Discovery of Dawn's Gulch (early 90's)

[nuggethunting]

Hello All,

Back in the early 90's when the Minelab SD2100 was released I used to spend a lot of time out in Western Arizona. A matter of fact, my girlfriend at that time (now wife, Dawn), used to spend a lot of time with me, occasionally detecting for a few hours. There was a pretty remote area that I had fair luck at, finding a few nuggets here and there.

We decided to branch out a bit on early morning, Dawn going one direction while I went another. After a few hours Dawn was within sight and I seen her swinging her SD2100 over her head. Obviously I knew she must have found something, so I made my way that direction. Upon arrival, Dawn was down in a small gulch with a nice smile on her face. She then decided to show me her new find, one of her better finds at the time. The piece wasn't huge by any means, but it was a new specimen in a new area. See Dawn's specimen below –

After looking over the spot for a few minutes, I ended up leap frogging above her to see what else was in this small gulch. Within just a few short swings up the narrow gulch, I hit several good targets. Both of these targets were smaller, solid gold nuggets in the 1-2 Gram range. I yelled back and told Dawn I found a couple right away and was going to leap up further and she could hunt in this spot.

The wash was choked full of brush and old trees, so I was in and out of the wash just listening for decent targets. As I got up the gulch about 100 yards from the last couple of nuggets, I got a nice, mellow "Wee-Woo" sound right in the center of the gulch. At this point, Dawn or I have hit a single piece of iron rubbish, so the excitement meter went way up hearing this target. I started to peel back several inches to make sure it wasn’t some type of surface rubbish and the target got much cleaner, but still pretty faint. I ended up digging down further, now about 8-10 inches and the target really started to sing! I yelled down for Dawn, letting her know I might have a good one here. She proceeded up the gulch and upon her arriving at the spot; I was now down 14-16 inches. I had to use the plastic scoop, as the hole was tight and dirt kept filling back in. Dawn helped me dig the hole down to around 20-22 inches and we re-checked. The target was gone, now tossed out of the hole onto one of the dirt piles we dug out. As I passed my Minelab SD2100 over the pile, it SCREAMED!"

I told Dawn to cross her fingers, hoping it wasn't a horse shoe or some large iron nail. The first handful of material I grabbed, I felt a bit of weight and as I passed it near the 14-inch searchcoil, it SCREAMED once again. All I had to do is open my hand and see this beautiful, palm sized gold specimen staring at me. Holy shit was my first thought..... As I tossed it up and down trying to get an idea what this piece might weight. Like always, I was thinking at least a pound. See the specimen below –

Well, after this find, we both were excited and I had to hear about how she found the spot.... blah .... blah ... blah Ya, she found it alright, but it was time for me to clean it out.

We spent several weekends returning, hunting in the early AM. After it was all said and done, we took well over a pound of specimens and nuggets from this location. Some of the solid nuggets are displayed below on an older Minelab detector box. The biggest solid nugget was around 1/4 ounce. We also found another nice specimen at 2.31 ounces down below the first one hidden in the brush I ran around originally.

This spot is now pretty heavily claimed, but I'm hoping someday it might open up. The last time I was there, I used an early GP series, either the Extreme or 3000. I would love to revisit this spot with a GPX series, especially the Minelab GPX5000.

Until then I can only dream of returning with a modern Minelab PI.

Rob Allison

[oldies1955]

Rob:<br />Your killing me here!<br />Posting all these gold pictures and its too blazing hot to go beeping!!<br />Tom H.<br />

[adam]

Very Nice Rob & Dawn

[justindoober]

Pretty awesome rob! Your stories always make me wish I was behind a detector years before I started.

[nuggethunting]

Hey Cowkiller,

Back in the early 90's when I first picked up a detector, my thoughts were the same as yours now. I heard all the stories of patches, big gold and such, wishing I could have been part of the early 80's era of nuggethunting. That being said, I learned what I could, mastered my detector and spent thousands of hours in the field. I never let anyone discourage me, which their were many at the time. I couldn't honestly tell you how much gold I have found to date, but I do know it's thousands of nuggets.

There are hundreds of square miles that have never been covered with modern metal detectors that are available today. There will be just as much gold found in the next 20 years as the previous 20. You can either be one of the guys that believes the gold is all gone, or get out there like you have and in 10-15 years you will have a very rewarding collection of gold nuggets and unforgetable memories.

You're advantage is your have a very trustworthy Brother that enjoys the same hobby you do. Get out there together, enjoy and cheerish the good times together and you will both find a bunch of gold.

Wishing you both the most success possible.

Rob Allison

[Uncle Ron]

Great story and finds for you and Dawnie, Rob ... It's very true that, the longer and harder you hunt, the more difficult the finds ... But when you hit a new patch after beaucoup research, sometimes the results are very rewarding ... Right now, I'm in the midst of a very skunky dry spell ...In past times like this I used to get very depressed, but kept on looking and researching ... Then, BANG, I'd hit a three or four ounce patch that would keep me happy for a few months ... That's the beauty of this obsession ... You WILL hit the next patch ... Cheers, Unc

[supafly136]

SONOFA... these stories r killin me too. Was hopin to be back out ther in 2 weeks but lookin more like 4. Thx for the stories Rob, great motivation for us all.

[moonlight]

were back finally rob after a bad super bad tic bite in the hills got really sick today back to docs for more blood stuff tommorrow to another doc then to mountains for the hunt hopfully this last bite darn almost did it found me slumped over at camp sick bad

[cochetopa]

Rob,

Thank you for taking the time to write up and post your story with photos. I enjoyed it a lot and especially so because your wifey (to be) was along and participating with you. You're a lucky guy to have a lady like that.

[justindoober]

Thanks Rob. And I know there is gold out there just waiting to be found! You are right about that. OH and my bro is an alright guy to detect with he has tought me tons about this stuff.

[nuggethunting]

Hey Guys,

Ya, its great when you can prospect and explore with your best mate or family, even close friends. My wife and I used to spend a lot of time in the hills, more so dredging back then. She loved to tender the sluice boxes on the dredge and then get to pan down the concentrates half way through the day.

As you have read above, she had her fair share of finding nuggets, most of the time in places I wouldn't hunt. This would include extremely trashy areas, where you would hit targets every few feet.

Another time she hit a nice, smaller specimen in a very remote area we hiked into one Winter season. This is another story, but she found another patch with her Minelab Eureka Gold metal detector, another place now off limits due to claims.

Back in the early to mid 90's, the price of gold was down in the $300-400 range and most places were pretty much open. The interests in gold mining was down due to the price of gold. Most good places were open, only a handful of good locations under claims at that time. Now it's just the opposite, just about everything is claimed and you have to pay close attention to where you're at.

The gold is still out there, it's been there for thousands of years just waiting for that searchcoil to find it!

[pkirkll]

what did you say the gps co-ords were Rob?

hahahhahaa....

[nuggethunting]

Hey Paul,

I'm not even sure I know the GPS, just where it physically is. Funny, the last time I returned to this spot the vegitation grew up pretty good and the spot looked really different. I almost thought it was the wrong spot, but after about 30 minutes of roaming around I seen a few things I remembered.