The New Portal

The New portal

Linc wondered, now what? After the last portal experience, he was a
bit leery about getting into another close call type of portal, so he
just looked through the portal first. He couldn't see anything, so he
took a step through, and stood there in front of the portal. He could
see a bunch of the same small air cars here too. Was this portal
another opening to Peru, he wondered.
He couldn't see what was going on, so he took another step away from
the portal. He could see that he was on a hill above a plateau, where
a big black pyramid was being built. He saw what looked like sleds or
barges, being pushed around by some flying cars that were a bit larger
than the little ones flitting around, and they looked like they had
big bumpers on them. The barges were loaded with huge black stones,
that looked like lava. The cars were taking the barges up to the
pyramid, putting one end next to the stone that was already in place,
lifting the back end of the barge, and sliding the new stone into
place. Linc could see that there were barges all lined up. Ready to
unload their stones as well. Linc looked off to the right and saw that
the plateau was next to an ocean. He took his GPS out to see where he
was. Sure enough, he was back in Peru again.
Linc searched his memory for any thing about black pyramids. He
couldn't remember reading about any. He knew he couldn't go to the
future, so when was this time period he was in now? Everything was so
strange. Was this the same way all the pyramids were made? Were they
all made by the same people? Who are these people, and where did
they come from? When did all this construction take place?
All of a sudden one of the cars flew over his head from behind, then
it turned around and stopped, and came back to where he was. Stayed
there a bit, then shot off toward the pyramid. A few minutes later
another car came back up the hill toward him. This car had a big blue
bumper on it, that had a row of blue pulsating light on it. It
stopped about twenty feet in front of him at first, then came closer
and dropped almost to the ground in front of him. Linc saw that Angel
had turned and went back through the portal. Linc took a step back,
then turned and dove through the portal. A blast of air, sent him
colliding into the truck. Darn it he thought as he rubbed his
shoulder. This is getting to be a real pain, going through a portal.
You never know what to expect.
Linc went and sat by the fire pit and rubbed his leg, where it hit the
truck. Angel put the paw up on his leg so he petted her and told her
he was glad she went through the portal first. He said the heck with
it, he decided to not bother with a fire, since he was out of sight
unless someone drove up this road. He locked the truck, took the tote
with all the rocks he had collected that day and went to the retreat.
He filled the Jacuzzi tub and climbed in to soak his bruised body.
After a half hour or so he got out and fixed them some supper.
After cleanup, he placed all the rocks from the tote on the patio
table to clean up in the morning, then went to bed.
The next morning he woke before the coffeepot came on. He went out
with Angel and sat in the sun that was just coming up.
After a cup of coffee he started cleaning up the rocks. He had some
nice ones for his collection. He was thinking about turning one of
the rooms in the cave into a showroom for them. He put them back into
the tote to take down to the cave later.
Linc went into the office to process all of the latest data he had for
the specimens he had for the mine company.
They spent a few days recuperating then went back to the truck. Linc
wanted to check at the library in Aguila since it was Saturday and one
of the days it was open. After breaking camp, they went into town.
It was a little early, but he parked in front of the library. In a
few minutes another truck parked next to him. A young man got out and
came over to Linc's truck. The guy told him he was just going to open
up, and Linc could come on in, but the dog was not permitted. Linc
rolled down a window and told Angel, "on guard". The guy said not to
leave the window wide open because they had a lot of sticky fingers in
the town. Linc told him, "Angel will not let them touch anything in
the truck".
Inside the library Linc asked the guy where he would find info on the
mines in the area. The guy said, "my name is Frank Otis, and I can
tell you more about the mines around this area, more than you will
find in this library. My Dad was a miner who worked in a mine over in
the Stanton area before they closed it in 1958. He died last year,
but before he died, he took me and my older brother into most of the
mines around here. By the way, who are you and why do you ask". Linc
took a card from his wallet and handed it to Frank, saying I'm Lincoln
Hanks and I am a geologist looking into properties for a Mining
company". "Oh man!" Frank said, you have the kind of job I want. I
work at the gas station all week, and here on weekends to save money
for college". Linc asked him how his grades were and frank told him
he carried a B plus the last three years of high school. Linc asked
him why didn't he apply for a scholarship, with his good grades.
Frank said he has some applications in but they didn't look like they
were going to pan out. Linc said he went to BYU on a scholarship and
his grad average was only a B average. Frank said he would love to go
to BYU, but he wasn't a Mormon. Linc told him that the only thing
the people who put up the scholarships, cared about was the grades and
the persons determination the get a good education. He also told Frank
to go on line right away and get an application. Linc took his wallet
out again and handed Frank a card of his old professor and told him to
copy it, and when he got into BYU. This is the best teacher there and
he was also a top notch mineralogist as well. Told Frank how much he
had helped him since he graduated. Frank copied and gave Linc back
the card and thanked him for all the info. Then he told Linc all
about the mines in the surrounding area. Linc wanted to know more
about the big piles of milled tailings , that the guy at the museum
had told him about. He told Frank he had got samples from the piles
but wanted to know which mine they had came from. Frank told him, one
of the guys that had helped with the bagging of the tailings for
transfer to the smelter, that they found some new rare earth mineral
in it, just before the smelter was shut down. What Arizona needed
was some new opened up mining activity and a good smelter. There was a
lot of vacant land away from towns that could support a smelter. Linc
agreed and mentioned all the desert area around the mines at Swansea.
Frank said that was a good idea because there was a lot of good ore
still in those old mines, and it would have to be smelted. He said
the old tailings and the smelter slag still had good material in it.
Frank said his Dad always said if he had the money and backing, he
would have done it himself. He told Linc that some company down in
south America had bought the mines , but couldn't get the go ahead
from our government years ago to reopen them. Linc said he liked the
area, and was going to recommend it to the mining company himself.
Frank agreed it would benefit Arizona for sure.
Linc stood up and shook hand with Frank, when he heard Angel bark, and
some one screech.
Linc and Frank went outside to see a kid had the door of the truck
open. Linc asked the kid, what was going on, and why did he open the
door of the truck. Kid said he wanted to let the dog out so he could
pet him, but the dog wanted to bite him. Linc said he could have
petted her all day, but she would never let him touch anything in the
truck, then he closed the door and told Angel, "at ease, girl". Frank
told Linc the kid was a known sneak thief. He rapped the kid on the
head, and told him to start running for home, because he was going to
call his mom.
Frank reached in the window and petted Angel and scratched behind her
ears. She loved that.
Linc looked across the street toward the gas station and saw a lot of
people set up tables and put stuff out on them. He asked Frank what
was going on and Frank told him that every weekend people in town and
some of the towns around, set up to sell stuff. Some good stuff and a
bunch of fake Indian stuff. Told Linc which dealers were honest and
which weren't. Linc said he had to get fuel anyway so he would look
and see what they have.
Linc told Frank to keep in touch with him, because he was interested
in how he would make out t with BYU. And too if he remembered anything
else about the mines, to let him know. Frank went back inside and
Linc drove on over to the gas station, got fuel , and then went to
check out what was for sale.
At one dealer, he got two fake Indian type rugs, for by the beds, and
a blanket to put over the back of the couch at the cabin. At another
dealer who had a lot of old pots and pans, he bought two very heavy
aluminum , two gallon pans, only one had a lid., and a very heavy old
aluminum roaster with a lid. As he was about to leave he saw a long
handled popcorn maker, that you use at a fire place or fire pit. He
bought that to. Having spent about a hundred and twenty bucks, he
decided he better leave while he still had a few bucks left.

