Rocky Mountain Prospectors & Treasure Hunters Newsletter

The News
v. 16, n. 4 April, 2012 Going for the Gold Visit RMPTH On The Internet At http://rmpth.com

Contents
1 2 6 7 8 8 9 10 11 12 12 14 16 18 19 Odd Things In Wrong Places About The News Silver Coin Cleaning Annual Prospecting & Detecting Clinic at Lions Park Dangerous Treasure Find Potato Creek Johnny Calendar of Events Calendars Street Panning Breckenridge Gold & Toms Baby Medieval Badge Find Trading Post 2012 Schedule of Events Contact List
How To Tie Your Boots

Odd Things In Wrong Places

s man digs and scrapes and drills into the mysterious earth, many surprising finds are made. It follows that mining and farming have been fruitful sources of curious finds in the past. We can feel strong regrets that as both occupations have become more and more mechanized, fewer and fewer finds of value for scientific study will occur. The following interesting items make two important points. If conventional dating is followed, ancient man seems to be far more ancient than he should be. In fact, he must have been thriving before he is supposed to have evolved. Second, ancient man was a very sophisticated person. There is no indication that his brain gradually evolved. Both of these conclusions, obviously, are completely opposite to evolutionary theory. One of the most prodigious lava flow in the history of the world occurred in the Pacific Northwest. The lava spread over an estimated 200,000 square miles in depths up to 5,000 feet. In 1972, a competent geologist stated that the eruptions took place a mere fifteen million years ago. Much of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and portions of neighboring states, was covered. The immense age of the deposit can easily be imagined by the fact that the Snake River has cut canyons through the deposit to depths of up to 3000 feet. Still, there are several curious things about this lava flow. Many competent observers have commented on the remarkable freshness of the deposit, as though the eruptions took place in very recent times. A startling find was made in 1889 near Nampa, Idaho. While workers were boring an artesian well, a small figurine of baked clay was extracted from a depth of 320 feet. Above the figurine, the drill, inside a 6-inch tubing, had cut through fifteen feet of basalt lava and many other strata. The find has never been challenged except to say that it was impossible. The conclusion is unmistakable. Before the basalt flowed, sophisticated humans lived in the area (Velikovsky, 1955, p.87; Pensee , May 1972, 2:2, p.18). Ancient men lived in California.
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If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. -- Mark Twain

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. Persons wishing to receive the newsletter in hardcopy, mailed format are required to provide the amount of $24 per year required to print and mail. Otherwise, no annual dues are charged as the social club functions strictly by donation.

he News is the official newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Prospectors and Treasure Hunters Club (RMPTH): our mailing address is P.O. Box 271863, Fort Collins, CO. 80527-1863. 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.

What have we learned in 2,064 years?

So here it is. "The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest our government become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." - Cicero - 55 BC So, evidently nothing. Thanks to Mike Mehaffey
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They worked the hardest stones, fabricated perfect granite mortars and dishes, used a circular, skillet-like vessel made of lava, hard as iron, which had three legs and a spout, made polished stone axes with perfect holes drilled in them for a handle, and fashioned ladles, disks or quoits. They were able to bore into the bowels of mountains for gold and silver. One ancient shaft was drilled 210 feet down into solid rock. An altar for worship was found there. Other finds include the following: a mortar for grinding gold ore at a depth of 300 feet in a mining tunnel, a mortar and pestle weighing 30 pounds, beads, perforated stones, a 40-pound oval granite dish. One human skull was found at a depth of 130 feet under five beds of lava and tufa separated by layers of gravel. Man came before the lava flowed, and deep canyons have been cut by rivers since the lava spread. An amazing number of stone relics have been found. The finding are almost always in gold-bearing rock or gravels (Victoria Institute , 1879, 15:193-198). A California newspaper reported the find of an elaborately carved rock and other worked stones weighing up to 800 pounds which had been found in hydraulic operations hundreds of feet underground. The original site was an ancient river bed dated long before the last Ice Age (Edward, 1964, p.109). Nothing describes what has been discovered in California quite as well as Job 28 (TEV). Similar locations have been studied in many parts of the world. Read this detailed and sophisticated memory of what mining in ancient times was like. Far from where anyone lives or human feet ever travel, men dig the shafts of mines. There they work in loneliness, clinging to ropes in the pits. There are mines where silver is dug. There are places where gold is refined. Men dig iron out of the ground and melt copper out of the stones. Men explore the deepest darkness. They search the depths of the earth and dig for rocks in the darkness. Food grows out of the earth, but underneath the same earth all is torn up and crushed. The stones of the earth contain sapphires, and the dust contains gold. No hawk sees the roads to the mines, and no vulture ever flies over them. No lion or other fierce beast ever travels those lonely roads. Men dig the hardest rocks, dig mountains away at their base. As they tunnel through the rock, they discover precious stones. They dig to the sources of rivers and bring to light what is hidden. The value of wisdom is more than coral, or crystal, or rubies, or the finest topaz and the purest gold. In the museum at Moses Lake, Washington, are some very crude scrapers on exhibit which were found under a glacial morain. This would appear to date man in Washington to a time before the Pleistocene epoch, which scientists are reluctant to do. A similar discovery was made near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Crude choppers and scrapers of quartzite were found deep in the earth and had been tumbled and mixed in glacial till. Again this is evidence that
The News, April 2012

