FIRST CLASS MINERS INC.

Transcription

1 FIRST CLASS MINERS INC. Newsletter A 501C(3) Non-Profit Educational Corporation. Dedicated to the advancement of education in placer gold prospecting and mining. GOLD GUARANTEED *ELBOW GREASE REQUIRED* March Area Code is 760 for All OFFICERS President / CEO Steve Scamman president@firstclassminers.org Vice President Cathy Brandon cbrandon1971@yahoo.com Secretary Donna Templeton dtempleton48131@roadrunner.com FCM Annual Middlecamp Campout Treasurer / CFO Tom Wolfe wolfe_92252@ yahoo.com Sgt. At Arms Steve MacMillan stevnsher@juno.com Claims Director Sandy Mayor smayor1@dc.rr.com Call & Safety Com. Richard Crummet safety@firstclassminers.org Travel Committee Greg Herring gregherring59@gmail.com Newsletter Editor Jon Carlson carlsonjon@roadrunner.com Membership Coordinator Greg Herring gregherring59@gmail.com All Area Codes are 760 Daniel shown with his Tesoro Lobo Metal detector at the Middle Camp Campout. Using his detector Daniel found the two nuggets shown in the inset at the lower left corner of the photo. A number of FCM members found nuggets and other treasures during the campout. To view an 8 minute video of the campout please click on the below link:

2 President s Column By Steve Scamman It s been a great time to be a gold miner the past few months. The weather has been perfect and the ground is dry. This year I ve been able to get out more than I have in the past and it s become addictive. The best part is that I ve run into several members while out in the Dale. Everyone has their own method, idea, and process, that makes it interesting to see what others are doing and the resulting color. I had a nice little spot that I worked for a bit and then it seemed to peter out. Fact is, I was moving away from the gold and not into it. I readjusted my diggings and it put me right back into it. Doesn t make sense why the gold is where it is but who am I to argue with nature? I m itching to get back out there. February marked our annual club outing to Middle Camp. Again, the weather was absolutely perfect. With school out on Friday and no sports events, Taylor and I were able to head out on Friday. There were a few people already setup but it was nice to get their early. I never saw so much dirt fly on Saturday. Drywashers and vacuums were humming all day and everyone seemed to be finding color and enjoying themselves. Several other members headed to the hills with metal detectors. Several members also went on an ATV tour to some of the old mines in the area. A huge thanks to Jon and Syndi for taking my daughter Taylor with them. She had a blast riding her quad with the big kids and it made me feel less guilty about having my nose in the dirt all weekend. Only the waning daylight made us start wrapping things up. We had our big bonfire and the potluck. The chow was fantastic and the good conversation even better. The night sky and full moon made for simply perfect camping conditions. Ok, I m not that bad of a dad. Sunday morning Taylor and I took the ATV down the wash to the National Park boundary and hiked in to the stone cabin. We hiked another couple of miles down the wash and took in the open valley and the solitude of the area. Getting back to camp I rushed over to my diggins to eke out a few more buckets before having to begin the packup. Many members left on Sunday but a few hard core miners were still there when we left around 2pm. Middle Camp is simply an awesome place to be. No city lights, no noise, clean air, good color, and evidence of the rich mining history of the area, makes Middle Camp a unique experience that every member should experience. The slide show of the c ampout is viewable at: The next general membership meeting is at Jim Wharff s home in 29 Palms on SUNDAY, Mar 16 th, at 1:pm. Directions and map will be posted on the web as the date nears. Bring some good chow for the potluck, a chair, and something to drink as we get together and plot our April event in the Ord mountains. John and Josh will cook us up some grub and we ll raffle some good looking gold, gear, and the 50/50. Come out and support your club. Steve Scamman President, First Class Miners, Inc. president@firstclassminers.org

