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The Comstock Lode

In 1859, The Comstock Lode was discovered inMount Davidson, 20 miles outside of Reno, Nevada.The Comstock Load was one of the largest silver de-posits, to ever be discovered within the United States.This abundant silver mine led to the rapid development

of mining technology and industry, in the Nevada area.There is some debate over who actually discovered theComstock Lode. Many attribute the original discovery tomineralogists, Ethan and Hosea Grosh, in 1857. TheGrosh brothers, left their mineral samples and claimmaps, in the charge of Henry T.P. Comstock, for safekeeping in their cabin, as they set off for California.Great misfortune fell on the brothers and neither sur-vived the year. Upon learning of the brothers deaths,Comstock laid claim to the cabin and its contents. Al-though, Comstock did not understand the maps anddocuments, left by the Groshes, he kept a watchful eyeon local mine strikes, and quickly laid claim to an adja-

cent area when one was made on Gold Hill. The oppor-tunistic Henry Comstock, also managed to work himselfinto a partnership in another claim in the surroundingarea. He eventually sold his mining interests and unsuc-cessfully tried his hand as a storekeeper. Comstock thentried prospecting in Idaho and Montana.

Eventually disheartened by his lack of success, he com-mitted suicide. While the original discoverers and thenamesake of the strike, suffered terrible fates, many oth-ers gained vast fortunes from it, and great overall pro-gress resulted. When the strike was publicly announced,adventurous would-be prospectors rushed to the areaseeking to strike lucrative mining claims. Mining camps

soon proliferated the landscape. The huge influx of pro-spective miners and those seeking to cater to them,quickly populated the newly founded community of Vir-ginia City. During the boom years of silver mining, Vir-ginia city was the largest city in Nevada, and was knownas a center of wealth during the era. 400 million dollarsworth of silver, as well gold ,were pulled from the areafrom the years 1859 through 1878. The vast wealth gen-

(Continued on page 3)

v. 15, n. 5 May, 2011 Going for the Go

Rocky Mountain Prospectors &Treasure Hunters Newsletter

The News

Visit RMPTH On The Internet At http://rmpth.com

Contents

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors;we borrow it from our children."

- Native American Proverb

1 The Comstock Lode2 About The News2 Book Review

4 Virginia Dale Stage Station5 Find Of The Year Program6 Geocaching7 Horace Austin Warner Tabor8 Treasure Hunt8 Maria Theresa Thaler9 Golden Touch10 Calendar of Events11 Calendars13 Rare Diamond Ring Find14 Tools And Their Uses16 Trading Post

17 Gold Panning & Placering inColorado18 2011 Schedule of Events19 Contact List

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Page 2 The News, May 2011

The News is the official newsletter of the RockyMountain Prospectors and Treasure HuntersClub (RMPTH): our mailing address is P.O. Box

271863, Fort Collins, CO. 80527-1863.

Opinions expressed in The News are those of theauthors and do not necessarily reflect those of the

club or its members. Publication of information inThe News constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Useof any information found in this publication is at thesole risk of the user. NeitherRMPTH, nor its coordi-nators, nor The News, nor its editors or contributorsassume any liability for damages resulting from useof information in this publication.

Submissions

Articles, letters and short items of interest on pros-pecting, detecting and treasure hunting topics are

welcome and encouraged. All items submitted forpublication are subject to editing. Submittals for pub-

lication may be made in writing or, preferably, in AS-CII text format on IBM-compatible disk. If you havequestions about a submission, please contact the edi-tor for information.

Copyright

Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit groupsmay reprint or quote from any articles appearing inThe News without prior permission, provided thatproper author and publication credits are given andthat a copy of the publication in which the article ap-pears is sent at no cost toRMPTHat the above mail-ing address. Clubs wishing to exchange newsletters

withRMPTHare invited to send a copy of their news-letter together with an exchange request.

About The New s Adver t is ing

Classified advertising for topic related items is freefor non-business ads. See the Trading Post sectionfor donation pricing of camera-ready display ads. Do-nations for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are avail-able on request.

About RMPTH

RMPTHis an independent nonprofit hobbyist socialclub, open to anyone interested in prospecting, detect-ing or treasure hunting. Its purpose is to provide aneducational and social forum of mutual benefit formembers.RMPTHholds a monthly meeting and con-ducts various field outings, as well as offers specialpresentations and seminars. Active participants have

voting privileges. The monthly newsletter, The News,is readily available on the Internet. Persons wishing toreceive the newsletter in hardcopy, mailed format arerequired to provide the amount of $24 per year re-quired to print and mail. Otherwise, no annual duesare charged as the social club functions strictly bydonation.

Book Reviewby Paul Lange

The Prai r ie Traveler by Randolph B. Marcy , Applewood Book s, c. 1993,

Bedfor d, Maine, 286 page s, ISBN 0-91822 2-89-3.

This book was originally published in 1859 by the authority of The War Department and was written by a U. S. Armycaptain who had first hand knowledge of the American West. A number of fast buck people with a quick pen, vividimagination and little knowledge operating out of big eastern cities published a number of guidebooks that were

bought as if they contained free gold samples. As you search old houses, used book stores, libraries and private collectionsyou may come across an original guidebook that could be worth its weight in gold being valued at over $1,000 depending onits condition. The 1858 gold strike in then what was the western part of the Kansas Territory had thousands of prospectorsflocking to the area between Denver and Pikes Peak. The Prairie Traveler became a best selling handbook for the westwardbound pioneers. It became the principal manual full of helpful information essential for safe passage west. Among the topicsincluded, it talks about the routes used by the travelers. There are a number of sketches to help your mind visualize what itwas like back then, a map of the Pikes Peak gold region and a list of select itineraries showing distances in miles betweencamping places. In the last year, I have acquired 5 different reproduced guidebooks, not the originals. If you come across anyof these guidebooks whether they are originals or reproductions, you have found a treasure.