man lived there before the glacial advance. Scientists do not want to put man in America that long ago (Folsom, 1971, p.70; p.184). Such finds are no problem for creationists who see no conflict for such finds within a biblical time framework. A strange account comes from the little village of Plateau City, Colorado, a short distance east of Grand Junction. A resident was digging a cellar in 1936. At a depth of ten feet he found paved tile laid in some kind of mortar, different from any other construction in the valley. While the tiles are dated anywhere from 20,000 to 80,000 years old, they lie in a Miocene formation, which could make it up to 25,000,000 years old by conventional dating (Edward, 1962, p.100-101). In 1871 near Chillicothe, Illinois, well drillers brought up a bronze coin from a depth of 114 feet. This remarkable discovery was described in the Proceedings of the American Philosophic Society . This is additional evidence that man had been present there. Rapid change of the terrain is also indicated (Edwards, 1962, p.101). Heizer notes a number of impossibilities according to commonly accepted geological dating: a hyena tooth sawed by a flint before it became fossilized, cutting operations on the fossilized bone of an extinct rhinoceros and on other animals at a site near Paris, and evidence of the use of a sharp tool on the horn of fossilized rhino remains in Ireland. Under the surface of the North Sea the trunk of an oak was removed from a long submerged forest. The trunk showed the marks of a hatchet on it. (Heizer, 1962, p.107114). Should "age" depend on where you find it? Conventional theory has early hunters migrating from Asia to America. One of the best known early projectile points is the Folsom point, and the identical pattern is found both in China and over much of America. It is of particular interest that this point is dated as early as 10,000 B.C. in America, but no earlier than 2000 B.C. in China (Mertz, 1972, p.99). Theory, however, requires the points in China to be older. Conventional dating places the formation of many coal deposits at about 300,000,000 years ago. Other coal formation took place in Tertiary times. Man, of course, according to evolutionary theory did not 'emerge' until several million years ago. From time to time, some very odd things have been reported in coal. Modern methods of coal mining make other similar finds unlikely today. The following reports have stirred considerable question and debate: In 1885 at a foundry belonging to Isidor Braun of Vocklabruck, Austria, a block of coal was broken up. Out of it fell a small iron or steel cube with a deep incision around it and with the edges rounded on two faces. Some who examined it concluded that only human hands could have made the object. The son of the owner later took it to the Linz
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Museum in Austria, but later it was lost. A cast of the cube, however, is still kept by the museum. The debate was never closed. One authority in 1886 held it to be an iron meteorite. Unfortunately there is no longer a way to verify that the object was actually encased in brown coal. Some hold that it is merely a cast iron object which may have originated in the foundry where it was discovered (Thomas, 1971, p.28-29). In 1912, some coal mined near Wilburton, Oklahoma, revealed a mystery which has still not been solved. Two employees of the Municipal Electric Plant, Thomas, Oklahoma, came upon a solid chunk of coal too large for the furnace. They broke it up with a sledge. An iron pot fell from the center where it had left an impression or mold in the piece of coal. An affidavit was made out by the two witnesses, and the pot was photographed. Many persons examined this strange object. After the exhibitor died, the pot was disposed of in some way and is now lost. The proceedings of a society of antiquities, Scotland, reported a similar strange discovery. An iron instrument had been found in the heart of a piece of coal from a mine in Scotland. The instrument was considered to be modern, but there was no sign of boring in the piece of coal. Some years ago Henry Morris reported that he had interviewed a coal miner in West Virginia who had excavated a perfectly formed human leg turned into coal. Years before in the same general area another party of miners unearthed a well-constructed concrete building. Not enough information exists to evaluate these supposed finds (CRSQ , 1970, 7:4, p.201; 1968, 5:4, p.147; Fort, 1941, p.127-128). In the collection of the Freiberg Mining Academy, Germany, was an object supposed to be a fossilized human skull in brown coal, first described in 1842, before Darwin's book on the origin of species. The specific source of the 'skull' is unknown. While the object is frequently labeled as a fake, the early date of its description is in its favor. A scientist in Germany referred to it as a puzzling human skull a few decades ago. The matter is still an open question, but the problem is that it was found in a formation too old for it by conventional dating assumptions (CRSQ , 1968, 5:4, p.132). Other strange things have been reported found in rocks. For example, a nail was reported by David Brewster in a sandstone block from the Mesozoic Era. Another report indicates that it was discovered in Old Red Sandstone of Devonian age. In a report of the British Association, 18451851, it was stated that a nail was found in a block of stone from the Kingoodie Quarry, Scotland. The block was nine inches thick and came from below the surface. The point of the nail projected into some till and was quite eaten with rust, but the last inch, including the head, was
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- Warning If you don't go prospecting or detecting within the next 5 minutes, your belly button will unscrew and your butt will fall off.
Gold Glossary
Bucket Line Dredge - Unlike the modern, small scale dredges; a bucket line dredge was very large. Instead of sucking up water and gravel through the use of water pressure, the bucket line dredges would scoop it up and run it through a long sluice box. Only 10 cents of gold was needed for each square yard of material to make a profit back when these dredges were common in the 1890s and on into the early 1900s.

