Colorado -- Dredging the Arkansas River -- 8, 9 & 10 April 2016

Hey Gold Adventurers...

How about a Trip Report on 2 1/2 days of dredging fun on the ice cold Arkansas River, on a private claim, North of Buena Vista, Colorado, a few miles?  Ha.  I thought that might get your attention...  

My prospecting buddy John from out of state said he was planning on a short-notice trip to Kolorado and my other prospecting buddy Bill from in state said they could meet me for 3 days.....8, 9 & 10 April.  We'd hit their claim and I'd provide the Keene 4 incher, all setup, gassed up, ready to go.  It's the same dredge I ran last August with good results..........having extended the sluice box 2 feet, removed the factory riffle bars, matting & screens.  I installed 5 feet of Vortex matting and 1 foot of Gold Hog UR mat under the flair.  We'd run about 3/4 throttle and do cleanups every hour on the hour.

Friday, 8 April -- As John couldn't show until Saturday, Bill & I met about 8:30AM and unloaded my dredge and ALL my equipment out of my wife's Honda Pilot, made trips down the steep dirt bank numerous times.  We decided to try and lower the dredge with a rope down the bank as I guided it over bushes & rocks.  O.K.  Made it safely to the river...  We assembled the sluice box, hoses and it started on the 2nd pull of the cord.  Nice.

I'd previously sample panned around and located a good dredge spot with gravels, dark Cache Creek clays & decent flood gold.  The water was cold, very cold  Probably mid 30s cold.  Brrr...  So, we'd take turns on the nozzle and the other would use a pry bar to free rocks, clear a better dredge path around some big boulders.

We started our first 1 hour run about 10:10AM.  Off and dredging!  

Here's my modified Keene 4-inch Ultra Mini dredge:




The day started off cool at 23F and warmed slowly due to the high clouds blocking the sun for about 1/2 the day. The snow melt water never, ever warmed up.  Ha.

A view upriver:



We stopped for a sandwich/lunch after our 2nd cleanup.  The day was getting nicer, probably warmed up to about 45 or 50 by 3 PM.  I worked  riverbed between 2 big boulders and Bill worked a lot around a monster boulder.  Sample pans showed good color, so we just kept the nozzle running.

Here's Bill running the nozzle:



On the last run of the day we had cleared a good spot under a huge boulder at the water's edge of big rocks and not wanting to leave it we ran an extra 30 minutes to finish that spot. So, all added up Bill & I ran 4 1/2 hours of nozzle time, did 4 total cleanups.  We beached the dredge for the night, rounded up all the tools/equipment and cleaned up.  Back at my house we ran the cons thru my Gold Cube  The top tray looked good.  Nice visible fine flood gold to be seen.  

O.K.  Bill got his cons from that day processed and he got a very nice 3.5+ grams of fine flood gold.  Very nice Bill....      Well done!

Break, break.............  News flash!  Bill reran his cons and ended up with an extra 1.0 grams of 100 mesh flour gold!  NICE!  So, his overall take was actually 4.5 grams.  Right on our 1+ grams per hour nozzle time average to date.  So, for the pictures below, imagine 1 gram MORE fine, fine flour gold piled up in the pan.  




Saturday, 9 April -- Bill & I & John all converged at 9 AM to team dredge for the day and Ron the "Chief" came over from the C. Springs area to run his Gold Cube.  So, Ron setup his Cube and we got the dredge pulled upriver to a new dredge spot, and with 2 pulls of the cord we were dredging in that ice cold water.  Brrr....

A downriver look:

 

The day started off warmer at 30F, but the sky had more clouds and the wind was picking up.  Supposed to rain on Sunday.  Ugh...

Ron setting up & running his Cube:





Here's another look at my gold gettin' beast:



John hadn't been on a nozzle since last August so he was tickled to death to man up, suit up and get in that water:




Here Bill & I work between some huge boulders while John warms up a little:




Pretty much a carbon copy day from the day before.  Did a short lunch at noon, ended up dredging a total of 4 1/2 hours of nozzle time, we did 4 total cleanups.  By 3:30 PM it was time to beach the dredge, cleanup.  Unfortunately, Ron's car battery ran down faster than expected, so he didn't get a full day of Cubing, but he did get some nice flood gold.  

