Rocky Mountain Prospectors & Treasure Hunters Newsletter

The News
v. 17, n. 11 December 2013 Going for the Gold Visit RMPTH On The Internet At http://rmpth.com

Contents
1 2 3 5 6 8 8
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Christmas Party & Find Of The Year Program About The News A Miners Life Find Of The Year Program Dumpster Diving Valuable Ten Dollar Bill

All Aboard for the RMPTH Christmas Party and Find of the Year Program Wednesday, December 4, 2010 Note Special Start Time: 6:00 PM

10 11 12 16 18 19

Calendar of Events Calendars Bear Gulch Gold Trading Post 2013 Schedule of Events Contact List

Club Treasure Hunt The Flatirons Mineral Club Annual Gem & Mineral Show Frozen Treasure

This will be a pot luck dinner, so please bring your favorite meal item to share. Coffee and soft drinks provided by the club. Paper plates and plastic ware will also be provided.

"Of all those expensive and uncertain projects which bring bankruptcy upon the greater part of the people that engage in them, there is none perhaps more perfectly ruinous than the search after new silver and gold mines." --Adam Smith

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season May the bottom of your pan be covered with gold and may gold coins appear under your detector coil.

About The News

Advertising Classified advertising for topic related items is free for non-business ads. See the Trading Post section for donation pricing of camera-ready display ads. Donations for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are available on request. About RMPTH RMPTH is an independent nonprofit hobbyist social club, open to anyone interested in prospecting, detecting or treasure hunting. Its purpose is to provide an educational and social forum of mutual benefit for members. RMPTH holds a monthly meeting and conducts various field outings, as well as offers special presentations and seminars. Active participants have voting privileges. The monthly newsletter, The News, is readily available on the Internet. Annual dues are $25 payable in June. Applicants joining in any month other than June pay partial dues of $2 per month for months remaining prior to following June plus $1.

he News is the official newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Prospectors and Treasure Hunters Club (RMPTH): our mailing address is 278 Sierra Vista Drive, Fort Collins, CO. 80524. Opinions expressed in The News are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the club or its members. Publication of information in The News constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither RMPTH, nor its coordinators, nor The News, nor its editors or contributors assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication. Submissions

Articles, letters and short items of interest on prospecting, detecting and treasure hunting topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Submittals for publication may be made in writing or, preferably, in ASCII text format on IBM-compatible disk. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information. Copyright Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in The News without prior permission, provided that proper author and publication credits are given and that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to RMPTH at the above mailing address. Clubs wishing to exchange newsletters with RMPTH are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request.

CLUB MEMBERS TAKE NOTE

Club Hats, Shirts, Jackets, & Patches are again available. See Paul Mayhak at the club meetings to purchase your club items! We will be running a 50/50 Drawing at each club meeting. At the end of each meeting Tom will split the pot 50/50 and a lucky member will go home with more money than they came with.! The remaining 50% goes to the club treasury.
Page 2 The News, December 2013

A Miner's Life
An unforgettable day explains why miners never want to give up by RobRepin Oct. 18, 2013 ndy Herndon recently enjoyed a day that most miners can only dream of. On Oct. 6, Mike Corbley and his mining partners Andy Herndon, Curtis Dorr and Sam Price, dug up two extraordinary pieces of gold from a patch of ground in the Swauk mining district near the town of Liberty that for 140 years, among the miners of the area, has been affectionately referred to as the potato patch. While metal detecting a newly exposed area of bedrock under the ancient river channel that once flowed through the district, Andy, having already picked out a half ounce and a quarter ounce nugget, suddenly got an odd signal from his detector. Its a low high he said, referring to the sound in his earphones. Normally the detector he was using would sound off with a definitive high to low tone when passed over a piece of gold, distinguishing the gold from the many high iron content hot rocks around the gold. But this one was different. It was a very strong signal, but it was different. I dont know how a big chunk of steel got into virgin ground but thats what it sounds like, said Andy bending over to scrape away a little more dirt and gravel from over his target. If there was any doubt in Andys mind or the minds of any of us who were watching, that doubt vanished as we witnessed the bulging of Andys eyes, the dropping of his jaw, and the dancing jig that followed.

hold as the mud and iron stain was gently scrubbed away, and a massive piece of that element called gold, which has captivated the eyes of man since the beginning of time, slowly but surely, and ever so boldly, began to shine like the sun as if to say, Here I am boys. Soon we were back over to the excavation site. The excavator was fired up. The rest of the bedrock was cleared of its river rock covering, and Andy was detecting again. After about 10 minutes of no hits, Andy got that look on his face, reached down, picked up, and held out for all to see another very large ... rock. Then started laughing. After being called a wise guy and several other choice superlatives, he went chuckling back to detecting. A few minutes later only a few feet from where the 16ouncer was found, he was heard to say, Its a low high again. The look on his face seemed genuine, but we werent falling for that again. We needed convincing and he was forced to exclaim, Im not kidding! And he wasnt. In his hand was a second 13-ounce potato of a nugget.