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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embedded in the stone (Charroux, 1970, p.181); Fort, 1941, p.131). Workmen quarrying rock near Tweed below Rutherford Mills discovered a gold thread embedded in stone at a depth of eight feet. A piece of this object was sent to the office of the Kelso Chronicle in that district (Fort, 1941, p.130). A report was carried in Scientific American that in June, 1851, workmen were blasting near Dorchester, Massachusetts. Cast out from a bed of solid rock was a bell-shaped metal vessel. A photo of the vessel, with inlaid floral designs in silver, showed a remarkably high degree of craftsmanship (Fort, 1941, p.128). In the sixteenth century, Spanish conquistadors came across an iron nail about six inches long solidly encrusted in rock in a Peruvian mine. The rock was estimated to be tens of thousands of years old. Iron was unknown to the Indians there. The Spanish Viceroy kept the mysterious nail in his study as a souvenir, and the account of this find was recorded by letter in the Madrid Archives, 1572. Another odd report in the London Times , 1851, stated that Hiram de Witt found a piece of gold-bearing quartz in California. When it was accidentally dropped, an iron nail with a perfect head was found inside (Thomas, 1971, p.29). Many of these curious reports cannot be verified to our satisfaction today. The reports seem to this observer, however, to be too varied and widespread to be nothing but hoaxes. In this section again, we see many reasons to respect the sophistication of men who lived long ago. The concept of a young earth here too fits well with the kind of finds that have been made.

Little Facts: In 1890, billfolds came into fashion in America. What did men use prior to 1890? Purses. There was less chance of losing one's coins. Ever wonder why some coins have ridges on their side? The penny and the nickel do not have ridges because they were made of less valuable metals. The dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar have ridges because they were made of silver. People use to shave off the silver on coins to accumulate a valuable metal. The ridges would help reveal if someone had shaved off some metal of a coin. From The Silver Dollar News North Coast Historical Recovery Association

Refreshment Volunteers
AprilAnson Owens MayAnne Nichols & Ray McGehee June Need Volunteer! JulyEd & Mia Edwards August Rick Mattingly SeptemberDick & Sharon French OctoberJohnny & Jeanne Berndsen November Barb Schuldt 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 Paul Lange or Rick Mattingly to plan a club field outing event.

