Yes, gold mining IS fun, which is something POG worriers seem to forget. Sure, it is a business, no doubt about that. There is diesel, hoses, hydraulic fluid, grease, tranny fluid, and that is just for the big CAT's. Then there is gasoline, tires, oil and all the fluids for the dump trucks running back and forth all the time between excavated material and the operating trommel. That isn't too glamorous either, I'll admit that.
And then there is the guy with the #10 shovel who is paid to stand around. His job assignment is two-fold: to keep his eye on any signal from the track hoe operator who is steadily feeding the material into the hopper and then quickly react! When Roy's hand makes a plunging motion, this guy quickly climbs the ladder, jams his shovel down hard in between the grizzly bars guarding the mouth of the hopper that deflect the BIGGGG BOULDERS. With a mighty plunge and jerking motion, he breaks up the blockages that occur at the bottom of the hopper where the material collects before spray bars thoroughly wash each rock.
Breaking up the rockjam by giving a mighty jerk, the mighty trommel responds with a big mechanical burping rumble as the material begins to flow again. Then the sluice box suddenly re-starts sorting the 19x heavier than water gold from the only 8 to 10x heavier than water material which rolls off the riffles like little black marbles. I learned this weekend, those "marbles" are classified as pea gravel and bring big bucks from a local landscaper.
This guy's job isn't glamorous either. And neither is Roy's who sits all day long in one spot, scooping, lifting, gradually dumping and bumping rocks, and swinging back to repeat the monotonous process again and again, 6-8 hours per shift without as much as a "nature call's break!!"
The reason why I share this info is this: we hear about silver credits reducing the cost of mined gold in the bigger outfits. And one will find the same languaging in copper mining, only they talk about gold and silver credits reducing the costs of mined copper. But, until I began to work alongside Roy, did I learn about something you never read in those mining companies "Annual Reports." And that missing cash line item is: GRAVEL AGGREGATE SALES/CREDITS.
I wonder why! Maybe Bill Jackson or Double D can shed some light on this musing??? Guys????
RE: you and the Broken Boot Gold Mine pix in '58...is that up in ONT as well? That is something else that is fascinating. These mines have some of the most colorful names you have ever heard. The Broken Boot Mine you speak of is obviously name for some miner with a broken boot. The Blue Bucket Mine has a historical Oregon Trail story as its origin. And there are other more colorful names and some just plain vanilla names as well.
RE: how old the tunnels are: I just wish I knew more about anthropology, etc. I'll let you know if we find some telltale skulls, etc., as that would help date things as well. Wonder if we have to
call the sheriff when we stumble across those? Maybe a coroner's autopsy would help us date those tunnels...That's a macabre thought, yes?
You wrote: One thing about finding gold, time makes no difference. Well, I would agree and disagree. Where I agree is that the gold doesn't "rot" or get stale. NOT HARDLY! he he he. BUT,
over time, it DOES get "coated" shall we say, and that coating stuff, makes visibly SEEING the gold more challenging.
For example: I set up my big double eye-piece laboratory microscope in the Blue Bucket Gift Shop where I commandeered the display case countertop for the gold weighing and distribution phases. As the various types stuff that DID NOT LOOK like gold popped up in the classification sieves I was using to clean the gold as I weighed it all, I set them aside to put under 45x magnification for double checking.
One funny thing is ALL THE and lead bullets fragments we were finding. I had noticed their numerous mangled fragments for several days. A recent trip to Baker County's Museum on the way out to the Blue Bucket from my own claims had me primed for finding those fragments. There were many reports by goldmasters on various walking golddredges from the prior century about all the lead and even musket balls getting trapped in their screens along with the gold. Their twisted shards are quite easy to spot, and aren't mistaken for any other metal in the goldpan at clean up, trussssst me!
So when I look at the photograph on the Blue Bucket homepage I built for them, I now not only have to visualize the rip snorting Burnt River cutting this canyon channel, I see in my mind's eye the multiple clashes between the white man and the Native American that took place on these ancient river banks as well. What a sight, eh?
Had to smile big when I read that you would have a hard time NOT mining from sunrise to sunset. I HEAR YOU, cyber goldbuddy! Best diet there is, missing lunch and grabbing a quick supper before falling in an exhausted in the bunkhouse.
Nowhere is the old saying, "Breakfast is the most important meal!" MORE true than for a goldminer!!! Sure, breakfast eggs, toast, juice, bisquits and sausage gravy and cold milk smell good on ANY campout morning. But, that stick-to-a-miner's-
ribs-meal is absolutely CRITICAL out here in gold country!!! TRRRRRUST ME!
Well, time to get the coffee on before the rest of the family rises.
It is still pitch black outhere at 6AM PDT, but we know what the sunshine will bring today!!! And hopefully MORE TUNNELS!!!!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAW
O/49r
Blue Bucket Website: oregontrail.net
2 pix of trommels to view the shoveler's 'portant perch:
oregontrail.net
oregontrail.net |