3 WELCOME: FIRST CLASS MINERS, INC. a 501 c(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to the education of placer mining GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES Date: Saturday, January 11, 2014 Time: 1:00 Location: Steve Scamman s Home 29 Palms, CA Steve Scamman opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and recognizing the cooks, Josh and John, for always doing a great job with our food. OFFICER REPORTS: President Steve Scamman introduced the committee for their reports. Vice President Cathy Brandon had nothing to report. Secretary Donna Templeton had nothing to report. Treasure Tom Wolfe reported that we continue to have a balanced account after paying bills. Sgt. of Arms Steve McMillan said he had nothing new to report. Claims Director - Sandy Mayor was not present. Newsletter Jon Carlson had nothing to report, but Steve mentioned that we won t put anything in the newsletter showing someone climbing down a mine shaft. The FCM does not condone entering mine shafts due to their dangers he said and FCM promotes safety first Be Smart! He also said we need to trim down how many newsletters we mail out because it s so costly. So if you have a computer, you can get it through the Internet or . Let Steve or Greg know which way would want to receive it. Membership Greg Herring said we have approximately 163 members with 10 applications pending. He also reported that he and several others went out to Middle Camp last weekend and found a 5 gram nugget! Travel Steve Scamman said we really need more people submitting travel articles and he doesn t want to continue to send any. He asked that if you send your article to him, let him know if you have also sent it to Jon, otherwise Steve doesn t know if Jon got it. Web Master & Safety Richard Crummett reiterated that if you have something on the website and sell it, please let him know so he can take it off. He reminded everyone that if you go out to one of our claims, remember to take plenty of water, toilet tissue and a spare tire. Rich said if any of the new members want to go out to a claim, let him know and he will take you out. It s never suggested that you go out on your own, but if you do, Rich said to let him know where you re going, when, and what time you plan to return. That way, if you don t show up back at home, he knows to go looking for you! It was suggested we have a blog on our website so anyone going out to a claim can ask others to go with them. Rich said that it has never worked in the past and instead Jon suggested you go to the FCM Facebook page and put your notice in there. Librarian Charlotte Crisp reminded everyone that she has lots of books you can check out.

4 General Store Collette has new items now: hats, tumblers, hoodies, etc. If you want anything embroidered, let her know as it has to be ordered through her. It s $15 for the embroidery over the cost of the item. OLD BUSINESS: Steve said the Humbug campout had a good turn-out. He said you can go to our website and look at all the pictures that were taken. Steve also reported that our Christmas party was a huge success with 96 people attending. He wants to find a different venue for this December and is asking anyone who might know of a place to make him aware so he can check it out. Cathy spoke up and said we need more ideas from members on what to do this year. Steve agreed and is happy to change the whole format or keep it the same. He said it s the members party and he ll go along with whatever the members want. Steve also said we donated $ to the 29 Palms Hi School Interact Club. He presented the check to Lorie Cosgriff. She works at the Hi School and oversees the Interact Club. She brought a student with her to our meeting and introduced him as James. NEW BUSINESS: Steve said there ll be an orientation tour to Middle Camp February 8th. Everyone should be expected to spend the day so bring food, water and all your prospecting equipment. They will meet at 0800 at Monument Headquarters. You might have to pay to go through the Park. Dave says a 2-wheel drive will make it out there. Greg said he wants someone to take over as tour guide and Richard volunteered. He said he would do Middle Camp and Rattlesnake Canyon next year. Greg said they have graded the first 6 miles of Middle Camp road, so it should be a bit better driving on it. He said to be sure to bring a spare tire though. Steve mentioned that President s Day Middle Camp Out is Feb and to bring plenty of clean fire wood for a bonfire, no nails! He said you might have to pay to go through the Park so be prepared. Tom said he has a tent trailer he will loan out if anyone wants to use it. We will have a bonfire on Saturday night and a pot-luck. You have to remove your batteries from you metal detectors before going through the Park, so make sure you disassemble them first. Next General Membership Meeting: The next FCM meeting will be at Jim Wharf s in 29 Palms Sunday March 16th at 1:00 pm. Bring a chair, drink, and pot luck dish to share. Tom Koch will have part of his mobile museum there also. Open Mic/Round Table: Jim Wharf said he is teaching a mining class at CMC starting March 1 st and running through April 5 th (a 6 week course on Saturdays). It is sanctioned by the college and cost $60 to register. You must register through the college though, not through Jim. He said the first day is in the classroom, but all others are in the field. You get to keep whatever gold you find. Charlotte Crisp said she wants a dream library someday. Some friends of hers gave her a laptop for her birthday and she hopes to put all her books on the Internet for all to read. Jon Carlson mentioned he is still trying to sell Jerry Burnett s dry washer for him. He was asking $300, but will sell for $150. He also has a trammel for $30 and 3 classifiers. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully Submitted by: Donna Templeton, Secretary, FCM