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Silver Coin Cleaning

wire and the coins are clamped in the jaws the coin just gets covered by the water. If I remember right, the negative terminal gets attached to the butter dish or what ever you have in the bottom, and the positive goes on the top wire. You must look for the small bubbles coming off of the coin. That will signal the right connection. Don't let the wire touch the water, only the stainless steel. If the dirt and residue start to cling onto the butter dish then you are ok, if not, switch wires. I use two teaspoons of soda ash in the water to speed up the process. The soda ash is the same kind as used for spas to increase the pH. NOT BAKING SODA! This is a fairly slow process. Don't try to rush it! But don't leave it unattended for long! You will need to turn the coin every few minutes. You should take the coin out and rub it between your fingers with a paste of baking soda and water. If you have a coin that you think could be worth a lot of money, HAVE IT CLEANED BY A PROFESSIONAL, don't take any chances! Good luck! Larry Beatson, Past President Treasure Coast Archeological Society http://www.tcas.us/tcasclean.htm

he following is a method of cleaning silver coins that is probably the best way possible to preserve the value of your find. Use at your own risk!! It is only being provided to you on this page for informational purposes. (That's the disclaimer) Neither the author of this page or the author of the following procedure makes any guarantees or will be held responsible for any damage done by using this procedure. There are many different methods of electrolysis. This is the one that works for me. I even use this method on Spanish reales that I find. I think it is one of the safest IF USED CORRECTLY! This method of electrolysis actually expels most of the salt & minerals absorbed by the silver. You'll need the following items: A plastic bucket--I use a one gallon bucket Some very heavy stainless steel wire (about the same thickness as a coat hanger) Some sort of plate or even a knife blade (I used a butter dish at first) A few (maybe three) plastic clothes pins. A power supply--I use an AC adaptor with 120 volt AC 60 Hz 2watt input and 9volt 100milliamp output. (Too much output power will cook your coins quickly, and only in one spot.) Two alligator clips Make a small hole in each side of the bucket, about a half inch down. Place the wire through and bend each side so it won't come out. Then you bend the knife blade, butter dish or whatever you have (it has to be stainless steel!!) so it will be down near the bottom of the bucket. A bit of it has to stick up enough so you can hook a wire clamp to it. I drilled a hole in each end of my clothes pin and fashioned a piece of wire into a hook at the top, and on the bottom (with the same piece of wire) bent it so when a coin is clipped in it's grasp it touches the wire. Attach the alligator clips to the wire ends. Now you can put some water in the bucket so that when the cloths pins are hung on the
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Breckenridge Gold History

In the Breckenridge or Blue River district, including the upper valley of the Blue River between the Front Range on the East and the Tenmile Range on the West had a total production of 1,000,000 gold ounces of which 735,000 ounces came from placer deposits. In all regional stream channels, gulches, benches, etc. you can find placers. East and northeast of town, in area of about 5 square miles, there are many lead-silver mines that produced a by-product gold. In Georgia Gulch, on North side of Farncomb Hill, rich area placers discovered in 1859, area lode mines, discovered in 1880, especially the Wellington Mine, chief producer, it was so rich in native gold that pockets supplied collectors and museums throughout the world with specimens of wire and leaf gold. Along the Swan and Blue rivers, many deep placers worked by dredges after 1900.

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Dangerous Treasure Find

Treasure Hunter Finds Briefcase Full Of Dynamite
Donna Rossi Reporter, KPHO CBS 5 News June 1, 2011 MESA, Ariz. -man was treasure hunting in the Arizona desert when he came across a briefcase filled with dynamite, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said. Jeremy Ellinger was headed toward Bulldog Canyon near the Salt River using a metal detector when he found the briefcase buried under a stack of boulders. The briefcase was locked so Ellinger took it home to his trailer near Ellsworth Road and Main Street in Mesa. "I was thinking it was full of cash or money so I ran home with it. I was so nervous that someone else would come by and see that I found a briefcase out there and so all the nerves in me said to get it in the truck and leave," said Ellinger. When he pried open the briefcase, he initially only saw old newspapers. "I started peeling apart some of the newspaper and then saw a few items wrapped in the newspaper. Once I got it fully open, I saw the actual stick of dynamite in there and there was about six bags like that wrapped up in there," said Ellinger. The treasure hunter said he got scared and wasn't sure what to do. He just knew he wanted it out of the house. Maricopa County sheriff's deputies were called to the scene. Bomb technicians brought out special equipment to handle the briefcase. "It does appear to be explosives from the late 70s early 80's that have been sitting out there for a while in this
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suitcase. So, it could be extremely volatile," said MCSO Ofc. Chris Hegstrom. About twenty-five people were evacuated from the trailer park while the bomb squad put the briefcase in a special explosives trailer and hauled it away to be destroyed. Ellinger said he plans to continue his prospecting in the desert. He even runs a prospecting website. "I go out there just to have fun. Its really the thrill of the hunt, never knowing what youll find, as you can see," said Ellinger.

