Gold Prospecting And Having Fun

Reader Contribution by Bruce Mcelmurray
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So what does a modern homesteader or any homesteader do when they finally get caught up with repairs, and other homestead demands?   Actually I don’t know what others do but in my case I toss the gold pan, shovel, bucket, some drinking water and snacks into the Jeep and head over to my friends house to  go do some prospecting.  We headed for a ghost town way up in the mountains with weather that was cooperative, good company  and the hopes of finding some gold..  We headed to an old ghost town that has long since been abandoned by miners and subsequently a large commercial mine has cut away a large portion of the top of a mountain until it was shut down by the EPA for toxic violations. They allowed heavy metals to leach into the creek and arsenic to infiltrate the nearby creeks and water system.  As we looked around at all the beauty at 11,800′ of elevation we could imagine how the original miners  who established the ghost town must have loved it there.  Unfortunately as we walked through the vacant and decaying buildings that over look the present strip mine operation we can only imagine that they would be horrified at how it looks today.  

The Super Fund EPA clean up has been going on since 1992 and if appearance is any indicator the process is going to take many more years.   What do you do with so much contaminated soil and water anyway?  As we went from decaying  house to house through the ghost town we wondered how the miner’s lived back then and if they were standing where we were at that moment what they would think now if they could see the ravage of the land.  They used old rudimentary methods but did not scar and destroy an entire mountain top like so called modern mine’s have done without concern for restoration.  How do you replace a mountain top anyway?

When we were at the creek laboring hard like the old miners must have done in times past, digging rocks out one at a time to get to a depth where there could be some gold, we noticed that there was not a living thing in the creek.  It was totally devoid of all life – most likely from the heavy metals and arsenic that had been released there by the mining operation.  There was not one single living thing observed except us and the many flies along that creek.  Now before anyone can accuse me of being against mining – let me say that I fully realize how important mining is.  I’m fully in favor of mining but I am strongly  against irresponsible mining that destroys the land to the point  where the U.S. Government has to spend 18 years  trying to clean up their mess and has many more years to go with the future of the mountain being uncertain. Those millions of dollars being spent  are our tax dollars and the mine owners simply walk away and leave the mess for someone else to clean up and the taxpayer to pay the bill. That is what I am against.   I did not take photos of the destruction as I believe it was just to disheartening to show others.   

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