Andy Herndon recently enjoyed a day that most miners can only dream of. (Provided photo)

The potato-sized chunk of dirty, iron stained gold that had lain hidden from the light of day in a shallow bedrock depression, under 20 feet of overburden, for the last million and a half years, was suddenly in the grip of Andys hand and he was a happy man! Apparently that 16 1/4-ounce spud was just too big to give off a normal signal to Andys detector. After much excitement and high fives all around, over to the panning tub we all went to watch Mike clean that baby up. On a bright clear autumn day, it was truly a sight to beThe News, December 2013

Mike Corbley is the owner of the potato patch mine. He has been persistently working it for many years. Andy and Curtis partnered up with him about six years ago. Sam came onto the scene just this last year. They are a fine group of hard working, fun loving men of integrity. Over the years, Mike has found lots of very respectable one - to four-ounce pieces of gold. In 1994 he found a 5 3/4ouncer. But never anything quite like these two. Thirtyfive years Ive been looking for one of these, says Mike, And we find two in one day. Wow! Mike is admittedly Getting up there in years, slowing down a bit, and unsure how much more mining the future
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holds for him. His partners and his friends could not be more pleased to be able to witness and be a part of this kind of a find for Mike Corbley. He has earned it. To attempt to describe how a man feels when he finally finds something he has searched so long and so hard for is an exercise in futility. It cannot be done. It is a feeling few men truly understand. Late that Sunday night after the excitement of the day was wearing down and everyone else had gone home, Mike and I sat down for a game of cribbage. I knew I was going to lose that game. But I didnt care. This was his day. As we were discussing the days events, I said, Its really not the gold, is it Mike? Knowing exactly what I meant, he looked at me and calmly replied, I dont give a damn about the gold. Its the finding of the gold that matters. And finding the gold in the company of friends you like and respect is as good as it gets. I just wish Billy could have been here. Well, if Billy could have been here he would probably have simply said in his modest way, Nice job boys. But it would have been quickly followed with, Where you wanna dig next? I am in agreement with Billy. Nice job, boys. Nice job. Rob Repin is a gold miner with a claim on Blewett Pass. He can be reached at libertygold@elltel.net The Wenatchee News

"Fathom the odd hypocrisy that the government wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but people don't have to prove they are citizens". - Ben Stein

Gold Glossary
MILLING - The process of crushing or pounding an ore down into a very fine powder so that the valuable minerals can be released, to be recovered by a later mechanical or chemical process

TREASURE HUNTERS CODE OF ETHICS

I WILL respect private property and do no treasure hunting without the owner's permission. I WILL fill all excavations. I WILL appreciate and protect our heritage of natural resources, wildlife, and private property. I WILL use thoughtfulness, consideration, and courtesy at all times. I WILL build fires in designated or safe places only. I WILL leave gates as found. I WILL remove and properly dispose of any trash that I find. I WILL NOT litter. I WILL NOT destroy property, buildings, or what is left of ghost towns and deserted structures. I WILL NOT tamper with signs, structural facilities, or equipment.

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The News, December 2013

Find Of The Year Program

Mineral Specimen Identification

As part of their community outreach, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Dep. of Earth & Atmospheric Science, Professional Services Division offers FREE MINERAL SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION. Participants will aid in the education of future Geoscientists! Details and specimen submittal forms with instructions can be downloaded from: SPECIAL OFFER FREE MINERAL SPECIMEN http://college.earthscienceeducation.net/MINPET/ MINID.pdf

ny dues-paid member may submit any one find (find made during the year 20103) into each of the categories at the December meeting for voting as Find of the Year in that category. The available categories are:

Best Jewelry Oldest Coin Most Valuable Coin Best Bottle Most Raw Gold Largest Raw Gold Most Unique Find (Excavated) Most Unique Find (Non-Excavated) Rock, Gem, Mineral & Fossil A Morgan Silver Dollar will be awarded to winners of each category at the December meeting. In addition, the item chosen as Best Find of the Year will be awarded an additional Morgan Silver Dollar. A certificate of award will be presented to each category winner and single Find of the Year winner at the January meeting. Bring your finds and enter them into the December program!

Limit all politicians to two terms One in office One in prison Chicago & Detroit already do this
The News, December 2013

Property Wanted For Detector Hunt

RMPTH is looking for private property on which to hold an organized club detector hunt. Obviously, it would be most ideal if this property is known to have seen some past historical activity. If you have such property or know of someone who does, please contact Rick Mattingly to plan a club field outing event.

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Dumpster Diving
Teller County man claims he dumped gold in landfill during divorce dispute By Lance Benzel Published: October 24, 2013