As he left town, he took the cut off road back toward Congress. He
wanted to turn on highway 93, and go on up toward Kingman, to check
out a couple of mines Frank told him about. One was out of Wikiup,
that turned out to be a dud, being turned into homesteads. By the
time he headed north again, it was late afternoon. It was still a
ways to Kingman, but he knew he could get there before dark. He
looked at the fuel gauge, when he was coming into a small town, and
decided to get some diesel . No need to take a chance he had enough
to get to Kingman. He drove into the gas station, and saw a man
standing by the pumps. As he got out of the truck, he saw the guy
look at his Nevada plate and grin. Guy said," just locked up the
diesel pumps, going home now. Then he smiled again and said, I can
unlock it for you for ten bucks extra". Link shook his head and said,
I'll take my chances on driving to Kingman first, before I pay you
extra, for fuel". Man smiled again, and said, " suit yourself there
sonny, because there isn't another gas station before you get to
Kingman". Linc smiled and said," thanks for the info, kind sir". He
looked at the sour look on the guys face as he drove off. Going up
the road, Linc was thinking, what a greedy old crook.
When Link was about ten miles out of Kingman, Angel was getting
restless, so he pulled off at a small roadside rest area, next to a
big wash that came down a canyon out of the mountains, just as a semi
was pulling out. There was a covered picnic table and a port-a-potty,
and garbage cans here. He saw a trail where people had went through
the fence and down into the wash. A sign said , Fishing allowed only
when there is water in the river. Funny. Right now there was only a
tiny trickle of water meandering down the canyon wash.
While Angel chased around down by the wash, Linc used the port potty
and then he got into the back of the truck and drug out the tote he
had a two gallon can of fuel in. No sense on taking chances of running
out on the road. He put the fuel in, then put the empty can back in
the tote and put the lid back on it to keep the smell out of the back
of the truck. He had to laugh as he did this, and thought, the jokes
on you, old crook.
He called to Angel and went to get back in the truck, when a portal
opened up right in front of him almost. Oh! Now what? I hope not
Peru again, or some place just as bad.

To be continued.

Blue Portal

Blur Portal.

Linc still had his geologist pack with him so he and Angel stepped
into the portal. They came out on a small hill overlooking a lake.
They were completely surrounded by tall mountains, and since the air
was quite cool Linc figured they were at a high altitude here. He
took out his GPS and found he was in the mountains of Peru. He looked
down at the closer end of the lake to see that there was a lot of
dwellings and people around. They also had some of the small air
cars, and were dressed like the people he saw in the other portal to
Peru. As he watched, again a huge orb came down and started to
demolish the town. Then it sent a beam came from it to the ground.
Four beings who were quite a bit larger than the earth people, but
looked the same as them, floated down the beam to the ground.. A
female one stood by the beam while the three males went to the town
and brought back a dozen or so people to the orb. These people were
dressed like the other portal people but they were wearing jewelry,
that they took off and gave to the female at the bottom of the beam.
The earth people were docile , almost like zombies. The female took
the jewelry she had placed in a tray and took them up the beam to the
orb. As Linc watched, a dozen naked, very hairy beings were floated
down the beam. They too were very large, and docile. Then the earth
people were taken up the beam and the orb went to the farthest end of
the lake, as Linc watched through his binoculars, they proceeded to
do the same thing to the town over there. Even exchanging beings as
well. Linc was thinking this was all so very strange. After the orb
flashed off into the sky, the hairy beings came to life. The females
clung together crying, while the males seem to be arguing amongst
themselves. They started to fight each other while the females went to
ward the deserted town. When one of the hairy ones started throwing
rocks at the others, Angel had to bark. The hairy one looked up and
saw them standing on the hill above them. Linc started to go down
toward them to see if he could help in some way when they started to
run towards him and started to throw rocks as well. He and Angel ran
back up the hill to the portal, just in time too, because a rock hit
his pack just as they dashed through the portal. Darn! That was
close. Although Linc knew he went back in time. It seemed more like
into the future. Made him wonder just what had happened there, and
what time period it was?

It was time to get to work and check this area out. He went up the
road next to the camp and saw that at one time it had been quite wide,
but was now getting overgrown with all the brush and trees, just wide
enough now for ATV, that went up and down it. Hiking up the road , he
came to a huge tailing pile that was spread along the side of the
hill. Across the tailings the road went to an incline shaft almost
large enough to drive a truck into, but was quite steep. No rails of
any kind either. As Linc looked down the shaft, he could see a wide
seam of chrysacolla going down the side wall, and he wondered why they
had left it there instead of taking it out. It would contain a lot of
copper in it. A lot of copper minerals here in the basalt and rhyolite
He could see no timbering inside the mine. Hr looked around at the
tailing and gathered some samples, took pictures and co-ords.
Going back down the road, he took an road that connected to the one
he came up, and went to another mine opening. This too was a large
opening, but didn't go in very far. As Linc stepped inside , he could
see it was more like a cave. Maybe twenty feet across, and around. He
could see lots of copper ore that was still in the walls. There was a
fire pit in the center of the cave, so someone had camped in here at
some time. Linc took pictures of the walls and the view from the
opening, down across the desert. After gathering samples from the
tailings, he took a road leaving it and going down through a wash. At
the place where the road crossed the wash, Linc could see some
specimens in it and picked up several and put them in his pack. Angel
started up the wash, and Linc followed. Angel started to dig and Linc
wondered why. He picked up the rock she dug out and saw that it was
quartz, with some pyrites, and by darned if it didn't even have some
gold in it too, he could see it after he poured a bit of water from
his bottle on it. He held it down to her so she could sniff it,
patted her on the head and told her she was a good girl. Up the was a
bit farther, they cam to a shaft that was right off the wash floor.
He saw Angel sniffing, and yelled at her, No! No! Angel. There was a
huge rattlesnake coiled up just inside the opening. Linc called her
back and they went back down the wash to where the road left it.
They took the road back up the hill to another shaft. This one went
back into the hill and had quite a large tailing pile that spread out
it front of it and down into the wash they had ventured up. Darn Linc
thought, now he might never know which mine the piece of ore Angel
found, had came from. It would be nice to know. This shaft too, had a
large opening, and like the others, still had copper ore in the side
walls. Linc turned on his flashlight and went in a ways. In about
ten feet or so, it split. This one didn't have any timbering in it
either, nor rails, nor sign that it ever had rails in it either. Linc
took pictures and samples. They went out side, then Linc decided to
go to the retreat for lunch.


Back at the retreat, Linc emptied the stuff from the packs then fixed
lunch for them. After lunch and cleanup, :inc took the bags for each
mine and placed them in order he saw them. He downloaded the pictures
and put them with each bag. He would write the reports later. He
took the rock Angel had dug up and cleaned it off a lot better. He
showed it to her again, and she sniffed it and gave it a lick too.
Back at the mountain, he decided to work his way down another road
toward the truck, and check out the mines he saw above him the next
day.
Down the road, he came to a wider wash, that the road went through and
then up a rise onto a bench. There was a small clearing on the bench
that was devoid of any dirt at all. It was a pale green rhyolite,
that looked like it had been swept clean. That was strange he
thought, why was it so different? Along one side of it was a trench.
Linc dropped down into it and saw a long seam of copper minerals
running the full length of it. Why wasn't it ever mined he wondered?
Up out of the trench he went on across the clearing, and found where
the road left it. As he walked along it he could see where the rocks
had been graded off to the side when the road was made. Walking
along, he saw a blue flash of rock, and picked up a chunk of turquoise
about the size of a softball. Very nice material, very solid too.
This was real gemmy material. He picked up several more chunks of
rock on his way back to the truck. He knew of a guy that worked at
the Tru Blu mine who had lapidary equipment. Maybe he would make him
some thing on shares with some of the different materials he had
found here.

