THIRD QUARTER, JULY 2015                               VOLUME 29, NUMBER 7

 

 Newsletter By Dave McCracken General Manager

This is turning out to be a very low water year along the Klamath River; the lowest I have seen in a very long time; and we still have several months in front of us before the season is over.  The water has dropped by at least a foot since we did our first weekend group outing of the season several weeks ago.  You guys might recall from last month’s newsletter that we have discovered a massive surface gold deposit on our K-23AA property which is located around 7 miles downstream of Happy Camp.  Since the discovery is a pretty long walk from the nearest easy place to gain access to a boat, a walk that many people might want to make in hundred-degree weather, our biggest challenge this season has been in coming up with creative ways to move large numbers of people to and from the rich gold deposit by boat.

Typical pan sample out of the new deposit!

We worked out a pretty effective method several weeks ago by towing one of our larger Colorado River rafts behind my jet boat. We were able to transfer around 20 people at a time.  That worked out well.  Surprisingly, it was not the movement of people that was difficult.  The hard part was towing the empty raft back up through two sets of pretty gnarly rapids so that we could pick up another load of people.  All in all, with 120 people, this meant towing the raft up through two sets of rapids 24 times during the first project.  My jet boat was getting so tired, there were a few trips towards the end where I had my doubts we would make it!

As it was, the first project of the season went really well.  This new deposit appears to be the richest and largest surface gold deposit (out of the water) we have ever located.  We recovered 18 pennyweights (9/10ths of an ounce) of beautiful gold in several hours of digging on the first project of the season, which is at least a 5-year record.

The first thing I did after the first project was finished was tow my tired jet boat over to the shop for a full tune-up.  Because it is the mechanic’s busiest time of the year, I did not get the boat returned to me until the Friday morning before the start of the second project (last weekend). By then, John Rose was telling me that the river had already dropped too low, and the rapids were too steep, for us to use boats to move people.  Oh my!

This is only the second time in 30 years that we have found rich, virgin stream bed out of the water!

This gold deposit is too rich to abandon!

Very fortunately for the Club, we have a new member this year, Dan Baker, who brought along the strongest and nicest jet boat I have ever seen for maneuvering the Klamath River in low water.  Dan also brings along other valuable attributes, like being able to capture images and video, and do an excellent job of editing.   You will see a bunch of his good work being put up on our new Facebook page.  All or most of the images and video in this newsletter were produced by Dan and our new office manager, Tony.

In any event, while most of our other project helpers were of the opinion that we were going to need to walk people in for the weekend project, Dan was telling me that his jet boat was easily making it up and down through the section of Klamath River where the project was going to take place. The weatherman said it was going to be 100+ degrees on Saturday afternoon.  So Dan and I, with some of our helpers, were out on the river Friday afternoon, using two jet boats and our large rubber raft working out how we could move people around on the river.

The interesting thing about the Klamath is that when the water drops, the rapids get steeper, shallower and faster, and the waves get taller.  So while the slower sections of river get easier to traverse, the faster sections get more difficult as the water drops.  Fortunately, and to my great relief, we discovered on the first trial run that we were going to be able to use my jet boat, once again towing the large raft, to move people to and from the worksite, just like we did during the earlier project.  The ride through the rapids was going to be faster with more splashes; but members were going to be alright with that in the hot weather.

The big challenge was how we were going to move the raft back up through the rapids. Since his jet boat is stronger than mine, Dan offered to tow the raft upriver.

So there we were on the first try with several of us in Dan’s boat and Derek Eimer riding along in the rear of the raft.  Dan’s boat had plenty of power to do the job; and it initially looked as though the raft would go along with no problems.  But about half way through, a very large stationary wave in the rapids came over the front of the raft and caused the front end to dive just like a submarine.  It all happened in a split second. Derek was lucky he was not washed right out of the rubber raft!

I have more experience driving boats on the Klamath River, so Dan insisted that I give it the second try while he filmed the adventure.  Once again, it was going just fine until one of the large stationary waves in the rapids caught the front of the raft and drove it underwater, nearly filling the boat with water. Here is some video that Dan captured during our second try:

• Jet boat towing raft failure

These kinds of problems are best worked out in advance of having 100+ members out along a remote section of the river where the only way back to the cars is either by boat or swimming!

For our third attempt, Rich Krimm came up with the idea of rigging a tow harness from further to the rear of the raft and running it underneath to the front so that the pulling would help lift the front of the raft higher above the water.   We had some extra rope in my jet boat and made quick work out of rigging the harness.  And while the front of the raft appeared to be further above the water, that stationary wave in the rapids overwhelmed the raft just like during our earlier attempts.  By now, Derek was looking half drowned.  But he was still laughing and enjoying the adventure.

One of the many reasons I love managing The New 49’ers is that I am able to get out with other very capable guys (and gals) and confront some of Mother Nature’s most difficult challenges, and usually, but not always, find a way to overcome them.  We were all having a blast out there!

Even though we were having fun, not a single one of us ever let our guards down to the dangers involved.  The Klamath River is so powerful; it can snuff the life out of a person in just moments.  When things go wrong in a boat on the river, they go critically wrong; and rather than worrying about saving the boat, the emergency can immediately turn into trying to live through the experience.   The more extreme the conditions, the less margin there is for error; and the worse things are going to turn out if we make a mistake.  Believe me; I have experienced a whole lifetime of making mistakes!

After submarining the raft three times, we came up with a whole new idea of tying a harness further forward on Dan’s jet boat, pulling the front of the raft right up onto the backside of the jet boat and securing it so it would piggyback up through the set of rapids.  This plan worked out great, except that the powerful blast out of Dan’s jet boat made for an interesting and challenging ride for Derek.  Several times, it looked like the raft would completely flip over!  Ultimately, we worked out a system where Derek and Dyton Gilliland would shift their weight one way or the other to compensate for which side of the jet blast the raft was riding on. Here is some great video showing how we finally worked out a technique to move the raft upstream.

• Raft-surfing behind a jet boat

We did several trial runs up through the rapids just to make sure we could rely on the technique once we had a bunch of New 49’ers to move around on the river.  The technique worked great, and we were all set for another weekend project on the river. Cool!

