Well we started out to go back to the house when Darcie called us back. She said she almost forgot to give us a box of vegies that one of the locals had brought in. She also said she forgot to tell me that she sold the cluster of quartz crystals I brought in from the big quartz blowout I found.
I was glad to see some fresh vegies. I like frozen ones but fresh is better.
Back up at the claim, Jeb said to help him get the contraption up on the bench then I would be free to start supper. "don't fix a big supper he said, since we had such a big lunch." Out in the shop we hoisted it up and propped the side so he could cut it off. I went on back to the house and found Max waiting at the door with another baby rabbit. Darn things still having little ones this late in the summer? Any way I told Max he wasn't bringing the bunny in the house and closed the door in his face.
In the box of vegies there was tomatoes, cukes, and 2 big zucchinis. I decided to make some zucchini bread first. When I got the nuts from the freezer, I heard the chipmunks chirping. Sure enough, they were out on their shelf begging for nuts. They didn't have the run of the house now because Big had made a wire run over their shelf. The little house on the shelf had an opening to the outside where Jeb had built a well insulated nest up under the eave. The chipmunks could go out, on their outside shelf and wait for Jeb to come out the door, then jump over on his shoulder. Big, did put a tiny trap door in it so they could be fed some goodies once in a while. After I put the bread in the oven I gave them some nuts and a few raisins. I went on ahead and made a batch of gazpacho salad, and got the stuff ready for zucchini and eggs.
Just as I was taking the bread out of the oven I heard Jeb coming into the house. I heard him say to Max, You put that rabbit down, you're not bringing it into the house. okay, then stay out there." Then he came on in. He said he was going to clean up, then rest his eyes a bit..
Jeb sat down in his recliner, got his pipe ready, put it in his mouth and leaned back. For the life of me I don't see how he keeps the pipe in his mouth when he is sleeping.
While we were eating supper, I told Jeb that Darcie had called and the guy who bought the crystals liked the pictures of the white quartz blowout and wanted to come up and get a close look at it. He is looking for some more big chunks to carve. He said the ones the drag line brought out of the creek were too fractured to do what he wants do with them. Good thing I gave Darcie those pictures. Jeb said, that they could look all they want, but if they want big chunks, they would have to find their own way to get them out. Jeb got up and cut off a big hunk of zucchini bread, buttered it and chomped away. We took our coffee and sat by the fire for a while.
Next morning we took the contraption out to the sluice and Jeb screwed some pieces of wood to the inside of the sluice so he could wedge it in good. Got some burlap under it and put a loose piece of re bar under the side he cut off. When it was all in place, I went up and opened the dam at the head and then I started to put the gravel I had dug out the day before, at the head of the new piece. The clay seemed to stay in the squares in the re-bar and the water dissolved it pretty good.
We kept at it til I had gotten all the gravel I could reach here. We called it a day and went on in the house. Jeb cleaned up and went for a nap. Since it wasn't all that hot today, I went back out and climbed up above the two big boulders and looked to see if I could dig some gravel from out in front of them. I climbed on top of one when the darn thing started to slide a bit. I reached up and grabbed at a bush to keep from falling and the darn thing pulled right out of the ground, bringing a bunch of gravel with it. Wow, there was an other ledge above the one were were working on and it had been covered with over burden. I cleaned off an place on the over laying rock and decided to sample the gravel to see if it had any gold in it. I panned a couple of pans and did find some fines in it. I'll check with Jeb and see if it would be worth working instead of moving upstream right now.
I had just climbed up out of the creek when Stan came up with the carving artist. I took them back up to the end of the road to the clear-cut area. The old logging road up the draw, left of the clear-cut was not in real good shape. We had to walk a ways to the big white quartz blow-out. I thought that artist guy was going to have a heart attack when he saw the blow-out. He wanted it all. Like Jeb said, he would have to figure a way to get it out, in big chunks to boot. Stan did a bunch of measuring, and took some more pictures so he and Darcie could give the artist a quote of what it would cost him. I was content just stand back and watch them. I did point out the area where I found the crystal cluster, then I went on back to the house. I'll let Stan take care of it now.
When I got back to the house, Jeb was up from his nap and ready to do the clean up. I told him about Stan and the artist and about the new gravel find. He said, "Sonny, I'm going to leave this up to you about the upper ledge. If you want to do it, then we will. The clean up wasn't too bad despite the clay problem. In the morning I would have to rig up some sheet metal to put across the sluice so I could remove the over burden and flume it across the sluice to the stream and let that take it downstream.
Next morning Jeb and I got the metal set up then He said I was on my own because he was going into Wallace to take care of some business. He was taking the last gold to the processor. I spent the rest of the day removing the over burden, then shoveled a big portion of the un-covered gravel down to the ledge we were working on before. Going to feel like a big fool if we don't find any gold up there.
Since I was alone, after cleaning up, I just grabbed a sandwich and went off the work on my computer. I was keeping a journal of my time up here and needed to up-date things.
Next morning I went outside and came almost face to face with a big black bear. I could see Sammy jumping around and playing with the darn thing. What in the world was going on. I called her to come in the house but she and the bear just played, then they both ran up the road and into the timber. I called but she wouldn't come back. Jeb will have a fit if that bears kills her. I waited a bit then went on down to the creek I was glad I had the rhino. It beat trying to out run a bear on foot.
I worked, shoveling the gravel into the sluice and then jumping down to clear the race ever so often. Not a whole lot of big rocks in this gravel. Not much black sand either, but an abundance of white sand. Lots of quartz pieces as well. I stopped around noon for a sandwich the went back to work. I was still at it when Jeb came back about three . He was surprised to see how much I had done. I told him about the bear and Sammy. He just laughed ans said, "that was just Bruin. I picked him up as a tiny cub. He was almost dead. His mother was dead and there he was by her body just starving. I thought he was long gone by now. He stayed in the dog house with Sammy when he started eating dog food on his own. He wouldn't hurt a flea." " Darn it Jeb, you could have told me about that darn bear. I almost fell over when I saw him" "slipped my mind." Jeb said. Lets see what you have for a clean up. After Jeb panned it out, he said, " Not bad there , Sonny, not bad," Looks like you are going to be a prospector yet.
To be continued.
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