Arizona

Arizona

When Gus called he told Linc he was sending the paperwork for the mine
shares, a list of the areas the main office wanted him to check out,
and a check for expenses. He figured that he wouldn't fly down and
rent a car because of the rugged terrain the areas were in. He
figured he would want to drive down and go from there. Linc said that
was what he was planning on, because of Angel. She went with him
everywhere now. Gus said he was sending the stuff down with a guy from
town so he should get it all tomorrow. Linc said thanks, he would be
looking for him.
Linc decided to clean out the truck and get some of his things packed.
He would have to pick up a bundle of stakes and some more flagging,
when he got to Arizona.
He put both of his packs in the truck along with a small tent and
sleeping bag in case he needed them. He knew he could always go to
the retreat if he really wanted to, but you never know for sure what
you could run into, when out scouting around. He packed a bag of dog
food for Angel and some snacks for the pack, along with some water for
them. He also took the gun he had before. Never know what animals he
might run into down there.
The Guy from town brought down the package, but it was too late in the
day for Linc to start for Arizona.
He took the papers for the mine shares to the office then to the
retreat and put them in the desk there. He thought about getting a
frame for it and putting it on the wall there in his office. He was
feeling pretty smug about it.
The next morning early, he hugged Lucas, and told him he would keep in
touch with him, and then he and Angel left for Arizona.
Looking at the areas they wanted him to check out, he could see they
were not all far from Prescott, Arizona. He had never been down this
way before so he was surprised to find it was in the mountains. It
was a lot warmer there than up in Goldfield, so he would have ho
trouble camping out if need be, but only if he had to.
He found the Lowes store and got the stakes and flagging. Went to the
BLM office and got maps, and talked to one of the gals that worked
there, about the mines up where the office wanted him to check out.
She told hem he was lucky there, because there had been a forest fire
in the area the year before, so there was a whole lot less vegetation
to contend with. She also told him about the fires they had over by
the town of Cherry that he was to check out. She said there were no
working mines near Prescott because if the environmentalists...He
asked her if she knew about any mines on the desert, and got some maps
of the areas that he had researched on the web before he left home.
He saw that there had been a lot of mines in some areas down there in
the early days. What was best, there were a lot of places to check
out that were not close to any towns. Some of the very old ones were
in remote places. That was good if there were any that could be
reopened or if there were still any good reserves left in them. He
had sent for some prospectus on three of them, and two looked ok . He
would check them out.
He thanked the gal for the info and went to a local hotel and parked
and locked the truck and then went to the retreat. The truck would be
safe in their parking lot and he really wanted a good dinner, a hot
bath and some clean clothes as well as a couple of days rest, that he
could only get there, with the time element.
While at the retreat, he went over the maps of the area above
Prescott, up in the more rugged places. There were very few roads in
most of the areas, but with the fires up there, they may have pushed
in a few. He wouldn't know til he got up that way. One place was on
the other side of a town on the top of the mountain. There were quite
a few old mines in the area. He would have to check them out. He
wondered if they were out of reserves or were closed during the war
years and never reopened. He thought maybe he better go the museum
and check out some of the history of the area, but you would think the
head office had done that already. Who knows? The gal at the BLM
office said they had a lot of info and pictures at the museum there in
Prescott, on the mining history. The gal told him they opened at ten
in the morning.
Linc had to stay at the retreat until he could go back for the truck
at about nine thirty Prescott time. He and Angel got a lot of rest
and some play time too. Angel was good at catching the frizby now, but
she will not run after it if it goes out in the water too far. She
had never really gotten over nearly drowning. She went in for a swim
if Linc went in but never alone. Just as well he thought.
Down at the museum, he looked for the pictures of the old mines.
There was an older gent who was very knowledgeable about the old
mines, and he gave Linc some pamphlets on a lot of them . He also
told Linc thet he thought the mining days were over for the Prescott
area Too many of the old mines have been reclaimed, and sold to
people who have turned then into housing additions. Lots of small
homes and cabins are bought by people from the Phoenix area for summer
places to get away from the heat of the desert. Way too many he said
for the people who want to go to the mountains to camp and hunt He
told linc, a man used to be able to go hunting anywhere up there, but
now so many areas are closed to hunting with all the new houses. A
man used to take a gold pan and go just about anywhere up there and
get some gold, but now they have stopped a lot of it because the
creeks are next to so many new houses. People now days just have no
idea how much nicer it was before all the people moved in. He shook
his head and apologized for being so outspoken, but Linc told him he
was glad to know all this. It will save him a lot of trouble looking
for some of the places.
Linc went up into the mountains, and found one place the main office
wanted him to check out, was now under construction of a new hiking
trail, that will go right past one reclaimed mine. If the owners of
that mine was holding out for a buyer for a housing development, they
are going to be surprised there. The only other interesting mine in
the Bradshaw range was on the other side of the mountain from
Prescott. That mine hadn't been reclaimed as yet. Linc couldn't get
anywhere near it for all the fences, and no trespassing signs. He
pulled out a pamphlet for the area and found that this particular mine
was under a litigation of some kind. Something the head office will
have to check out. He just knew he wasn't able to
Back over the mountain, and over another mountain on the other side of
Prescott was the last mine in this area for him to check.
It was too late in the day for him to try and go there so he went back
into town and parked the truck at another hotel and went to the
retreat.
After a few days there, he went back early in the morning to get the
truck and go over to the other side, to the Copper Basin mine. This
was an old copper mine, that had been reclaimed and it too was fenced
and posted, no trespassing everywhere. He saw two older guys gold
panning in the creek below the road past the mine, so he stopped and
talked to them. One old guy knew a woman who used to work in the
office of the mine when it was open. He said she told him when the
mine pettered out somewhat, they wanted to open pit the mine but the
environmentalists blew that idea out of the water. The guy also told
him that all the free gold in the creek was from old ancient river
gravels, that went over the top of the mountains millions of years
ago. He told Linc, two old timers that used to live up there,
dredged the creek, back before the mine took over all of their claims.
The only gold in this mine was with the copper, and they had a smelter
to get it. Not heavy in gold. A big mining company own the mine now,
and they are holding on to it to use for collateral when they need a
loan or something. That big mansion you passed up there on the hill
used to be just a small mine. You are wasting your time here buddy if
you think this will ever open as a mine again. In time it will just
be another housing addition. People still get a little gold here and
there on this creek, if they are willing to move some dirt to get to
it. Some days good, some days not so good. Linc asked them about the
gold mines out by Cherry. They told him there are no working mines
that have not been reclaimed for housing. There are a couple of
creeks that have panning claims on them, but more gold found right
here. Waste of time looking out that way. Your best bet is down on
the desert. Darn few people want to live down there. Lots of old
mines and creeks to find gold in but only when you have water or a
metal locator. If you are looking for free gold, try around Hope. If
looking for lode gold, go on down to the next town and take the old
road out to Swansea. Still some good old mines out that way. Yep,
Linc said, "I heard them, and was going to head out that way next" .
The old guy told Linc, if he was still looking in this area, go on up
the road, and when you have passed the second gate on your right, take
the next road to the right. Back in about a half mile you will come
to an old mine with an incline shaft. Whole thing full of water. The
road takes you across the old tailings . I have panned the creek that
runs out of the mine, under the road, down over the tailings, and
into an old creek bed. and got a few pickers and such. Trouble is,
it's a nasty climb up and down that hill, back to your rig. This was
not a big mine, and I can't remember the name of it. Back to the road
and on down it farther are two more mines one reclaimed and back to
the forest service, and the other is now a homestead. The road will
take you on down to Kirkland. Turn left and it will take you to a
junction . Right one will go to a big open pit copper mine at
Bagdad, and left will take you back to highway 85. At the junction,
left to Prescott, or right, to the desert. Linc thanked the old guys
and went on up the road. The road they said to turn on, was right on
the top of a ridge. He turned there and found the mine they were
talking about. He pulled off onto the tailing pile and got out to
take a look around. The mine shaft was just off an old creek bed It
probably had water underground most of the time and now it was running
through the mine itself. They must have had a hard time working it
back in the old days. Maybe in the summer the water was lower in the
mine and they had some pumps that could handle it. Some of the ore on
the tailings looked ok but this would be a very expensive mine to ever
reopen. This area would even be hard to reclaim because it was in a
wash to narrow to do anything with, even if they wanted to turn it
into a housing development. Mountain too steep too, that's why the
road went across the old tailings. Old guy said they made the road
there, to get to the timber in the area.
Back at the road, he turned right and went down the hill. He could
see the remains of an old rock cabin up on a hill, and just below
that was nun old road that had been kelly hunpped three times, and an
old sign that said,
Old Navy Mine. On past it, down the road a bit farther was the
mine, turned homestead. The house and outbuilding were quite old.
Looked like they raised a lot of pigs and some horses.
The creek that drained from the incline mine and all the other
drainages went passed this old homestead. It was deep here because
the canyon had narrowed down quite a bit from the top. Past the
homestead the creek dropped off a great deal, and ran through a
narrow spot. Linc could look down to the creek that was running good
and he could see four guys had a small dredge in it, working by the
boulders . He could also see the remains of an old ore hauler that
had went over the steep hillside into the creek, and they had never
taken it out. It was very old looking, and the motor was the only
thing rescued from it.
Going on down a road that wound along the canyon wall he finally came
out on a ridge top over looking the town of Skull Valley. The road ran
down one ridge after another til it reached the valley floor.
At the end of the road, he turned left and went back to highway 85.
When he got to that junction, he could look up on the mountain and see
an open pit gold mine that was still working. All other mines in this
area are now private property, the old gent at the museum told him.
Linc turned right here and went down to the desert.