By Saturday morning, we had 130+ people signed up for the weekend project.  This was an all-time high for the second project of a season.  Always in the past, we have a large group on the first project, once as many as 137 people. Then the numbers drop off dramatically as we progress through the season.  But not this year!

This turned out to be an enthusiastic bunch of New 49’er members who were out to have fun and get some gold!  After going over some theory on Saturday morning, and a break for lunch, our large group arrived down on K-23AA at around 1 pm. This is when the heat of the day really sets in.  Someone measured the temperature at 109 in the shade, and 123 out on the rocks in the direct sun.  That’s hot!

Fortunately, since we have already located the pay-dirt in this massive gold deposit, Saturday’s objective for this season’s projects is mainly to teach beginners how to operate a gold pan.  We take this part very seriously, because panning is the beginning of the prospecting learning curve.  You cannot sample for high-grade gold deposits unless you can effectively work a gold pan.

All of our project helpers were waiting for us when we started arriving by boat with 20 people at a time.  Using our new method of moving the raft upriver, it only took us around 30 minutes to get everyone to the worksite.  It went just like clockwork.

By the time Dan and I tied off our jet boats, nearly everyone was already panning up a storm.  Participants get to keep all the gold they can find on Saturday afternoon.  So this bunch was really going at it! Here is some video that captured a lot of the action.

• Going for the gold on Saturday afternoon!

Boy was it hot out there on this Saturday afternoon!  Once people started collecting under the shades we have set up out there, I took it as a sign that it was time to start ferrying people downstream to where they had parked their cars earlier in the day. With some excellent teamwork, it took 5 boatloads to get everybody back across the river through another set of rapids about a half-mile downriver.

Saturday potluck was a full house; I’m guessing about 180 people.  There was lots of food, and I could barely hear myself think over the enthusiastic chatter of the very large group.  This type of noise is always music to my ears!

• Some of our members just live for our Saturday night potlucks!

Because Sunday is the day we work hard, we always get out there early.  This is so we can get the work finished and be off the gravel bar before the heat of the day sets in.  When I arrived at 6:15 am, there was already a long line of participants putting on life jackets to board the boats.  Once again, it only took our experienced crew around 30 minutes to get everyone on the worksite.

The mission on Sunday is to process as much of the pay-dirt as possible through our high-banker recovery systems without killing off the participants.  Fortunately, the sky was overcast and rewarding us with a very mild drizzle.  In just a short time, our experienced team members had the whole crew organized into groups performing different functions.  Some were moving rocks out of the way.   Others were using garden picks to drag pay-dirt into piles. Then others were transferring the pay-dirt into plastic buckets. More people were packing the buckets to the recovery systems, where still others were feeding the material.  There was a whole lot of productive activity going on!  Dan captured some of the action, along with my explanation, in the following videos:

• Dave’s explanation
• Everyone working together to get the gold!

Once things were well underway, Dyton and I took the time to show most of the participants how to reach out and carve out “top cuts” to increase the amount of volume a person can process.  This is also something we do to obtain maximum production in gold dredging.  The more pay-dirt you process, the more gold you end up with at the end of the day.  It is as simple as that.   Dan captured some of the demonstration on video:

• Taking top cuts to increase production.

Several participants were vacking gold out of the bedrock traps as we uncovered them. 

Craig Colt, who has been helping on these projects for many years, devoted most of Sunday panning samples of the material people were digging.  The purpose of this is to identify the richer-paying areas and direct the digging program into more productive pay-dirt.

As we have worked forward in this deposit, we have discovered that there is an ancient, orange-colored streambed material that is paying the best.  The good thing is that the material in most of this deposit is usually 2 feet or less to reach bedrock.  Bedrock is where we expect to find gold nuggets!

This is one pan sample off the bedrock at Ground Zero!

While most of the group was working a long stretch of bedrock we uncovered at the base of the deposit, several others climbed up the hill to where the original gold discovery was made.  We fondly refer to this spot as “ground zero.” The material is a bit deeper over there.  We attempted to reach bedrock at ground zero during the first project, but didn’t quite make it.  Several very determined guys reached bedrock this time in about 5 feet of virgin streambed which was producing gold all the way through.  Then Dyton took a careful sample off the bedrock and produced a very favorable result.  Now we had confirmation that this rich gold deposit is so large, we will be working it for many years to come.  Here was my explanation:

• Here we are at ground zero!

We were getting nuggets out there, too!

We were operating three high-bankers on Sunday, feeding material as fast as the machines could process the gold. Once we put a few hours of good production through the high-bankers, we normally take a moment to clean out only the high-grade portion of a single high-banker.  We screen the material to pick out any nuggets. Then we pan the rest down so we can get an idea how well we are doing.  Everybody agreed we were doing really well!  Dan captured the excitement on video:

• Dave showing off some of the mid-day gold

Showing off the gold always motivates participants in these projects to redouble their efforts, and this time was no exception!  So I was met with some disappointment about an hour later when I went around and told everyone to finish up the final buckets and start reclaiming our excavation back to the normal contour of the bank.  Some just kept on digging, anyway. There were at least 15 full buckets of rich pay-dirt delivered to the high-bankers even after we had shut them down to do final clean-up!  In hindsight, if we had processed those, we likely would have met my target of recovering a full ounce of gold.

It was about 11 am when we started winding things up.  This means storing the gear away and performing an initial clean-up to reduce the amount of concentrated heavy material accumulated from the 3 high-bankers.  We usually do this part with a Le Trap Gold Sluice. This is one of the big rewards of the day, because the process reveals to everyone how their hard work has been converted into raw gold.  Every scoop from the buckets of concentrates produced a trail of gold into the Le Trap.  We were going to have a good clean-up!  Dan caught the excitement on video:

• Running the day’s concentrates over the Le Trap Sluice.

Ferrying everyone down through another set of rapids to the boat landing where their cars were parked just added more fun and excitement to an already excellent day.

Dave and Craig Colt demonstrating the final clean-up steps.  

