Anyone know where Rod Johnson is?


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Hey Jim,

The last I heard, he was in Texas. This was many years ago through. He wanted me to help him write a book, way before the secret nugget patch book. We sat down in Rock Springs and talked about it in the early 90's. I was adviced from Richard Doherty to not do it. Later Floyd got involved with him and they wrote the book. I could say more, but I won't. :mellow:

Rob Allison

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Rob... Rod was from Texas. He started the www.goldprospecting.net but is no longer involved.

The book on the secret gold nugget patches of arizona was published as vol one and vol two.

Vol two was published around 2003. The preface is 8x10 photo of Floyd and Rod dedicated Vol 2

to Floyd, Richard and Jerry Gardiner (whom I do not remember).

The reason I wish to get with Rod is because as I remember he has some knowledge of

a large 2,700 pound mass of pure silver that was found during the early history of Arizona. It was

confiscated and taken to Madrid. My interest is purely acadmic as I believe a mass this size

would be related to an epithermal deposit.

The Kelly silver mine at Red Mountain (Randsburg Mining District) is also an example of an

epithermal silver deposit... and all told produced $16,000,000; the largest source of silver at

this time (1919-1929) even with silver at $0.28 oz troy... and back when silver was used for

coinage, it meant that an ounce of silver was less then a dollar as Morgan (1878-1921)

and the PEACE (1921-1935) silver dollars contained a net weight of .77344 oz. pure silver.

Gosh... it could be that Rod is now gone? Best... jim straight

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Jim I also did some research on that silver mass years ago, I was living in the area were it was rumored to have been located. I read the Indians in the area found it, and were hacking chunks off it and selling them in old Tucson until a Spanish priest found out about it. The bad part is I cant recall the book I was reading about it in at the moment but it may be in my library. I'll take a look.

AzNuggetBob

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Rob... Ron admits that in his first edition of the above named Vol 1 that he got

the "buzz" about some of his information. But then again while the "reviews

were mixed, Ron mentions in Vol to the 'effect' that he received more positive then negative

reviews by those responding to Vol.1.

Bob... Try "Mineral Resourses as of Arizona 1881."... Also Bob, :) I'm highly

impressed by your knowledge and experience. ..

Also, Rob :) ... YOU TOO!.... Ol' jim straight

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Hey Jim,

Yes, Rod got some bad press on the "Secret Nugget Patch Book," as many didn't want patches they were working to be known. I'm not sure who actually owned any of the patches, but I understand that some of the information might have opened too many eyes to certain key locations. Floyd wasn't too Frugel when he gave up many of his older patches to be advertised in the book for nothing in return.

For newbies, these type of books are great. They allow you to learn where gold has been found before and maybe even a chance to scratch a nugget or two from one of the locations.

$25,000 cash and I will spill the beans on most of the nugget patches I know. You can write as many books as you want! :wub: Hehe

Rob Allison

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Hey Jim,

Yes, Rod got some bad press on the "Secret Nugget Patch Book," as many didn't want patches they were working to be known. I'm not sure who actually owned any of the patches, but I understand that some of the information might have opened too many eyes to certain key locations. Floyd wasn't too Frugel when he gave up many of his older patches to be advertised in the book for nothing in return.

For newbies, these type of books are great. They allow you to learn where gold has been found before and maybe even a chance to scratch a nugget or two from one of the locations.

$25,000 cash and I will spill the beans on most of the nugget patches I know. You can write as many books as you want! :wub: Hehe

Rob Allison

Where do I send the check to?? : P

Tom H.

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Well.. I had both vol 1 and 2... But since I only detected in Arizona around Quartzsite, and

several times around Lost and Gold basin, my interest was mostly academic. I was more

intererested in Rods way-ahead-of -time in using the internet (which was, and still is, new

to me). Rod explains GPS and all about his then new 4x4 1989 Isuzi trooper; fully equipped

with an onboard computer system. His Trooper was equipped with a low level radiation,

magnetometer, graph recorder. WOW.

I recently found Vol 2 in some of my old stuff... But vol 1, I may have given it away.

I now guess that Rod Johnson may be gone, but to me, he writes about doing many things;

both in the oil industry and prospecting for gold and other minerals. But I also feel that some

ot the details...... Well... Silence is GOLDen !

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Hey guys

Got busy this weekend.

Jim,Well I could not find were I read that story on the huge silver mass.. I looked through a few books and finally gave up. the more I thought about it may have been one of my old Roy Lagal or Karl von Mueller books. I lost a couple of them a few years ago, loaned them?

Tom, I'll be looking for you or your truck and I look forward to stopping by and meeting you.

way2cool, Thanks for the tip but I think that silver boulder was found somewere around Globe, Az.? may or may not be the same one. Its not too far off. back in those days towns weren't very close together. but I can always use more info.

Rob I'm glad you put that little clause in there, "most" of the nugget patches I know . ;):ph34r::)

Take care guys AzNuggetBob

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Hey guys

Got busy this weekend.

Jim,Well I could not find were I read that story on the huge silver mass.. I looked through a few books and finally gave up. the more I thought about it may have been one of my old Roy Lagal or Karl von Mueller books. I lost a couple of them a few years ago, loaned them?

Tom, I'll be looking for you or your truck and I look forward to stopping by and meeting you.

way2cool, Thanks for the tip but I think that silver boulder was found somewere around Globe, Az.? may or may not be the same one. Its not too far off. back in those days towns weren't very close together. but I can always use more info.