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Page 3The News, May 2011

hausted areas were refilled with rubble. The use of theuse of the square set method made such wide veins safeto mine, but also required vast amounts of timber. Sincethe region surrounding the mines was far too arid tosupply this timber, it had to be imported from the LakeTahoe area. To increase the speed and ease of transport-ing all this heavy timber, J. W. Haines created the V-flume. A method that used water pressure to flush thelogs down from Spooner summit, where they could beloaded onto railcars. Overtime, pneumatic tools and newformulas for blasting explosives, were developed for usein the mines.

The wire cables used for thefamous cable cars of SanFrancisco, were originallydeveloped for use in themines of the ComstockLode. The hemp ropes for-merly used in mining, couldnot adequately handle theincreased strain of hauling

ore to the surface, fromthese deeper mines. Wovenwire rope was invented in1864 to handle the task.The new stamp mill methodof crushing the ore hastenedprocessing immensely andseveral new ways of amalga-mation, developed for useon Comstock ore, furthersped processing. Most nota-

ble of these improved processes was the Washoe proc-ess, which utilized steam-heated pans, to smelt the ore.The discovery of the Comstock Lode also expedited theinfiltration of the railroad system, into the region. Priorto the construction of the railroad lines in the area, largeteams of mules or horses hauled the ore, from themines. These teams also pulled wagons loaded with thenecessary timber, machinery and other supplies to themine. After the Central Railroad and the Virginia andTuckee Railroad were completed, ore transport could bedone far more efficiently. The Comstock Lode had a dis-tinct and lasting effect, not only on the field of miningand ore processing, but also left a lasting legacy in ourdaily lives. It improved transportation. Methods of drain-age and water supply, were enhanced by the obstaclesencountered mining the deposit. We can attribute far

more to the Comstock Lode, than precious ore and apopulation explosion.

Below a miner works the Comstock Lode and at rightthe Sutro Tunnel.

Arizona Gold Prospectorshttp://www.arizonagoldprospectors.com/

erated by the Comstock Lode not only spurred thegrowth of Nevada, but the San Francisco area ,as well.The decline of the mines, did not begin until 1874. Therapidly increasing population quickly overwhelmed theavailable water supply. It became evident that in order tohave enough water to run the necessary steam engines,while still leaving enough for the everyday needs of resi-dents, a new supply had to be tapped. To fulfill thisneed, the Virginia City and Gold Hill Water Companywas created.

The company hired theengineer Herman Schus-sler to design a new sys-tem, to supply the waterneeded. Schussler over-saw the installation ofmiles of pipe, and con-structed large flumes atthe source as well as theoutlet. At the time of its

completion it was consid-ered the greatest pressur-ized water system world-wide. Much of the techno-logical advancement,which occurred through-out the boom years of theComstock Lode, involvedattempts to mitigate thedangers in mining at thislocation. At first, ore wasobtained through simple surface digging, as the surfacebecame exhausted of ore, it became necessary to minetunnels to get at the precious commodity. Early miningefforts were often hampered by flooding. This problemled to many technological developments in steam andhydraulic equipment, in order to pump out the excesswater. As the mines tunneled deeper, the water they en-countered was extremely hot. This super heated watercould kill a man in a matter of seconds and made thetunnels unbearably hot. This dangerous situation, led toseveral innovations in ventilation technology and con-struction of the Sutro Tunnel.

The brilliantly conceived tunnel was the brain child ofPrussian born Adolph Sutro. He ran the drainage tunnelunder the Lode from the lowest point possible and ran

flumes in the floor of the tunnel to drain water off. Thetunnel which went through four miles of rock, was con-sidered a technological marvel, at the time. The Com-stock Lode differed from most silver deposits in that itwas hundreds of feet wide at points. Though the soft orewas easy to dig, it did not supply much support, result-ing in many cave-ins. The deadly problem of cave-inswas resolved by the ingenuity of a German mine superin-tendent named Philip Deidesheimer, who invented thesquare set timbering method. In this method, timberlatticework was used to support the tunnels and ore ex-

(Continued from page 1)

Sutro Tunnel

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TREASURE HUNTERSCODE OF ETHICS

I WILL respect private property and do no treasurehunting without the owner's permission.

I WILL fill all excavations.

I WILL appreciate and protect our heritage of naturalresources, wildlife, and private property.

I WILL use thoughtfulness, consideration, and courtesyat all times.

I WILL build fires in designated or safe places only.

I WILL leave gates as found.

I WILL remove and properly dispose of any trash that I

find.

I WILL NOT litter.

I WILL NOT destroy property, buildings, or what is leftof ghost towns and deserted structures.

I WILL NOT tamper with signs, structural facilities, orequipment.

Gold Glossary

Bucket Line Dredge - Unlike the modern, small scale

dredges; a bucket line dredge was very large. Instead of

sucking up water and gravel through the use of water pres-

sure, the bucket line dredges would scoop it up and run it

through a long sluice box. Only 10 cents of gold was needed

for each square yard of material to make a profit back

when these dredges were common in the 1890s and on intothe early 1900s.

