Bodie the Dog Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 I spent the other day crawling around some hydraulic diggings near U Bet in the CA gold country, at one point parking with the driver's side of my truck in some deep mud. When I got home, I noticed my tires were blue on that side (see pic). Does that indicate I found an area with the Blue Lead (ancestral Yuba river)? Should I go and clean out that mud? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homefire Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 Blue indicates Silver to me. Emmmmmmm 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 I have read that the Blue Lead was a layer of blue stained gravel, which gets it color staining from the under lying slate bedrock. https://books.google.com/books?id=ciNMAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA140&lpg=RA1-PA140&dq=California's+Blue+Lead&source=bl&ots=4nJoVS3oO8&sig=MrtzRPvzSEUgDtmxe5hJrfK1jOc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWxfrtxprSAhVMwiYKHfBvBus4ChDoAQgzMAc#v=onepage&q=California's Blue Lead&f=false Here's an old map of a portion of the Blue Lead Gravel occurrence. http://brbl-zoom.library.yale.edu/viewer/1356786 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homefire Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 Again Silver. Galena (Lead Ore ) always has a silver content. Lead oxides are White/Gray . Silver Sulfides, Blue/Cobalt . Expert No but this I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 I would tend to agree with Homie, but not all blue clays contains silver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisski Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 If you could find that patch it could be worth an assay. I looked at silver and I would need to get pounds per ton for me to extract it and make a profit. For me to extract free milled gold for profit would be two or three grams per ton. I do figure I've throwing silver ore away, but I doubt it would assay to anything I could make a profit off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzNuggetBob Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 5 hours ago, Bodie the Dog said: I spent the other day crawling around some hydraulic diggings near U Bet in the CA gold country, at one point parking with the driver's side of my truck in some deep mud. When I got home, I noticed my tires were blue on that side (see pic). Does that indicate I found an area with the Blue Lead (ancestral Yuba river)? Should I go and clean out that mud? looks like blue sidewalk chalk to me, but what do I know... AzNuggetBob 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Au Seeker Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 The one thing for sure is the blue coloring goes well with your 5 GEN T4R!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoser John Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 Happened many times as the Ancient River of Gold clay sure is colorful. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
middleforkminer2 Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 I wasn't aware the blue clay gravels were part of what was considered the ancestral Yuba river....I know "Blue Canyon" along I-80 was famous for the blue gravels, and is where it got its name and also that the ancient rivers used to run north to south, but never thought they stretched as far north as the Klamath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodie the Dog Posted February 19, 2017 Author Share Posted February 19, 2017 20 hours ago, Au Seeker said: The one thing for sure is the blue coloring goes well with your 5 GEN T4R!! Thanks to my parents, who recently passed away. My first new car. Thanks Mom and Dad! But I've gotta upgrade those tires.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodie the Dog Posted February 19, 2017 Author Share Posted February 19, 2017 It's my impression that blue gravels are associated with the bottom of ancient river beds, and that formation is given different names in different areas. Around here (Colfax - Washington) it was called The Blue Lead, because they weren't aware other blue leads existed, so they capitalized it. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm still puzzling this out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodie the Dog Posted March 10, 2017 Author Share Posted March 10, 2017 I found someone who cleared things up. The dirt in the area has a high acid content, so the blue is created by some chemical process involving same. Makes sense. You're not supposed to swim in the local diggings ponds because you can get skin rashes from the high acidity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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