His estranged wife was left "destitute" by the marriage's breakup and is living with a relative in Virginia, Lyle said. A former teacher, she is unable to work because of the lingering effects of her injuries, including a diagnosis of post-concussion syndrome. Jones first made his claim that he disposed of savings at a June divorce hearing in which El Paso County Magistrate D. Denise Peacock ordered that he pay his estranged wife $3,000 a month - money the woman hasn't received. At the sworn deposition in July, Jones said he threw the gold - a mix of coins and gold bars - into a trash bin at Value Place, 5555 Airport Road, a weekly rate motel that Jones called home after vacating the couple's Divide home. Jones told Lyle he wanted to withdraw the money in cash, but said that bank tellers wouldn't or couldn't comply. "If that would have been an option, I would have been walking around giving people $100 bills," Jones said, according to the transcript. So instead, Jones said he raided the couple's retirement and investment accounts and converted them into gold coins and gold bars through Phoenix-based CMI Gold and Silver. Although the company does not divulge details about its customers, a representative said that under average gold prices in May, a half-million dollars would buy about 22 pounds of gold. Bank documents establish that the transfer to CMI occurred, according to Lyle, but only Jones can vouch for what he claims happened next. After drinking wine and eating "good food," Lyle said he went out to the Dumpster and pitched the gold. He later clarified he made several return trips, tossing gold each time a new shipments arrived in the mail. Five months later, recovering the gold would require a bit more effort. The hotel Dumpster is serviced by Waste Connections of Colorado Springs. The company delivers trash to its Fountain landfill, which accepts up to 30,000 tons of trash during an average month, said Ken Manzo, district manager. Each load is dumped, compacted with heavy machinery and covered with dirt - creating an even surface for new layers of trash that arrive by the ton.
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fortune in gold, gleefully chucked into a Colorado Springs trash bin?

That's the claim of Earl Ray Jones, a Teller County man who says he converted $500,000 in life savings into gold in May and then threw it away - all to prevent his wife of 25 years from seeing a nickel in their pending divorce. "Damn right I did," the 52-year-old former defense contractor huffed at a July deposition by the woman's stunned divorce attorney, John-Paul Lyle of Colorado Springs. In his sworn interview, Jones said he consigned the treasure to a Dumpster behind a Colorado Springs motel, according to a transcript obtained by The Gazette. Bank records supplied by Jones prove that the money was converted to gold through a Phoenix, Ariz. precious metals dealer, lending credence to the hard-toswallow tale, Lyle said. "We say that when people are divorcing, they enter a state of temporary insanity," he said. "But on a scale of 1 to 10, this is my 10." Whether the gold was actually tossed has yet to be established. Jones claimed during the deposition there were no witnesses and that he took no steps to document the disposal. Truth or fiction, Jones' claim marks the latest volley in a marriage strained by persistent money squabbles, bitter reprisals and violence. Jones is facing a Nov. 4 sentencing in Teller County for menacing after he beat up his wife and held her captive in their Divide home during a March fight over finances. April Jones filed for divorce three weeks after the assault. Facing the loss of his government security clearance, Jones resigned his $82,000-a-year job at Exelis, a Colorado Springs contractor, court records show. He has been held at the Teller County jail pending sentencing since his conviction at a September trial, court records show.
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The News, December 2013

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Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies

1 cup of water 1 tsp baking soda 1 cup sugar 1 tsp salt 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup lemon juice 4 large eggs 1 cup nuts 2 cups dried fruit 1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila Sample the Cuervo to check quality. Get a large bowl. Check the Cuervo again (to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink). Put butter in bowl, turn on mixer and beat until fluffy. Add one tablespoon of sugar. Beat again. Drink cup Cuervo to make sure it is still fresh. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl; chuck in the cup of dried fruit, pick the frigging fruit up off the floor. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who giveshz a sheet. Check the Jose Cuervo. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of soda or somefink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher. CHERRY MISTMAS!!

"I would have rather dug a hole in the backyard," said Manzo, who said surveillance cameras and fences keep salvagers at bay. Said Rick DiPaiva, who manages the company's trash hauling operation: "I didn't have any drivers walking off the job with a smile in May." Given the rumble of the truck's engine and noise involved in overturning a metal Dumpster, a driver would not have noticed anything unusual, he said. If the gold were found at the landfill, it would probably generate a court battle. Under a typical waste disposal contract, anything sent to a landfill is considered the landfill's property, according to Waste Management of Colorado Springs. In the case of a pending divorce, however, a husband couldn't lawfully dispose of his wife's assets, and she may be legally entitled to claim her share should the missing assets be found, said Colorado Springs attorney Phil Dubois, who has no ties to the case. That's if anyone believes the gold was actually thrown away, of course. "Based on normal human conduct, one would believe that it's out there somewhere, and that he knows where it is," Dubois said. The Gazette, Colorado Springs EdHmmmmm? More likely buried somewhere!

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE: 1) You believe in Santa Claus. 2) You don't believe in Santa Claus. 3) You are Santa Claus. 4) You look like Santa Claus.
The News, December 2013

"In October, 1867 Wells Fargo began tri-weekly stage service between the new railhead at Cheyenne south to Denver thru LaPorte. The one way fare was $27.75. Stages from Salt Lake City also came through Laporte and on to Denver." -- "Wells Fargo in Colorado Territory" by W. Turrentine Jackson

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Valuable Ten Dollar Bill

Man owns $10 silver certificate valued at $500,000 Oct 23, 2013 ROYERSFORD, Pa. (AP)

Thirty-nine-year-old Billy Baeder, of Royersford, owns a 1933 $10 silver certificate that an auctioneer says is worth at least a half-million dollars. The bill bears an unusual inscription, "Payable in silver coin to bearer on demand," and has the serial number "A00000001A." It is perhaps the most valuable bill printed since 1929, when bills were shrunk to their current size. Baeder told Philly.com that his late father, also a collector, bought the bill two dozen years ago for about the price of a compact car.ht Matthew Quinn, assistant director of currency for auction house Stack's Bowers, says the bill "would easily be worth about $500,000 and up." Baeder says he's already turned down a $300,000 offer.

suburban Philadelphia man has perhaps the most valuable ten-spot you'll ever see.