We all met up at the Grange Hall a few hours later to complete the final clean-up process and split the gold.  In all, we recovered 18.6 pennyweights, which included 27 nice gold nuggets.  Everyone who participated  received an equal share of the gold by weight.  There were a lot of happy faces as we handed the shares out.  For many, it was the first gold they had ever mined.

• End of the day clean-up

Truthfully, before we weighed the gold, it looked to me like it was at least a full ounce.  That’s what I was hoping for.  But we didn’t quite make it. We will just have to take another shot at it on the next project!

By the way, you guys don’t have to wait for the monthly newsletter to see the adventures we are enjoying on the Klamath River.  Our new video team is posting great material on the New 49’er Facebook page nearly every day. Just as one example here is the whole project adventure video which our guys put up on Facebook just a day or so afterwards.

Join us for our remaining Weekend Group Mining Projects this Season!

There is a learning curve to successful gold prospecting.  One of the most effective methods of progressing through the learning curve is to go on prospecting adventures with others who are more experienced than you.

Our 2-day Group Mining Projects are one of the primary benefits of New 49’er membership which set us apart from other mining associations.  All weekend events are free to Full & Associate Members.

Remaining Schedule of 2015 Events:  July 18 & 19; August 8 & 9; and August 29 & 30.

Schedule of Events

Legal Fund Winners!

We completed our most recent New 49’ers Legal Fund Drawing for 20 tenth-ounce American Gold Eagles and 2 fantastic Garrett gold detectors at our Saturday evening potluck on the evening of 27 June. There were a lot of members present, though not a single one of them won a prize. Not that anyone was disappointed.  These legal fund raisers are more about pulling together to defend something that is much more important than prizes.  Here follows some video which captured the event:

• Drawing results, 27 June

Here are the winners:

Grand Prize: Garrett ATX Metal Detector: Gerald Fawcett of Anchorage, AK

Second Prize: Garrett AT Gold Detector: Chris Edmondson of Mission Viejo, CA

American Gold Eagles:  Howard Charleboix of Great Falls, MT;  Robert Lake of Brookings, OR;  Michael Ward of West Point, UT;  Edward Murphy of Somes Bar, CA;  Larry Buzzell of Sequim, WA;  Michael McLeod  of Carson City, NV;  Greg A Miller of Coarse Gold, CA;  Eugene Lewis of Gig Harbor, WA;  Daniel Cutshell of Bishop, CA;  David Ames of Silverton, OR;  Joseph Burda of Pacifica, CA;  Dennis Taylor of Sherwood, OR;  Daniel Court  of La Pine, OR;  Michael Dickman of Manteca, CA;  Jerry Keith of Wake Forest, NC;  Greg Miller of Coarse Gold, CA;  Bill Kerr of Klamath Falls, OR;  Randy Watkins of Sparks, NV;  Gerald Hawley of Kalispell, MT;  Floyd Parker of Kannapolis,  NC

Montine in our office (530 493-2062) is making contact with all the winners.

I want to thank Garrett Metal Detectors for their generous support of our efforts to preserve the industry.  When you are considering what kind of equipment to buy for your prospecting activities, I sincerely request that you take a strong look at the products being offered by the industry manufacturers who are supporting all of our combined efforts.

I also need to personally thank all of you who participated in this fund-raiser. We could not play our part to help defend the small-scale mining industry if it were not for your ongoing support.

Any legal contributions which have arrived in our office after this drawing will automatically generate tickets for the next New 49’ers Legal Fund drawing.  The new drawing will be for two ounces of beautiful gold nuggets (image above).  Those will be split into a 1-once grand prize and four quarter-ounce prizes.  There will also be 10 tenth-ounce American Gold Eagles and 10 American Silver Eagles. That’s 25 prizes worth winning!

The drawing will take place at the close of business at our headquarters in Happy Camp on Friday, 30 October. You do not need to be a member of our organization to participate. You are welcome to be at the drawing, but you do not need to be present to win.

Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 will generate 10 tickets). There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win. Look for our new Paypal contribution link here. Your legal contributions can also be arranged by calling (530) 493-2012 or by mailing to The New 49’ers Legal Fund, P.O. Box 47, Happy Camp, CA 96039.

Remember, all contributions to The New 49’ers Legal Fund are tax deductible.

Once again; thank you guys very much for standing behind us!

We are Not Going to Have a Hassle-Free 2015 Dredging Season

Here is the bad news:  I’m disappointed to announce that our motion in San Bernardino Superior Court for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to allow suction dredging on our extensive New 49’er properties in conformance with the 2012 regulations was denied by the judge on the 9^th of July.

I believe this was likely our final opportunity to obtain hassle-free suction dredging in California during the 2015 season. By “hassle-free,” I mean that we continue to believe California’s moratorium is not legal; and that suction dredgers are not likely to be prosecuted, even if they are written a criminal citation. But suction dredgers do have the risk of their equipment being confiscated until some later time. So you dredge at your own risk for the time being.

We will now switch gears into appealing San Bernardino’s recent Rulings to deny any meaningful relief to suction dredgers even after the court has Ruled and Ordered that the moratorium is unconstitutional — which State authorities continue to enforce. There is also the landmark Rinehart Decision which is being reviewed by the California Supreme Court. It is not an unreasonable expectation that we can have these matters resolved in time for our 2016 season.

All I can say is that we have done our very best to bring about a hassle-free 2015 dredging season. I thank everyone who has supported our efforts. All we can do is keep trying.

Meanwhile, just in case you do not know, this ongoing conflict with the State only affects motorized suction mining within 100 yards of California’s active waterways. It does not have anything to do with the other types of prospecting or mining that we do in California. Unaffected prospecting activities include panning, sniping & vack-mining, sluicing & high-banking, electronic prospecting and other types of prospecting that do not use a suction nozzle within 100 yards of an active stream, river or creek. It also does not affect our Group Weekend Projects.

To continue prospecting the bottom of active waterways, some members have converted to underwater crevicing, using the hookah and pump from their 5 and 6 HP motors on floating platforms to provide air for breathing and a jet of water to help move material out of the way, thus coining the new method as “underwater blow mining.”