When he reached the valley floor from the top of the pass, he went
past a road the went to the town of Stanton It and others in the area
had been turnd into huge camping spots that have recreational gold
panning on their creeks. No more working gold mines here There was
one old mine that had been re-running tailings from another mine that
had been closed by environmentalists

He drove on into the town of Congress, turned there onto the road
that went through the place and out toward California and the desert.

To be continued.

Arizona Desert

Arizona desert

The cut-off road he took to reach the junction at Aguila, he passed
another old mine and ghost town, called Robson's Mining World. They
had turned it into a tourist trap. They did have a small working
mine and mill, not open to the public, but the whole, old town had
been refurbished, and was open to all. They had a hotel, café,
mercantile, drug store, all working and usable. A lot of old mining
equipment and Indian artifacts were on display.
Real expensive place to go. He had read about it in a pamphlet from
the museum at Prescott.
Linc went on down the road and at the junction he turned right and
drove to the town of Aguila. There were two roads out of the town that
went to mines he wanted to check out, but for now, he decided to go on
through town and on down toward the town of Hope. He passed through
several small towns, that at one time had small mines, but nothing
that the head office would be interested in.
At Hope, he turned right at the junction and went down to where a
road crossed over the railroad tracks and went up into the mountains.
On up the road he came to a big gravel pit, and the road past it had
been closed, so he had to turn around and go back down to a side road
that went out around the pit area and then up into the mountains.
Going up the road he saw a man standing by a lane that went to a rock
cabin. Linc stopped to see if he needed help, and to ask questions
about the mines in the area as well. The old guy said he was waiting
for the sheriff. Said his name was Steve, and was the caretaker at
two of the mines. He had reported some trespassers that refused to
leave. They had set up dry washers on mine property.
Linc told him he was a geologist and was looking for property for a
mining company. He said he would like permission to do some
exploration work on them if possible. Steve asked him what his name
was, and when Linc told him, he also gave him a card of his. Steve
told him, he would take him on a tour of the mines if he wanted to
wait for the sheriff first. Linc said fine and a few minutes later the
sheriff's truck came up the road.
After Steve talked to the sheriff, he got into the truck with Linc
and they went to the first mine, called the Queen Bess. When the got
there they could see the sheriff's truck climbing up a steep hill to
where three ATV's were parked, by a deep wash that ran down the hill
past the mine itself. This mine was not fenced, but it was posted no
trespassing on the roads going into the property. There was also a
for sale sign, and a sign that told people to check with the
caretaker before entering.
They took one of the roads up to the mine itself. This mine had two
adits, the caretaker said. The first and oldest one was a vertical
shaft, that was now closed up. It had a metal chute, that mover all
the tailings down the hill so they wouldn't pile up below the shaft.
On the other side of the hill was a newer shaft. All of the old mine
buildings had been torn down. The mine had been closed since the war,
and had been dormant for about twenty years before the owner died and
left it to his Son. The Son tried to sell it for ten million and no
one would pay that much for it. He said he needed money so he sold off
all the buildings, equipment in them and everything in the mine as
well. Even the wiring, and air pipes. It was stripped except for the
ore itself. Steve told him when that owner died the mine went to his
Daughter, just four years ago. She had some exploratory work done,
and even though the price of gold had gone up, she had dropped the
price to five million.
At the main shaft, Steve unlocked the gate, then they went in a ways
and he unlocked the main adit door. Inside was a side room where
there were helmets with lights, and big flashlight too. Linc had
brought his geology pack with him as well. Steve gave him a
prospectus folder, that was on the shelf, and then they went on down
the tunnel. Linc could see there were an awful lot of drifts going
off in all directions. They did take a couple of them that Linc wanted
to check out. Right away, Linc could see that they had only high
graded the mine. There seemed to be a lot of paying ore that hadn't
been removed. With permission, he took samples, in several of the
drifts.
After looking around, they went back to the main adit, where they
found the Sheriff waiting. Linc was introduced, to Bruce, the
Sheriff. Steve told the Sheriff that Linc would be doing some
exploring in the area at both the mines with permission. Bruce told
Steve to call him if those guys came back, because he had told them
that they would be arrested if they came back again.
They had been getting away with going onto other claims in the area,
because the claim owners couldn't post the federal mining claims, and
he told them this mine was private property and it was posted no
trespassing, legally.
The guys were from the big RV park at Hope, and they had a great,
recirculation setup for processing all the buckets of dirt they were
taking from the claims. They had really been cleaning up, stealing
from the other miners. Steve said, from the looks of all the dirt
moved, this wasn't the first time they had been up there stealing
gold.
After Bruce left, they went on up to the next mine called the Blue Boy Mine.
There were still buildings at this mine and a big tank. There was a
leach pad with some un-leached ore still on it. There was an incline
tramway going across the big wash, the road, and up on the side of the
hill, across from the mine.. Steve said the main adit had caved in,
so they couldn't enter the mine itself. The area around the building
and leach pad was fenced and posted. Steve said the mine closed
during the war and was never reopened. About fifteen years ago, a
company had put in the leach pad and began reworking the milled
tailings. It turned out that was not as profitable as they had hoped
it would be and they closed down.
Linc told Steve he was only interested in what ore might be on the old
tailing piles and what might still be in the hill around it.
Linc took Steve back to his cabin. On the way back he told Linc about
how the law that the claim miners couldn't live on their claims
anymore, really put a burden on the owners to keep people out of their
claims when they were not there working it. It may have stopped
snow-birds from filing paper claims to get a spot to stay for the
winter, but hurt the legitimate ones.
Steve said he could see that Linc was set up for camping in his
pickup, and was given permission to camp there by his cabin if he
wanted to. Linc said he would rather go back up and park by the main
adit at the mine, because he would like to check out the area around
it. He would camp up there. Linc got Steve's telephone number too, in
case he ran into those men from the RV park.
Back up at the adit, he checked all around and picked up samples. Took
pictures. He could see as far as the RV park at hope, and the small
RV park down at the road that came over the railroad tracks. He could
also see several mining claims down on the desert floor, where miners
were running dry washers, in some washes down below, on the desert
floor area.
Linc went back to the truck, locked it up and then went to the
retreat. A lot more comfortable staying there than trying to fix
something to eat, and sleeping in the back of the truck.
Linc and Angel spent five days resting and playing at the retreat,
before going back to the truck.
At the truck, the sun was just beginning to come up. Linc could see
down on the desert why Steve didn't see or hear the ATV's from Hope.
They were coming across the desert , after going under the railroad
tracks and then coming up the side wash to the mine, bypassing the
road past Steve's cabin.
Linc watched them come right back to the mine property, so he called
Steve, and told him.
Linc got in the truck and drove on up to the Blue Boy mine. He got
samples, took pictures, and got the GPS readings, before leaving to
go to Swansea area. Going past the Queen Bess, he could see police
trucks with trailers, loading up the ATV's, and a van held the men who
drove them in. He saw Steve sitting on his ATV, watching the whole
operation. He waved to Linc as he went past.
Back at the highway, Linc went on down the road to the next town and
took a poor dirt road out across the desert toward the ghost town of
Swansea. After about a mile of bad road, it went up onto the old
railroad grade. This was a much smoother road now, because it was
used by all the snowbirds who ran their ATV's on it.
When Linc got to the base of the mountains, he could see that there
were four mines in the area. There were no building of any kind. He
could see that one mine had a smelter, at one time, because there
was a massive slag pile. Linc checked out all the tailing piles, the
slag pile, took pictures and lots of samples from all the mines and
slag pile too. This was all old copper mines that carried gold. As
well. Since this area was far from any town, it could be open pitted.
That would be the best way to go he thought, but that was up to the
head office. It looked good to him anyway. Linc had spent three days
exploring the area, before heading off to Aguila.
Back at Aguila, he took a road to the right, and went out that road
about ten miles or so, where he saw some huge piles of milled
tailings. He went up a bad road to some manganese mines. One small
one was an open pit, down close to a wash. The others were up on the
side of the hill. The roads to them was washed out, so Linc parked
the truck, took his pack and he and Angel hiked up and did his geology
thing for each of them. This too was an area that could be open
pitted, since there were no towns around anywhere.
The guy at the museum had told him that a company had started to take
the milled tailind to a smelter many miles away to have them processed
for the gold left in tnem. But the environmentalists closed the
smelter. So that ended that operation. Linc thought if they were able
to do that and still make a profit, there must still be a lot of gold
still left in the mill railings. He wondered why the mines didn't
have a smelter of their own. Who knows? What info he did have on the
three mines didn't say when they were closed, or who owned them now.
He decided to check at the library he saw when he came thru town.
After doing everything he had to do he went back to the town of
Aguila, across the highway and railroad tracks up another road to a
road that went up a wash He stopped here to put the truck into four
wheel drive to go up the wash. It was quite sandy, but he could see
where it was well driven from all the tracks in it. About two miles
up it, it finally came up out of the wash and onto solid ground. Up
about another half mile he came to a big forest service sign, that had
a map showing all the roads in the area. Seems there are a lot of
hunters, campers and ATV riders that frequent the area. There was
also a bunch of towers on top of the tallest mountain.
Linc took the best traveled road that went up to the towers. About a
half mile up this road, he came up a hill to the base of a small
mountain that had at least from whit he could see three shafts going
into the side of it.
There was places to camp all over the area, so he pulled off into one,
next to an ATV road going up the hill. He had already passed three
other roads going up the hill as well. The whole area was covered with
Paloverde trees, scrub oak brush and lots of cactus.
He didn't see another soul anywhere. This wasn't hunting or camping
season anyway, maybe that's why. It was getting late in the day, so
Linc set up his lawn chair by the fire pit, and made a small fire in
it. He sat there a while til it began to get a bit dark, locked up,
and went to the retreat.
After getting cleaned up, fixing supper for him and Angel, he went to bed.
After breakfast the next morning he went into his office to process
some of the stuff he had already accumulated. The bag he had put the
milled tailings from the manganese mine area, had to be put into a
plastic bag because it was dusty. He processed all the pictures and
put them with the reports he had already done. He would leave all this
at the retreat.
He and Angel spent three days resting up before going back to the truck.
Whoa! This was a surprise. The truck was surrounded with wild
donkeys. They were startled as much as the donkeys were. Angel let
out a bark and started to chase after, but Linc called her back. Linc
was about to unlock the truck when he looked up and saw a blue portal.

