Yep, we did it. Found this lovely placer mine, 40 stunningly beautiful acres, with a private driveway from Highway 49 right onto the property — most mines don’t have that.
Here’s the private driveway onto the claim…
Here’s some gold gotten out by the previous owner.
Once in a while, you’ll get that rare nugget.
Hopefully, all will go well with the transaction. Total investment into the property will depend on what we do with it. Here’s what the seller has to say about it:
APPROXIMATE BORDERS NEAR ‘LINCOLN CREEK’ ON CALIFORNIAS’ GOLD-FAMOUS HIGHWAY 49..
THE CLAIM IS GORGEOUS AS IS THE REGION ALONG THE YUBA RIVER HERE..THERE ARE AT LEAST 3 USFS CAMPGROUNDS NEARBY (WITHIN 3 MILES) AND SEVERAL PRIVATE CAMPGROUNDS NEAR HERE. THERE IS A SMALL STORE AT ”BASSETTS”, CA FOR MOST BASIC SUPPLIES JUST A COUPLE OF MILES AWAY AS WELL..
THERE MAY BE OLD LODE MINES NEAR HERE, OR ON THE CLAIM. YOU CAN BENEFIT FROM THE TAILINGS PILES LEFT BEHIND BY OUR PIONEER MINERS: BACK WHEN GOLD ONLY BROUGHT UNDER $20 PER CLEAN OUNCE, MUCH VERY GOOD ORE WOULD BE LEFT BEHIND OR USED AS FILL/ROAD PAVEMENT BY THE EARLY MINERS WHO HAD TO DECIDE TO TRANSPORT (BY MULE OR HORSE-DRAWN WAGONS, MOSTLY), ONLY THE VERY HIGHEST-GRADE ORE. NOWADAYS, AT OVER $1300.00 PER OUNCE, MUCH OF THE LEFT-BEHIND ”TAILINGS” ARE NOW VERY MUCH WORTH INVESTIGATING AND ARE QUITE RICH..ALSO, SEARCH FOR COLLECTABLE ITEMS LEFT BEHIND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO, LIKE PATENT MEDICINE BOTTLES AND EARLY (AND SOMETIMES QUITE INTERESTING) TOOLS..
THERE’S A VERY HIGH INCIDENCE OF GOLD RECOVERY HERE IN THE YUBA RIVER: YOU WON’T FIND ANYTHING IF YOU DON’T SADDLE UP & GO, MAY AS WELL GET THOSE NUGEETS AND GOLDEN MEMORIES INTO YOUR POCKETS. GOLD IS STILL SKY-HIGH RIGHT NOW: LAST TIME I LOOKED, THE PRICE OF GOLD WAS ACTUALLY HIGHER THAN PLATINUM!! (I CANNOT REMEMBER EVER SEEING THAT BEFORE..) DIG, SLUICE, DIG SOME MORE – BEDROCK IS THE WORD, PICK SPOTS WHERE THE WATER MIGHT HAVE SLOWED A BIT DURING SPRINGTIME HIGH WATERFLOW AND WHERE BEDROCK ISN’T TOO DEEP – GET DOWN TO THE ROCK & DON’T FORGET TO CREVICE!! YOU’LL BEGIN TO NOTICE TRENDS, HIT STREAKS & PRETTY SOON YOU’LL GET THE HANG OF IT & YOU’LL NOT WASTE TIME IN DRY HOLES ANYMORE..IT’S UP TO YOU HOW MUCH TIME YOU WANT TO INVEST IN THE MINE, BUT AS A RULE: THE MORE YOU WORK IT, THE BETTER YOUR SKILLS AND THE MORE GOLD YOU ARE GOING TO RECOVER TO PAY FOR THE CLAIM, THE GAS & SUPPLIES, THE TOOLS & EQUIPMENT. BUT THE EXCITEMENT OF FINDING REAL, CHUNKY GOLD ON YOUR VERY OWN MINING CLAIM CANNOT EASILY BE DESCRIBED: AKIN TO CATCHING A REALLY BIG FISH, EVERY NUGGET – BIG OR SMALL – THAT YOU RECOVER IN YOUR PROSPECTING IS…MONEY IN YOUR POCKETS!
So, that’s the story. Get ready to pack up and high-tail it out here. You can camp there while you’re gold-hunting, and the river runs all year long. There are many old mines to be found, and it’s a whalloping 40 acres of beautiful land, lots of campground, great for all of our workshops and wilderness retreats, eh?
We’ll need a few more bucks because it is a placer mine — we’re equipped for mucking out a cemented-gravel tertiary channel with a lava cap, so we will need other gear, which we’ll get. We can work the mine as of today. One word of caution, if you’re thinking of staying there year-round…the road closes for several months each year. You’d have to eat squirrel stew and hope the Donner Party isn’t just down the road from you. It’s at a high altitude and is just below the Mother Lode, so gold finds in that area tend to be very, very rich.
See You At The Top!!!
gorby