5 Prospecting in Morongo Valley by Geoff Trabits Having heard of lost Spanish mines around Morongo Valley, I could not wait to get out and prospect the BLM lands behind our house. A short introduction, I am Geoff Trabits. I have been in the mining industry for over 25 years now and prospecting is in the blood. My neighbor is also into prospecting and he needs no introduction! Steve Anthony is a lifelong miner and prospector. I doubt anybody in the club does not know of Steve and his local knowledge. Back to prospecting Morongo Valley, I found an old Indian trail/miners trail. Ascending up to the saddle I found an old prospect. Going down the hill to the location it was evident that a hydrothermal deposit rich in copper was present. I grabbed some samples and headed home very excited. I took the samples over to Steve s house and had to go out for a dinner meeting. Steve and I have a jaw crusher and roller that I used to process Zeolite for cementing tests. Steve crushed the material and panned the concentrates form his sluice. I heard nothing that night from Steve. The next morning Steve came over and I expected bad news. Guess what, GOLD! The sample produced fine gold, we have a gold deposit! Steve, my two daughters and I headed up the ridge to grab some more samples. Steve worked on a quartz vein while I worked on a small contact that had some major copper staining. Thoughts of gemstones were in my head! We took the family dog, Hazel. Hazel thinks she is a mountain goat. She scrambled up the face Steve and I were working on and dislodged a fist sized rock that found Steve s cheek. That was a nasty gouge, I joked it added more character. Kidding aside, this was a real wakeup call! This could have been fatal if one was prospecting alone and was injured and could not get help. Please be careful. Once home and after a few days healing time Steve ran the crusher on his quartz and found a nice gold nugget coated in mercury. My finds yielded no gold, but a lot of gemmy looking crystalline pieces. Very impressive under my microscope. We made some more trips up to the prospect and even found some more intrusive copper outcroppings. I have some samples out to be assayed, I should find something out soon. My Dad, came down just before Christmas to thaw out, he lives in Alaska. We checked out the prospect together. He said it is very likely a U308 prospect. Steve checked this out in his vast geological library. Sure enough there was active uranium mining in the Morongo Mining District. This explains the high radiation readings in the local water district s water. Just in the first week of 2014 we discovered more copper stained float in more drainages! More stories to come. Be safe and have a GREAT PROSPECTING YEAR!!

6 Geoff s photos from his Morongo Prospect Jeff s daughters at work Steve Prospecting The Ore Vein

7 Borrego Bad Lands By Greg Herring Howdy FCMers! Well, I got back on the road and now you get to hear about it. Lucky You! In January,Jim Wharff and I took a trip with 300 other guys (yes, guys only) to the Badlands of Borrego. This trip was with one of the other groups I belong to, The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus (Clampers for short), an all male fraternal historical society. (Hey Guys, if you need to get away from the Lady for a weekend, join me. It s great! Ladies, if you need to get rid of your Guy for the weekend, force him to go with me.) Clampers originated in the mid 1800 s and was quite prevalent amongst the mining camps in the west and you thought I could not connect the FCM with Clampers. Almost every miner and all those in mining towns that had business with miners were clampers; if you weren t you didn t do business there (fact). Clampers took care of the widows and orphans of the fallen miners, a noble cause. Clampers were also known to be drinkers (say it ain t so!). Well, in the early 1900 s Clamperdom all but died out, but then in 1933 it was revived as a historical society and today it has 41 chapters and about 50,000 members. Why have you never heard of it? It is a secret society much like the Masons. As a matter of fact it started as a spoof on the Masons by a gentlemen that the Mason didn t allow to join their secret organization. So he started his own and it s a hoot! Anyway, I took Jim as a guest and I think he ll be joining at our next event in May. Anyone else interested? Oh yeah, we put up historical monuments all over the west. I know you have seen them: there is one in Pioneertown in front of the post office, and one at New Dale honoring the Baby born there, and one at Warren s Well, the Integratron, the Oasis of Mara, and other locations in our local hi-desert community alone. Ok, enough on why I went to Borrego Springs. During our weekend down there we toured the off road area known as the Borrego Badlands, a beautifully sculpted landscape of mud hills, with several oasis and miles of dusty trails. It is a must see. Check out the video at We also toured some interested metal sculptures done by a local artist. Dozens of these huge sculptures are scattered throughout the Borrego Springs desert, from eagles, to dinosaurs, saber tooth tigers, and prehistoric horses and more. Now, while on our adventure we learned of Peg Leg Smith, prospector and so much more who came to the area for a while. It is said he found a butte with these black stones that were very heavy. He picked up a few, curious, and on a trip to LA he discovered that they were nearly pure gold, black gold, but not Texas Tea. No one knows exactly what the gold was covered with but for any of you that have found gold at our Middle Camp claims it too has a lot of black around it. Is it a black stone of some type, iron stained quartz or.???? Who knows? Peg Leg Smith was a "mountain man, prospector, and spinner of tall tales," who lived from 1801 to A born Kentuckian who staggered West and never returned, Smith claimed he found pure gold nuggets in the Borrego Springs area. Peg Leg would tell anyone who'd listen about the "fabulous wealth" hidden in the hills. It was hidden because Peg Leg couldn't exactly remember where the mine was...but perhaps it never really existed. He sold, many times over, the rights to his claim(s). His lies were so well known that Borrego Springs has a Peg Leg Smith Liars Day in April. Many a fool hearty prospector have tried to find the lost Peg Leg Mine but it is still a mystery even today, should you chose to believe that it really exists at all. So whether you are inclined to venture about 2.5 hours south to the Borrego Springs area to see the Badlands or look for Peg leg s Mine, you ll want to do it before it gets too hot. At only 580 ft above sea level, it ll get darn hot down there sooner than you think. Happy Hunting Miners! (See the next page for some of my photos) Greg Herring