Potato Creek Johnny

otato Creek Johnnys real name was John Perrett. In 1883, when he was 17, he immigrated to the Black Hills from Wales. Potato Creek Johnny had various jobs in the area but at 25 decided that he would become a gold prospector. He began a claim on Potato Creek (part of Spearfish Creek), which gave him his nickname and eventually led to his claim to fame. In 1929, Potato Creek Johnny made history when he purportedly found one of the largest gold nuggets in the Black Hills. The weight of the leg-shaped nugget was 73/4 troy ounces. In later years W.E. Adams bought the nugget for $250 and put it on display in the Adams Museum. A replica of the nugget is on display at the Adams Museum and the original is stored in the museum safe deposit box. The nugget made Potato Creek Johnny famous in Deadwood and in the late 1930s, early 1940s visitors would watch Johnny pan gold, hear him tell tales, get his autograph, or visit him at his cabin on Potato Creek. He was a particularly big attraction for children because Johnny was only 4 feet 3 inches tall. Potato Creek Johnny died at the age of 77 in Deadwood in February 1943. The funeral procession passed by the Adams Museum and carillon chimes tolled 77 times. Potato Creek Johnny is buried at Mt. Moriah Cemetery alongside Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

The News, April 2012

How To Tie Your Boots For Gold Hunting

By Rod January 5, 2012

1880's Placer Mining

Below is a link to a 64 page document about placer mining from around the 1880s. It has information on the placer gold mines operating at the time in twelve states and the Dakota Territory. If there was a paying gold mine in a given area in 1880 thats a great area for you to prospect today. The document also points out where gold miners might come across diamonds, rubies, and other precious minerals. Heres the LINK. http://www.gold-prospecting-equipment.net/ category/colorado-mining/

Tie Your Gold Hunting Boots

ow I know some of you are thinking, what the? Seriously, tying your boots right just might save your life. Im not going to say the rabbit goes around the hole, then he. Think about it, every time we go hiking we walk some very uneven surfaces and most of us either carry our pick in our hand, over our shoulder or on a belt attachment. Ive seen someone fall on their pick and believe me, you do not want to be that guy. And if the terrain is not enough of a concern, think about how one trip could send you down an old shaft. So how do you tie your boots properly? Double knot them, then shove the knot deep within the laces or boot, thats how I do it and knock on wood, its never failed. Sometimes its the little things. As always, Good Luck and Happy Hunting! Arizona Gold Prospectors http://www.arizonagoldprospectors.com/2012/01/howto-tie-your-boots-for-gold-hunting/ EdCommon sense does pay off!

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Calendar of Events
April Meeting Wednesday, April 4. We will meet at the Pulliam Building in downtown Loveland at 7:00PM. Refer to the adjoining map for directions. Meeting Agenda 6:00 - 7:00 Planning & Social Hour 7:00 - 7:30 Business, Announcements & Find of the Month Program 7:30 - 7:45 Break 7:45 - 9:00 "Found Explosives Safety Presentation" by Rick Mattingly. Come to the meeting and learn what NOT to pick up out in the field.

RMPTH DUES
RMPTH is an unincorporated Social Club with no income generated. All expenses are covered by donation. Members are requested to consider donating a minimum of $1.00 at each monthly meeting to cover club expenses.