TREASURE HUNT
Paul Mayhak is coordinating another Treasure Hunt for RMPTH members only ! Each month Paul will provide another clue to recovery of the solid 3 ounce silver bar treasure. The clues will be provided first at the monthly club meetings, with a follow up repeat in the newsletter. Based upon the honor system, Paul is asking that members only search for the treasure on weekends to provide a level playing field for those members who have full-time jobs.

First Clue:
Baeder, a Royersford currency collector, who co-owns a car-repair shop, holds what could be the most valuable piece of currency printed since 1929: a 1933 Silver Certificate with the serial number A00000001A. Peter Mucha, Philly.com

IM IN A PARK
The News, December 2013

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Frozen Treasure
Found amid plane wreckage in the French Alps By Nancy Ing, NBC News Producer September, 2013

The Flatirons Mineral Club Annual Gem & Mineral Show December 13-15, 2013 Friday 10AM to 6PM Adm. $3.00 for ages 13 & up Saturday 9AM to 5PM $5.00 Sunday 10AM to 5PM $5.00 Kids under 12 get in free if accompanied with a paying adult. The show will be held at the Boulder County Fairgrounds Main Exhibits Building at the corner of Hover & Nelson Roads. It will again include the Boulder Model Railroad Club Show in the same building. One fee gets you into both shows. The Train Club will be there only on Saturday & Sunday. The show includes dealers selling rock related items and dealers selling model railroad items, demonstrations (including gold panning), classes, displays, a kids' area, grab bags, hourly door prizes, and grand prizes. Proceeds from the kids' area and the grab bags go to scholarships.

treasure of precious jewels has been found by a young alpinist on the ice caps of Mont Blanc, where it likely was lost decades ago amid the wreckage of a crashed airliner. The chief commandant of the national police of Albertville, France, confirmed to NBC News that about a hundred small, precious stones were found in a metallic box in the ice caps known as Bossons. Commandant Sylvain Merly said the precious stones were separated in plastic bags that were stamped "Made in India." A local jeweler estimates the treasure to be worth between $175,000 and $325,000. The diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies are believed to have come from one of two Air India planes that crashed in the French Alps in 1950 and 1966. Locals are familiar with the story of the Boeing 707 belonging to Air India that mysteriously crashed in January 1966. The plane had departed Beirut, Lebanon, and was bound for Geneva when it lost control and struck Mont Blanc, the Alps' highest peak at 15,781 feet. One hundred-sixty-five people died in the crash, 16 years after another Air India plane crashed in the same area. The young male climber who stumbled across the lost treasure wishes to remain anonymous. French authorities must now contact their Indian peers to try to find the owners of the jewels. If no one claims the gems, they will be returned to the young Savoyard mountain climber. A diplomatic suitcase filled with documents was found in the area last month. Merly said as the ice caps change, debris from the plane crashes rises to the surface periodically. Skeletons of monkeys known to have been transported in the Air India crash have also been found in the past. Arnaud Christmann, another alpinist familiar with the area, is quoted in Le Figaro daily on-line as saying he feared the discovery would trigger "a gold rush" to the area. Access to the glacier is not difficult but remains dangerous, Christmann said. "Today, the crash site is like a dumping ground for the open sky." He asked "for some respect for the area" and regretted the "spirit of treasure hunters" that motivated some mountain climbers. NBC News
The News, December 2013

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Calendar of Events
December Meeting Wednesday, March 2. We will meet at the Pulliam Building in downtown Loveland at 7:00PM. Refer to the adjoining map for directions. Meeting Agenda 6:00 - 7:30 Set Up & Christmas Dinner 7:30 - 7:45 Business, Announcements 7:30 - 7:45 Break 7:45 - 9:00 "Find Of The Year Program Bring a Pot Luck meal to share and your 2013 finds to submit into the Find Of The Year Program

RMPTH DUES
RMPTH is an unincorporated Social Club with no income generated. All expenses are covered by $25 annual dues. Members are requested to consider minor donations at each monthly meeting to cover refreshments.

