Thinking of things,
I have a trifecta of thoughts, options to do, places to go, experiences to meet..
I wrote the other night of the first:
Back to the earth, back to ranching, back to the family.. What a magnet.. I have no. 3 trading but:
Tonight, I talk about:
Gold Fever,
A terrible maladay, the most infectious of all, I am getting it.. There is no cure, except in the hills, looking for gold.. I have had it before. I got cured, but only when you find gold.. the only cure..
So when I felt the first symptoms, I dusted off the maps, I have done a little research, and I am thinking,, thinking of heading out.. to explore again:
And that brings up the "Mining Law of 1872", of which most urban or suburban dudes and dudettes don't understand.. It is one of the last laws on the books that gives the "little guy" a chance.. Where you don't have to be a Exxon or Newmont to acquire mineral rights to public lands.. Most of those d n' d's think only the big guys should have a chance, pay a minimal royalty and GIVE it to them..
Well I have competed before against the big boys and done alright.. time to do it again.. maybe?? but you have to be smarter, more independent of a thinker, to compete.. And that brings up another point:
The West is not unlimited in resources according to what you may have been fed by the exploiters and their enablers, Sure there are undiscovered, unexploited resources out here, But you can't go unfettered, to wear and tear the beauty of the Wild like certain people lead you to believe,, You have to be careful, environmentally responsible, to first step into the beauty of the West.. To weigh the resource against the benefit to society ..
I once discovered a malachite-stained outcrop near a running stream.. Copper-oxide, a good surface indicator of deeper copper mineralization.. I thought about staking it, but I moved on.. Abundant water flowing through a open pit or even an underground mine can cause extreme environmental problems for years.. A downside, a thousand times worse than an upside of the value of the resource..
Like exploiting the ANWR.. Is it worth it? I don't think so.. For SIXTY DAYS OIL.. I passed up something relative to me, what BIG OIL is TO ANWR..
They can pass up ANWR in the same spirit, the greatest good in the long run...
JMO..
c |
