The monthly outing was at the new "Little Bruiser" claim in the Oracle area. About 30 people gathered at the first Circle K in Oracle, a nice turnout. We headed out at 8am for the short drive to the claim. It is only about a mile to the center of the claim from the old Mt. Lemmon Hwy. Cars started parking at 0.6 of a mile to about 1.2 miles from the main road. A surprising number of vehicles found parking all along the claim with a nice parking area at the one mile point. The road was in good shape and only required a high clearance vehicle.
The area was too wet for dry washing so most elected to pan or metal detect. Others, like Gary Grant, Jerry Shultz and John Payton just enjoyed watching and talking to others. George Volker and Ken Winter put up the new claim markers while Lonny Ripplinger finally got a chance to do a little exploring since there was no common dig.
Quite a few members took out their metal detectors to see what could be found lurking just below the surface. A diverse selection of detectors were used. For example, Wayne Ivey had his Minelab GP Extreme, Jeanette Kangieser was on her first outing and used a Tesoro Lobo, Gordon Harnack was using a Fisher Goldbug 2 and Mike Rebholz took out his Whites GoldMaster 2. Several others, including John Venus, Jerry Thomas and Bob Boor, also did some detecting. No nuggets were reported but some souvenirs were found such as an old horshoe and an ore train track spike, both in good condition. Of course lots of junk, along with some interesting pieces of metal, were also dug up.
Several people did some panning at scattered spots along the wash. This was Sam Warren's first outing and he, along with Bryon Hackett and Ray Knights tested spots near the east end of the claim. John Venus, Jamie Girard and Chuck and Connie, along with others, tested many areas all along the main wash. Some fine gold was found but no reports of any great amount or pickers.
Ed Ramos set up his new homemade recirculating high banker, which he is refining, near the center of the claim. Ed reported finding some gold with his machine. Nearby, Ron and Mary Shrum set up their Keene recirculating high banker. Ron also used his gas vac to clean out the area he was working. Ron did fairly well at his spot with a nice amount of fine gold.
It was a nice day, warm for the season, with lots of shade to keep cool. This is a pretty area and everyone enjoyed the day.
Pictures and captions courtesy of Bob Boor.
 John Venus checking out a signal found by his guest Ben Clark while metal detecting. |
 Ray Knights doing a bit of panning in the main wash. |
 Ron and Mary Shrum with their recirculating high banker/sluice combo. |
 Ron Shrum vacuuming his diggings. |
Please send any comments and suggestions on these pages to the DGD Webmaster
This page was last updated on 10 May 2002.