Old mining operation

Steph and I took a tour of the Argo Mining operation in Idaho Springs last weekend.  It was pretty neat for fifteen bucks we got a short talk about the history of the Argo Mine and Tunnel; a slide show of different minerals and historical pictures; tour of a mine and stamp mill and a couple bags of "pay dirt" which you could pan out and find the "guaranteed" gold pieces in them.  The talk and slide show was pretty cool although most of what they spoke about I learned from Granda years ago.  The tour of the mine and mill was very cool.  I had to laugh at the bags of pay dirt though.  I have panned out enough soil to know what the amount of black sand and flour looks like.  The bags they gave us I swear was a mix of sand they got off of the freeway spiked with a pinch of black sand and flakes of gold that they got from a different source.  Not that I'm complaining though, the 'pickers' in the two bags pretty much tripled my gold collection.  I have to say though that panning out two bags of dirt wasn't as satisfying as finding the gold myself.  

Here is a picture of Steph and I at a mine, not the Argo but a smaller one that predates the Argo by a few years.

This is a picture of the Argo tunnel.  At the time it was built it, I think it was the longest tunnel in the world.  It went four miles under two different mountains and came out the other side near Central City.  It was built as a drainage conduit for other mines to purge their seeping water buildup.  Things were looking good for the Argo company.  They were able to sell the ore that came out of the tunnel as it was being built.  Other mines were able to stay in business by draining their water by hooking up with the main line going out to Idaho Springs.  This all came to a tragic end when some guys were working on a mine A (I can't remember the name) doing some blasting.  There was an abandoned mine nearby (I can't remember the abandoned mines name so I'll call it B) that had filled up with water.  The guys working in mine A thought that mine B was farther away than it really was.  So they set the charges and boom, followed by a swoosh!  I could only hope that the poor guys that were near the rush of water were instantly killed rather than drowning slowly.  There was another guy that made it out and I guess when he finally got to the end of the tunnel the water running by him was waist deep.  The running water had done significant to the support timbers in the main tunnel, thus closing the tunnel forever.

One last time.

The Agaves have started to bloom. Do we have honey bees, Hummingbirds and all kinds of birds that like to sip nectar? I never dreamed that so many different things like the flowers. Might even be some big moths at night we never see. Good thing they are so tall so the critters are way above our heads and not at body level like most of the other flowers are in the yard. Other than the hollyhocks and one batchlor button plant, all the other flowers in our yard are yellow. The pink poppies haven't opened yet.

Phillip and I were watching a documentary the other morning about the universe. All about black hole and worm holes in space. Gave me an instant brain echo. Reminded me of a dream I had a while back. In the dream, Phillip and I were going back to West Virginia to look up my Dad's ancestors. We were going to drive, so we went to a place that I would call a station. We drove inside and up to a gate. There was a terminal by the gate that you put all the information into. Like where you were going, who you were and why you were going there. How to pay and so forth. When we were done we drove up a ramp and onto what I will call a sled of some sort. A door closed behind us and we were pushed or pulled into a translucent tunnel. We had nothing else to do until we reached WVA so we decided to have our lunch. As we ate a sandwich, chips and drank a can of pop, we could see out the sides of this tunnel a wee bit and there were other pods rushing alongside, above and crossed under and all the while merging in the same tunnel that we were on. We no more finished lunch, than we were at the station in WVA. I don't remember what happened after we arrived because I woke up from the knowledge of the fast travel. Some mode of transportation I'd say. Makes one wonder if this is one of those dreams of mine that will come true in the future.

This will be my last post til I get back from up north. We want to be in Idaho by the 4th of July.

That don't mean that the rest of you guys can't post in the meantime.

Til fall, adios. Granny

Vacation time!

Hello all...

Jason and I have been very busy lately! But things are now slowing down and we are SO excited to be coming to Idaho/Montana for a visit and Hanks family BBQ. (Don't worry, I'll bring my own veggie burgers!) See everyone soon!

Trying to figure this thing out.....

Thanks for the "Remembering Dad". Hard to believe that it's been 16 years....... Hey, how do you attach a file to this thing? I wanted to post my newsletter, Nugget News. Or I could send it via email to everyone if they want. All I need is their email address sent to bob@goldfeverminingsupply.com . When are you coming up? We are leaving Thursday morning for San Diego to attend a wedding of a friend of ours. The whole family is going without the grandkids. Mary & I, the boys and their wives and Mary's Mom & Dad. Can you believe it, they are in their 80's. Will return next Tuesday. Should be fun as long as the weather is nice. Michael just got back from his second trip to Yeman and will be here for another couple of months until he gets sent someplace else. Matthew just finished his schooling for Non-Evasive Cardio and will be taking his boards soon. Not sure if he can get a job around here. His wife is a Respiratory Therapist at Kootenai Medical Center. Matt did his clinicals there, but they have no openings yet.

The Park is going hot and heavy. We have lots of members in the club (325+). We get lots of interest right after our gold show. With the economy this year, we are seeing more than normal interest.

Remembering Dad

Dad,Brother and Sisters. That's Charles between Donna and Patricia.

This picture of Dad was taken in 1973.

Since Dad's birthday is the 9th of this month I thought I would drag out a couple of old pictures and post them. I've got some others that none of you guys have copies of and I will post them later if anyone is interested. I guess I got a little bit maudlin when I think it has been 16 years since he passed away. Lots of brain echos there.

I was going thru some of the old pictures and came across the school picture I had taken in the 10th grade. Never know it was me, looking at me now. ...I just wish I knew who got Mom's old photo album with the pictures of all of us Prescott kids when we were little. I'd like to wring their neck since they took it before any of us could get dupes made. We had just got all the pictures sorted and put into albums the summer before I took the folks down to AZ. The rest of the kids were going to clean up the old fire hazard up while we were gone. The album disappeared before we got back.

You guys are lucky, The Agaves are almost ready to bloom and I wanted the next photo of them to be in bloom. Next time you are going to get it. ....AGAIN...

Phillip has been busy making all kinds of different things. He took an old Gerber knife I had, that the handle had broken off of and made a new one out of opalized wood we picked up in Nevada. He has lots of new stuff to show all of you. Right now he is working on a walking stick for Ivy. Going to put a piece of the rock that Grandpa David found in the Ruby river area in it.

If she don't like it he is going to beat her with it. (just kidding).

Had another weird brain echo (dream). This time I was making sandwiches for everybody up in Idaho at the old house. (Kids are small yet). I took 2 tubs out of the cupboard. ( like soft oleo comes in), and opened one and spread it onto the bread. The weird thing was, it was Velveeta cheese with pimentos in it. The other one was Velveeta with bacon bits in it. This was not like the spread that comes in the little glasses or squirts out of a pressure can. I wasn't hungry for cheese when I went to bed. Haven't eaten Velveeta in years.....Go figure.... Granny