Visit RMPTH On The Internet At http://rmpth.com

MAP TO THE MEETING PLACE Pulliam Community Building 545 Cleveland Avenue, Loveland, Colorado

Directions: The Pulliam Community Building is situated on the west side of Cleveland Avenue in Loveland, Colorado. Park at the rear of the building (west side). Entry to the meeting room is from the doorway on the south side of the building (not the main entrance on Cleveland Avenue!).
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December 2013
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 8 15 22 29

2 9 16 23 30

3 10 17 24
Christmas Eve

4
RMPTH Club Meeting 6:00P

5 12
RMPTH Board Meeting 6:00P

6 13 20 27

7 14 21 28

11 18 25
Christmas Day

19 26

31
New Years Eve

January 2014
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1
New Years Day

2 9
RMPTH Board Meeting 6:00P

3 10 17 24 31

4 11 18 25

5 12 19 26

6 13 20 27

7 14 21 28

8
RMPTH Club Meeting 6:00P

15 22 29

16 23 30

The News, December 2013

Page 11

RMPTH Field Outing Statement

NOTE: The Coordinators and participants stay in touch and continue to review and plan upcoming presentations and outings for the year on a monthly basis. Our editor Rick Mattingly needs timely event information for each issue of The News. Please get information about any particular event to him by the 15th of the month to meet the printing deadline for the next issue. Planned trips, outings, activities, and meeting programs are in the newsletter and on line at the clubs website. Planning is a work in progress and additional outings and activities are added and sometimes deleted on an ongoing basis. Events planned in the upcoming month are emphasized to the attendees at the monthly meetings. Contact the Presentations Coordinators or Editor if you have any suggestions or ideas throughout the year for fieldtrips, outings, and programs. The best made plans may change at the last minute due to the illness of the Trail Boss, weather, land access, vehicles breaking down, wrong meeting sites, etc. Please be understanding of extenuating circumstances and contact the coordinator or Trail Boss of a specific event if there is any question of an event being cancelled or changed at the last minute.

Bear Gulch Gold

Buried treasure: Once-rich Bear Gulch may again produce gold October 21, 2013 BEAR GULCH Montana

ocks, rubble and what might be bat guano plug half the mouth of a tunnel three miles up this canyon in Granite County.

The skunky smell of packrat and who knows what all emanate from the other half, assuring that at least on one balmy day last week, whatever lurked back there in the darkness would remain a mystery. This is totally fresh history. You wont see it anywhere, said Dick Komberec, a modern-day gold miner from way back, as he peered into the depths. Hes owned these properties for most of the past decade, and in the spring of 2011 used an earthmover to open this end of the tunnel. He did it mostly out of curiosity, to puzzle why it was blasted through a mountain of rock in the first place. Komberec discovered not just a 320-foot-long hole too large to be a mining shaft, but a past that smelled of Victorian-age bankers, flashed of neon and money, and echoed to the curses of stooped miners known as Beartown Toughs. Its with an appropriate degree of whimsy that Komberec calls it the tunnel that built Las Vegas. Theres a chance William Andrews Clark never saw this hole. Busy elsewhere, he may have left its construction and operation to the legions of others who worked for him over a lifetime that lasted 86 years and ended in 1925. The polarizing Copper King raked in millions in the race to mine Butte in the late 19th century. Clark turned another pretty penny in 1905 when he, his brother J. Ross Clark and W.H. Bancroft auctioned off lots of a ranch on their new railroad line for what became the city of Las Vegas in Clark County, Nev. Clark and his family had palatial homes in Butte, on both coasts and in Europe. When he died in 1925, he was Rockefeller wealthy. The fortune is still being sorted through. The story of the $300 million estate his daughter, Huguette, left when she died in 2011 at the age of 104 danced through newspapers as recently as last month.
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"During 1869 a new rail line was being constructed west to Denver by the Kansas Pacific Railroad. At this time the railhead was mid-Kansas, about 225 miles east of Denver. During that year alone over 200,000 pounds of silver destined for London had been shipped from Colorado mines to the railheads of that line by wagons." - "Wells Fargo in Colorado Territory" by W. Turrentine Jackson

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The News, December 2013

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Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune, started hitting bookstores at about the same time. Bill Dedman, an investigative reporter for NBC News and co-author of the book, was in Missoula this weekend for the Montana Festival of the Book. But no one journalist, historian, archae-ologist or geologist has detailed the massive extent of Clarks gold mining operations in this gulch just 40 miles up the Clark (no relation) Fork River. Its part of the Bear Gulch history thats never talked about, Komberec said as he stood at the tunnel opening. But this actually is the main event. He makes the case that Clark and his Deer Lodge banking partner, Ed Larabie, financed construction of the tunnel as part of larger sluicing operation following the initial surge of mining here in the 1860s.

Until then it was just individuals out prospecting who had their little shafts and whatever and had to try to share water and get rid of the tailings, said Komberec, who lives below at Bearmouth and holds title to most of the Clark and Larabie properties of the 1800s. They had enough capital that they consolidated several miles of Bear Gulch and they put in a ground sluice, which means they dug down a long way to bedrock so they could drain it, he said. Then they made a big million-gallon reservoir and ditches and flumes. It took a lot of money to do that, and a lot of organization. The diggings from Beartown down to the river are narrow and deep, but rich when you get down to them. Deep is right, Dan Cushman wrote in Montana The Gold Frontier in 1973. Miners reached bedrock after digging 50 feet in Bear Gulch, just below the juncture of Deep Creek and First Chance Gulch.
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Absolute proof that Old Man Winter has arrived!