Ron got his cons cleaned up and here's his fine flood gold. .31 grams.  Nice!



Ron was nice enough to share a cold beer/drink with us back at his truck, before he had to hit the road home.  Thanks Chief!  

Back at my house we Cubed John's cons for the day and............man............very nice!  The top 1/2 of the top tray was just yellow with fine flood gold.  Sorry the sun wasn't out to illuminate all the yellow gold, but it's all over the place:

 

Bill, John & his wife stayed for dinner with us.  We feasted on Moose lasagna, a garden salad, fresh spinach, and broiled garlic bread.  Of course a few more beers...

John got his cons from the day cleaned up, and I knew it...........an AWESOME cleanup for 4 1/2 hrs of nozzle time and 4 cleanups:  5.48 grams!

https://s570.photobucket.com/user/C-17A/media/Dredging%20Splash%20w%20John%20n%20Bill%20--%20April%202016/Apr2016_zpstc1pjd9z.mp4.html

5.48 for 4.5 hrs = 1.22 grams per hour average.  Very, Very, VERY nice!  I have worked all day and gotten next to nothing many times before....

Here's 2 close up pics of John's 5.48 grams of nice, clean, fine, fine Arkansas River flood gold.  Enjoy!




Sunday, 19 April -- O.K.  We all were a little to a lot stiff & sore after 2 full days on the Ark dredging, barring rocks, pitching rocks, having some "hard fun" in the cold water.  Weather forecast said no rain until maybe noon into the afternoon, so we got started at 8:30 AM.  Morning temp was 39F.  A lot more cloudy & cold humid than the 2 days before...so, gettin' into that ice cold water was harder to do.  

I started the day on the nozzle and we triple teamed the day, removing rocks, tending the dredge box and such.

Here's Bill & John




My trusty dredge just a humming away:



A view upriver:



John got a few pics of Bill & me dredging looking down from above:






A great shot of the Ark, looking downriver from way up high:



Well, we moved twice with the dredge always looking for a good spot with decent color.  Finished the day back on the big, flat bar.  Had to bar & roll & pitch a LOT of rocks to clear a path for the dredge nozzle.  We ended up running only 2 1/2 hours and did 2 cleanups, before it was time to stop, break the dredge down, lug ALL the hoses, equipment, "stuff" back up that steep hill.  With John & Bill up top on ropes and me walking with the dredge, we pulled it up the steep bank (less hoses & sluice box).  We carefully crammed it all back into my wife's Honda Pilot.

Bill headed home and John headed back to spend the afternoon with his wife and I drove home, unpacked the dredge, stored it all in my shop/barn, did laundry, cleaned everything up.  I Cubed my cons for the  2 1/2 hour day......and I was pleasantly surprised to see nice fine gold in the top several inches of the top tray!     I panned out the top & bottom trays separately, as I wanted to do yet one more recovery test.

The results:

Bottom tray -- 3 grains or .19 grams. Mostly flat flakes that tumble real well and nano specks:




Top tray -- 46.7 grains or 3.03 grams!



So, all totaled up, I got 49.7 grains or 3.22 grams of very nice fine Arkansas River flood gold.    That's a decent 1.29 grams per hour for fine flood gold.  Also, right on the mark........as to the Cube.......5.9% in the lower tray & 94.1% in the top tray.  In about 3 separate tests I have run with heavy black sand cons, I normally see 95% of the gold in the top tray and 5% in the lower tray.  This run was almost exactly the same.  

Thanks John & Bill for all the help!  What a great memory.......and the Chief too.

I made one video of day 1, 8 April where Bill & I dredged for about 4 1/2 hours. Now that I think I have my new camera figured out, I'll try to make & post more gold prospecting videos.  My YouTube Channel and the URL is here:

https://youtu.be/qSIHJiHkHbM      

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSIHJiHkHbM&feature=youtu.be

So, all totaled up, as to gold this time out -- 5.48 + 3.22 + (now) 4.5 = 13.2 grams divided by 4.5 + 4.5 + 2.5 = 11.5 hrs of nozzle time = 1.15 grams per hour average for all 3 of us.  Man, I'll take that any day of the week!  Woo-Hoo!  No way not to call our little "team dredging" and Gold Adventure a HUGE success.  