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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April 2012
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1
Palm Sunday April Fools Day

2 9 16 23 30

3 10 17 24

4
RMPTH Planning Session 6:00P RMPTH Meeting 7:00P

5 12 19 26

6
Good Friday

7 14
Berkely Lake Detector Outing

8
Easter Sunday

11 18 25

13 20 27

15 22 29

21 28
Prospecting, Detecting & More Clinic at Lions Park

May 2012
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 6 13
Mothers Day GPOC Lets Go Gold Panning

2
RMPTH Planning Session 6:00P RMPTH Meeting 7:00P

3 10 17 24 31

4 11 18 25

5
Keota Ghost Town Outing

7 14 21 28
Memorial Day

8 15 22 29

9 16 23 30

12
GPOC Lets Go Gold Panning

19
Armed Forces Day

20 27
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26
Clear Creek Gold Outing

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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.

Street Panning
U.S. man digging through sidewalk discovers treasure worth $819 From ANI New York, June 20, 2011 man from Queens, New York, leaves onlookers stunned as he hunts out bits of diamonds, rubies, platinum and gold from the sidewalk cracks of Midtown's Diamond District. Raffi Stepanian, 43, of Whitestone, comes armed with tweezers and a butter knife, and pans" the precious particles like an old-fashioned prospector-by hand, in a small metal basin with water and a strainer. "The streets of 47th Street are literally paved with gold," Stepanian told the New York Post last week. The freelance diamond setter explained that he was sifting through "very valuable" New York City mud for tiny diamond and ruby chips, bits of platinum, whitegold industrial loops for jewelry assembly, and gold earring backs and loops from broken chains, watches, broaches and necklaces - all carelessly dropped. Over six days, he says, he collected enough gold for two sales totaling 819 dollars on 47th Street where he first got the idea to mine the sidewalks after finding gold scraps on the floor of a diamond exchange."

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:

Breckenridge Gold & Tom's Baby

by Johnny Walker

SPECIAL OFFER FREE MINERAL SPECIMEN http://college.earthscienceeducation.net/ MINPET/MINID.pdf

reckenridge started as a small mining camp in 1859, and at the peak of the gold rush was named after then Vice-President John Cabell Breckinridge to guarantee a post office for the town. They later changed the spelling to Breckenridge after the politician joined the Southern Confederate Army in the Civil War.
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In 1887, Breckenridge became famous for the find of the largest gold nugget in Colorado, the 13-pound "Tom's Baby". On July 23, 1887, the largest gold nugget ever found in the State of Colorado was discovered in Breckenridge. Tom Groves walked into the town cradling the blanket wrapped bundle in his arms, and it was appropriately named "Tom's Baby", weighing in at 13.5 lbs. Three days later the nugget was sent to Denver via train...it then disappeared for 85 years. Rumors surrounding the nugget's 85 years of freedom are abundant, including that it was shown at the Smithsonian, the Peabody Museum, Harvard University and Chicago's Field Museum, but none could be verified. Tom's Baby was essentially kidnapped. In 1972, the Colorado State Historical Museum was prodded into examining gold specimens that had been deposited in a Denver bank in 1926. Sure enough,

Tom's Baby was found, but over 5 lbs are still missing. Breckenridge is just over the hill from South Park. Geologists have made the statement "These gold fields contain more gold than has been taken out by all the mining done over the last 120 years."

http://www.coloradovacation.com/history/ tomsbaby.html

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Medieval Badge Find

Badge dug up in field is medieval treasure Maev Kennedy guardian.co.uk, Monday 20 June 2011

rian coins, but returned with the blessing of the landowner for a sweep with his new more high-powered metal detector. "I knew immediately she was something special," he said. "I think she was hidden deliberately she was folded over, not damaged by a plough strike in any way. It is extraordinary and moving to think how much history is locked up in this little piece of metal." Although a church in Cologne holds her shrine and a whole chapel still decorated with the supposed bones of her companions, there were so many bones that the relics spread across Europe and beyond. Some of the most beautiful reliquaries, life sized busts of fashionably dressed young women, were made to hold the bones. The badge from Lancashire is a representation of just such a shrine - and so close in style and early 16th century date that it may come from the same Bruges workshop as the one in the exhibition on loan from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The Metropolitan reliquary, of a gently smiling young woman with her hair in a modish plaited style, is so alluring it has become the exhibition poster. The badge would have been bought as a souvenir by the Lancashire pilgrim from just such a shrine.

crap of twisted silver found by metal detector in Lancashire will be part of British Museum's exhibition of reliquaries.