To be continued.ona Desert.

Arizona Desert.

The cut-off road he took to reach the junction at Aguila, he passed
another old mine and ghost town, called Robson's Mining World. They
had turned it into a tourist trap. They did have a small working
mine and mill, not open to the public, but the whole, old town had
been refurbished, and was open to all. They had a hotel, café,
mercantile, drug store, all working and usable. A lot of old mining
equipment and Indian artifacts were on display.
Real expensive place to go. He had read about it in a pamphlet from
the museum at Prescott.
Linc went on down the road and at the junction he turned right and
drove to the town of Aguila. There were two roads out of the town that
went to mines he wanted to check out, but for now, he decided to go on
through town and on down toward the town of Hope. He passed through
several small towns, that at one time had small mines, but nothing
that the head office would be interested in.
At Hope, he turned right at the junction and went down to where a
road crossed over the railroad tracks and went up into the mountains.
On up the road he came to a big gravel pit, and the road past it had
been closed, so he had to turn around and go back down to a side road
that went out around the pit area and then up into the mountains.
Going up the road he saw a man standing by a lane that went to a rock
cabin. Linc stopped to see if he needed help, and to ask questions
about the mines in the area as well. The old guy said he was waiting
for the sheriff. Said his name was Steve, and was the caretaker at
two of the mines. He had reported some trespassers that refused to
leave. They had set up dry washers on mine property.
Linc told him he was a geologist and was looking for property for a
mining company. He said he would like permission to do some
exploration work on them if possible. Steve asked him what his name
was, and when Linc told him, he also gave him a card of his. Steve
told him, he would take him on a tour of the mines if he wanted to
wait for the sheriff first. Linc said fine and a few minutes later the
sheriff's truck came up the road.
After Steve talked to the sheriff, he got into the truck with Linc
and they went to the first mine, called the Queen Bess. When the got
there they could see the sheriff's truck climbing up a steep hill to
where three ATV's were parked, by a deep wash that ran down the hill
past the mine itself. This mine was not fenced, but it was posted no
trespassing on the roads going into the property. There was also a
for sale sign, and a sign that told people to check with the
caretaker before entering.
They took one of the roads up to the mine itself. This mine had two
adits, the caretaker said. The first and oldest one was a vertical
shaft, that was now closed up. It had a metal chute, that mover all
the tailings down the hill so they wouldn't pile up below the shaft.
On the other side of the hill was a newer shaft. All of the old mine
buildings had been torn down. The mine had been closed since the war,
and had been dormant for about twenty years before the owner died and
left it to his Son. The Son tried to sell it for ten million and no
one would pay that much for it. He said he needed money so he sold off
all the buildings, equipment in them and everything in the mine as
well. Even the wiring, and air pipes. It was stripped except for the
ore itself. Steve told him when that owner died the mine went to his
Daughter, just four years ago. She had some exploratory work done,
and even though the price of gold had gone up, she had dropped the
price to five million.
At the main shaft, Steve unlocked the gate, then they went in a ways
and he unlocked the main adit door. Inside was a side room where
there were helmets with lights, and big flashlight too. Linc had
brought his geology pack with him as well. Steve gave him a
prospectus folder, that was on the shelf, and then they went on down
the tunnel. Linc could see there were an awful lot of drifts going
off in all directions. They did take a couple of them that Linc wanted
to check out. Right away, Linc could see that they had only high
graded the mine. There seemed to be a lot of paying ore that hadn't
been removed. With permission, he took samples, in several of the
drifts.
After looking around, they went back to the main adit, where they
found the Sheriff waiting. Linc was introduced, to Bruce, the
Sheriff. Steve told the Sheriff that Linc would be doing some
exploring in the area at both the mines with permission. Bruce told
Steve to call him if those guys came back, because he had told them
that they would be arrested if they came back again.
They had been getting away with going onto other claims in the area,
because the claim owners couldn't post the federal mining claims, and
he told them this mine was private property and it was posted no
trespassing, legally.
The guys were from the big RV park at Hope, and they had a great,
recirculation setup for processing all the buckets of dirt they were
taking from the claims. They had really been cleaning up, stealing
from the other miners. Steve said, from the looks of all the dirt
moved, this wasn't the first time they had been up there stealing
gold.
After Bruce left, they went on up to the next mine called the Blue Boy Mine.
There were still buildings at this mine and a big tank. There was a
leach pad with some un-leached ore still on it. There was an incline
tramway going across the big wash, the road, and up on the side of the
hill, across from the mine.. Steve said the main adit had caved in,
so they couldn't enter the mine itself. The area around the building
and leach pad was fenced and posted. Steve said the mine closed
during the war and was never reopened. About fifteen years ago, a
company had put in the leach pad and began reworking the milled
tailings. It turned out that was not as profitable as they had hoped
it would be and they closed down.
Linc told Steve he was only interested in what ore might be on the old
tailing piles and what might still be in the hill around it.
Linc took Steve back to his cabin. On the way back he told Linc about
how the law that the claim miners couldn't live on their claims
anymore, really put a burden on the owners to keep people out of their
claims when they were not there working it. It may have stopped
snow-birds from filing paper claims to get a spot to stay for the
winter, but hurt the legitimate ones.
Steve said he could see that Linc was set up for camping in his
pickup, and was given permission to camp there by his cabin if he
wanted to. Linc said he would rather go back up and park by the main
adit at the mine, because he would like to check out the area around
it. He would camp up there. Linc got Steve's telephone number too, in
case he ran into those men from the RV park.
Back up at the adit, he checked all around and picked up samples. Took
pictures. He could see as far as the RV park at hope, and the small
RV park down at the road that came over the railroad tracks. He could
also see several mining claims down on the desert floor, where miners
were running dry washers, in some washes down below, on the desert
floor area.
Linc went back to the truck, locked it up and then went to the
retreat. A lot more comfortable staying there than trying to fix
something to eat, and sleeping in the back of the truck.
Linc and Angel spent five days resting and playing at the retreat,
before going back to the truck.
At the truck, the sun was just beginning to come up. Linc could see
down on the desert why Steve didn't see or hear the ATV's from Hope.
They were coming across the desert , after going under the railroad
tracks and then coming up the side wash to the mine, bypassing the
road past Steve's cabin.
Linc watched them come right back to the mine property, so he called
Steve, and told him.
Linc got in the truck and drove on up to the Blue Boy mine. He got
samples, took pictures, and got the GPS readings, before leaving to
go to Swansea area. Going past the Queen Bess, he could see police
trucks with trailers, loading up the ATV's, and a van held the men who
drove them in. He saw Steve sitting on his ATV, watching the whole
operation. He waved to Linc as he went past.
Back at the highway, Linc went on down the road to the next town and
took a poor dirt road out across the desert toward the ghost town of
Swansea. After about a mile of bad road, it went up onto the old
railroad grade. This was a much smoother road now, because it was
used by all the snowbirds who ran their ATV's on it.
When Linc got to the base of the mountains, he could see that there
were four mines in the area. There were no building of any kind. He
could see that one mine had a smelter, at one time, because there
was a massive slag pile. Linc checked out all the tailing piles, the
slag pile, took pictures and lots of samples from all the mines and
slag pile too. This was all old copper mines that carried gold. As
well. Since this area was far from any town, it could be open pitted.
That would be the best way to go he thought, but that was up to the
head office. It looked good to him anyway. Linc had spent three days
exploring the area, before heading off to Aguila.
Back at Aguila, he took a road to the right, and went out that road
about ten miles or so, where he saw some huge piles of milled
tailings. He went up a bad road to some manganese mines. One small
one was an open pit, down close to a wash. The others were up on the
side of the hill. The roads to them was washed out, so Linc parked
the truck, took his pack and he and Angel hiked up and did his geology
thing for each of them. This too was an area that could be open
pitted, since there were no towns around anywhere.
The guy at the museum had told him that a company had started to take
the milled tailind to a smelter many miles away to have them processed
for the gold left in tnem. But the environmentalists closed the
smelter. So that ended that operation. Linc thought if they were able
to do that and still make a profit, there must still be a lot of gold
still left in the mill railings. He wondered why the mines didn't
have a smelter of their own. Who knows? What info he did have on the
three mines didn't say when they were closed, or who owned them now.
He decided to check at the library he saw when he came thru town.
After doing everything he had to do he went back to the town of
Aguila, across the highway and railroad tracks up another road to a
road that went up a wash He stopped here to put the truck into four
wheel drive to go up the wash. It was quite sandy, but he could see
where it was well driven from all the tracks in it. About two miles
up it, it finally came up out of the wash and onto solid ground. Up
about another half mile he came to a big forest service sign, that had
a map showing all the roads in the area. Seems there are a lot of
hunters, campers and ATV riders that frequent the area. There was
also a bunch of towers on top of the tallest mountain.
Linc took the best traveled road that went up to the towers. About a
half mile up this road, he came up a hill to the base of a small
mountain that had at least from whit he could see three shafts going
into the side of it.
There was places to camp all over the area, so he pulled off into one,
next to an ATV road going up the hill. He had already passed three
other roads going up the hill as well. The whole area was covered with
Paloverde trees, scrub oak brush and lots of cactus.
He didn't see another soul anywhere. This wasn't hunting or camping
season anyway, maybe that's why. It was getting late in the day, so
Linc set up his lawn chair by the fire pit, and made a small fire in
it. He sat there a while til it began to get a bit dark, locked up,
and went to the retreat.
After getting cleaned up, fixing supper for him and Angel, he went to bed.
After breakfast the next morning he went into his office to process
some of the stuff he had already accumulated. The bag he had put the
milled tailings from the manganese mine area, had to be put into a
plastic bag because it was dusty. He processed all the pictures and
put them with the reports he had already done. He would leave all this
at the retreat.
He and Angel spent three days resting up before going back to the truck.
Whoa! This was a surprise. The truck was surrounded with wild
donkeys. They were startled as much as the donkeys were. Angel let
out a bark and started to chase after, but Linc called her back. Linc
was about to unlock the truck when he looked up and saw a blue portal.

To be continued.