Virginia Dale Stage

Station

In 1863, a stagecoach along the Overland Trail carryingan army payroll of $60,000 (which would be about $1

million dollars today) in ten and twenty dollar goldcoins was destined for Fort Sanders in Wyoming Territory.The gold shipment represented several months of back payfor the soldiers at Fort Sanders; however, the unfortunatesoldiers never saw the gold.

Only about a mile from the Virginia Dale Station, the stagewas robbed by six masked outlaws at Long View Hill. Thegang took the strongbox from the stage and headed westtowards the wooded foothills, where they blew the lock offof the box, removed the gold coins, and buried the treasure.

However, before they could spend their ill-gained wealth,the bandits were pursued and killed by the U.S. Calvary.The Calvary later found the iron strong box in a nearbycreek, the sides and bottom gone, riddled with bullet holes and, obviously, empty.

The Overland Trail stage line was regularly terrorized byoutlaws, where the surrounding area provided multiple op-portunistic hideouts. One hideout, labeled the RobbersRoost atop Table Mountain, was so popular that the outlawsbuilt a cabin there. Table Mountain, only about a milenortheast of the Virginia Dale Stage Station, was a perfecthideout, as it is difficult to climb with practically perpen-dicular cliffs and a rim of shale.

At the time, it was rumored that Jack Slade, the StationMaster was the leader of the gang. Jack Slade, not as fa-mous as many other outlaw characters, was nevertheless,as notorious as many of them. Slade was said to have hadan uncontrollable temper, was a heavy drinker, had mur-dered in the past, and was eventually hanged in Montana.Though the stage line suspected Slade, they could not proveit, so they just fired him. Uncharacteristically, the bad-tempered Slade, left without any problems.

(Continued on page 5)

When the chips are down ......

the buffalo is empty!

Stage Coach on the Overland Trail

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I was so depressed last night

thinking about the economy, wars,

jobs, my savings, Social Security,

retirement funds, etc., I called the

Suicide Hotline. I got a call centerin Pakistan , and when I told them

I was suicidal, they got all excited,

and asked if I could drive a truck.

Property WantedFor Detector Hunt

RMPTH is looking for private property on which to holdan organized club detector hunt. Obviously, it would bemost ideal if this property is known to have seen some

past historical activity. If you have such property orknow of someone who does, please contact Paul Lange

or Rick Mattingly to plan a club field outing event.

Refreshment VolunteersMay - Ray McGeheel & Anne NicholsJune - Betsy Emond & Mike NollJuly - Bryan & Lucy MorganAugust - Gary AndersonSeptember - Barbara SchuldtOctober - Johnny BerndsenNovember - Dave Montoya

Later Jack Slade moved on to Virginia City, Montana. Aheavy drinker with a bad temper, he wrecked a saloon soonafter his arrival. Jack was arrested but he tore up the ar-rest warrant and threatened the judge. Though he pleadedfor his life, he was immediately hanged.

Virginia Dale, his girlfriend (or common law wife) wasbrought to town by one of Jack's friends, took his body

home, pickled it in alcohol in a metal casket, and kept itunder her bed for several months. She then took it to SaltLake City, Utah and buried him in the old Mormon Ceme-tery where his body remains today.

The gold taken by the robbers at Virginia Dale has neverbeen found.

Today, Virginia Dale is nothing more than a ghost town,located in the northern part of Larimer County, about 45miles northwest of Fort Collins, and just about four milessouth of the Wyoming border on US Highway 287. The oldOverland Trail Stage Station is listed on the National Regis-ter of Historical sites and recently efforts have been made to

preserve the old station.

Legends of Americahttp://www.legendsofamerica.com/CP-ColoradoTreasures2.html

(Continued from page 4)

Jack Slade and others in front of VirginiaDale Station

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Geocaching

Treasure Hunt ing Wi th Your GPS

M

y family's split down the middle when itcomes to outdoor fun. There are two people

who are always looking for reasons to be/

play/eat outside, and two who prefer looking at naturefrom behind glass, preferably while seated in a tem-perature-controlled environment with Wifi. As such,the answer to "what should we do this weekend?" israrely straightforward.

I'm always looking for waysto coax the indoorsies out-doors. And I think I've hit onit: Geocaching. Or, as I pre-sented it to my family, walksthat require gadgets (severaleyebrows lifted in interest asI'm usually the one hopingthe iPhone gets forgotten athome).

Geocaching is essentially a treasure hunt with thehelp of a mobile GPS device. To begin, go to Geocach-ing.com and sign up for a free account. Then searchfor a cache to find...it can be in your neighborhood,along a trail, or anywhere else in the world. (I foundthree within walking distance of my house.) The web-site will give you GPS coordinates and clues, which

you plug into your device and set out on the hunt!

Your GPS will lead you to the vicinity of the cache, butonce you arrive you must find the final hiding spotusing the clues.

But what exactly are you looking for? Generally, thecache a small waterproof container holding a logbook,and sometimes, a collection of trinkets to trade. Butfolks who really get into Geocaching go much further,

creating puzzles to be solved, or setting up multi-partcaches. Consider these more challenging adventuresonce you've got some experience under your belt, or if

you're embarking on this adventure with teens.

After you find the cache, dance your happy dance!(I'm getting excited just thinking about it.) Once you'resettled back in at home, you can log back in to the

Geocaching website to leave your comments.