There are no seasons imposed upon these other types of mining activity. In other words, you can do them at any time of the year.

Now here is the good news:  Just as I am finishing this newsletter, some of our most experienced underwater miners are finishing up a prototype for an entirely new concept in underwater mining with the use of a pressure washer primarily uses a powerful blast of very low-volume water to uncover and free rocks that must be moved out of the way in a submerged streambed.  We believe the process may be nearly as effective as suction mining, but without the discharges which anti-mining activists complain so much about.  We will be testing and developing the new idea over the coming weeks.  Please watch for updates and news on our Facebook page and in next month’s newsletter.

Fire Restrictions

Because of exceptionally dry conditions, the U.S. Forest Service has imposed fire restrictions in the Klamath National Forest as of last week.  This means internal combustion engines (like water pumps) cannot be operated on our mining properties unless you are floating them out on the waterway.  Since the fire restrictions are likely to continue for the remaining part of this season, you might give some thought to how you can rig up something to float your motor(s). In case you are interested, there are special floats made specifically for this purpose. Please contact Montine for more details: 530 493-2062. You can find out more about what is and is not allowed under these restrictions right here:

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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.  Actually, the video segments show the adventures better than I can write them!

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, by contacting our supporters this way, in a matter of hours, we recently generated a large bundle of letters to the California Supreme Court. 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

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SECOND QUARTER, JUNE 2015                               VOLUME 29, NUMBER 6

 

 Newsletter By Dave McCracken General Manager

Not to get overly religious on you guys; but I have realized time after time in my own life experience that if your heart is in the right place, and you really need something important, and you put out just the right kind of hope and patience, the universe that we all share will reorganize itself and bring what you need right to you.  Sometimes it takes a while.  Sometimes my hopes come through almost immediately.  This is especially true in gold prospecting.

This story actually started late last season as we were going into our final Group Mining Project.  Early in the season, we had discovered a fantastic surface gold deposit on one of our newer mining properties, K-23AA, which is about nine miles downriver from Happy Camp.  The gold discovery was on the far side of the river.  You have to go to the places where you find the best gold.  So after many years of not using boats to support these projects, we pulled one of our large rubber rafts out of storage and got back into the business of transporting large numbers of members across the river.  The season worked out really well.  All of the participants seemed to enjoy the added adventure of a few rafting trips, in addition to working the high-grade gold deposit across the river.

That deposit sustained all of our weekend projects last season, in addition to all of the members who went over there to recover gold on their own.  But as the season was winding down, all of our loyal project helpers and I agreed that, while there was still plenty of gold there to support individual mining programs, we were going to need to find an entirely new gold deposit to support the weekend projects for this coming season.  We had no idea where we were going to turn that up.  I’m not sure about the others, but I put out a strong hope (some might call it a prayer) that something would turn up.

“Dave and Alice”

It was with that hope in mind during our final project last season that I spotted a man and woman couple excitedly showing off some gold in a bucket to others on the project.  I could see that something good was happening by the way others were gathering around.  I zoom right in on this sort of thing!  If somebody has discovered something good, I want to know about it.  Sometimes I refer to this as dialing in on the right frequency.

The members showing off the gold in their bucket were Dave Mackenzie and Alice Leverenz, both from Oregon.  They said the gold came from panning a single bucket of material from a new gold deposit they had located a little more than half-mile downriver on the very same claim. It was a lot more gold than the average material we were working during the project. They said the deposit appeared to be absolutely huge, and there was room there for everyone.  To top off the excitement, Dave pulled out of his pocket a bottle of beautiful nuggets they had found down there in their first sample hole near the river.

This is one thing about The New 49’ers that sets us apart from any other mining organization I have ever seen.  With very few exceptions, when our members make a new gold discovery, they share the news with others and excitement levels go through the roof.  I cannot even count the number of mini gold rushes we have generated over the years!  Perhaps this is because we have so much gold-rich property, members are confident that there is plenty of gold to go around.  Perhaps it’s the nature of our members and the combined culture we have developed to help each other out.  Our motto is “Miners helping miners.”

Assuming this was the answer to our hopes for a new location to do our Weekend Group Mining Projects in 2015, several of our project helpers and I made an appointment to meet Dave and Alice on the following day. Their deposit is also on the far side of the river from Highway 96.  The only way over there with gear is by boat or raft or some other floating platform.  We launched my jet boat from the developed river access on our Wingate property about a half-mile downstream from the new discovery.

As they took the time to show us what they had found, they also told us of their personal story; a story which could prompt you to ponder the larger mysteries of fate and hope that affect each of our personal destinies. It turned out that they actually did not intend to sample in this new location at all.  Their vehicle had broken down alongside the highway. It was going to take a week for the parts to arrive.  Since they were not going anywhere, Dave lowered his raft and prospecting gear down the embankment and decided to make the best use of his time prospecting on the far side of the river.  He was rewarded with good gold in his very first pan!  Then he just kept on going, only to realize they had discovered a rich gold deposit by accident – and already arrive at the place they really wanted to be!

There is a good lesson in this.   No matter how big the problems are that you are confronted with, there is usually a good opportunity in there somewhere if you just look for it.  I can look back at the most difficult times I have experienced in my life; and now that I am beyond them, I realize how lucky I am that things happened the way they did.

Here are some video segments that I captured while Dave and Alice were showing us their discovery:

• Finding the Gold at the Perfect time
• This looks like virgin streambed!
• There is a distinct layer change in the material.
• Getting Gold right on the Ground

“This is gold Alice panned out of the leaves on the ground!”

Just as Dave and Alice had told us, the size of this gold deposit is enormous.  There is a very wide section of mostly exposed bedrock that extends from the river about a hundred feet or more to a very long section of what appears to be original streambed.  By that, I mean streambed material which has never been mined before.  Samples from the cracks and irregularities in the bedrock are producing excellent panning results.  This place is a vack-mining heaven!  There are also places down closer to the river where shallow layers of hard-packed streambed are overtop of cracks in the bedrock that contain very exciting gold nuggets.

