Going for the Gold -- For modern-day miners, the real riches are in the friends they make

By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Saturday, December 2, 2006 7:15 PM PST ∞

As little clouds of fine brown dust float from a machine that is creating a rhythmic whomp whomp whomp, Tom Hill stands by with patience and hopefulness.

"I look at gold mining like fishing," he said, watching the device called a dry-washer slowly sort dirt and rocks. "If you caught fish every time you went out, it wouldn't be called fishing. It'd be called catching."

On this outing, the Navy chief is definitely doing more fishing than catching. But as he and other members of the Escondido-based Treasure Seekers of San Diego County are quick to say, the real fun is in the hunt, the adventure and the camaraderie.

But still, it was not the lure of pretty rocks or flowers that called a group of 15 Treasure Seekers to a claim just west of Yuma over the Thanksgiving weekend. They're seeking gold, and one good strike can bring a fortune.

Ray and Pat Gravel, also members of Treasure Seekers of San Diego County, have been mining for 20 years and, like other members, have heard enticing success stories. One amateur miner retrieved 900 ounces from a California river at a time when gold was selling for $800 an ounce, Ray said, citing just one story of hope and encouragement.

The couple own property in California's "Mother Lode country," the area that prompted the 1849 gold rush, and have invested about $1,000 in a dredger to look for gold in a river that runs through their land.

Ray laughed when asked how much gold he has found over the years.

"Not even $400," he said, adding that he gives away much of what he finds.

"It's a hobby," he said. "No gold miner thinks he going to get rich."

"It's about being out with your family," Pat said. "It's a nice, clean sport."

For many enthusiasts, the mining is second to being outdoors with friends, whether scouring local beaches with metal detectors or making monthly trips to one of the nine claims held by their club.

"Gold is kind of a bonus," said Vista resident Ray Wilkerson, vice president and one of the founders of Treasure Seekers of San Diego County, which meets at 6:30 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month at the Joslyn Senior Center, 210 Park Ave., Escondido. "It's just really a good outing."

Claims are filed with the Bureau of Land Management and cost $175 for the first year and $50 to renew. A claim must be at least 20 acres, and its holder owns the mineral rights to the property but not the land itself. The Friendly Fox claim is 160 acres.

"We can't stop you from going out there and camping on that claim, but you can't go picking up any rocks, because the rocks are ours," Wilkerson said.

The club has 148 members, and 50 to 80 attend the monthly meetings. Members have two outings each month: one to a local beach with metal detectors and another to a claim for mining. On warmer months, members go north and pan for gold in rivers, while colder months are reserved for desert claims, such as the Friendly Fox.

"It's fun," Wilkerson said. "It's just getting away from the damn TV set and computer, getting some fresh air and some exercise."

With gold about $600 an ounce, it also can be profitable. In theory, anyway.

The hobby doesn't take a large investment to get started. Hill said he started with a $5 gold-mining pan last year.

"I'd been in California all this time, and I never panned for gold," said Hill, a 14-year state resident, about why he started the hobby.

He took his pan to Julian and began looking for gold in a stream.

"I found one little miniature speck after six or eight hours, and that was it," he said. "I was hooked."

Since then, he has spend $800 on two dry-washers.

On this day, an Oceanside member who goes by Jerry D mined next to Hill with a device called a Gold Magic Spiral Recovery System. The machine uses a slow-spinning green pan with ridges that lead to its center. While bigger pieces of dirt and rock are bounced out, the center collects the smallest pieces of dirt, which might contain gold.

The system costs about $400, and Jerry D set it up in a spot that looked promising, a junction where a small stream had flowed into a larger stream. Gold, the heaviest thing in the water, would naturally settle in a backflow where the waters met.

"That's what I'm thinking, anyway," he said.

Several yards away, Richard Callahan of Oceanside had dug up a boulder, thinking that a backflow there might have left gold behind.

Their hunches did pay off, but only with the smallest pieces of gold. The Treasure Seekers are not alone in thinking there is gold at the site, however.

Just beyond the dry riverbed where they were mining were several abandoned mines from the early 1900s, their gaping mouths still open, inviting adventurers. Charlene Myers of the Treasure Seekers said no members have looked up the mine's history to see if it was successful, but it clearly was active at one time. A concrete foundation and remainds of a brick entry at the group's campsite mark what probably was once the assayer's office.

"I look at these mountains and try to figure out what it was that made them think there was gold here," Myers said.

Nearby, what looks like an entrance to a mine ends about 10 feet into the rock, as though a miner had abruptly stopped a dig.

"Everyone's always told that gold's in quartz," Myers said, examining the hole. "It's not quartz. What was he following?"

Myers, a former sheriff's deputy, said she got hooked on mining as a child in the 1960s, when her family used to take her on trips to the Temco Mine, about four miles from Friendly Fox.

"I never travel without a gold pan," she said.

Myers married Bill Myers, a retired National Guard tank commander, three years ago. From September through June, the couple travel every weekend on mining expeditions. Her biggest find so far was a nugget about the size of her little fingernail, she said.

While the monetary rewards are few and the work is dirty, mining can be an addictive hobby. Although Jerry D has been a Treasure Seeker for just a year, he already has been on 10 mining trips and invested $1,000. He estimates he has found $50 in gold.

"It's not the amount of gold you get," he said. "The gold is in the people you meet."

That sentiment is typical of the Treasure Seekers, a far cry from the image of lone, long-bearded prospectors who mined in solitude during the gold rush days. Ray and Pat Gravel did not even bring mining equipment to the Friendly Fox claim, but just wanted to spend their Thanksgiving weekend with their granddaughter Carlissa and other miners from the club.

Besides the camaraderie, Hill said looking for gold is simply fun.

"It's a good reason for grown men to go play in the dirt," he said.

Callahan, owner of Dick's Back Gate Barbershop in Oceanside, said he had to have gold pointed out to him the first time he mined about a year ago, but since then he has become hooked.

"See that little spot right there, that's shiny?" he said, pointing to black sand in his pan. "See how it's still shiny, even in the shade? That's gold."

It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep Callahan motivated.

"If you're trying to get rich quick, don't do this," he advised.

For more on the Treasure Hunters, visit http://www.treasureseekersofsandiego.com or call club president Chester Nowicki at (760) 747-1165 or Ray Wilkerson at (760) 598-6441. Treasure Seekers of San Diego County meets at 6:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month at the Joslyn Senior Center, 210 Park Ave., Escondido.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.