A few tips should you decide to try Geocaching withyour kids:

Choose your first fewcaches wisely. Keep themrelatively easy to find, andread the comments for extraassurance that the cache isstill hidden at that location.Caches do occasionally gomissing, and it would be a

shame to kick off your ex-perience with a disappoint-ment. Pack a pen and some little

items to leave behind. The rule is that if you takesomething from a cache, you must leave something ofequal or greater value. Consider Geocaching while on vacation. What bet-ter way to explore new territory? Hide your own cache. Once your kids catch theGeocaching bug, they might want to create and hidetheir own cache. The "pay it forward" spirit feels goodfor everyone. Geocaching.com gives you all the detailsabout hiding your first cache.

Parent Hackshttp://www.parenthacks.com/2010/06/geocaching-treasure-hunting-with-your-gps.html

Not only is Geocaching a greatfamily sport, it is also a great way to

learn and practice your GPS skills foreven more important stuff: likefinding that lost mine, treasure

hunting, prospecting, locating thatghost town, etc.

Cripple Creek Lore

The Cresson Mine in Cripple Creek Colorado was the scene of a fantastic discovery. On November 24, 1914miners working on the 1200' level had the luck of breaking into a vug 40 feet high by 20 feet long and 15 feet

wide. The walls were covered with sylvanite and calaverite crystals with thousands of flakes of pure oxidizedgold and bronze colored calaverite crystals the size of a thumbnail lining the entire vug. 20,000 ounces of goldwas a good estimate for the first few days, but they actually mined over 60,000 ounces of gold in about fourweeks!

The Cripple Creek Mining District of Colorado is still producing today. During 1997 and 1998 the CressonMine alone produced about 230,000 ounces of gold per year.

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Maria Theresa Thaler

The Maria Theresa Thaler is probably one of themost famous and well known coins of the world.Originally struck in Austria from 1740 to 1780, theThaler was the currency of the Austrian Empire. It was

very important for trade with the Levant (parts of Tur-key, Lebanon, Syria). Over time, the Maria TheresaThaler became the best known and most popular silvercoin in the Arabian world. After the death of EmpressMaria Theresa in 1780, Joseph II permitted the Austrianmint to continue strikingthe coin with the 1780dies in order to meet de-mand from the MiddleEast. The 1780 thaler wasthe only silver coin thatthe Arabs trusted andwould accept. Since then,the Maria Theresa Thalerhas been restruck fortrade purposes at Vienna,Austria with the 1780date frozen in time. Thetaler became the unoffi-cial currency in some ar-eas of Africa and Asia,and may still be in usetoday as a "trade silverdollar" in some Arabianbazaars.

Particularly on older

strikes earlier than about1850, almost each indi-vidual coin shows minordifferences. Such differences help specialists to deter-mine the origin and strike date of individual specimen. Aclose examination of more than 20 coins struck in Ven-ice between 1817 and 1833 showed that nearly all coinswere struck from different dies. Major characteristics ofcommon variants are described in the List of variants.

Various articles claim that the Maria Theresa Thaler wasre-struck with an unchanged appearance since 1780.However, this is only really true for restrikes made after

about 1850. Earlier strikes are usually relatively easy toidentify and classify. Unfortunately, the statement maycause collectors - and sometimes dealers - to believe thattheir coins might be original coins struck in 1780 orshortly thereafter. Sometimes such coins will actually besold as "original strike". In reality, most of those"originals" will be post-1850 strikes.

http://www.theresia.name/en/

Treasure Hunt

RMPTH member Paul Mayhak has put togethera local Treasure Hunt for members. Paul hashidden a target in a local location. By puttingclues together and using your treasure hunting skillsof deduction you may locate the target. The prize: a

big honkin' chunk of silver in the form of an AustrianMaria Teresa Thaler - about the size of a U.S. SilverDollar. The actual coin is similar the one picture be-low.

At each monthly club meeting Paul will release onemore clue which will close in on the hiding place anddescription of the target (target is not the coin!). Afterthe meeting the collective clues will also be publishedin the next months newsletter. But, you have to attendthe meeting to get the very latest hot clue which may

well enable you to be the winner of this fine prize.

Thanks to Paul Mayhak for donating his time andprize coin for our treasure hunting enjoyment!

Clue One: "I am hiding somewhere in a LovelandPark."

Clue Two: Come to the May Club Meeting!

Clue Three: Come to the June Club Meeting!

Good Luck!

Maria Teresa Thaler

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OLD NEWS

A COLORADO TREASURE WAGON ROBBED

The Guard Shot and a Large Sum of Money Car-

ried Away.

April 12, 1895, Wednesday

CRIPPLE CREEK, Col., April 11. -- The overland

Wells-Fargo treasure wagon from Grassy Sta-

tion, the terminus of the Midland Railroad, was

stopped by two masked men and robbed this

morning.

Golden Touch

ARussian turnip farmer who hoped to get rich bybuying a metal detector to look for hidden treas-ure dug up a hoard of gold jewelry worth morethan 1 million GBP.

But dozy Gennady Zimin, 51, from Annenkov said he

thought the trinkets were junk, and asked a pal to putthem on eBay for 50GBP.

He said: "I got the metal detector second hand. I had al-ways heard local talk of treasure around here but Iwould have been happy with some scrap metal.

"I was quite pleased with the trinkets when I found them- I just wanted to sell them and get a bit of extra cash."

