MADDOGS
THE ADVENTURE CREW: Master, The Nomad, Sweet Bird of Freedom (aka Freeta Roam), Pixie & Pod, Miss Cycle, Ivan the writing muse, Jude, and the brains of the crew--Croc. DOUBLE-CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGESunday, May 01, 2005
ANOTHER STORY
The Crew traveled to Placerville (aka Hangtown, aka Dry Diggin's) today, 49 miles east of Sactown, and toured the Gold Bug Mine.
The truth be told, Jude knew more about gold and mining than the volunteer docents. Well, that is another story.
ANOTHER STORY--
Back in another lifetime (1971), when Jude first moved to Sactown from San Diego, she took up the weekend hobby of gold panning. That first summer, she panned an ounce of gold...Troy ounce that is (12 Troy ounces to the pound).
She started out at the John Marshall gold discovery site on Hwy. 49, but quickly discovered that there was more gold to be found further north, above Grass Valley, Nevada City.
She met 3 gold dredgers--Bob, Sam, & Ray, at Foote's Crossing on the Middle Fork of the Yuba, who taught her a lot about gold and how to get it.
The next summer, she traded her ounce of gold for a 2-inch dredge. The man who got rid of the dredge had had no luck at all--but the 3 dredgers (they had a 5-inch dredge) let Jude run her rig on their claim.
A 2-inch dredge meant that Jude had to cart off ALL rocks and debris that was over 2 inches in diameter. BTW a dredge is like a vacuum cleaner (powered by a lawn mower size motor) with a first-stage regulator--Jude could get air underwater as long as the motor was running. She wore a wet suit & weight belt. There was A LOT of carting off to be done. The idea was to vacuum down to bedrock where the gold was.
One time the 3 dredgers ran into a rock that was too big to move with a wench (it was the size of a VW bug) so the dynamite came out. The dredgers worked construction in southern CA during the off-season, so they must have pilfered the TNT. Once in place, it was set off with some good-sized batteries. KABOOM!
Of course the TNT killed all the fish in that part of the river, so everyone had to go swimming and gather up all the dead fish before they floated downriver & someone figured out that someone upriver had used TNT.
That summer, on weekends only, Jude made about $1000 mo. compared to her M-F job of $400 mo. The largest nugget Jude found was about the size of her little finger and weighed one ounce. She sold all the gold, except for one nugget that looked like two quail in a nest, to the anonymous gold buyer that came through about once every 3 weeks. The nugget she kept was made into a necklace.
That summer the market price of gold was $60 ounce, but because Jude was selling high-quality placer gold, it went for $120 ounce. Today the market price was $429 ounce, and placer would go for about $800-$850-maybe a little higher.
The Crew carries a gold pan and Jude has been known to run a couple of shovelfuls of dirt & gravel through it from time to time. It's always exciting to see a little color.
The truth be told, Jude knew more about gold and mining than the volunteer docents. Well, that is another story.
ANOTHER STORY--
Back in another lifetime (1971), when Jude first moved to Sactown from San Diego, she took up the weekend hobby of gold panning. That first summer, she panned an ounce of gold...Troy ounce that is (12 Troy ounces to the pound).
She started out at the John Marshall gold discovery site on Hwy. 49, but quickly discovered that there was more gold to be found further north, above Grass Valley, Nevada City.
She met 3 gold dredgers--Bob, Sam, & Ray, at Foote's Crossing on the Middle Fork of the Yuba, who taught her a lot about gold and how to get it.
The next summer, she traded her ounce of gold for a 2-inch dredge. The man who got rid of the dredge had had no luck at all--but the 3 dredgers (they had a 5-inch dredge) let Jude run her rig on their claim.
A 2-inch dredge meant that Jude had to cart off ALL rocks and debris that was over 2 inches in diameter. BTW a dredge is like a vacuum cleaner (powered by a lawn mower size motor) with a first-stage regulator--Jude could get air underwater as long as the motor was running. She wore a wet suit & weight belt. There was A LOT of carting off to be done. The idea was to vacuum down to bedrock where the gold was.
One time the 3 dredgers ran into a rock that was too big to move with a wench (it was the size of a VW bug) so the dynamite came out. The dredgers worked construction in southern CA during the off-season, so they must have pilfered the TNT. Once in place, it was set off with some good-sized batteries. KABOOM!
Of course the TNT killed all the fish in that part of the river, so everyone had to go swimming and gather up all the dead fish before they floated downriver & someone figured out that someone upriver had used TNT.
That summer, on weekends only, Jude made about $1000 mo. compared to her M-F job of $400 mo. The largest nugget Jude found was about the size of her little finger and weighed one ounce. She sold all the gold, except for one nugget that looked like two quail in a nest, to the anonymous gold buyer that came through about once every 3 weeks. The nugget she kept was made into a necklace.
That summer the market price of gold was $60 ounce, but because Jude was selling high-quality placer gold, it went for $120 ounce. Today the market price was $429 ounce, and placer would go for about $800-$850-maybe a little higher.
The Crew carries a gold pan and Jude has been known to run a couple of shovelfuls of dirt & gravel through it from time to time. It's always exciting to see a little color.
Archives
April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 January 2007 March 2007 April 2007 June 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 March 2008 April 2008 June 2008