A scrap of twisted silver found a few weeks ago by a metal detector in Lancashire will take its place among masterpieces of medieval art at the British Museum, in an exhibition opening this week of the bejewelled shrines made to hold the relics of saints and martyrs. The badge made of silver found by Paul King, a retired logistics expert, is a humble object to earn a place in an exhibition called Treasures of Heaven, but it is unique. It will sit among gold and silver reliquaries studded with gems the size of thumbnails or the sockets from which they were wrenched by thieves once owned by emperors, popes and princes.

The badge, the only one of its kind ever found in Britain, provides a link British Museum cura500 years ago between tor James Robinson Silver badge of one of St Ursula's companions, found in Lancashire. this corner of rural Lansaid he was "beside cashire and the great pilmyself with excitement" when he saw an image of the grimage sites of mainland Europe. It shows one of the find. "To be honest if I hadn't been working on the companions of St Ursula, one of the most popular exhibition it might have taken me a while to clock it mystical legends of medieval Europe. She was said to as it is I recognised her immediately as one of the be a British princess who sailed with 11,000 virgin companions of St Ursula. I hesitate to call it a miracompanions to marry a pagan prince in Brittany, but cle, but it is a most extraordinary coincidence that diverted to go on a pilgrimage to Rome and in some this should turn up just at this time." versions of the story, Jerusalem. After many adventures they came to Cologne, where all were slaughtered by Hun tribesmen. When a large cemetery of Roman era bones was found in the city in the 11th century, they were declared the remains of the saint and her companions, and her cult spread across Europe. King, a member of the South Ribble metal detecting club, found the silver plaque at the end of April in a field some miles from his home in Walton-le-Dale, where he had already found several hundred VictoPage 14

He believes it is even possible that a similar reliquary may have been the centre of a shrine in Britain, destroyed as the cult of relics was condemned as idolatrous and blasphemous by religious reformers. "The badge may be the only fragile, ephemeral piece of evidence for a cult of St Ursula in the north of England, that might have had at its centre a bust reliquary of continental manufacture."
(Continued on page 15) The News, April 2012

(Continued from page 14)

The exhibition will include reliquaries which the faithful believed once held the breast milk of the Virgin Mary, the umbilical cord of the baby Jesus, the arm of Saint Luke - holding a golden pen to symbolize the gospels he wrote - and many still containing fragments of wood claimed to come from the cross on which Christ died. A carved icon of the Virgin which according to tradition was taken from the neck of the dead emperor Charlemagne, was one of the treasures of Aachen cathedral until it was given as present to Napoleon's Josephine. Some of the loans have never before left the churches or villages where they have been venerated for centuries. Many were believed to have miraculous powers, and made the places that held them wealthy pilgrimage sites - as Canterbury cathedral was for the relics of the martyred Thomas a Becket, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain remains to this day. King, who has always been interested in history and spends days researching his finds in museums and archives, reported it under the Portable Antiquities scheme which encourages metal detectors to report all their archaeological finds, but she proved to be silver and so legally treasure which must be reported. When valued - the price will be shared between King and the landowner - Robinson hopes the British Museum will acquire her to find a permanent resting place in its medieval galleries.

Gold Glossary
Alluvial Or Bench Deposits - An alluvial deposit is an ancient river-washed rock and gravel bar that may be thousands of feet from the nearest stream, creek, or river. Alluvial (or bench) deposits contain untapped potential for finding gold because such areas have never been worked before.

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

Whites DFX

Always get permission first!

The News, April 2012

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

Page 15

Trading Post
FOR SALE: Whites GMT Gold Detector. Extra battery case. $600 Firm. Call Paul at (970) 482-7846. WANTED: Silver coins - all dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars dated 1964 and before. I will pay 18x face value for silver coins. $1.80 for dimes, $4.50 for quarters, $9.00 for halves and $18.00 for dollars. Bring your coins to the next RMPTH meeting or contact me by phone. Contact Zach at (970) 308-8391. WANTED: Used lapidary equipment. Call Kathie 970221-1623 FOR SALE: Keene High Banker, includes stand, hose and 5 HP Briggs and Stratton pump. Great condition, $900.00 or Best Offer. Contact Cindy Bone at (970) 669-8247. FOR SALE: Prospecting equipment: 4" Dredge and more plus Whites VSAT Gold Detector. Contact Homer at (970) 224-4244 WANTED: Federal or state duck stamps; mint or used. Contact John Hart at (307) 778-3993. NOTE: Purchase arrangements are between the buyer and seller only and involves no financial benefit to RMPTH.
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.
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. -- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
Page 16 The News, April 2012