"I guessed they were old, maybe even antiques, but Inever realized just how valuable they would be. Whensomeone offered me 50,000 rubles (1,000 GBP) for aquick sale I was over the moon - but then the policeturned up and seized the lot.

Local police had been called by museum curators inMoscow that had discovered the items online - and thefarmer who will get nothing has also been told he mayface charges for trying to sell the 5th century hoard.

"By law the objects are under state protection as they arepart of our archaeological heritage," said district attorneyVladim Teplyakov.

Austrian Times

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Calendar of Events

MAP TO TH E MEETING PLACE

Pul l iam Communi t y Bu i ld ing

545 Cleveland Avenue, Loveland, Colorado

Directions:The Pulliam Community Building is situated on the west side of Cleveland Avenue in Loveland,

Colorado. Park at the rear of the building (west side). Entry to the meeting room is fromthe doorway on the south side of the building (not the main entrance on Cleveland Avenue!).

RMPTH DUESRMPTH is an unincorpo-

rated Social Club withno income generated. Allexpenses are covered bydonation. Members arerequested to considerdonating a minimum of$1.00 at each monthlymeeting to cover club

expenses.

May Meet ingWednesday, March 2. We will meet at the PulliamBuilding in downtown Loveland at 7:00PM. Refer tothe adjoining map for directions.

Meeting Agenda6:00 - 7:00 Planning & Social Hour7:00 - 7:30 Business, Announcements & Find of

the Month Program7:30 - 7:45 Break7:45 - 9:00 "Crack & Crevasse Prospecting" by

Bryan Morgan.

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May 2011Sun Mon Tue W ed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4RMPTH PlanningSession 6:00PRMPTH Meeting 7:00P

5 6 7

8Mothers Day

9 10 11 12 13 14Lions Park Clinic9:00A-12:00P

15 16 17 18 19 20 21Armed Forces Day

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30Memorial Day

31

June 2011Sun Mon Tue W ed Thu Fri Sat

1RMPTH PlanningSession 6:00PRMPTH Meeting 7:00P

2 3 4Nugget ShootingClinic at Lions Park10:00A - 12:00P

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18Eldora Ski ResortDetector Outing

19Fathers Day

20 21Summer Begins

22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

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RMPTH Field Outing Statement

NOTE: The Coordinators and participants stay in touchand continue to review and plan upcoming presentationsand outings for the year on a monthly basis. Our editorRick Mattingly needs timely event information for each

issue of The News. Please get information about any par-ticular event to him by the 15th of the month to meet the

printing deadline for the next issue.

Planned trips, outings, activities, and meeting programsare in the newsletter and on line at the clubs website.

Planning is a work in progress and additional outings andactivities are added and sometimes deleted on an ongo-

ing basis. Events planned in the upcoming month areemphasized to the attendees at the monthly meetings.Contact the Presentations Coordinators or Editor if youhave any suggestions or ideas throughout the year for

fieldtrips, outings, and programs.

The best made plans may change at the last minute dueto the illness of the Trail Boss, weather, land access, ve-hicles breaking down, wrong meeting sites, etc. Please

be understanding of extenuating circumstances and con-tact the coordinator or Trail Boss of a specific event ifthere is any question of an event being cancelled or

changed at the last minute.

Clean That Coi l Cover

You should always utilize an inexpensive coil cover to pro-tect that expensive detector coil from damage. However,should your detector ever become unstable, giving false

signals, etc., suspect the coil cover. Carefully remove thecover from the coil and clean both the cover and the coil

itself. Even though coil covers provide a tight fit, over timemineralized dust can accumulate inside the coil cover andresult in false signals. Make this simple procedure a part

of your normal annual maintenance.

A Cased Daguerreotype of a 49er Holding a Gold Nugget.

In 1848, James Marshall was surveying the water course of asawmill he was building on the American River (California). Hebent down to pick up a shiny metal object which turned out to

be a gold nugget. Marshall touched off the chain of events thatwould culminate in the greatest of all western gold rushes.

Within a year, 'The 49ers' as they came to be known, by the

thousands made the mad scramble for the "New El Dorado."California gold fever spread like wildfire, luring prospective min-

ers from around the world. The California Gold Rush was on.This Daguerreotype is a remnant of 'Days of Old, Days of Gold,

Days of '49'.

This fantastic one-quarter plate daguerreotype of an unidenti-fied gold miner sitting at a table with California gold miner's

scales and holding a gold nugget is an extreme rarity. The pho-tographer tinting shows great detail of his fancy vest and tie.The photographer then tinted this huge gold nugget that theman is holding. It is believed that the contents of the jar are

fuses used in blasting at the mines. This image, even though ithas some flaking, is a very rare item. The daguerreotype has

the seal broken on verso, repaired tape hinge on case.

From The William A. Turner Collection.Estimate: $12,000 - $16,000.

Heritage AuctionsOctober, 2007

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Rare Diamond Ring

Find

14 April 2011

Rare Diamond Ring Goes To Auct ion

Arare 15th Century diamond ring found inLeicestershire has sold at auction for 42,000($72,000 US) - double its estimate.The ring, which had a guide price of 15,000 to20,000, was purchased by a private European buyerat Bonhams in London on Wednesday.

Metal detectorist John Stevens discovered the goldring in a field close to Fleckney in July 2008.

Emily Barber from Bonhams said: "It's a wonderfulfind, an unexpected one, and a great result."

Diamonds were not commonly used during the 15thCentury as craftsmen did not have the tools to cutthem.