I am personally experiencing a lot of enthusiasm over the virgin streambed material.  That’s where Dave and Alice were recovering the most gold for their effort.  I could see a distinct layer change there which is certain to concentrate gold.  Alice showed us a single pan with a nice display of gold she said she panned just out of the debris on top of the ground!

Dave and Alice made it very clear that they had no problem with us running the group projects in this new discovery.  So our prayers had been answered this time with almost no delay.  Is that cool or what?

The problem is that this new discovery is in a rather difficult location to gain access with large numbers of people.  There is plenty of parking and a rather easy trail from Highway 96 located about a quarter-mile upriver from the deposit.  There is a set of rapids between the trail and this new discovery.  So while we could transfer people down to the deposit with our large rubber raft, we were not going to be able to get the raft back up through the rapids using its own small outboard motor, even without passengers.  There is a trail on the far side of the river.  But it’s a long way to walk at the end of a hard day of mining.  Anyone who has participated in these projects will tell you that we work pretty hard on Sunday morning, especially when we see how the gold is adding up!  So walking out of there is not a great option.

We have learned over the many years that it is better to find the balance between working hard to recover as much gold as possible, while not killing off the participants.  My helpers all agreed that the long trail on the far side of the river was going to be asking too much for some people.  So we put our heads together on coming up with a plan to move everyone by rubber raft through two sets of rapids on both days of the project.  This is something we have never attempted before.

Before I go further into the story, I want to introduce an important new member of our team, Shawn Tilton.  Shawn has a vast background in many areas, but he actually arrived in Happy Camp with the purpose of creating a New 49’er Facebook page to capture the day-to-day excitement for the whole world to see.  Shawn has a lot of filming and editing experience.  He is working closely with our new office manager, Tony Balderrama, who also has a very strong background in the ever-changing developments in the high tech world of social media.  You can find our New 49’er Facebook page right here:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-49ers-Prospecting-Association/1396597950668824   Please take a look.  This new program was only started about two weeks ago, and we believe you will be impressed at our progress.  We hope you will “like” the page and help us spread it around. Once we gain some steam, Shawn intends to put fresh material up every day; gold prospecting developments and adventures you would never know about unless you were part of the ongoing action.

• Introduction to Shawn

Shawn

Here is a video segment I captured with a short introduction to Shawn, since you will probably be seeing him on the scene if you visit Happy Camp this season.  Shawn was present last week while we were out reconfirming the gold deposit on K-23AA.  We were also working out how to move large numbers of people on the river without it taking too much time away from our mining project.  All video as we go forward will be material which Shawn captured and edited together. Note that Shawn increases the video speed in places to allow more emphasis on the important parts without taking up too much time. It’s pretty cool!

Before we even began working out the transportation challenges, John Rose, Rich Krimm, Derek Eimer, me and several others returned to the new discovery point on K-23AA.  Other members were in the area, but nobody was working the place where Dave and Alice left off last year.  Just to be certain the gold was there, Rich took one pan of material from the deeper, darker brown layer, and I took one pan from the lighter brown contact zone just above.  The pans were not full.  But they had enough material to confirm (or not) what Dave and Alice had showed us last season.

Rich was first to finish his pan.  The gold he found surprised Rich so much that he ordered Shawn to turn the video camera off.  Ladies and gentlemen, that’s called gold fever!  Shawn complied with Rich’s demand, so unfortunately we did not capture Rich’s pan to show you.  All I can say is the result was outstanding.  My smaller pan result was just as good as Rich’s in proportion to the smaller volume of material that I sampled.

Craig Colt has returned!

That’s all we needed to see.  This new gold deposit is a huge gift that we never expected.  The area is so large, as far as I was concerned; all of this year’s Weekend Group Projects are going to be a success.  Everyone out there agreed.  The following video sequence captured a lot of the action:

• First day of sampling

A few days later, I got the word that one of our more experienced members went down to our discovery and only found very little gold out of a full bucket of material.  That was quite a shocking report!  There have been times in the past where I made an initial discovery of really good gold, only to realize after I moved all my gear there that the gold in my initial sample was the only gold present. It’s one thing if I make this kind of mistake on my own.  It’s quite another thing to bring a large group of people to a place where we are not going to recover much gold — especially since I am the one who has to split the gold up at the end of the project!

So as to not take any chances, me and our sampling crew found ourselves back out on the river to reconfirm the gold deposit once again.  This time, we were joined by Craig Colt.  Craig was one of the key players in all of our weekend and weeklong projects for many years.  He is a very well-respected gold prospector who is now coming out of self-imposed retirement in hopes that we will have a dredging season this year.  I expect we will be seeing more and more of our longtime, experienced members on the river if we get dredging back.  I even heard Otto Gaither may return. Oh my! 

Craig and I both took a pan of material from the contact zone at the initial discovery point, and all I can say is that the gold is fantastic!  My pan had nine nice-sized flakes of gold and at least 100 colors.  Craig’s pan produced a similar result.  Here it is on video:

• Second day of sampling

This is from a single pan of the pay-dirt!

When we returned to the boat, John Rose was relaxing there in the warm summer sun with a big grin on his face.  We were all excited to show him what we found.  Without even looking at our pan, he laughed and said, “I’ll bet I got more than you did!”  And he was right; he had a lot more gold than Craig and I recovered combined.  And that was just out of a third of a pan of unscreened material that he dug out of a bedrock crack next to the boat.  Man, this K-23AA is rich!  Shawn captured the moment on video:

• John’s fantastic pan of gold!

“This deposit is rich!”

Now, with 100% certainty about the gold deposit, we switched gears into the challenge of moving large numbers of people on the river.  By large numbers, I mean we are expecting at least a hundred members to participate in this weekend’s project.  That’s a whole lot of people to move around on the water!

