Golden Grams of Goodness: Nugget Hunting Tales

[Lanny]

I found a prospecting entry today from the summer of 1997 that I’d like to post:

“Most of the prospecting I get to do is in the summer (up here in Canada) because that's when things thaw enough to get out and root around. Well, one summer in the Omineca region of British Columbia, I was working with some miners who were stripping a large placer cut in an area that had historically produced coarse gold in quantity.

They got down to bedrock and as they worked the excavation of the pit, the gold got better and better as they worked from the front (south) to the back (north) of the pit.

When things got real interesting (that is when nice nuggets and coarse gold were turning up in the sluice) they hit a massive series of what the local miners called drift mines (they described drift mining as tunneling from a lower elevation in relation to the pay-layer to allow for drainage from seepage). Once the old-timers hit the pay-layer, they worked back and forth following the good pay. It could be done underground all winter long and the stockpiled material was then processed in the Spring.

In fact, the entire back end of the pit had been roomed out (roomed is the term they used when the tunnels were so close together they went back and forth in a series of parallel tunnels literally taking all of the material from a pay layer, thus leaving a large underground pillared and lagged [wood that forms the roof of the room].

At any rate, the placer pit was now abandoned and scheduled to be refilled. They said I could poke around, but to stay out of the old drifts as they were dangerous. Well, that didn't take any convincing on my part. I have done a bunch of caving and rappelling but the tunnel works were there for well over a hundred years and the wet lumber had changed somehow and broke in chunks with the consistency of celery, nothing like wood at all.

As I poked around, there was seepage everywhere, and the lagging on the ceiling of the tunnels was all cracked and caving. In addition, the pit was rapidly filling with water from the front to the back where I wanted to prospect, so I didn't have much time.
The modern miners had displaced a bunch of the large upright pillars (large hand-hewn logs) with their machinery when they hit the drifts. I panned some of the material from the false bedrock and true bedrock they had scraped. There was a little gold, mostly small flakes. I reasoned that when the old-timers were putting in their pillars and posts they must have covered up some pay, even if it was a small amount.

As well, I knew from all the work they had done (extremely difficult manual labor) that the pay had to have been excellent; the modern pit had proven that as well.

So, I found a nice fat displaced pillar, levered it out of the socket with a large bar and carefully collected the material from around it and in the socket forming the bottom of the hole. I panned it out and man you should have seen the pickers!

I scratched around the base of another pillar but I couldn't move it out of its place and yet I still found some more coarse gold.

However, time was running out. The seepage was real bad and the upper bank material started to slough off from above, and let me tell you, when that starts to happen, it’s time to get out fast! All the gold in the world isn't worth a lick if you’re dead.

Standing above the bank I watched as the wet material oozed down into the pit which then collapsed the bank, with a slurping sound, down into the cut.

There would be no more getting the gold there anymore, it was kind of sad, but I had found out something truly valuable: anytime I come across old drift workings that are exposed by modern mining, if the conditions are safe, I'll happily gather the material from around those old pillars and pan it.”

I found out more about the type of gold some of that false bedrock (I mentioned earlier) was holding on another day, but that’s a story for a later time.

May you all find something golden to smile about, and all the best,

Lanny

[Jim_Alaska]

Another good one Lanny, I was right there with you.

[Lanny]

JIm, you're a good man, always enjoy it when you leave a comment. Knowing your background, I'm sure you've experienced similar events.

All the best,

Lanny

[Lanny]

Great poem Lanny! Really enjoyed that.

In the photos above, is that gold all as flat as it looks!?

Great to hear from you!

The gold in the photos, a lot of it is very flat. The ancient river channel it ran in was full of huge boulders, so a lot of the gold is like it got rolled, but there's also gold from another run mixed in, and some of it is thick and fat. However, the majority has been rolled.

Thanks for leaving a comment, really appreciated.

All the best,

Lanny

[Slatco]

Hey there Mr Lanny, thanks for the poems and the great stories! I mine in the Omineca but West of where all that big gold is. I get lots of flake but nothing chunky like that. Keep it going, this is much needed entertainment this time of year.

[Lanny]

Hey there Mr Lanny, thanks for the poems and the great stories! I mine in the Omineca but West of where all that big gold is. I get lots of flake but nothing chunky like that. Keep it going, this is much needed entertainment this time of year.

Thanks for the message! Good to hear from an Omineca miner. I used to play around in the Omineca long years ago, and I really miss the country, but I don't miss the bugs! Beautiful country though, a place where you feel almost lost in a great big wonderful wilderness that lets you know the kind of men it took to explore that area for gold in the first place, truly remarkable.