The News, December 2013 Page 13

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sented a challenge for panning and sluicing gold. In this case, they didnt have enough water to wash the big stuff separately or any room at that oxbow to stack it, Komberec said. They had to take the oversize through the tunnel to the downhill side, and the rest of it, the fines, went down around the corner of the oxbow with the water. Mining tunnels were maybe 5 feet wide with rounded tops and a downward slope for drainage. This one, when the blasting was done, was a dozen feet high, eight feet wide, with squared sides and top, said Komberec. The floor was lined with boards to accommodate mules that dragged the boulders through the tunnel on carts, wagons or sleds. Komberec said hes come across lots of donkey shoes at the other end, as well as other curiosities Smith minie balls, of the kind favored for Confederate firearms in the Civil War, and hundreds of chunks of iron ore, rare in this country, that were obviously sorted from the rest of the rubble but never hauled away. His (Clarks) foresight was unique. Nobody else would think of putting a tunnel through the mountain, Komberec said. And Clark, keen businessman that he was, wouldnt have gone to the expense of having such a tunnel built unless he knew it would be worth it. *** Long before his massive sluicing operation of the 1870s, Clark had a history in the Garnets. In 1865 he capitalized on the remoteness of the new mining camp of Reynolds City near the head of Elk Creek by opening a store and mining the miners. One of them, Col. G.W. Morse, told of being among a group of four men who snowshoed to Reynolds City from their mines a few miles away, dropping between $600 and $700, and hauling all the goods home on their backs. Clark got $38 a pair for gum boots, $18 for a pick, $12 for a shovel, and $4 for an ax. When things heated up at Beartown, on the other side of the mountain, he picked up and moved his merchandise there. His mercantile partner was Spanish-born Joaquin Abascal, who a decade later would marry Clarks younger sister, Lizzie, in Deer Lodge. Komberec has an old survey map that shows consolidated patented mining claims in the seven miles of Bear Gulch from Beartown down to Bearmouth. Abascals name is on holdings above the Oxbo Placer, which reaches to the top of the tunneled oxbow ridge. On the other (south) side of the oxbow is the Larabie placer.
(Continued on page 15) The News, December 2013

Fifty feet sounds small enough, Cushman said, until you peer down a 50-foot hole, or stand at the bottom and look up. The distance increased slowly down the creek and became 70 near the mouth, but there it met the water level of the Clark Fork Valley and could not be drained by methods then available, he wrote. The paystreak was so narrow, Cushman claimed, that in the old days shafts and horizontal drifts bumped up against the next ones. Traveling up Bear Gulch today, youre driving over the top of a continuous network of old underground shafts. Its said it was possible in the 1860s, before Clark and Larabie dug their bedrock sluice, to walk 10 miles up or down the Bear without coming to the surface. There are accounts of the bottom of Bear Gulch serving as a thoroughfare during periods of deep snow, Cushman wrote, men going below with a candle in the morning and walking steadily all day, down the rock bottom in a constant 40 degrees of warmth while the blizzard howled above, emerging at last in the winter evening almost at the Clark Fork. The way Komberec figures it, even as Clark was turning his attention to the fledgling silver quartz mines of Butte in the early 1870s that would lead to the fabulously rich copper deposits, he and Larabie were amping up operations on Bear Creek. They, or rather their workers, cleared 30 feet of earth down to bedrock to put in a ground sluice that stretched the equivalent of six football fields. *** As he drove the modern-day road north last week, Komberec imagined the scene from 140 years ago. You would have seen all those guys standing shoveling into sluice boxes, he said. There were probably crew bosses and maintenance men to keep the 4-foot-wide wooden sluices running. On the banks above others fed a steady diet of ore. Someone must have been regulating the flow of water from the acre pond at the top, signs of which Komberec can still point out a mile above the tunnel. Then there was the tunnel itself. The mines of Bear Creek as high up as Garnet have always been short of water. The stream itself is seasonal, which simplified digging and sinking shafts but prePage 14

(Continued from page 14)

The name of the administrator on an 1894 plat of the Oxbo Placer is hard to distinguish, but its followed by et al. Thats common on plats, Komberec said. Et al means the financiers behind it who dont want their identities known. Hes sure the et al in this case was Clark. Komberec, a retired commercial airline pilot, was just a teenager in Drummond in the early 1960s when a miner took him under his wing. Charlie Bonham instilled in him the lifelong passions of mining and flying, and helped Komberec pan his first gold in a gulch just above old Bear Town. Old Charlie started mining up here in 1917, and he told me I dont know how many times that this was William Clark the Copper Kings claim here at the tunnel, Komberec said. The scars that a dredging operation left starting in the late 1930s in the lower Bear are readily apparent from Interstate 90. Theyre in the form of tremendous mounds of rocks that line the gulch. Komberec said the dredge would have made it all the way up to the oxbow tunnel if World War II hadnt intervened. Some mining methods have a way of leaving the land topsy-turvy, especially when a powerful dredge digs below a creek to an unearthed gold wash downstream from the motherlode, reads a Bureau of Land Management interpretive panel overlooking the tailing heaps. *** The sign goes on to say that from 1939 to 1942, the Star Pointer Exploration Co. unearthed nearly 14,000 ounces of gold here. We know it was a little bit better than that, Komberec said. A report by the U.S. Assay Office in Helena in 1885 included the dwindling returns of the Bear Gulch diggings from Messrs Clark & Larabie,
(Continued on page 17)

Gold Glossary
MINING CLAIM - A section of land on which the mineral rights have been legally "claimed" for a certain period of time by an individual or group so that the gold or other valuable minerals can be mined without interference from other private parties.

