TomH Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Hey all: Welp, met up today with Luke up in the bradshaws.Wanted to hit a area that I had gotten some gold out of in the 80s dredging.We hit the sides for about 100 yards and up the sides about 25 yards. It was tough going...lots of manzanita/scrub oak and every other kind of thing to hang you up and yank your headset off! Sure makes you appreciate the desert Lots of trash in the wash...its the kind of wash you need to dredge.The weather was absolutely awesome mid to high 60s and rain. It was so nice and cool up there.Found a lot of evidence of prior placering. Lots of rocks stacked on the sides and cuts up the sides of the hills. Hit them all....nutten but garbage for me and dad.Luke scored the interesting find of the day....a bottle of mercury inside another bottle.The guys in the 30s in this area were camped all over the hills and they left a lot of garbage for us to clean up.Did manage to find the area I was dredging in 30+ yrs ago. All my rocks I threw out on the side are gone. I sunk 5 foot deep hole there. After that we moved onto some GPAA claims and finished out the day.I stuck to the hills and benches. Found some interesting stuff. But none of it was yellow.EMI was kind of heavy today. All in all...it was a great time out with Dad and a friend.Tom H. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckeye Boy Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Looks like a great time. They never get it all so keep looking. It is nice to have an area in the northern country even if you get the skunk.AJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Glad you got out and had some fun in the cool temps. We were up in the Seven Springs placers yesterday (past Carefree) and it was beautiful, big sky with clouds that seemed to go on forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeJ Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 (edited) After digging several pieces of barbed wire, one after the other. My heart did a double beat when I heard the next target. It sounded different and the GMT only showed three bars on the display. Whatever it was, I knew it was not a dink. It didn't whisper, more of a shout. I immediately thought of Tom's hefty nugget (dredged in '86) from the same area. Unfortunately, one too many protons. But hey, I'll take a vial of mercury instead of another bullet. I imagine I'll make use of it in the future... Like Tom already mentioned, the weather was fantastic. I kept forgetting it was July....It's always a good time, getting out into the wilderness and playing in the dirt with some friends. Luke Edited July 20, 2015 by LukeJ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boulder dash Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 That place looks awesome! So green and lush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzNuggetBob Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Tom thats a great area, and you have to love the weather up there this time of year.Luke great find, Mercury vile. there is a good chance that the mercury already has gold in it. the old timers used it to collect gold in their sluices, drywashers and gold pans. they would collect it from the sluices, pans etc. and pour it into a cloth rag. then squeeze it out through the cloth catching much of the larger gold in a lump in the rag. But mercury picks up a lot of veeeery fine gold that is not trapped by the rag. bleeds through the cloth with the mercury. if you can see it through the bottle, roll it. if the mercury is lumpy looking. like sand embedded in it, its more than likly got gold in it.Nice find.BTW Luke, I dont see a scratch on that Nice truck? its still a virgin. AzNuggetBob 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeJ Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 AzNuggetBob,The gold/mercury amalgam is what I'm hoping for at this point. Problem is, I can't get it out of the vial. Either the lid expanded once inside the green jar, or someone pushed it in there with some force. Maybe that's why it was lost? I have tried several 'procedures' to get the inner vial out without damaging the outer green vial. My last attempt was to super glue a bamboo chopstick to the lid and pull it out. No dice. The super glue eventually broke and took some of the lid with it. I'm thinking about drilling a small hole in the plastic lid to remove the mercury as my next option. I don't want to break the outer jar if I can help it. The mercury does look pretty 'clean'. I don't see any lumpiness or tendency to pull away from the glass.... ( it was the first thing I checked once I saw it was mercury )With regards to my truck: Funny that you would notice that. It does looks pretty good in those pics... Thank you. I'm quite happy with it right now. Just last week, I took it in for some long overdue maintenance. Freshened up the tranny and major tune-up, brakes, etc.... Went ahead and had them detail it while it was there. Turned out pretty nice. They almost got all the scratches out. It looks and feels like a 'new' 12 year old truck. Ready and hopefully reliable for the next 'season' of nugget shooting.If you have some places in mind, where I could put a few more scratches on it.... Just let me know, I'd be happy to take you there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZMark Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Sounds like you had a great time. Nice pics TomH. Great find Luke! And I agree AzNuggetBob, that truck looks way too purdy... Lets fix that Luke. For some reason the scratches on the passenger side are higher than the drivers side. hmmm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampstomper Al Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 TomH -- 'splain somethin' to me if you would please, seein' as how I'm not from that part of the country..When you say 'up in the Bradshaws', 'July' and '60s' all pretty much in the same sentence, the only thing I can envision is heading south on 89 out of Prescott heading toward max elevation then hanging an East near the apex..Is this the area of which you reference..?Tnx,SA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heybeerman Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 That's a cool find, thanks for sharing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowPoint Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Hey TOMH,... That place looks kind of familiar,......might-it-be not far outside of Dewey heading towards wolf creek ?? If it is, I have attempted to detect there in the past, but there is just so much trash targets there that it about drives you nuts from all the racket. I like my spots a lot more virgin, and a lot less trashy. But being from Prescott, I would imagine that any cool day up in the Bradshaw's is better than any sort-of-cool day down there in Phoenix. Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomH Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Went ahead and had them detail it while it was there. Turned out pretty nice. They almost got all the scratches out. It looks and feels like a 'new' 12 year old truck Luke, do you think they could do anything with a 28 yr old 4runner? Gary and Swampstomper. We were around Mayer, back in the hills. Elevation was about 5300 feetJust about any hillside/gully around Mayer, Dewey, Prescott is going to have trash. There were thousands and thousands of miners in that area through the years.Gary, I do envy the weather you have up there...but I don't envy the hunting grounds. Things in the desert might poke you and stick you but at least you can move around. That manzanita and scrub oak is a pain to detect in Tom H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowPoint Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 You are right Tom, the area where you where hunting ( I said Dewey before, buy I meant "Mayer") is real thick, un-relentless, and a real pain to hunt in. The Dewey areas are about the same. I never have had much luck in that area, at least until I got over to wolf creek and Turkey creek and onto the Roadrunner claims,...that's much better. Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nugget108 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 Sounds like you guys had a good time. Family and friends doing what they love together is the treasure. The gold is a bonus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primalspirit Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Hey Tom,I was up that way too yesterday. Someone honked at me in Mayer -- I didn't recognize the car. Was that you?Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Tom Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Hi Jean, that wasn't us that honked. Maybe you have a secret admirer in Mayer. We sure enjoyed the great temperature with a little rain to boot. Boy the old beeper was working good in the damp ground. Not too good for my old joints though. Old Tom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampstomper Al Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 TomH -- basically "across the ridge" from where I was thinking (it's a really wide ridge..)Think I'll be scratching some places off my AZ bucket list though, at least beyond a cursory visit perhaps..I've had the stretch between Black Canyon City to Dewey circled for a long time but never have gotten there, even though we're basically right there anyhow.. We always end up staying in Wickenburg n into the desert from there.. Guess it has to do with the time of year we target (early April) & the amount of time we have (never enough..) Always early spring, never fall -- although getting to one of Bill's shindigs makes a fall trip mighty tempting.. Must be since we drive I'd rather deal with the threat of tornado & the 50mph winds always there out of the south that time of year rather than getting slammed by an early blizzard on the way back..Thanks to you & Gary for the info,SA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alwaysdirty Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Hey you guys were in my neck of the woods! Last year I drove as far back as I could fit the Bronco on that trail and drywashed a couple nice little flakes out of dirt that was pretty much just granite with no cobblestones, there was some good exposed bedrock way back up in there as well. Too bad I didn't have the GB2 yet.Nice license plate on the Toy. Blahhhhhh................That fits the weekend I had, pulling weeds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeJ Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 (edited) Luke, do you think they could do anything with a 28 yr old 4runner? Well you know Tom... what do they say about items of antiquity? You wouldn't want to clean it much and definitely don't remove thepatina, or it could lose value. Plus, every time you go out detecting and successfully make it back to the truck,skunk or not, you can say you found a relic!!! Edited July 21, 2015 by LukeJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Tom Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Amen to that bud. Especially when I'm sitting in it.. Old Tom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hey kids ! Looks like a fine day in the hills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzNuggetBob Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 (edited) Luke I'm coming up there this fall. look forward to meeting you. I was surprised how great your truck looked for its age and trashin around up there. that area is hard on paint. but its got a lot of gold. Ive been prospecting that area like Tom for around 30 years. we will get together up there. I hope he brings Old Tom, he's more fun at parties and knowledgeable too. from what I've heard they both do a great job at Bill's spring and fall get together's. AzNuggetBob Edited July 24, 2015 by AzNuggetBob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeJ Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Looking forward to it Bob. Thank you for the kind words. You're right, The Toms are quite a pair. I feel quite privileged to be able to observe them in their natural habitat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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