So, overall a very wet, cold 2 1/2 days on the river.............a LOT of effort to deploy & redeploy a 4 incher/equipment for such a short time.  Still, we had a fun couple of "Man Days" on the Ark, got some gold too.  I hope you get out soon, get some "wild" gold for yourself, come back & post a Trip Report.

God bless,

Randy  C-17A  

Thanks Randy! Sounds like everyone left very happy about the "outing"! Its good to put faces on names ! Hi guys!

Hi Randy:
The Ark sure doesn't like to give up her gold. Looks like you had a reasonable flow that didn't want to wash you to Mexico if you let go. Yea, no kayakers either. Glad nobody took a liking to your dredge sitting along the bank. The crazies are probably sitting home by the fire waiting for summer. HA

Good to see the sluice mods are doing a good job on that fine gold. I really like the vortex mat too.

Nice report to tide me over for a while.

Regards.

Dickb

My phone died while I was writing this...so here goes again: As always, a great report! I can almost feel that cold water and hear the humming of the dredge! Great pictures too!! It looks like your"hard fun" paid off very nicely. That is some beautiful gold there

For some reason, my reply seems cut off. I just had to ask you about the moose lasagna....seriously??!

They say , when in Rome ,do as the Romans do! Try it youll like it!

Hey Judy,

Yes. Moose lasagna.

I have a buddy in BV named Gary, he is a big time hunter. He and a friend went to Alaska last Fall and they both got a Moose. When he got home he had so little room in his freezer he started giving some of his other wild game meat away to friends. I got some ground Antelope, some Deer and a little Moose meat.

It's all great stuff! Let's see...........free range, non-GMO, grass fed, non-antibiotic, 99% lean, organic, cage free stuff...

Being so lean, you NEVER over cook wild game meat. At least I don't. When you fry it in a pan, no grease splatter anywhere and just enough to make it turn mostly brown from red and STOP. A little pink color is O.K. Yum. Moist, tender, good.

As to the "cut off" reply. I have noticed a little "problem" with this "free" web site now that's hosting my Forum... They recently started new "active" ads at the top of the page, that last about 15 seconds each to run, then a new one.....over & over.... Seems they break the lock on your typing or submission when they force the next one to play. Ugh. Not a fan of this problem. I have to reread my post/sentence, make edits to add words and/or letters to words.

Always something...

Randy C-17A

It was a great weekend! There is no way to beat the combination of good friends, good gold, and a cold mountain stream. This needs to become an annual event.

The moose lasagna sure hit the spot, too!

OKJohn

Randy where did you get the triangle tray that you have your gold in ??? It appears tobe made from aluminum ,correct? I have some thing stainless steel sheet that I wanted to polish to a mirror surface initially and then cut it out and bend it before I TIG weld it. BUT if these can be purchased , it probly would be cheaper just to buy them. Im just curious about it !

Hey Russ.  I bought them on Ebay last year.  I got them for cheaper than this, but here is a similar item:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Aluminum-GOLD-Scale-Trays-with-Vials-Funnel-for-Gold-Nuggets-Gems-Powder-/291727465289?hash=item43ec4fdb49:g:8IoAAOSwJQdXAARA

Thanks John!

OKJohn wrote:It was a great weekend!  There is no way to beat the combination of good friends, good gold, and a cold mountain stream.  This needs to become an annual event.

OKJohn

-------------

John,

Why stop at annual? I keep buggin' you to buy a little cabin up here, set up a weather station, get NOAA & the NWS & the SPC to pay for it all.......and you just "telecommute" to work from BV......

.......better yet......from your 4 inch dredge on the Ark! Ha. Isn't life simply just too short to spend all of it in Oklahoma???

You could have 2 to 5 gram cleanups every DAY!

Randy C-17A

Oh, what a dream that is.  I'm just glad I know somebody who is livin' the dream for me.  

That gold sure is lovely lying there in the pan!

Glad to see the dredge mods are working so well.