Gold Facts
Symbol: AU Atomic Number: 79 Atomic Weight: 196.967 Melting Point: 1063 (1945 F) Specific Gravity: 19.2 MOHs Scale of Hardness: 2.5 - 3 Karat 24K = 100% Pure Gold 18K = 75% Pure Gold 14K = 58% Pure Gold 10K = 42% Pure Gold Troy Weights 1 grain = 0.0648 grams 24 grains = 1 penny weight (DWT) = 1.552 grams 20 DWT = 1 ounce = 480 grains = 31.10 grams

Rich Streets! The streets of Victor, Colo., are literally paved with gold. During the boom there was so much rich ore in the area that the low grade stuff was used to level out the streets. In 1936 the town raised $5,000 by "mining" the yard in front of the post office. Quoted from page 11 of the May 1997 issue of Lost Treasure magazine. The golden streets of Victor, From State Treasure Tales By Anthony J. Pallante.

YOUR ADVERTISEMENT COULD BE HERE! Call Rick Mattingly at 970-613-8968 or rickmatt@q.com

Page 15

The News, December 2013

Trading Post
FOR SALE: Tesoro Lobo Detector. Asking $300. And, Garrett GTI 2500 Detector, 2 coils, screen cover, travel bag, less than 5 hours use: $600. Contact Thomas at tmarschall47@gmail.com. FOR SALE: Jewelers propane/oxygen torch, many cabochons, beads and tools. Contact Ann at (970) 6667-3705. FOR SALE: Tekonsha Prodigy Trailer Brake Controller - 1 to 4 Axles - Proportional, Model 90185. High quality, popular brake controller at a great price. Proportional brake controller. Includes digital display, 3 boost levels, battery protection and continuous diagnostics. Easily transfer between different automobiles and using this brake controller it is simple and easy. Comes with mounting bracket, vinyl cover, and instructions. Requires separate purchase of proportional wiring adapter for your make and model tow vehicle that is available off the Internet. $45 includes shipping within the U.S. E-mail Nick Kerpchar at mtview4us@msn.com FOR SALE: A "MUST HAVE" T-Shirt for every Prospector and Treasure Hunter. Quality 100% cotton tees. See and order from: http://BestBlackandGold.com. FOR SALE: Minelab SD2200 Gold Nugget Metal Detector: 10-1/2" Mono Super Coil, 10-1/2" SD Series Super Coil, two batteries w/wall & car charger, headphones, backpack, waist battery pack, signal enhancer, extra lower stem, instruction booklet & video, carry case. Ready to go for the gold: $1900. Contact Paul at (970) 482-7846. FOR SALE: 5HP pump motor, Gold King 3" Hi-banker with dredge attachment w/adjustable stand, Gold Grabber Hibanker, 125 feet hose, Rock net and steel cable, misc. fittings and valves & large metal bucket. Prefer to sell all together for $1,350 but negotiable. Call Eric Stickland at (303) 833-6848 or estick@live.com. WANTED: Used lapidary equipment. Call Kathie 970-2211623 WANTED: Federal or state duck stamps; mint or used. Contact John Hart at (307) 778-3993. YELLOWSTONE FAREWELL Wyoming adventure novel. Diamonds, Gold, Volcanic activity, Prospecting. Factual geology; Fictional story. $18.00 + $4.00 S&H. Spur Ridge Enterprises, POB 1719, Laramie, WY 82073. Internet: http://yellowstonefarewell.com/

About Trading Post The News runs classified ads in Trading Post for three consecutive issues. Trading Post ads for topic related items up to 10 lines (or 70 words) long are free. To place an ad in Trading Post contact Rick Mattingly at (970) 613-8968 evenings or e-mail at: rickmatt@q.com Commercial Advertising Specifications (Monthly Donation Rate) Full Page (8 1/2" X 7") Half Page (3 1/4" X 7") One Third Page (3" X 4") Business Card (2 3/4" X 1 1/2") $30 $20 $15 $ 5

Ads must be received by the 15th of the preceding month. Contact Rick Mattingly for information on this service at (970) 613-6968 evenings or e-mail at: rickmatt@q.com.

All mistakes and misspellings were intentionally made so that you could have the pleasure of finding them.

NOTE: Purchase arrangements are between the buyer and seller only and involves no financial benefit to RMPTH.