Nice to know we've been in the same area chasing the gold.

All the best,

Lanny

[Lanny]

See below

[Lanny]

***Annual Christmas Prospecting Poetry***

Christmas Blizzard Gold

A minin’ boom drew young and old
To find the fabled yellow gold
That Nature’d cached in hills up high
So long ago, in days gone by.

A town erected far below
Was clogged with folks, their hopes aglow
That soon they’d bag some treasured gold
Before the winter got too cold.

Well Jill and Jim were clever folk
Who listened well when others spoke.
They took down notes for finding gold,
Birthed from that fabled Mother Lode.

Those golden tips they cached away
A-waiting for that special day
When grub-staked Jim would ready be
To glean the gold to set them free.

To chase the gold, you’ll need the will,”
(Was told to him by his gal Jill)
“That drive to go and never quit
No matter what to get to it.”

“Then lookey here,” said Jim to Jill,
“I think I’ll prospect yonder hill
Where alders grow all mighty thick
Along its steeply flowing crick.”

So, Jill helped Jim into his pack.
“Now hurry off and don’t come back
Until you’ve found the nugget gold
That Nature’s hid from times of old.”

So Jim, he grabs his mining kit
And then he goes out after it!
He pans the stream and finds some specks
So farther up that crick he treks.

He scouts a spot with workings old
Ones antler-dug, while chasing gold.
Stout trees there grew up out from it,
That long abandoned placer pit.

“Well here’s a mystery, yes siree.
I’ll dig around a bit to see
Jest what those diggers dug for here.”
(He digs a bit, then gives a cheer.)

“Well I’ll be durned.” He says aloud
“These nuggets here will do me proud!”
I’ll rustle up some more of these
To give my Jill a life of ease.”

The work was tough, the days were cold,
While Jim dug out that precious gold.
The season turned, and winter rose,
But Jim toiled on through frost and snows.

He soldiered on through brutal days
A diggin’ through the rocks and clays.
At last he hit the bedrock true,
That cradled clay all colored blue.

He stood there dumb and gazed in awe
At all the gold he surely saw.
“This here’s bonanza gold for sure!
Them nuggets bright look awful pure.”

He worked the clay and freed the gold
That slumbered there from times of old.
He bagged it up, then started down
On Christmas Eve to get to town.

But on his way, a blizzard grew
The drifts were huge, so Jim he knew
His hopes of getting back to see
His precious Jill might never be.

Now Jill was home, and worried sick!
Her Jim was in that blizzard thick.
He’d promised her that home he’d be
To help her trim the Christmas tree.

Her snowshoes stout were resting there
Beside their cabin’s only chair.
“Before I go, I’ll write out quick,
A prayerful note to Old Saint Nick”:

“Now Nick”, said she, “I’m in a bind
Yet filled with hope my Jim I’ll find.
My wish is that I’ll git to him,
Although the chance is mighty slim.

But if you’ll let me find my beau,
In all that whirlin’ winter snow,
We’ll give what gold my Jim has found
To help the needy folks around.”

Well, Jill set out into the night
In all that howling wintry fright
In hopes Saint Nick would surely show
Where Jim was lost in all that snow.

She trudged and toiled for quite some time
Before she heard a sleigh bell’s chime,
When wind had lulled enough to know
She’d heard that noise out in the snow.

“A bell,” She said, “A way out here?
Saint Nick’s sure sign my Jim is near!”
And she was right. Her Jim she found
By seeking out that wondrous sound.

No bell was found on Jim or pack.
His nose was froze, his toes were black,
Yet Jim was safe on Christmas day
So Jill gave all the gold away. . . .

No needy folks could then be found
In all the country there around.
And Jill, well she was mighty quick
To give her thanks to Old Saint Nick.

******************************

The seasons changed, the warmth came back
And Jim put on his mining pack.
He winked at Jill, and grabbed his kit.
“I’d best be getting after it.”

“And what is that,” said Jill to Jim,
“That gets you out on such a whim?”
“I marked a spot,” said Jim to Jill
“With nuggets thick up on that hill.”

Merry Christmas 2021, and all the best,

Lanny

[Joe S (AK)]

Lanny - 'Tis a Really Good'un.

Stay strong and keep the candle lit -- Better times are coming.

Joe

[Lanny]

Thanks for dropping in to leave a kind comment Joe, hope we can all get out and find some nice gold in 2022.

All the best,

Lanny