8 Greg s Photos from Borrego Trip Jim Wharff about to be Eagle s Prey Sabertooth Tiger attacking a Horse The View from Lookout Point in Borrego Springs

9 PROSPECTIVE PROSPECTOR (Jim s new watch) by Will Fowler I needed a little fresh air and just wanted to get out and see what was going on around this Hi- Desert town. So, I went to the gold mining, Gem and Mineral Show in Joshua Tree, California. It was there, I walked into a conversation between a recreational mining teacher and a crusty fellow who dressed more like a gold miner then the gold miners who were showing the kids how to pan for gold.that means everyone looked like a miner except me. We will call the teacher Jim ( Wharff ) and the other fellow, well let's try George. If you are looking to pay off your home by finding gold then forget it, said teacher Jim. (Who was pushing his class at Copper Mountain) Yes, I understand. But you know, I am feeling real lucky, said George as he smiled. We meet every Saturday for the next 10 weeks, we don't meet on Thanksgiving. Why not? asked George. What are you talking about, everybody is with their families. Well can we meet after the kids have their egg hunt? That's Easter George. We going to meet then? We will meet at the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park next Saturday and drive out to the claim. Do you have a 4 wheel drive car or truck? Jim said in a loud voice, so other onlookers could hear him. Well, not exactly, I mean I don't know if the city bus has four wheel drive or not. Then you will have to ask someone who does have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, to give you a ride. Do you have any tools? Jim's voice seemed to go up an octave. Some, said George. I have a bucket. Jim looked at me and smiled, in frustration. Well, I have to get some lunch now George. No sooner did he say that, when another club member walked up and said to our gathering, The grill is not getting hot enough, it takes 45 minutes to get a burger cooked right. You can't hurry a cook when he wants to get that burger just right, not up here where BBQ is important. Great said Jim, although, I could tell he wasn't thinking great, in the way he said it. Look George, if you are going to be a prospector you have to trade the truck ride, and borrowed tools for hard work! George looked up at the map. Where do we meet? I believe I mentioned the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. It's off the 62. You said that, but where is it, on the map? George looked confused as he pointed to the map he spotted hanging under the Pop-up behind Jim. Jim did not turn around, he knew the map was there, George, prospecting demands hard work, Are you prepared to do the digging and dry washing it will take to get the black sand you will need to wet pan for gold? George looked up at Jim and said, I can't lift too much, I have a bad back, but ever since I saw that gold mining show on TV, you know the one, well I knew it was for me. George", Jim said, " If hard work is something else you can not do, then what do you expect to do, to be a part of this club, asked Jim. Just Watch.

10 Adventures at Middle Camp (before the Camp Out) By David Buehn On January 24 th, Sheila and I arrived early at Middle Camp, set up the dry washer on the rim of the hole that was just above the bottom of the wash and commenced busting up the caliche on the south side of the hole. This plaster like material is hard to bust up, as it s soft and absorbs the pick blows, versus bedrock which is hard and comes apart easily when a crack is hit. After we processed about 2 buckets of dirt.we did a cleanout and test-pan. Right away we found a nice picker, which turned out later to be our biggest find of the day. After an entire morning of digging, we found a few more pieces but nothing as big as that first find. Interestingly, there is not a lot of black sand in the clean-outs which is surprising. However, the soil is not highly mineralized, which makes it nice for the detectorists During lunch, new members Frank & Sam arrived. He mentioned that he had one of the new Garrett ATX pulse induction detectors that has a built-in dual coil system (small and large). Both coils are working at the same time so the operator doesn t have to switch back and forth re-tuning it. Since they d never been to middle camp, we gave them a mini-tour. By 2pm Mike, Ryan and Mark had arrived. It was neat to see a familiar face, and we had to catch up on old times. Ryan & Mark hadn t been out to Middle Camp, since the first time we d met at the big hole. The guys spent the night, apparently having a great story-telling time around the fire. Though we spent the next day out there working hard in our hole, it was a disappointing day for gold. The Gang of Prospectors on Jan 24 th