So we came up with the idea of using my jet boat to tow one of our large rubber rafts.  We needed to see if we could pull it fast enough to get it up on a plane and through a set of pretty fast rapids.  We have never tried this before.  My first idea was to tie the raft as close as possible to the jet boat so we could direct the jet blast under the raft to help pick it up.  This first experiment worked. Getting up through the rapids was easy, even with two guys riding in the raft.  The problem was when I needed to turn the boat; the jet blast was directed right over the side of the raft and almost filled it with water in just a few seconds.  We all got a good laugh out of that.  Shawn caught it all on video:

• First try at pulling the raft

From there, we did several experiments pulling the raft further and further behind the jet boat.  We finally discovered the right distance and realized that not only could we pull the boat up through a set of rapids, but we could do it with passengers aboard.  So we took it to the next step and added the smaller outboard motor to the raft; the one we normally use to maneuver the raft around on the river.  That improved our new ferry system so much that we scattered out across K-23AA to find all the members who were working out there for a test run on the river.  The idea was to use the large raft to launch and recover people without disconnecting the jet boat.  We got it right on the first try!  Shawn was right there with the video camera:

• We finally got it right!

Afterwards, we realized that with a little creative carpooling at the beginning of the day, we can park most of the vehicles down at the Wingate River Access and ferry people downstream from the work site at the end of our day.  That will make the process go faster.

There is a longer video segment Shawn put together on our facebook page that shows all the action spliced together with interesting parts which were not included above.  Please remember to “like” our page so we can spread our adventures around to others who might take an interest.

This is all something new:  We have worked out a system of moving large numbers of people through difficult river conditions to gain access to and from perhaps the largest and richest gold deposit we have ever discovered during thirty continuous years of prospecting along the Klamath River in northern California.  The proof will be this coming weekend during our first project of 2015.  Watch for how it turns out on our Facebook page and in next month’s newsletter.

Suction Dredging Situation for 2015 Season Should be Decided on June 23rd!

Superior Court Judge Ochoa has set a hearing date for 23 June in San Bernardino for our motion for relief from the Department of Fish & Wildlife’s (DFW’s) continued enforcement of the unlawful moratorium on suction dredging for gold in California.

In an effort to get the matter resolved more quickly, several suction dredgers on the Klamath River refused to sign the promise to appear portion of the criminal citations they were being issued (“unlawful dredging”), opting instead to be arrested.  Ultimately, one of those very courageous guys ended up in jail with The New 49’ers Legal Fund hiring James Buchal to represent him.  That hearing in front of a Siskiyou County judge was to take place within 48 hours.  Mr. Buchal was motioning the Court to dismiss all charges, order a return of all seized equipment, and order DFW to not bring any further dredging cases in Siskiyou County.  Had we got our day in court, this seemed like it would have been a slam-dunk for our side.

What we had not planned on was that the Siskiyou County jail is completely full of people either arrested or serving time for felony convictions.  Our local sheriff Lopey was objecting strenuously that in order to incarcerate a suction dredger for a rather minor misdemeanor, he was going to have to release a hardened criminal back onto the streets.  This all caused quite a stir at the jailhouse in Yreka while all the key players were trying to figure out what to do.  Ultimately, according to my limited understanding, the District Attorney decided to defer the charges (or something like that) and let the dredger out of jail with no agreement that he appear in court at any later time.  Once the dredger was released, the required 48-hour hearing in front of a judge was lost.  So it was kind of like being arrested and let go.  What can I say; it’s California.

Therefore, it appears that the earliest chance we will have to get hassle-free suction dredging restored in California is on June 23^rd.  Yes; I know there are some very important due process issues in play here.  We have considered all possible options, and have decided that our best course of action is to wait it out a little longer and place our hope for a 2015 dredging season with Judge Ochoa.  He knows more about our plight than any other judge in the country.

Several dredgers have signed a promise to appear (for “unlawful dredging”) in Siskiyou County on 9 June.  I’ll be surprised if the State moves ahead with that, but we shall see.

Update note: We went to court on June 9th, and the names of the two dredgers were not even on the docket, so the court clerk wrote them in by hand. When it was their turn in front of the judge, they were informed that no criminal case against them had been filed with the court. The dredgers asked if the judge could help them with a return of equipment which the wardens took from them. The judge’s answer was that his hands are tied until a case is brought in front of him, which he did not believe was likely to happen. The judge explained that the State has up to a year to file a criminal case on a misdemeanor. So it would appear as though the State can rob you of your possessions with impunity for up to a year if they suspect you are guilty of a misdemeanor — or they just want to punish you!

You would not have to look much further than this to wonder why rioting in the streets is on the increase!

The only remedy is to file a civil lawsuit; but judge Ochoa has instructed us to not do that. So we are crossing our fingers for June 23rd in San Bernardino.

We filed our opening salvo in San Bernardino on May 18^th.  The relief we are asking for is to return to the 2009 suction dredge regulations which were in affect at the time that the unconstitutional moratorium was imposed upon our industry – and stick with those until they can be updated in a way that does not break the law.  You can find the documents we filed right here:

Shortly after we filed these documents, the State filed something with the Court that appeared to argue that judge Ochoa could not return us to the 2009 regulations because the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) process they used to enact the (illegal) 2012 regulations was followed properly. In turn, The New 49’ers and PLP filed a joint response demonstrating conclusively that the State’s process did not even come close to following the law. I suggest you read this document, because it is very reveling about who and what we are up against.

Since the Court in San Bernardino will likely decide the immediate fate of suction dredging in California on 23 June, and we will not publish another newsletter until a few weeks later, for updated news, I suggest you “like” our Facebook page (link above) and/or join our free Internet chat forum.

Meanwhile, just in case you do not know, this ongoing conflict with the State only affects motorized suction mining within 100 yards of California’s active waterways. It does not have anything to do with the other types of prospecting or mining that we do in California. Unaffected prospecting activities include panning, sniping & vack-mining, sluicing & high-banking, electronic prospecting and other types of prospecting that do not use a suction nozzle within 100 yards of an active stream, river or creek. It also does not affect our Group Weekend Projects.

To continue prospecting the bottom of active waterways, some members have converted to underwater crevicing, using the hookah and pump from their 5 and 6 HP motors on floating platforms to provide air for breathing and a jet of water to help move material out of the way, thus coining the new method as “underwater blow mining.”