Arizona

When Gus called he told Linc he was sending the paperwork for the mine
shares, a list of the areas the main office wanted him to check out,
and a check for expenses. He figured that he wouldn't fly down and
rent a car because of the rugged terrain the areas were in. He
figured he would want to drive down and go from there. Linc said that
was what he was planning on, because of Angel. She went with him
everywhere now. Gus said he was sending the stuff down with a guy from
town so he should get it all tomorrow. Linc said thanks, he would be
looking for him.
Linc decided to clean out the truck and get some of his things packed.
He would have to pick up a bundle of stakes and some more flagging,
when he got to Arizona.
He put both of his packs in the truck along with a small tent and
sleeping bag in case he needed them. He knew he could always go to
the retreat if he really wanted to, but you never know for sure what
you could run into, when out scouting around. He packed a bag of dog
food for Angel and some snacks for the pack, along with some water for
them. He also took the gun he had before. Never know what animals he
might run into down there.
The Guy from town brought down the package, but it was too late in the
day for Linc to start for Arizona.
He took the papers for the mine shares to the office then to the
retreat and put them in the desk there. He thought about getting a
frame for it and putting it on the wall there in his office. He was
feeling pretty smug about it.
The next morning early, he hugged Lucas, and told him he would keep in
touch with him, and then he and Angel left for Arizona.
Looking at the areas they wanted him to check out, he could see they
were not all far from Prescott, Arizona. He had never been down this
way before so he was surprised to find it was in the mountains. It
was a lot warmer there than up in Goldfield, so he would have ho
trouble camping out if need be, but only if he had to.
He found the Lowes store and got the stakes and flagging. Went to the
BLM office and got maps, and talked to one of the gals that worked
there, about the mines up where the office wanted him to check out.
She told hem he was lucky there, because there had been a forest fire
in the area the year before, so there was a whole lot less vegetation
to contend with. She also told him about the fires they had over by
the town of Cherry that he was to check out. She said there were no
working mines near Prescott because if the environmentalists...He
asked her if she knew about any mines on the desert, and got some maps
of the areas that he had researched on the web before he left home.
He saw that there had been a lot of mines in some areas down there in
the early days. What was best, there were a lot of places to check
out that were not close to any towns. Some of the very old ones were
in remote places. That was good if there were any that could be
reopened or if there were still any good reserves left in them. He
had sent for some prospectus on three of them, and two looked ok . He
would check them out.
He thanked the gal for the info and went to a local hotel and parked
and locked the truck and then went to the retreat. The truck would be
safe in their parking lot and he really wanted a good dinner, a hot
bath and some clean clothes as well as a couple of days rest, that he
could only get there, with the time element.
While at the retreat, he went over the maps of the area above
Prescott, up in the more rugged places. There were very few roads in
most of the areas, but with the fires up there, they may have pushed
in a few. He wouldn't know til he got up that way. One place was on
the other side of a town on the top of the mountain. There were quite
a few old mines in the area. He would have to check them out. He
wondered if they were out of reserves or were closed during the war
years and never reopened. He thought maybe he better go the museum
and check out some of the history of the area, but you would think the
head office had done that already. Who knows? The gal at the BLM
office said they had a lot of info and pictures at the museum there in
Prescott, on the mining history. The gal told him they opened at ten
in the morning.
Linc had to stay at the retreat until he could go back for the truck
at about nine thirty Prescott time. He and Angel got a lot of rest
and some play time too. Angel was good at catching the frizby now, but
she will not run after it if it goes out in the water too far. She
had never really gotten over nearly drowning. She went in for a swim
if Linc went in but never alone. Just as well he thought.
Down at the museum, he looked for the pictures of the old mines.
There was an older gent who was very knowledgeable about the old
mines, and he gave Linc some pamphlets on a lot of them . He also
told Linc thet he thought the mining days were over for the Prescott
area Too many of the old mines have been reclaimed, and sold to
people who have turned then into housing additions. Lots of small
homes and cabins are bought by people from the Phoenix area for summer
places to get away from the heat of the desert. Way too many he said
for the people who want to go to the mountains to camp and hunt He
told linc, a man used to be able to go hunting anywhere up there, but
now so many areas are closed to hunting with all the new houses. A
man used to take a gold pan and go just about anywhere up there and
get some gold, but now they have stopped a lot of it because the
creeks are next to so many new houses. People now days just have no
idea how much nicer it was before all the people moved in. He shook
his head and apologized for being so outspoken, but Linc told him he
was glad to know all this. It will save him a lot of trouble looking
for some of the places.
Linc went up into the mountains, and found one place the main office
wanted him to check out, was now under construction of a new hiking
trail, that will go right past one reclaimed mine. If the owners of
that mine was holding out for a buyer for a housing development, they
are going to be surprised there. The only other interesting mine in
the Bradshaw range was on the other side of the mountain from
Prescott. That mine hadn't been reclaimed as yet. Linc couldn't get
anywhere near it for all the fences, and no trespassing signs. He
pulled out a pamphlet for the area and found that this particular mine
was under a litigation of some kind. Something the head office will
have to check out. He just knew he wasn't able to
Back over the mountain, and over another mountain on the other side of
Prescott was the last mine in this area for him to check.
It was too late in the day for him to try and go there so he went back
into town and parked the truck at another hotel and went to the
retreat.
After a few days there, he went back early in the morning to get the
truck and go over to the other side, to the Copper Basin mine. This
was an old copper mine, that had been reclaimed and it too was fenced
and posted, no trespassing everywhere. He saw two older guys gold
panning in the creek below the road past the mine, so he stopped and