Rob I'm glad you put that little clause in there, "most" of the nugget patches I know . ;):ph34r::)

Take care guys AzNuggetBob

Bob:

Like I say..if you see a puke green 4runner...its probably me! :)

Not for about 2 weeks though.....ive got it totaly torn apart.....replaced upper A arm bushings, rear axle seals, pinion seal, tore the dash out to replace the heater core and clean everything up under there. You would not believe what 27 yrs of dirt looks like in the A/C duct/heater. Ewwww.

Taker easy.

Tom H.

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http://www.thegeozone.com/treasure/arizona/tales/az012a.jsp

Here is a link that that I stumbled on one day. It talks a little about your subject. There is a lot of diffrent information on the location. I think that one of the locations is closer to about 5 miles west of Sasabe Arizona on the other side of the border. Some times the would find melted silver in the morning where there fires were. Good stuff but a tough nieghborhood to hunt in with Bandito's, Smugglers, Growers, etc.. Not much has changed down this way in a hundred years.

Papers we don't need no stinking papers

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I'm thinking I read around Globe also.Where the phelps dodge copper mine is in pinto creek.The story led the reader to believe that where it was found would be under todays tailings.I've also read about large silver finds west of there on the trail to apache junction thru the superstition mountains on the salt river side. .Hope this is helpful.

Mike

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If you are looking for large pure silver deposits you really need to study Treasure Hill in Nevada. A solid ledge of silver capped the mountain with outcrops of horn silver on the slopes. Most of the exposed horn silver was chopped out with axes. Once a few shafts were sunk silver chlorides so rich they could be smelted on the campfires were found. Treasure Hill was an incredible find that was unfortunately overshadowed by the Comstock discovery. I have been studying Treasure Hill for several years and any additional information anyone may have on that find would be appreciated.

Another amazing find were the Lake Valley deposits, near our New Mexico summer camp this year. Discovered in 1878 it quickly became a multi million dollar silver mining camp. In 1879 a solid ledge of silver was discovered and a 2,600 pound chunk was transported by specially made cart to Santa Fe for assay. The assayer declared it "pure" silver. In 1881 the "Bridal Chamber" was discovered. It was a cave of pure native silver. Over the next two years $2,775,000 of silver was taken from the Bridal Chamber alone. Only the silver crash of 1883 stopped the production from the Lake Valley deposits and the nearby Kingston discoveries.

We stopped last week at the General store in Hillsboro New Mexico a few miles from Lake Valley. Besides the excellent green chili burger we came for we also found several pieces of native silver in country rock just laying around the front door. This is a very rich area for both gold and silver.

I haven't seen Rod Johnson's books but I did run into an unexpected treat this past week. Ruby and I spent several days doing research for our next FootPrints map at the Socorro School of Mines Skeen Library. Besides being a world class mining library they also host the Federal Repository. It's one of our favorite places to play. We are always finding little treasures while researching and this visit was no exception.

A little book by Jack Black written in 1975 caught my attention while looking for a particularly rare map insert. This was originally a softback but it had been hard bound by the library. It was especially dog eared and had seen a lot of use through the years. It was one of the few books that was not allowed to circulate, which is rare for this library.

I didn't have a lot of time to look through it but I was amazed to find that Mr. Black was naming placer locations in the west that I thought I was one of the few to know about. This little book is loaded with mining history and placer locations all over the United States. The title is Gold locations of the United States. I've located a copy for a reasonable price. Has anyone else ever seen this book? Am I the only one who has been missing this gem all these years?

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Clay.... I was born and raised in Ely. Graduated from White Pine High School in 1948.

Before WW-2 there was still a lot of activity in Hamilton. Hamilton was about 45 miles

from Ely (35 miles west of Ely on US 50, then about 12 miles south.)

Eberhardt was about 6 miles southerly of Hamilton. The last time I was there was with dad

and this was before WW-2. It was just a ruin. However there was still mining going on in

Hamilton. My dad was a well known welder and could weld anything big or small and made

many trips to the workings around Hamilton. This was about 1940 and he would take me

on several trips but would not let me wander around the area.

Back then there was still "stuff" left from the olden days. Treasure City may still have

visibler structures left, but I cannot say as as it is often the case that tall sagebrush hide

most everything.

Gosh even in Ely, there are areas within town that sagebrush is growing. Needless to say

I was surprised to see this in 2008 when I went to my 60th class reunion.

Back in the 1950's I worked at the concentrator in McGill. It is now gone... Ely was a lively,

snorten and rooten-tooten wide-out open "Blow out" town during WW-2. Copper mining

was going full-bore as it was needed for the war. But just 15 years later copper was no

longer needed as technology changes everything.

Clay... ya' still there... Do you have a copy of Treasure Hill (portrait of a silver mining camp)

by W. Turrentine Jackson?

University of Arizona Press1963; Foreword copyright University of Nevada Press 2000.

If you haven't and want one and it is out of print let me know as I have one... jim straight

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Yep John I've heard many tales of Ely during that time. My mom grew up there and was probably only two years younger than you.

You remember Beavo and the Monahan sisters?

I've got a copy of Jackson's Treasure Hill. One of the better written mining histories out there in my opinion. Well worth the read.

I'm guessing with the high prices on silver we will soon see Treasure City getting some attention.

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clay... your mom probably went to school with my sister. The high school was the

melting pot for all of White Pine county area.

Yep big companies are Drilling all over. Nevada big time. I would have been "one

of the boys" in the early "starting during the 1960's" but other things came up (and

for the better). jim

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