The crystal in the ring remains the same pointedshape as it would have been found in nature.

"It's very rare to have jewels from this period come upfor auction, so when they do, they're competed over

by collectors," Ms Barber said.

Mr. Stevens said he would give half the profits to theowner of the land where the ring was found.

He is also planning a celebratory holiday and hopes tobuy new metal detectors for two of his friends whowere with him at the time of the discovery,

The ring's original owner is unknown, but Gothicscript inscribed around the outside of the loop reads:"amour mi tien" [love keep me] in Old French.

British Broadcasting CorporationNews Leichester

Photo:The outside of the ring is inscribed with the words

"amour mi tien" (love keep me).

Dead Man's Cave

In the winter of 1880 three prospectors E.J. Oliver, S. J. Harkmanand H.A. Melton were prospecting two miles north of what wouldlater become known as Dead Man Camp. As they were working, thesky threatened an oncoming blizzard and they quickly looked aboutfor shelter.

Spying a small opening in a shear rock wall across the canyon, theymade their way through the opening, lighting several crude torches.Though the passageway was narrow and less than four feet high, itopened up into a large 20-foot long room.

Shining their torches around, Oliver found the first of five skeletonsscattered around the dusty, darkcavern. While exploring the cavern, they found several tight passage-

ways extending into the gloom of the mountain.

Choosing one, they followed the tunnel deeper into the mountainuntil it too, opened up into a large vault-like chamber. Shining their

torches around, Melton noticed shelves on the western wall that hadbeen carved into the stone. Bringing his torch closer, he saw severalodd looking stones stacked on one of the shelves and picking oneup, he was surprised at its heavy weight. When he and his partnersscrutinized it more carefully, they were astounded to discover thatthe stone was actually a crude bar of gold!

After the threat of snow had passed, the three excited men gatheredup five of the bars and headed over the pass to Silvercliff, in the WetMountain Valley. Immediately, they had the bars assayed, whichproved to be worth $900 apiece.

Becoming instant celebrities in Silver Cliff, the men were questionedby all whom they encountered about the source of the gold bars, butall three men steadfastly refused to divulge the location, makingplans to return to Dead Man's Cave in the spring.

In the early spring, they made their way back to Dead Man Cave.They thought the cave would be easy to find again but when theyreturned, there were many places that looked like the area in whichthe cave had been found. Over the years, they frequently returned tothe area but they never againfound the cave.

The story of these three prospectors was reported in both The Fair-play Flume and The Denver Post in 1880. To this day, the gold hasnever been found.

Legends of Americahttp://www.legendsofamerica.com

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Tools And Their Uses

DRILL PRESS:

A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flatmetal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks youin the chest and flings your beer across the room, dent-

ing the freshly-painted project which you had carefullyset in the corner where nothing could get to it.

WIRE WHEEL:

Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhereunder the workbench with the speed of light. Also re-moves fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fin-gers in about the time it takes you to say, "Oh, sh--!"

SKILL SAW:

A portable cutting tool used to makestuds too short.

PLIERS:Used to round off bolt heads. Some-times used in the creation of blood-blisters.

BELT SANDER:

An electric sanding tool commonlyused to convert minor touch-up jobsinto major refinishing jobs.

HACKSAW:

One of a family of cutting tools builton the Ouija board principle... It

transforms human energy into acrooked, unpredictable motion, andthe more you attempt to influenceits course, the more dismal yourfuture becomes.

VISE-GRIPS:

Generally used after pliers to completely round off boltheads. If nothing else is available, they can also be usedto transfer intense welding heat to the palm of yourhand.

OXYACETYLENE TORCH:

Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable ob-jects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting thegrease inside the wheel hub out of which you want toremove a bearing race..

TABL E SAW:

A large stationary power tool commonly used to launchwood projectiles for testing wall integrity.

HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK :

Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you

have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jackhandle firmly under the bumper.

BAND SAW:

A large stationary power saw primarily used by mostshops to cut good aluminum sheet into smaller piecesthat more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on theinside of the line instead of the outside edge.

TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST:

A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of every-thing you forgot to disconnect.

PHILL IPS SCREWDRIVER:

Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or foropening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashingoil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name im-

plies, to strip out Phillips screwheads.

STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER:

A tool for opening paint cans. Some-times used to convert common slot-ted screws into non-removablescrews and butchering your palms.

PRY BAR:

A tool used to crumple the metalsurrounding that clip or bracketyou needed to remove in order toreplace a 50 cent part.

HOSE CUTTER:

A tool used to make hoses too

short.

HAMMER:

Originally employed as a weapon ofwar, the hammer nowadays is usedas a kind of divining rod to locatethe most expensive parts adjacent

the object we are trying to hit.

UTILITY K NIFE:

Used to open and slice through the contents of card-board cartons delivered to your front door; works par-ticularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records,liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refundchecks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful forslicing work clothes, but only while in use.

SON-OF-A-BI** * TOOL:

Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the ga-rage while yelling "SON-OF-A-BI***" at the top of yourlungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you willneed.

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Gold Glossary

Alluvial Or Bench Deposits - An alluvial

deposit is an ancient river-washed rock and

gravel bar that may be thousands of feet

from the nearest stream, creek, or river.

Alluvial (or bench) deposits contain un-tapped potential for finding gold because

such areas have never been worked before.