There are no seasons imposed upon these other types of mining activity. In other words, you can do them at any time of the year.

Don’t Forget About Our Ongoing Legal Fund-raiser!

I am very pleased to announce that Garrett Metal Detectors is generously supporting this next fund-raiser with their brand new top-of-the-line ATX pulse induction gold detector.  That is a $2,500 machine!

Garrett is also donating a refurbished AT Gold metal detector as a second prize (“refurbished” means the unit was used as a demo at a trade show, but never used in the field, and then put back through quality control and repackaged in new condition). This is an $800 machine!

These are both fantastic gold machines which can actually be taken underwater to shallow depths!

The drawing will also include 20 American tenth-ounce American Gold Eagles.

The drawing will take place at our Saturday evening potluck on June 27. You do not need to be a member of our organization to participate. You are welcome to be at the drawing, but you do not need to be present to win.

Having said all that, I am starting to get concerned that the drawing date is fast approaching, and The New 49’er Legal Fund has only brought in enough contributions so far to about equal the value of the prizes. It is less than a third of what the Fund brought in on the previous legal fund-raiser.  We know you guys out there support our efforts or we would have not been able to get as far as we have on the legal front.  Right now, we are closer than we have been since 2009 to getting legalized gold dredging returned to us in California.  This is just a reminder that the very hard push we are making at the moment is costing a lot of money.  Please get behind us on this as much as you are able.

Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 would generate 10 tickets). There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win. Look for our new Paypal contribution link here.

Remember, all contributions to The New 49’ers Legal Fund are tax deductible.

You can find out more about The Legal Fund’s ongoing fund-raiser by going right here.

Once again; thank you guys very much for standing behind our efforts!

Join us for our Weekend Group Mining Projects This Season!

There is a learning curve to successful gold prospecting.  One of the most effective methods of progressing through the learning curve is to go on prospecting adventures with others who are more experienced than you.

Our 2-day Group Mining Projects are one of the primary benefits of New 49’er membership which set us apart from other mining associations.  All weekend events are free to Full & Associate Members.

Schedule of 2015 Events: June 6 & 7; June 27 & 28; July 18 & 19; August 8 & 9; and August 29 & 30.

Schedule of Events

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.  Actually, the video segments show the adventures better than I can write them!

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, by contacting our supporters this way, in a matter of hours, we recently generated a large bundle of letters to the California Supreme Court. 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!

Sign up for our Free Internet Newsletter!

Note: You are free to unsubscribe anytime just by clicking a link if you decide to do so.

The New 49’ers Prospecting Association, 27 Davis Road, Happy Camp, California 96039 (530) 493-2012  www.goldgold.com

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SECOND QUARTER, MAY 2015                               VOLUME 29, NUMBER 5

 

Newsletter By Dave McCracken General Manager

Here is a day’s production by two guys dredging on the Klamath River last week when
they were arrested by game wardens.  The whole interesting story can be found below:

Here is some news to bring you guys up to date on what has turned into a fast-moving series of events along the Klamath River in Northern California:

Suction dredgers have been arriving by the day to start the season. California wardens initially came out and harassed some of them, insisting upon enforcing California’s moratorium on suction dredging, which has been struck down as illegal and unenforceable by the San Bernardino Court. The wardens were refusing to take any dredger into Siskiyou County Court for an immediate hearing on the matter (which would involve making an arrest).

Therefore, our attorney, James Buchal, drafted a civil lawsuit to be filed in Siskiyou County on behalf of several dredgers who were being harassed by the wardens. The lawsuit was only going to ask the judge to issue an Order restraining the wardens from enforcing the unlawful moratorium.

In turn, the State immediately filed an objection with the San Bernardino Court on the grounds that these suction dredgers cannot file a lawsuit in Siskiyou County, because all dredging-related cases have been coordinated in San Bernardino. Here follows the Reply that James Buchal filed with the San Bernardino Court. Note that the main moving documents for the planned Siskiyou County lawsuit are also there as an exhibit.

In a surprising oral ruling on 30 April in San Bernardino, Judge Ochoa instructed our attorney, James Buchal, that he could not file for injunctive relief in Siskiyou County to prevent California Department of Wildlife (DFW) wardens from enforcing the suction dredge moratorium (which Judge Ochoa decided is illegal, unconstitutional and unenforceable several months ago). The judge instructed that our motion for injunctive relief should be decided in his own courtroom. Here is a short update from our attorney.

The hearing on Injunctive Relief has been set for 8:30 am on the 23^rd of June. The good news is that this particular hearing will be in front of Judge Ochoa who undoubtedly has more knowledge about California’s suction dredging situation than any other judge in California. He has already ruled that California’s moratorium on suction dredging is an unlawful scheme to thwart the will of congress. He also suggested on 30 April that he is inclined to grant us the relief we are asking for — but for due process purposes, would like to conduct a hearing on the matter with all parties present.

Therefore, the existing status quo has not changed. Prospectors believe Judge Ochoa’s Ruling allows us the right to operate our dredges. DFW wardens warn that they will be out seizing dredging gear that is in violation of the unconstitutional moratorium. And Judge Ochoa ruled that there will be no civil remedy available for dredgers to stop the unlawful conduct of DFW wardens for another 8 weeks or so. This situation is like something out of a science fiction story!

Here is an opinion I voiced on our Internet forum soon after Judge Ochoa stopped us from filing for relief in Siskiyou County:

“I am not a licensed attorney, so I cannot provide legal advice. All I can do is present my own opinion based upon my personal observations from following the chain of events: Since the State clearly does not want the enforcement of an unlawful moratorium issue in front of our local Superior court, my best guess is that the wardens will not issue criminal citations if dredgers refuse to sign them — because that would trigger an arrest which I believe requires a hearing in front of a local judge within 48 hours. To date, my understanding is that the wardens have not issued a single citation to dredgers who made it clear they would not sign them.

If they issue a citation which the prospector is willing to sign, I seriously doubt the citation will ever be prosecuted, since the moratorium has already been found illegal.

So my own opinion is that the likelihood of criminal liability for operating a suction dredge in California is very low at the moment, even though the State authorities may come out and make it sound like you are in a lot of trouble.

