Colorado -- Gold Cubing on the Arkansas River -- 29 Oct 2016

Hey Gold Adventurers...

Well, got back from Kalifornia recently from helping my aging parents 2-weeks and got enough pre-winter "stuff" done around the house and ranch here to justify me taking a day off from work and go have a little hard fun on a good friend's claim on the beautiful Arkansas River, here in High Kolorado...  

Got to the spot I'd identified on Friday by sample panning about 8:45 AM and had my Cube and stuff down to the river in no time.  Spent the first 30 minutes pitching rocks, rolling rocks to create a little pad for my Cube at the water's edge and clearing off an initial area for me to dig material and wash it for the fine, fine flood gold we have here in the Ark...

Here's my Cube ready to run and my spot for the day:



My Gold Cube with 2,000 GPH bilge pump and Gold Banker unit on top:



The day started off amazingly warm..............at 49F.  Most lows for the morning lately have been between 16F and 37F.  The sky was mostly clear, a cool breeze blew down the river channel pretty much all day.  By the end of the day I'd say it warmed up to about 65F!

Here's a couple action shots of me later in the day shoveling & washing material:




I was able to get 2 good hours of running in and 2 cleanups done by about 12:30PM, then took a short lunch break......enjoying a bottle of water and a salami sandwich.  I could see decent fine gold............tiny flakes & specks in my cleanup tub, so I know I wasn't getting skunked.

Back to my hard fun about 1 PM and I pitched rocks, rolled rocks, washed rocks until 2:45 PM.  By then I was just whipped...  I did my final and 3rd cleanup and packed all my stuff back up the bank to my Jeep and drove home just about 3:10PM.  Here's a look at the area between the big rocks I was able to dig, wash:



I forgot how much harder Cubing is as compared to suction dredging all day.  Getting a dredge into position, down the bank, and back up the bank is harder, BUT once you have the dredge running..............it sure pulls the material from between the rocks & boulders soooooooo much easier all day long vs. barring rocks, rolling rocks, diggin' around rocks with a Number 2 shovel.  

I made one short video for you, posted to my YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-02U_OnzgQM

O.K. Got my cons panned out... I ended up with 23.1 grains or 1.50 grams of nice, fine flood gold. Very happy!




Hopefully, you'll get out on a Gold Adventure of your own soon, before winter hits and post us all a Trip Report here on the Forum for all to share, enjoy!

Randy   C-17A    

Well it looks like you are getting more than I am here in arizona .Been bad this year.

Nice take!

Thanks guys for looking, commenting...

Was considering going maybe again today.............to a different spot on the river...

BUT, the wind came up so strong, so loud at 2:15 AM........started banging my screen door on the East porch and blew a 5-gal bucket I had on the deck all around...........woke me up...

Finally got back to sleep about 3:30 AM, just a listening to the wind howl outside. Sun's coming up now, but still really gusty/windy. We'll see if it calms down some or stays too strong to enjoy a day on the river gettin' wind blown and wet from the blowing spray bar water...

I got to get while the gettin' is good!

Randy C-17A

Hi Randy:
Nice day for a chase. Looks like you did fine.

Dickb

Dickb,

Ha. Well.............it was another GREAT day on the river!

I worked hard............re, I mean................I put in a lot of "hard fun"......and 1.50 grams isn't too bad, since we're talking gold that's 80% below -50 mesh most the time...

Got a little dusting of snow up on the 14ers today. Nights have been below freezing for about a month now. Winter's coming fast!

Randy C-17A

We haven't had a killing frost here yet. Still near 70 * during the days. I'll let you keep all the snow you want. HA

Stay warm

Dickb

Randy, I see you were on a friends claim. I assume that using a GoldCube setup like yours still isn't allowed on the other areas along the Arkansas, such as the GPAA claims?

TexGemCutter,

Yep... I was on a friend's claim that's permitted for motorized/mechanized ops and the Gold Cube is even specifically written into the Notice, Plan of Operations and the bond money was even "adjusted" up by BLM to cover any potential reclamation needed with use of the Cube between the waterline and the high water flood mark in the riverbed.