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
Double-jack hand drilling contest at Fourth of July celebration, Victor, Colorado 1890. One man holds the drill bit and his partner swings the sledge. This method was used to drill blasting holes in the rock while mining. The only thing that could possibly make this more exciting would be doing it by the flickering light of mining candles in the mine! If you value your hands or head better hope your sledge partner is your close buddy!

Montana Gold! Offer Your Assistance To Any Of Our Program Coordinators

The News, April 2012 Page 17

Rocky Mountain Prospectors and Treasure Hunters Club 2012 Schedule of Events
Month
January

Meeting Program
East Coast Silver Treasure Find Berkely Lake Detecting
Gold Wheel Recovery Systems Presentation By Darrell Koleber

Trip/Activity
No Trip/Activity Scheduled

February

No Trip/Activity Scheduled

March

Historic Gold Scale Presentation

GPS, Compass & Map Clinic

April

Found Explosives Safety Presentation

Prospecting, Detecting & More Clinic at Lions Park Advertised and Open to the Public Berkely Lake Detector Outing GPOC Lets Go Gold Panning On The Arkansas Event Clear Creek Gold Outing Keota Ghost Town Outing

May

Gold and Platinum in Wyoming By Wayne Sutherland, WGS

June

Detecting Presentation By Tom Warne & Rick Mattingly

Eldora Ski Resort Detector Outing

July

Spanish Treasure Trails Presentation

Teller City Ghost Town Tour North Park Sand Dunes Tour Eldora Ski Resort Detector Outing Ames Monument Tour and Vedauwoo Detector Outing Lucite Hills Gem Outing Vics Gold Panning Outing Annual Coin & Prize Hunt Colorado Mineral & Fossil ShowDenver Off-Road Detector Outing

August

Gold Refining Presentation By David Emslie

September

Cripple Creek Historic Video By Johnny Berndsen

October

Railhead Camp Presentation By Rick Mattingly

Off-Road Detector Outing

November

Annual Show & Tell & Silent Auction Annual Find of the Year Awards & Christmas Party

Local Detector Outing

December

Flatirons Mineral Club & Model Train Show

Good Hunting in 2012!

Page 18 The News, April 2012

Rocky Mountain Prospectors & Treasure Hunters Contact List

RMPTH Coordinators Coordinator Coordinator Coordinator Coordinator Paul Lange Robert Crain Bryan Morgan Rick Mattingly Home 1-970-663-5776 1-970-484-6488 1-970-416-0608 1-970-613-8968 E-Mail plange50@msn.com brymorg@frii.com rickmatt@q.com

The News Staff Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor Rick Mattingly Dick French 1-970-613-8968 1-970-482-2110

rickmatt@q.com
dickyf99@comcast.net

Internet Web Site Web Master Volunteers/Coordinators Find of the Month Joe Johnston Betsy Emond Paul Mayhak Paul Lange Johnny Berndsen Peggy Stumpf Joe Johnston Bryan Morgan Darrell Koleber Volunteer Needed! Tom Warne Jacob Wootton Johnny Berndsen 1-303-696-6950 1-970-218-0290 1-970-482-7846 1-970-663-5776 1-970-667-1006 1-307-632-9945 1-303-696-6950 1-970-416-0608 1-970-669-2599 1-970-635-0773 1-970-980-6016 1-970-667-1006 cjoej1@peoplepc.com pjmcolo@q.com plange50@msn.com johnnyberndsen.com circlestar@yahoo.com cjoej1@peoplepc.com brymorg@frii.com gutshot1016@yahoo.com goldigger48@msn.com jacob-wootton@yahoo.com Rick Mattingly 1-970-613-8968

rickmatt@q.com

Presentations Club Historian Club Librarian Panning Demos Setup & Refreshments 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, April 2012 Page 19

The News
Rocky Mountain Prospectors & Treasure Hunters Club P.O. Box 271863 Fort Collins, CO. 80527-1863

APRIL, 2012 ISSUE