11 Adventures Page 2 Feb. 8 th was the orientation tour of the FCM s MiddleCamp. Greg & Susan did some road repair before showing up with Kent & Sharon. Later in the day, a 15 truck caravan that had come from Joshua Tree showed up led by Richard, the club s Safety Officer. There were 30+ people, almost all of them interested in what Sheila and I were doing. We shared a few stories of where to dig at Middle Camp and showed them some of the gold we d mined here. Quite a few didn t bring any gear.and just watched. Some brought detectors.and set off for various areas. By the end of the day, we got some really nice chunky gold. One of the new prospects wandered off on his own and told no one where he was going. Richard did not want to leave until he was found. When he finally showed up, we all reminded him a club rule: always let someone know where you are going and when you will return. Or use the buddy system. It was a great orientation. More Photos:

12 FIRST CLASS MINERS, INC CALENDAR OF EVENTS (We try to avoid any changes, but please note that these dates are subject to revision if the need arises please read your current newsletter for the latest version) Mar 16, 2014 (Sun) GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING: 1:00 p.m. at Jim Wharff s house in 29 Palms. Nominations for Vice-President and Secretary will be held at this meeting. FCM to furnish hamburgers/hot dogs. Don t forget your chair, drinks, and potluck item. Tom Koch will have his great mobile museum of old mining artifacts for all to see. (See Map to Meeting on Last Page) Apr 19 & 20, 2014 (Sat/Sun) SPECIAL EVENT: GPAA Gold Show in Las Vegas. Make hotel reservations early as this is one of the largest Gold Shows and is usually very well attended It will be held at the South Point Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Call GPAA headquarters at for more details. Apr 25-27, 2014 (Fri, Sat, Sun) CAMPOUT AT THE ORD MOUNTAINS. Two new claims here for our prospecting pleasure. This is the one FCM campout where you can bring any type of trailer or motor home you want. This is remote camping like our other claims so no hookups. Come and join us at the bon fire each night, pot luck on Saturday, and the annual FCM Treasure Hunt put together by Cathy and Eddie Brandon team once again! May 17, 2014 (Sat) GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING: 1:00 pm at Cathy and Eddie Brandon s house in Yucca Valley. Voting will take place for Vice-President and Secretary so be sure to attend this important meeting. FCM to provide hamburgers/hot dogs. Please bring your chair, drinks, and potluck item. May 24, 2014 (Sat) FCM GOLD PANNING BOOTH AT GRUBSTAKES DAYS - Yucca Valley FCM will be manning a gold panning booth at this important event. Need volunteers to help setup and run the booth in 3-4 hour shifts. Contact President Steve Scamman to volunteer. There will be sign up rosters at the May meeting, June 7, 2014 (Sat) TOUR OF RATTLESNAKE CANYON CLAIM 8:00 am Join us as Greg Herring provides his annual tour of our Rattlesnake Canyon claims). Familiarize yourself with Burns Canyon and the surrounding areas. Meet at Pappy & Harriett s Pioneertown Palace (restaurant) in Pioneertown to caravan together. This will be an all day event. 4x4 highly recommended. Bring lunch, water and a good spare tire. There will be some time for prospecting too. June 20-22, 2014 (Fri, Sat, Sun) - CAMPOUT AT RATTLESNAKE CANYON Beautiful area in the mountains at 5600 ft elevation. Cool nights (50 s) and nice days (80 s). Great place to camp with other FCM members and metal detect or dry wash on our two claims. Very popular campout. July 13, 2014 (Sun) GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING: 1030AM (note early time!) at Philip Bonafede s house in Joshua Tree Don t forget your chair, drinks and your potluck item. FCM to provide hamburgers and hotdogs for members. See you there! Sept 20, 2014 (Sat) GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING: 11:00 AM (NOTE EARLIER TIME) at Greg Herring s house in Pioneertown. Bring your chair, drinks, and potluck item. FCM to provide hamburgers and hotdogs

13 Map To: March 16, 2014 (Sun) GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING: 1:00 pm at Jim Wharff s house in 29 Palms

14 to the Newsletter from Midge on the Middlecamp Campout