Symbol: AUAtomic Number: 79

Atomic Weight: 196.967

Melting Point: 1063 (1945 F)Specific Gravity: 19.2

MOHs Scale of Hardness:2.5 - 3

Karat

24K = 100% Pure Gold18K = 75% Pure Gold14K = 58% Pure Gold10K = 42% Pure Gold

Troy Weights

1 grain = 0.0648 grams24 grains = 1 penny

weight (DWT) = 1.552 grams20 DWT = 1 ounce =

480 grains = 31.10 grams

Gold Fac t s

YOURADVERTISEMENTCOULD BE HERE!Call Rick Mattinglyat 970-613-8968or [email protected]

Bench Placers

Bench placers are usually remnants of deposits formed duringan earlier stage of stream development and left behind as thestream cuts downward. The abandoned segments, particularlythose on the hillsides, are commonly referred to as "Bench" grav-els. Frequently there are two or more sets of benches in whichcase the miners refer to them as "high" benches and "low"

benches. In California and elsewhere, most bench deposits werequickly found by the early miners who proceeded to work thericher bedrock streaks by primitive forms of underground min-ing. At the time these were referred to as "hill diggings." Follow-ing the development of hydraulic mining in the 1850s, many ofthe larger bench deposits were worked by hydraulics and thesmaller ones by ground sluicing. During the depression years,much of the so-called "sniper" mining was carried out on theremnants of bench gravels.

100 Ounce Nugget Found

The nugget that got away from the California 49ers. This video (link below)shows a 100 ounce nugget that was recently discovered in California. Thestuff dreams are made of! Named the Washington Nugget because thenugget was discovered near the famous northern Mother Lode Gold Rush

mining camp of Washington, California. This nearly 100 ounce monster goldnugget (and several others) were found in an unmined section of the Omega-Malakoff Tertiary Channel in February 2010, by a lucky area land-owner.

http://geology.com/news/2011/giant-gold-nugget-the-100-ounce-washington-nugget.shtml

If your curiosity is peaked, take a look at how much this nugget went forat auction.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/03/17/california.nugget.auction/index.html?hpt=T2

The Geology of GoldA collection of articles on the geology, mining, prospecting and history of

gold.

http://geology.com/gold/

GPOC Quill April 2011

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All mistakes and

misspellings wereintentionally made so

that you could have thepleasure of finding them.

Trading Post

About Trading Post

The News runs classified ads in Trading Postfor three consecutive issues. Trading Post ads

for topic related items up to 10 lines (or 70

words) long are free. To place an ad in TradingPost contact Rick Mattingly at (970) 613-8968evenings

or e-mail at: [email protected]

Commerc ia l Adver t is ing

Spec i f ica t ions

(Monthly Donat ion Rate)

Full Page (8 1/2" X 7") $30Half Page (3 1/4" X 7") $20One Third Page (3" X 4") $15Business Card (2 3/4" X 1 1/2") $ 5

Ads must be received by the 15th of thepreceding month. Contact Rick Mattingly for in-

formation on this service at(970) 613-6968 evenings or e-mail at:

[email protected].

FOR SALE: MINELAB SD 2200 Detector: 10-1/2"Mono Super Coil; 10-1/2" SD-Series Super Coil; TwoBatteries w/Wall Charger; Headphones; Battery Back-pack; Waist Battery Pack; Signal Enhancer; ExtraLower Stem; Backpack Carry Case; Video. $2,100.Call Paul at (970) 482-7846.

FOR SALE: Keene High Banker, includes stand, hoseand 5 HP Briggs and Stratton pump. Great condition,$900.00 or Best Offer. Contact Cindy Bone at (970)669-8247.

FOR SALE: Prospecting equipment: 4" Dredge andmore plus Whites VSAT Gold Detector. ContactHomer at (970) 224-4244

FOR SALE: Two CoilTec coils for MineLab GP or SDSeries: 14" Round Mono, $150.00. 5" x 10" JoeyMono, $75.00. Like New. Plus Shipping. Call (307)886-3937 or Cell (307) 654-1432.

WANTED: Federal or state duck stamps; mint orused. Contact John Hart at (307) 778-3993.

FOR SALE: Garret Treasure Ace 300 Detector.- $225OBO. Contact Roger at (970) 622-0821.

NOTE:Purchase arrangements are between the buyer and

seller only and involves no financial benefit to RMPTH.

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Gold Panning &

Placering in Coloradoa Book Review by Rick Mattingly

I

f you are at all interested in gold prospecting in Colo-rado you simply must get your hands on a copy of

this publication from the Colorado Geological Survey.The full title of this publication (at 83 pages I would callit a book!) is Information Series 33, Gold Panning andPlacering in Colorado, How and Where by Dr. Ben H.Parker, Jr., published in 1992.

In the Forward of this publication it is explained thatdue to the numerous inquiries to the State regarding thissubject it was decided that a short booklet should beprepared. The Colorado Geological Survey contractedwith Dr. Parker to accomplish this task and in the proc-ess the booklet grew into a book. A masterpiece of in-formation on gold occurrences and the gold mining his-tory of this state.

Dr. Parker explains the geology of gold placers in Colo-rado and, along the way, provides complete instructionson panning and sluicing including excellent photographs.He also provides very detailed instructions and plans forconstructing various sluice boxes and rockers.

The book goes on to describe every area of major goldoccurrence in the state complete with detailed maps andhistory of each area. In each instance he also providesvery precise recommendations as to the best locationwithin each area in which to prospect for gold today.Short of someone guiding you by the hand this is thenext best thing!