talked to them. One old guy knew a woman who used to work in the
office of the mine when it was open. He said she told him when the
mine pettered out somewhat, they wanted to open pit the mine but the
environmentalists blew that idea out of the water. The guy also told
him that all the free gold in the creek was from old ancient river
gravels, that went over the top of the mountains millions of years
ago. He told Linc, two old timers that used to live up there,
dredged the creek, back before the mine took over all of their claims.
The only gold in this mine was with the copper, and they had a smelter
to get it. Not heavy in gold. A big mining company own the mine now,
and they are holding on to it to use for collateral when they need a
loan or something. That big mansion you passed up there on the hill
used to be just a small mine. You are wasting your time here buddy if
you think this will ever open as a mine again. In time it will just
be another housing addition. People still get a little gold here and
there on this creek, if they are willing to move some dirt to get to
it. Some days good, some days not so good. Linc asked them about the
gold mines out by Cherry. They told him there are no working mines
that have not been reclaimed for housing. There are a couple of
creeks that have panning claims on them, but more gold found right
here. Waste of time looking out that way. Your best bet is down on
the desert. Darn few people want to live down there. Lots of old
mines and creeks to find gold in but only when you have water or a
metal locator. If you are looking for free gold, try around Hope. If
looking for lode gold, go on down to the next town and take the old
road out to Swansea. Still some good old mines out that way. Yep,
Linc said, "I heard them, and was going to head out that way next" .
The old guy told Linc, if he was still looking in this area, go on up
the road, and when you have passed the second gate on your right, take
the next road to the right. Back in about a half mile you will come
to an old mine with an incline shaft. Whole thing full of water. The
road takes you across the old tailings . I have panned the creek that
runs out of the mine, under the road, down over the tailings, and
into an old creek bed. and got a few pickers and such. Trouble is,
it's a nasty climb up and down that hill, back to your rig. This was
not a big mine, and I can't remember the name of it. Back to the road
and on down it farther are two more mines one reclaimed and back to
the forest service, and the other is now a homestead. The road will
take you on down to Kirkland. Turn left and it will take you to a
junction . Right one will go to a big open pit copper mine at
Bagdad, and left will take you back to highway 85. At the junction,
left to Prescott, or right, to the desert. Linc thanked the old guys
and went on up the road. The road they said to turn on, was right on
the top of a ridge. He turned there and found the mine they were
talking about. He pulled off onto the tailing pile and got out to
take a look around. The mine shaft was just off an old creek bed It
probably had water underground most of the time and now it was running
through the mine itself. They must have had a hard time working it
back in the old days. Maybe in the summer the water was lower in the
mine and they had some pumps that could handle it. Some of the ore on
the tailings looked ok but this would be a very expensive mine to ever
reopen. This area would even be hard to reclaim because it was in a
wash to narrow to do anything with, even if they wanted to turn it
into a housing development. Mountain too steep too, that's why the
road went across the old tailings. Old guy said they made the road
there, to get to the timber in the area.
Back at the road, he turned right and went down the hill. He could
see the remains of an old rock cabin up on a hill, and just below
that was nun old road that had been kelly hunpped three times, and an
old sign that said,
Old Navy Mine. On past it, down the road a bit farther was the
mine, turned homestead. The house and outbuilding were quite old.
Looked like they raised a lot of pigs and some horses.
The creek that drained from the incline mine and all the other
drainages went passed this old homestead. It was deep here because
the canyon had narrowed down quite a bit from the top. Past the
homestead the creek dropped off a great deal, and ran through a
narrow spot. Linc could look down to the creek that was running good
and he could see four guys had a small dredge in it, working by the
boulders . He could also see the remains of an old ore hauler that
had went over the steep hillside into the creek, and they had never
taken it out. It was very old looking, and the motor was the only
thing rescued from it.
Going on down a road that wound along the canyon wall he finally came
out on a ridge top over looking the town of Skull Valley. The road ran
down one ridge after another til it reached the valley floor.
At the end of the road, he turned left and went back to highway 85.
When he got to that junction, he could look up on the mountain and see
an open pit gold mine that was still working. All other mines in this
area are now private property, the old gent at the museum told him.
Linc turned right here and went down to the desert.

When he reached the valley floor from the top of the pass, he went
past a road the went to the town of Stanton It and others in the area
had been turnd into huge camping spots that have recreational gold
panning on their creeks. No more working gold mines here There was
one old mine that had been re-running tailings from another mine that
had been closed by environmentalists

He drove on into the town of Congress, turned there onto the road
that went through the place and out toward California and the desert.

To be continued.

Lucas sees the cabin

Lucas see's the cabin.

The next morning, Linc went back to the farm to get Lucas.
While Lucas was packing a bag, Linc gathered up some old newspapers,
got meat from the freezers, eggs, some jam and fruit from the cellar
and then told John and Trudy to follow them up to see the cabin.
Trudy went ahead and fixed a big picnic lunch and then they all went
up to the new cabin.
Linc called Axel when they were almost there, then Fannie put on a pot
of coffee, and Axel built a fire in the fireplace and opened the doors
to let the sunlight in through the storm doors. The smell of perked
coffee and wood smoke, made it seem just like old times.
As they drove in next to the cabin, Lucas gazed in awe. A log cabin
with a fireplace . Looks nice. He smiled broadly. Linc saw this and
remembered how hard the three of them had worked in the last couple of
days. While Fannie had arranged the furniture, put bulbs in the lams,
washed all the new dishes and put them away, arranged the pantry and
laid rugs, he and Axel had cleaned up the outside, finished the picnic
table, trunk, and put shelves in the out house for toilet paper and so
forth, hung a deodorizer, and installed a battery powered light. It
too had been painted an off white inside.