Sadly, even a device as simple and low impact as the Gold Cube isn't allowed unless you're on private property with the land owner's permission, on a club claim on USFS or BLM land with a current and approved Notice, Plan of Operations and bond money on file.

The ONLY place that I know that's open to the public that allows powered ops in this area is the BLM Point Bar property on the Arkansas River about 12 miles down river from Salida, CO. You have to by a $25 permit from the Canyon City BLM or get the same permit via the AHRA/CPW office in Salida, CO. Then you can do powered ops at Point Bar. Have to abide by the permit rules/limitations.

Sadly, the GPAA years back (like 2010) didn't want to go thru the butt pain with BLM as to all the red tape, paperwork, bond money, so their block of 7 claims on the Ark here.....called the "Arkansas Group" at the old RR bridge is pan & sluice only. No powered ops allowed by BLM.

The eco-Nazis today own the Dept of Interior, USFS & BLM & US Fish & Wildlife Service lock, stock & barrel..........so every year we public land owners just get new Travel Mgt Plans and EA/Mgt Plans for OUR public lands & forests crammed down our throats that do only one thing.............serve the eco-Nazi's interests and run all the rest of us off OUR public lands. Every new plan limits access, use and enjoyment..........they puts up fences, gates, boulders & barriers........close primitive camp sites & disbursed camp sites, close more and more now "unauthorized" roads & trails, prevent us from shooting, hunting, camping, prospecting.

I have been successful in preventing BLM here from implementing their new Cache Creek EA/Mgt Plan for 2 years, but I am losing the battle... IF I can't get Congressman Lamborn and/or Senator Gardner here after the new 115th Congress starts up in January 2017 to pressure BLM to rescind their signed/approved plan, we'll be screwed royally:

1). Only 1/2 year access
2). Hand pan only in the creek
3). OSHA-style safety standards for digging
4). Leash law for all dogs on 6 foot leash at all times
5). Access to only 25 of the 2,160 acres for prospecting
6). $5 a day/$25 a half year "season" fee/permit required

Also, if you don't abide with all these new rules....now punishable by a $5,000 fine or 12 months in jail or both!

I sure hope the new Trump administration fires them all at the EPA, DOE, DOI, USFS, BLM, and we start over...

Randy C-17A

When they get their way, America won't be able to produce anything and we will have to buy everything from other countries.

SAD AND STUPID! That's my opinion and I stand by it.

Somebody please explain to me where we will get the money to buy it?

Dickb

Chinese Yen or Mexican pasos.

Dickb,

Ha. It's already that way.... Other than Boeing planes, the big three autos and Harleys, what do we...........CAN we make here anymore? Steel industry dead. Coal industry all but dead. Gas & oil under attack by Obama too...

Just look at the negative balance of trade we've been running for decades! Month after month, year after we send more of our dollars overseas to buy all the crap we used to make and export to the world...

We bleed billions upon billions OUT of the country every day: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/balance-of-trade

I sure hope Trump gets going............puts the EPA back in a box, slashed needless eco-Nazi and Liberal driven red tape and rules and crap...gets us back to producing "stuff" again!

Randy C-17A

The American government doesn't understand economics. The working class here has been losing ground to inflation for the last 30 years. Jobs being replaced by robots and sent to Asia for their workers to produce. Pay to the working class has not been keeping pace with costs so they are not paying as much tax to the governments.
Guess what? Asian workers and robots don't pay taxes to the U. S. governments (federal, state, local ).
Until the American workers get paid better, they have less money to spend and that means less tax money is paid out as taxes.
So the real solution is to put the working force back to work, pay them better wages and let the taxes come back into the governments coffers.
That's the real way to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!  OR LET THE GOVERNMENT SLOWLY CONTINUE TO COMMIT SUICIDE ONE LOST TAX DOLLAR AT A TIME.

dickb