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The News, December 2013

WEEKEND & SMALL-SCALE MINERS CODE OF ETHICS

I WILL respect other prospectors claims and not work those claims without the owners permission I WILL have on-site all necessary permits and licenses I WILL build fires in designated or safe places only, and in accordance with current State and Federal guidelines I WILL be careful with fuels and motor oils and be cognizant of their potential destructive effect on the environment I WILL remove and properly dispose of all trash and debris that I find - I will not litter I WILL be thoughtful, considerate and courteous to those around me at all time I WILL appreciate and protect our heritage of natural resources, wildlife, fisheries and private property, and respect all laws or ordinances governing prospecting and mining I WILL NOT remove stream bank material, destroy natural vegetation or woody debris dams, nor discharge excess silt into the waterways I WILL NOT refuel motorized equipment in the stream I WILL NOT allow oil from motorized equipment to drip onto the ground or into the water I WILL NOT prospect in areas closed to prospecting and mining

(Continued from page 15)

who purchased more than $100,000 in gold dust which was mainly shipped east. But the author, Spruille Braden, admitted, It is difficult to obtain accurate information of the production of precious metals in a territory so extensive as Montana, especially in the absence of any legal requirements to compel mine owners to make reports of their product. Its a problem that, for many reasons, has dogged mining regulators into the 21st century. Mind you these big companies had to give a certain percentage to the landowners, Komberec said. They were pretty shrewd about what they called net smelter return. Hes working with another Canadian company and the BLM on plans to rework these diggings with modern mining techniques. Hell remove the pilings and reclaim a stretch of the gulch starting at the first mile marker From here on up, based just on (Star Pointers) test drilling records, theres $50 million bucks worth of that placer gold in the next mile, he said. Its gold that not even William Clark had the wherewithal to recover. Another layer in the history of the Bear is about to begin. Mountain Standard News Butte, MT

Man . I hate when that happens!

Offer Your Assistance To Any Of Our Program Coordinators

The News, December 2013 Page 17

Rocky Mountain Prospectors and Treasure Hunters Club 2013 Schedule of Events
Month
January

Meeting Program
Bottle Hunting By Rick Mattingly
Relic Hunting By Tom Warne

Trip/Activity
No Trip/Activity Scheduled

February

No Trip/Activity Scheduled

March

South Pass, Wyoming History By Rick Mattingly

Colorado School of Mines Museum Tour Detecting Clinic at Lions Park Advertised and Open to the Public Wyoming Geologic Survey Tour & Diamond Prospecting Clinic Phoenix Mine & Argo Mill Tours Lets Go Gold Panning On The Arkansas Event Prospecting Clinic at Lions Park Advertised and Open to the Public Clear Creek Gold Outing GPS, Compass & Map Clinic Clear Creek Gold Outing Diamond Hunt Outing State Annual Gold Panning Championships

April

RMPTH Prospecting DVD Overview & Patent Searching By Rick Mattingly

May

Ghost Towns of the Rockies By Preethie Burkholder

June

Detecting England By Ed & Mia Edwards Burrows Cave By Russell Burrows GPAA Presentation By Rick Messina - President Casper Chapter GPAA and State Director

July

Butcher Knife Draw WY Gem Outing South Pass, Wyoming Gold & Detector Outing Eldora Ski Resort Detector Outing

August

Meteorite Hunting

Ames Monument Tour and Vedauwoo Detector Outing Vics Gold Panning Outing Annual Coin & Prize Hunt Denver Colorado Gem & Mineral Show Fort Laramie Wyoming Tour

September

Battery Facts By Batteries Plus

October

Gold & Silver Refining Presentation By David Emslie Annual Show & Tell & Silent Auction Annual Find of the Year Awards & Christmas Party

Off-Road Detector Outing

November

Local Detector Outing

December

Flatirons Mineral Club & Model Train Show

Good Hunting in 2013!

Page 18 The News, December 2013

Rocky Mountain Prospectors & Treasure Hunters Contact List

RMPTH Coordinators President Interim Vice President Treasurer Secretary Bud Yoder Shane Manenti Dick & Sharon French Heidi Short Home 1-970-590-9183 1-970-482-2110 1-970-532-1167 E-Mail bydu812@yahoo.com menentiwe2@msn.com dickyf99@centurylink.net heishort@gmail.com

The News Staff Editor-in-Chief Rick Mattingly 1-970-613-8968

rickmatt@q.com

Internet Web Site Web Master Volunteers/Coordinators Find of the Year Joe Johnston Betsy Emond Paul Mayhak Rick Mattingly Barbara Schuldt Barbara Schuldt Joe Johnston Bryan Morgan Darrell Koleber Bob Smith Shane Menenti Paul Mayhak Johnny Berndsen 1-303-696-6950 1-970-218-0290 1-970-482-7846 1-970-613-8968 1-970-407-1336 1-970-407-1336 1-303-696-6950 1-970-416-0608 1-970-669-2599 1-303-530-4375 1-970-590-9183 1-970-482-7846 1-970-667-1006 cjoej1@peoplepc.com pjmcolo@q.com Rick Mattingly 1-970-613-8968

rickmatt@q.com

Presentations Club Historian Club Meeting Greeter Club Librarian Panning Demos

rickmatt@q.com
cjoej1@peoplepc.com brymorg@frii.com gutshot1016@yahoo.com bob15smith@hotmail.com menentiwe2@msn.com pjmcolo@q.com

Meeting Setup

Door Prize

General Information Contact: Rick Mattingly at 1-970-613-8968

Visit RMPTH on the Internet at: http://rmpth.com

Lets Go For The Gold !

The News, December 2013 Page 19

The News
Rocky Mountain Prospectors & Treasure Hunters Club 278 Sierra Vista Drive Fort Collins, CO. 80524

DECEMBER, 2013 ISSUE