klondikesteveblog

We made it back from Dawson and the gold fields a few days a go!  We had a great mining season!  We signed a lease, with a veteran local miner, on the Bonanza property.  His name is Tim Coles.

Tim and I agree he will mine Bonanza Creek!

He is a very hard working smart operator.  With only 2 people he moves as much dirt as the Hoffman s did with how many?  He reclaims the property as he goes along as well, so I won’t have a mess later.  He has found areas that I was told were mined out that are untouched and have good gold!  We are quite happy to have Tim working on our property!  He is dedicated too…he is still there mining even though it is freezing at night!

Kathy thought she found gold!

It broke….not gold!

Along with some gold he has dug up some tusks the largest was 90 pounds!

Tim is holding the first tusk he found for us!

I wanted to post while I was up north but the internet connections are way to slow.  More soon!

This fox was a regular around camp….hunting mice!

Our first cleanup!

Steve

Kathy and I are loading up to head north to Alaska and the Yukon.  I think this will be my 20th trip on the Alaska Highway.  I always look forward to the trip.  It is a great road trip!  We plan to travel north on the Cassiar Highway which runs further west and has lower passes and is more remote than the Alaska Highway.  We came south on it last year and it was in pretty good condition.  It makes a nice contrast to the Alaska Highway scenery.

I am going to do some more drilling and dig a 25 foot deep hole to do some bulk sampling on the hilltop property beside Dawson.

Here are some pictures from our trip last year.

Someone has to do it!  Kathy and I spent 8 days in Jamaica.  The resort was the Couples Negril, a wonderful well kept resort with friendly and professional people that made the stay a great experience.  My youngest son, Court, got married and invited his new wife’s family and us all to be there.  We had a great time, got to meet Deidre’s mother Denise and her step dad Frank.  It was pretty warm and humid but a nice change from Arizona.   It was a joy spending a week with my ex-wife too???!!!  It really was not that bad…she was a good sport and I was on my best behavior for minutes on end!

Kathy and I enjoyed the desert near Kingman Arizona.  There were a lot of nice looking rocks, the  sky was blue and the air was dry!  We did some panning, metal detecting and scouting for valuable minerals.  The most we found were a few flakes, but that is how gold is located.  We located some very heavy lovely green colored rocks near Wikieup.   The green is copper.  Most of the copper mines in the area have some silver and gold along with the copper.

After speaking with Todd and Jack Hoffman at the party on the 28th of December, I came to believe they have no intention of mining our Ready Bullion-Upper Bonanza property.  It sounds like they are going to do something entirely different.  I believe they are making a huge mistake by not mining the Ready Bullion-Upper Bonanza property, because the values should be two or three times better than their Indian River claims and not as deep!

I have been planning on mining Upper Bonanza myself as I did quite well mining Ready Bullion creek in the 90s.  Even though my health and energy levels are good, I am thinking I may be old enough that 14 hour days and heavy work may be too much!  I was planning on working with the Hoffman’s on the property, offering my mining experience and enjoying the mining without doing all of the work myself!

I am now letting go of the idea to be directly involved.  This is a great opportunity for some miner!  Rich ground close to Dawson!

It has been a roller coaster ride to say the least.

If I would have had my water license early in 2011 they would have probably mined there and we would have all been much happier!  With the huge gold rush going on in the Yukon Territory, the mining recorder and water board were slammed, and still have a large back log.  Once the license was approved  the Hoffman’s were already committed to the Quartz and Indian river claims.

These are pictures of Upper Bonanza creek!

This past summer Todd and Jack looked at the property after I had some test holes dug.  The test results seem to support my thoughts of the values on the property.

I have had some interest from other people, but had been kind of holding back for Todd and Jack, since they have proven that they can get the gold….well at least Dave Tuirn can!

I am writing today to let you miners know that our Ready Bullion and Upper Bonanza claims are available for lease or purchase.  We are asking $600,000 cash, half down and 5% royalty, or 10% royalty for a miner experienced in the area.  I have more details and contact email at klondikesteve.com

I am looking forward to see what Todd and Jack do next.  I am sure it will be entertaining!  I continue to be a big fan of theirs and Gold Rush!

We are setting in a rain storm in Texas!  Yes it can really rain!  We are off to south Padre Island tomorrow.  We bought a metal detector and we are going to look for treasure on the beaches there!

My witcher will send me a map of where to dig!  Life is good!

Steve

We flew Portland from Dallas for the holidays.  We had been visiting Kathy’s sons in Dallas.  They are good guys and I enjoyed their company.

Todd invited us over to his and Jack’s place to watch the show and visit on December 28.  He told me to bring friends/fans too!  I went to school with Donna Klym, her grandson Kaleb is a huge fan!  Donna, her sister LB and Kaleb met us for dinner.  We  had a great time eating, laughing and joking!   While we were there my oldest son Randy arrived with his friend John Parker, wife Ginger and daughter Emma.

After dinner they followed me out to Todd and Jack’s airport.  It is kind of hard to find especially at night!

Emma had a list of suggestions for Todd.  I think maybe Todd should listen….

There is a youtube video from that night.  I think it was posted 12-31-12.

We had a great time!  Jack, Todd and their families are so gracious and nice!

Welcome to our new world….without the Mayan calender.  I just feel freer all ready!

I emailed with Todd Hoffman yesterday and he told me about their http://www.316mining.com website.  Cool stuff to buy for us fans!

I told you about Ron Feldman, his books and adventures.  I thought I should add his website too.  http://www.rockhorseminerals.com

The Superstition Mountains!  Lost Dutchman mine!  Gold! Exciting stuff!  These are all the things I think about while I am supposed to be sleeping!

Kathy and I decided to go on a horse trek in the Superstition Mountains!  I asked my witcher to tell me where the Lost Dutchman’s mine is so we could find it.  After he finished a long rant about how it was not safe and he wasn’t going out there, we scaled back the plan.

We went for a 2 hour horseback ride.  After not riding for 30 years we felt in most of the remaining fibers of our bodies that 2 hours was more than enough at one time!  The treasure will need to remain hidden!

We were able to meet the owner of the outfitting company.  It turns out that he is probably the foremost authority on the Superstition Mountains and the Lost Dutchman mine.  His name is Ron Feldman.  He has written three books on his adventures and they are quite a good read (I am about half way through “Deep Fault”).  He told me they are historic novels. It makes it good fun to figure out what came just out of his imagination.

He showed us his mine as well, a great guy and a good story teller!

If you have more stamina on a horse than we do he will guide you into the Superstition Mountains so maybe you can find the Lost Dutchman Mine!

I t has been a nice warm winter so far here in Arizona.  It has been in the 80s most days with nights a little cooler.  We are now beside the Superstition Mountains, I decided the RV park we are in is probably paved with gold bearing gravel!  My delusion …I can see it how I wish!

We washed about a ton of material a day out west of Phoenix and are now waiting for test results.  We saw very little gold, so we don’t really know if there is any value there.

Tom Hubbard, his wife Kathy and their daughter Annie came out and helped shovel and camped with us.  We had a great time with them and their help was much appreciated.  Annie and I are are probably fairly close to the same mental age….she is 11.