The history of these mining areas is really fascinating

and the book is chock full of historic photographs ofminers and mining equipment in action. The photos ofsome of the old dredges and hydraulic equipment atwork are amazing. In most cases Dr. Parker has alsocited from mining record the documented amount ofgold extracted from these locations from 1862 forwardin dollars, ounces and parts per volume.

All in all, this is one fascinating book. If gold strikes yourfancy you must see this thing! To order your very owncopy contact the Colorado Geological Survey at:

Colorado Geological SurveyDepartment of Natural Resources1313 Sherman Street, Room 715

Denver, Colorado 80203Ph: (303) 866-2611

Now thats tax dollars well spent!

Reprinted from the Premier Issue of The News, July,1996. For the benefit of all our newer members, thispublication is a treasure trove of information regardingrecovery of gold in Colorado and is a must have foryour library.

WEEKEND & SMALL-SCALEMINERS CODE OF ETHICS

I WILLrespect other prospectors claims and not workthose claims without the owners permission

I WILL have on-site all necessary permits and licenses

I WILLbuild fires in designated or safe places only, andin accordance with current State and Federal guidelines

I WILLbe careful with fuels and motor oils and be cog-nizant of their potential destructive effect on the envi-ronment

I WILL remove and properly dispose of all trash anddebris that I find -I will not litter

I WILL be thoughtful, considerate and courteous tothose around me at all time

I WILL appreciate and protect our heritage of naturalresources, wildlife, fisheries and private property, andrespect all laws or ordinances governing prospectingand mining

I WILL NOTremove stream bank material, destroynatural vegetation or woody debris dams, nor dischargeexcess silt into the waterways

I WILL NOT refuel motorized equipment in the stream

I WILL NOT allow oil from motorized

equipment to drip onto the ground or into the water

I WILL NOTprospect in areas closed to prospectingand mining

Offer Your Assistance To AnyOf Our Program Coordinators

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Month Meeting Program Trip/Activity

January Club Business and Open Forum No Trip/Activity Scheduled

FebruaryLove Token Coin Presentation

By Rick MattinglyNo Trip/Activity Scheduled

March

Update on Mining Laws, Permits andLand Access for the 2011 ProspectingSeason, What the Future Looks Like.

By Ben Higley, President,Gold Prospectors of Colorado

GPS, Compass & Map Clinic

AprilGold and Platinum in Wyoming

By Wayne Sutherland, WGSClear Creek Gold Panning

MayCrack & Crevasse Prospecting

By Bryan Morgan

Lets Go Gold Panning On The Arkansas EventProspecting, Detecting & More Clinic at Lions Park -

Advertised and Open to the Public

JuneGold Nugget Shooting Presentation

By Rick MattinglyNugget Shooting Clinic at Lions Park

Eldora Ski Resort Detector Outing

JulyGold Refining Presentation

By David Emslie

Manhattan Ghost Town Detector Outing

Gold Nugget Shooting Outing

AugustDetecting Presentation

By Tom WarneAmes Monument, Vedauwoo & Wyoming State Museum

Tour

SeptemberMeteorite PresentationBy Dr. Robert Brownlee

Annual Coin & Prize HuntColorado Mineral & Fossil ShowDenver

Lucite Hills Wyoming Gem Outing

OctoberBottle Hunting Presentation

By Rick MattinglyOff-Road Detector & Cache Hunt

NovemberAnnual Show & Tell &

Silent AuctionLocal Detector Outing

DecemberAnnual Find of the Year Awards &

Christmas PartyFlatirons Mineral Club & Model Train Show

Good Hunting in 2011!

Rocky Mountain Prospectors and Treasure Hunters Club2011 Schedule of Events

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Rocky MountainProspectors & Treasure Hunters

Contact ListRMPTH Coordinators Home E-Mail

Coordinator Paul Lange 1-970-663-5776 [email protected]

Coordinator Robert Crain 1-970-484-6488

Coordinator Bryan Morgan 1-970-416-0608 [email protected]

Coordinator Rick Mattingly 1-970-613-8968 [email protected]

The News Staff

Editor-in-Chief Rick Mattingly 1-970-613-8968 [email protected]

Assistant Editor Dick French 1-970-482-2110 [email protected]

Internet Web Site

Web Master Rick Mattingly 1-970-613-8968 [email protected]

Volunteers/Coordinators

Find of the MonthJoe JohnstonBetsy EmondPaul Mayhak

1-303-696-69501-970-218-02901-970-482-7846

[email protected]

[email protected]

PresentationsPaul LangeJohnny Berndsen

1-970-663-57761-970-667-1006

[email protected]

Club Historian Peggy Stumpf 1-307-632-9945 [email protected]

Club Librarian Joe Johnston 1-303-696-6950 [email protected]

Panning DemosBryan MorganDarrell Koleber

1-970-416-06081-970-669-2599

[email protected]@yahoo.com

Setup &Refreshments

Volunteer Needed!

Door PrizeTom WarneJacob WoottonJohnny Berndsen

1-970-635-07731-970-980-60161-970-667-1006

[email protected]@yahoo.com

General Information Contact: Paul Lange at 1-970-663-5776

Visit RMPTH on the Internet at: http://rmpth.com

Lets Go For The Gold !

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The NewsRocky Mountain Prospectors &Treasure Hunters Club

P.O. Box 271863Fort Collins, CO. 80527-1863

MAY, 2011 ISSUE

RMPTH0511

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