If the relief we are requesting is granted, the court will order all seized equipment to be delivered back to the dredgers it was taken from.”

Two dredgers arrested!  But in a surprising turn of events on the first of May, California Fish & Wildlife (DFW) wardens arrested two suction dredgers on the Klamath River because they refused to sign the promise to appear portion of the citations they were being issued. The citations were for suction dredging-related issues, namely for violating the unlawful moratorium and 2012 regulations, both which have been struck down by Judge Ochoa in San Bernardino County.

Since it is taking so long to obtain helpful relief in the civil litigation in San Bernardino, these dredgers believed that if they could be arrested for dredging violations, the question about DFW authority to enforce the unconstitutional moratorium could be resolved on a fast track in front of a local judge, and maybe we could immediately get this rogue agency off our backs.

My own understanding is that once someone is booked into the county jail, California law requires that the person be brought in front of a judge within 48 hours, Sundays and holidays excluded. Since the moratorium has already been ruled unconstitutional in settled law, it would seem the chances are reasonable that the judge would dismiss the case, order immediate return of equipment, and order DFW to not bring in any more dredging cases. That would immediately free up our 2015 dredging season.

The problem is that once the two dredgers were processed at the county jail, they waived their right to the 48-hour hearing by signing a promise to appear in June! That’s pretty disappointing, because we might have had the relief we all have been asking for as soon as last week. I gather the dredgers didn’t really understand that signing the document was going to push back the resolution. Even if they made a mistake, we must give them credit for their courage for standing up in the first place.  To their credit, these two dredgers had made an important gold discovery on our new Ukonom Gold Claim at K-25AA. Here is just a single day of their gold production captured on video:

• Look at all that gold!

Until this ongoing conflict with the wardens is settled, if you decide to suction dredge in California, I would suggest that unless you are prepared to sit in jail for a few days, you might just as well sign the promise to appear at a later time out alongside the river and save yourself from the entire arrest routine.

Said another way, the only reason I can think of to insist upon your right to a speedy hearing in front of a judge is that you are willing to see it through all the way behind bars for a few days, where, by the way, I hear they have fairly good food, good TV, a library, maybe even a basketball court, and a clean bed.

This exercise had us so close to an important resolution if front of a local judge! Since that didn’t happen, but the arrests were made, our attorney is now attempting to coordinate with the District Attorney to get the moratorium enforcement question decided as soon as possible to save everybody more hardship, including the Siskiyou County jail and court system.

Our Internal Affairs made sure that the two dredgers made it safely home; and it is my own bet that their cases will eventually be dropped or dismissed. One of the guys has already resumed dredging.  When asked, his explanation was that the present situation is about much more than our right to dredge for gold.  It is about our right to be free from the unlawful conduct of State officials.  And, of course, he is absolutely right!

Having said that, I will also say that despite our differences, all of the contact between suction dredgers and DFW wardens has been polite and professional.

Please be mindful that, since it appears as though the State does not presently have any lawful authority to regulate suction dredging in California, we have adopted our own set of Emergency Dredging Rules which apply to the extensive properties which we control in northern California.

Meanwhile, just in case you do not know, this ongoing conflict with the State only affects suction dredging within 100 yards of California’s active waterways. It does not have anything to do with the other types of prospecting or mining that we do in California. Unaffected prospecting activities include panning, sniping & vack-mining, sluicing & high-banking, electronic prospecting and other types of prospecting that do not use a suction nozzle within 100 yards of an active stream, river or creek. It also does not affect our group weekend projects.

To continue prospecting the bottom of active waterways, some members have converted to underwater crevicing, using the hookah and pump from their 5 and 6 HP motors on floating platforms to provide air for breathing and a jet of water to help move material out of the way, thus coining the new method as “underwater blow mining.”

There are no seasons imposed upon these other types of mining activity. In other words, you can do them at any time of the year. 

Join us for our Weekend Group Mining Projects This Season!

There is a learning curve to successful gold prospecting.  One of the most effective methods of progressing through the learning curve is to go on prospecting adventures with others who are more experienced than you.

Our 2-day Group Mining Projects are one of the primary benefits of New 49’er membership which set us apart from other mining associations.  All weekend events are free to Full & Associate Members.

Schedule of 2015 Events: June 6 & 7; June 27 & 28; July 18 & 19; August 8 & 9; and August 29 & 30.

Schedule of Events

Don’t Forget About Our Ongoing Legal Fund-raiser!

I am very pleased to announce that Garrett Metal Detectors is generously supporting this next fund-raiser with their brand new top-of-the-line ATX pulse induction gold detector.  That is a $2,500 machine!

Garrett is also donating a refurbished AT Gold metal detector as a second prize (“refurbished” means the unit was used as a demo at a trade show, but never used in the field, and then put back through quality control and repackaged in new condition). This is an $800 machine!

These are both fantastic gold machines which can actually be taken underwater to shallow depths!

The drawing will also include 20 American tenth-ounce American Gold Eagles.

The drawing will take place at our Saturday evening potluck in Happy Camp on June 27. You do not need to be a member of our organization to participate. You are welcome to be at the drawing, but you do not need to be present to win.

Our office will automatically generate a ticket in your name for every $10 legal contribution we receive ($100 would generate 10 tickets). There is no limit to the size or frequency of your contributions, or to the number of prizes you can win. Look for our new Paypal contribution link here.

Remember, all contributions to The New 49’ers Legal Fund are tax deductible.

You can find out more about The Legal Fund’s ongoing fund-raiser by going right here.

Once again; thank you guys very much for standing behind our efforts!

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.  Actually, the video segments show the adventures better than I can write them!

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, by contacting our supporters this way, in a matter of hours, we recently generated a large bundle of letters to the California Supreme Court. 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!

Sign up for our Free Internet Newsletter!

Note: You are free to unsubscribe anytime just by clicking a link if you decide to do so.

The New 49’ers Prospecting Association, 27 Davis Road, Happy Camp, California 96039 (530) 493-2012  www.goldgold.com

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