John and Trudy had driven in behind them.
They all went inside the cabin. It was very light in there with the
open storm doors, the window in the bunk room and the window in the
loft.
Lucas was smiling as he went around touching things, and shaking his
head. He went and stood in front to the fireplace and held out his
hands. When he turned around, there were tears flowing down his face.
Axel went to him and put his arms around him and patted him on the
back and said, " Linc did a fine job here, didn't he Papa"? Lucas
wiped his eyes on his forearm and said, "He sure did. Makes me
proud to be his Grandpa. I am so happy with the place. I'm glad I
trusted him to do it. I just couldn't face doing it again.". Linc and
Fannie went to them and they had a big hug around. John and Trudy
clapped their hands and told Linc the cabin looked very nice.
After checking the place out, and putting the food stuff away that
Linc had brought from the farm, they all went and sat in front of the
fire place with coffee cups in hand, and talked.
A couple of days later, Linc and Axel went to town and got the ATV. A
four seat, and a trailer, to be delivered the next day. They got two,
five gallon cans of gas as well.
The next day after the ATV was delivered, they went to the retreat with it.
At the retreat, Angel ran up and down the beach like a crazy dog. You
could see how happy she was to be here., in fact they all were a bit
glad to be here in the warm sunlight after the coolness at the cabin.
While Fannie fixed lunch, the guys sassed up the ATV and tried it out.
Later they moved things around in the office to make room for the roll
top desk, then went to the cave to get it. They got the desk onto
the trailer and took it up to the house where they put it in the
office. Then Linc hung the dueling pistols above it, on the wall.
He got the box with the enameled metal box and the plastic cases with
the diamonds in it and they went and sat at the patio table. Linc
took the enameled box out first and showed it to Axel and Fannie.
Then he took the plastic cases out and opened them up. Axels eyes
bugged out and he let out a long whistle. He said, "man when you
fall into it, you really fall into it. These things must be worth a
fortune, and not a small one either". So very beautiful even with the
poor cutting job, and each a different color. Fannie asked if he knew
just how many carets each one weighed. Linc told her that Uncle
Vernon had weighed them and all total they weighed they weighed close
to a hundred carets. He told her the caret weight of each of them was
on a tag on the bottom of the box they were in. Fannie turned the
box of the blue one she was holding and said, "Oh my God!….This one
alone is worth millions. I can hardly believe it. And I hope you are
going to let my office dispose of them"? Linc said, "as things stand
right now, you can dispose of the last of the French money, but I
think I will hold off selling the stones for a while. You might put
out some feelers though, about that one. They are safe to keep here
on the island since no one can come here". Fannie just shook her head
and looked at the bottom of each of the boxes. At the last and
largest stone, she squealed, and said, " makes me wonder if anyone
has this much money laying around. It's such a beauty even with those
two very tiny black specks at the rim. It would really need to be
re-cut, there is hardly any flash. You can see the old timers, cut for
weight, not beauty. These stones must be very, very old". Linc told
her that Uncle Vernon thought they may have come from Russia. Maybe
stolen by a Mongol from some old Tsar or other old leader, since
Roland Hankes had gotten them from a Mongol concubine. He told her he
didn't care where they come from, they were his now. Axel had to
joke and say, " I'm going to retire next year, maybe I should come
and follow you around. Maybe get in on one of these things too".
Fannie said, " oh no you don't. I don't retire til the year after,
then we will do it together. Might as well get Dad here in on it to
while we are at it". Linc had to smile at this. He said, " most of
the time it is just work. You would get bored real quick following me
around the hills and deserts looking for some kind of minerals someone
wants to file claims on or buy. I never know when I might stumble on
a portal to somewhere, and they are not always a great place to be. I
have had some real close calls on a few of them, and just got back
through the portal in time. I think I have told you about most of the
trips I have went on. One must have been a real bad place, because
Angel refused to go and she barked and barked at me when she thought I
might go into it. I think I trust her enough to know when something
smells bad". At hearing her name, Angels ears perked up, and she
looked at everyone.

The next day they took the ATV down to the other end of the island.
The fruit trees were loaded, but still green The coconuts were still
too small to see just how many there were. They did find some berries
that looked and tasted a lot like raspberries. Axel and Linc decided
to take a swim in the pool, so Fannie and Lucas picked a bunch of
berries.
They really enjoyed themselves for a week, then went back to the cabin.
After a couple more days there, Axel said they were going to head back
to Vegas. The law office had called. Seems no one could find
anything. Axel said he was glad he was going to retire. The stress
of the last couple of years had been wicked. He told Linc that the
time spent at the retreat did wonders for him. Fannies said she could
second that too. Axel said he would like to come back in the fall when
the family came and all of them go to the retreat, since he and Linc
got the solar panels up and the cave all wired up, the crypt and last
room in the hall boarded up , the bunks made for the rooms in the
cave, and now there was room for everyone, to have a place to sleep.
It would be great to have the whole family together at one time.
The next day after Axel and Fannie left, Lucas decided he would get up
early, put on a pot of coffee, then build a fire in the fireplace.
When Linc got up, he joined Lucas in front of the fire. Lucas was
smiling. He looked at Linc and said, "see, haven't lost the touch.
I wanted to see if it was any harder than before, and find now I don't
have to go down to the creek to get water, it's a lot nicer. I think
I can get used to this. In fact I really like what you have done. I
know I could spend time alone here even now. This fireplace seems to
warm the place up faster the old stove did". . Linc said, I didn't
tell you before, but the Chinese jerks had set a dynamite charge in
the old stove and blew it bits. They put one in the trunk too, but
the sharp edge on the lid cut the fuse and it didn't go off. Axel,
completely refinished the old thing, oiled the rollers, and I got a
pad for the top so it can be used for extra seating. He did a great
job on it too". Lucas said, I noticed that it looked like a new one, I
didn't know it was the old one. Now I really glad it was saved. Sure
used it a lot to store the bedding and stuff it to keep it dry and to
keep the mice and rats out of it". Linc told him that it still is
used for extra bedding, and now the other stuff is put into drawers,
and no mice can get in here now.
As they sat in front of the fire, drinking coffee, the sun came up and
Linc opened the door to let the warm sunlight come in through the
storm door.. He asked Lucas if he was going to make breakfast too?
Lucas said he wasn't going to go that far this morning, he was getting
used to being waited on hand and foot.
After breakfast and cleanup, they were sitting by the fire when Gus
called. He told Linc that the home office had done some testing on
the last desert site he had flagged, They like it and have their
legal team working on a claim. None of the other desert finds were
good enough after testing, to do anything with, but the place below
the mine at the bottom of the mountain, was. They have filed on it.
The mine itself turned out to be a fantastic find. The legal team was
able to buy it outright for back taxes. The company is very pleased
with what they found in it. Head office said you wanted stock in it,
and they have granted you ten shares. Gus said he would send out the
paperwork on it right away. Linc smiled broadly, raised his fist and
yelped, yes!, yes!, I knew it. Gus told him they were so pleased
with his work, they were thinking of sending him down to Arizona to
check out some other links they have heard about. Linc said to tell
them thanks, and let him know where and when.
After he hung up, he told Lucas what the call was about.
Back at the farm, Linc went with John to get four little pigs to
raise. The next day they gathered up all the old layer hen and took
them to the butcher and picked up feed for the pigs and the new
chickens that had started to lay. They still had a few old layers
The young cow was giving a lot of milk and the older cow was about to
have a calf.
Linc told John if he and Trudy wanted to spend a few days at the
cabin, to go ahead and do it because he had time to do chores now
before the mine sent him ti Arizona, so they went the next morning.
Linc and Lucas had no trouble taking care of things until they got back.
The next morning they had a new calf. The old cow was now ten years
old,. Good thing the new calf was a female. Going to have to turn the
old cow into meat for the freezer. John said he was going to fatten
her up after one more year. Later that day, Gus called about Arizona.
To be continued.