We had family visiting from Kansas last weekend and they wanted to check out our mining claim and dig in the creek for some shiney. I got there early to set up sluices and get set up and as I drove in saw a couple of trucks backed up the creek on the neighboring claim. I figured it was my neighbor and his brother and went on my way and as I was in the creek setting up a fella came walking over and introduced himself as the new claim owner and I said hello and I didnt realize Dave had sold his claim. That's when he said "Who's Dave?" Then he told me he just claimed this 40 acres right over the top of us. I have 20 and my neighbor has 18.33 acres. I said the hell you did, this has all been claimed for years already and your claim is not valid. He was very angry and said that he had hired a guy to stake the claim and he was assured it was all open and he already paid for it. I said well hopefully you can get your money back knowing it doesnt work that way but it pissed him off and we stood there and argued for a few minutes. I immediately texted my claim neighbor and his brother both and told them we got claim jumped and they are digging on his claim. The dude calls the Sheriff and about an hour later a Deputy shows up and we talked and I explained the situation to him and that those guys were committing mineral trespass which is a class c felony and can carry a criminal conviction. I demanded that they stop digging and the Deputy said they had stopped already. After talking to them both it became apparent that either the dude got swindled or the guy that he hired made a mistake in his research. Filing over an existing claim happens all too often and the research alone can be difficult sometimes. Either way we stayed the rest of the day and got my 14 year old nephew a little bit of gold while he was here and we ran a few bucketfulls and had fun in the creek. The Deputy asked that we would stop digging and I refused and stated that only Dept of Interior can shut me down and he seemed ok with it and he left. He was maybe 30 years old and an English fella with an obvious accent. He admitted he knew nothing about mining claims being from England and I said I would educate him how this works and I explained how the whole process works. Anyway it's going to civil court and it just comes down to the dates. This guy said he claimed it this last May. I've had it since April 2017. Not difficult to see what's coming for this dude but a waste of a day for me. I have a 3 day weekend coming up for Labor day and will probably go back out there to camp and dig. Hopefully those jackasses wont be around or I'll be calling the Sheriff this time. My nephew is a little silver bug too. He bought a silver bar and a little bit of placer gold at my lcs. Hes into that stuff and wants to come camp out and dig or go prospecting with me next summer. We even talked about copper pennies and nickels and melt values and weird nerdy shit like that. It was awesome!
Had some more family out and another excuse to go digging and the Labor Day clean up. Whoohoo! I even caught a lil heart flake.
You may not get it JohnnyBravo300 but I can picture it like a scen out of an Aussie film called the Castle!
I havent seen any signs of the claim jumpers out there so that's good. Maybe he got his mistake figured out and wont be back. I have a feeling his over filing was an honest mistake and not done on purpose. I've spent years prospecting for gold deposits and I'm not about to walk away when I find it. It's too damn much work for that haha.
I got a few days off after weeks of night work at an airport. I should be sleeping right now but theres gold to be found and it consumes me sometimes. A good hard day of digging will assure I sleep well tonight and weve been talking about a camping trip. Wife and I have the cars packed up and ready to go. This will be her first overnight there with me and it's going to be much more comfortable than when I'm alone. She goes alot and helps out but it's just for day trips. With the meals she has planned, the bedding she has packed and the other amenities that comes with a woman coming along it will be a far cry from the usual canned grub and sleeping on the ground with the dog. It's going to be sooo nice! I'm hoping to get at least 2 good full days of digging in and I've been trying out some new strategies for moving material so we'll see how it turns out.
We had a great time and we did really good. I'm not finished with the clean up yet but we got some nice stuff and moved lots of material. I cant wait to get back out there before winter sets in if I can. A pic of the creek and the squaw after digging all day and she was tired. She does the work of most men but brings me beers coffee and snacks in the meantime. Theres something about a good woman.
Looks like you got yourself a good one there mate. Referring to your wife/squaw/woman/girlfriend whatever the standard greeting is up them there parts. Edit to mention the gold
I have 4 days off for Independence Day so I'm heading to the claim with one of my dogs tomorrow. The old lady isn't coming so I'll have to rough it hehe. Maybe I'll post some pics of what I get to feed the addiction!
