you, but really great you and Joe had some fun too. It was getting a little "cool" in that water.......but still not too "cold" for me! :)
I have been a little slow panning those cons you gave me, but I did screen the bigger stuff out with a 1/8 inch & 20 mesh screen and found 1 good flake so far. Of the -20 stuff, I have panned only about 6 pans and have found really good fine colors in each one! I'll post a pic whenever I get it all panned out.
Regardless of the total weight of pure GA gold I get, I had even more fun working with you and your 4 inch Keene. The fires at night, and the cigars/Scotch were just the icing on the cake.
Hope to do it again as well. What an adventure...
Randy
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09-29-2008, 6:38 PM
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digi
Joined on 08-09-2008
TN
Posts 46
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Re: Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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Sounds like an awesome trip. Written like a book, can't wait to see the pics.
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Gold Grubbin' C... » Administrators » Prospecting Tri... » Buchanan, GA -- Gold Trip # 5 -- 19/21 Sep 2008
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