clay Posted May 28, 2011 Report Share Posted May 28, 2011 Hi All,We've been a little slow on support lately and I know some of you are getting anxious to plan your summer prospecting trips to the cool Bradshaw Mountains with our upcoming North Bradshaw FootPrint (it will ship soon). We've been a bit busy with other things the last couple of weeks and I thought you would enjoy our adventures and give a little understanding if we are a bit late on our replies to your emails.Ruby and I have been in the Gila Wilderness of Southwest New Mexico since the first week of May.We came out here expecting to help a woman rancher with her sheep flock and her rv park (8 spaces). It sounded like the perfect way to get some peaceful mapping time in while the rest of the southwest sizzles (it still freezes here every night).This is our usual front door view:Unfortunately the wilderness was on fire and we spent our first two weeks here clearing brush, moving scared horses and panicked sheep and hosing down buildings. The firefighters surrounded us with their fallback camp and we found ourselves host to several hundred dirty tired firefighters.The mapmobile in the midst of fire camp:It was a good thing that the firemen chose our little spot to defend because there were several long days of high winds, choking smoke and hot flames.Fire on the hill above us:Helicopter emergency landing:In the end the summer camp was saved, no buildings or livestock were hurt and we are now breathing fresh air again and the road is open after more than two weeks of being locked in (if we left the Sheriff would have stopped us from returning). Just down the road the fire burned around the Gila Cliff dwellings National Monument and some outbuildings and rvs were lost. The fire still burns today. It has consumed more than 80,000 acres and the estimated date of containment is August 31, 2011.Here is the New Mexico flavor to this adventure:In the midst of the fire Gary, the service guy for the little local telephone company, shows up and hooks up our phone and DSL! Seems that Gary had grown up hunting with the woman we work for, word was passed that we would like to let our friends know that we weren't fried to a crisp and a New Mexico milagro happens. I love this place!More adventures to come- we will keep you updated throughout the summer!ClayMinerDigginsSubscribe to the NewDiggins Newsletter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilaoro Posted May 28, 2011 Report Share Posted May 28, 2011 We are thinking of you guys this weekend. Glad you had the best fire fighters in the west , The Gila Hots Shots ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Border Boy Posted May 29, 2011 Report Share Posted May 29, 2011 hey brother Clay been meaning to call just been up to my neck in things to do, fires are everywhere the greaterville fire opened up some good ground. Still planning on coming up to see ya but dont know when. Hope everything is great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkirkll Posted May 29, 2011 Report Share Posted May 29, 2011 hey y'all,Glad to hear you are fine...it is raining and snowing here every week!!!!!38 degrees last night on the claim..paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notoriouskelly Posted May 29, 2011 Report Share Posted May 29, 2011 Nice stories, Clay.Glad you're safe and have good company there.re: DSL - good things happen to good people Thanks for your service there and all you and Ruby do in the prospecting community! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Soloman Posted May 29, 2011 Report Share Posted May 29, 2011 Clay, you and Ruby lead an AMAZING life together! Great post and stay safe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 We are thinking of you guys this weekend. Glad you had the best fire fighters in the west , The Gila Hots Shots !Thanks for your thoughts Max. I hope you and Polly are getting some "pickers". How are the boys enjoying hot PB&J sandwiches? The day that picture of the fire was taken we had crews from as far away as Idaho and Michigan. Arizona was amply represented by the Flagstaff Hot Shots. Payson Hotshots, Gila Hot Shots, Glendale Fire Department and probably a few I've forgotten. The canyon on the other side of the ridge was lined up with the high winds when it burned, the whole canyon became a four mile long blowtorch!When every other Hot Shot crew pulled out because it was just too hot the Fort Apache Hot Shots stayed and fought that blowtorch for the next seven hours. They came in three hours late, black as crows from the smoke and soot, but they had stopped that inferno from coming over the ridge. They pulled all of our nuts out of the fire and we will be eternally grateful to those brave men.The fire continues to burn miles from here but the tales of the Fort Apache Hotshots keep floating into camp.This is the entire Fort Apache crew:ClayMinerDigginsSubscribe to the NewDiggins Newsletter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 hey brother Clay been meaning to call just been up to my neck in things to do, fires are everywhere the greaterville fire opened up some good ground. Still planning on coming up to see ya but dont know when. Hope everything is great Hey brother, All is good - they opened up the road last Friday and the smell of smoke is gone.Here's our current front door view, our friends are back and calmly grazing again.The view is looking south along the West fork of the Gila river. The mountains to the South are around 8,000 feet, To the West, North and East they range between 10 - 11,000 feet. The trees are Ponderosa Pine and Douglas Fir growing on mostly bare rock (andesite).To the left is the Gila Graben - source of the hydrothermal deposits we are camped on. The mountain to the far right is Alum mountain. There were placers discovered there in the 1920's but that's all I've found out so far. Behind Alum is Horse mountain and Bear Canyon the site of the famous Pinos Altos Placers. We've got a line on some placers on private property in the Burro mountains but that's a story for another time. We look forward to your visit whenever you can come Justin, we'll even let you pet a sheep! If you come out after July 10th this place will be lush and cool, right now is the dry hot season (80 degree days!). The hot springs work year round so whenever you can get away you can do the soak.ClayMinerDigginsSubscribe to the NewDiggins Newsletter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 hey y'all,Glad to hear you are fine...it is raining and snowing here every week!!!!!38 degrees last night on the claim..paulHow is life in the cold uplands Paul? Seems the weather isn't near as bad when you are digging monster nuggets on your own claim! Are there any cactus on that claim Paul? Wouldn't want you to fall on any while you are scooping up all those nuggets. Sorry we missed your call, it came before we had phone, it was very good to hear your voice though when we did get the message, thanks for thinking of us.We were so taken with that wonderful smile your find brought on that we printed it and hung it on the wall along with all the favorite dogs and graveyard photos! You now have a place on the wall of friends and oddities.Talk soonClayMinerDigginsSubscribe to the NewDiggins Newsletter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Nice stories, Clay.Glad you're safe and have good company there.re: DSL - good things happen to good people Thanks for your service there and all you and Ruby do in the prospecting community!Thanks Kelly. There are as many stories to come as we have years left. Like you, we have no intention of stopping until we can't go anymore.When it gets too cold in Montana come on back to the Southwest and we'll meet up over some giant nuggets and burgers. ClayMinerDigginsSubscribe to the NewDiggins Newsletter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clay Posted June 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2011 Clay, you and Ruby lead an AMAZING life together! Great post and stay safe!Thanks Terry. You seem to be full of adventures too. Hip Waders? Old man scoop on the beach? Terry, you gotta get back to the desert man there is no gold in New York beach sand, those yellow things aren't corn either!ClayMinerDigginsSubscribe to the NewDiggins Newsletter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilaoro Posted June 3, 2011 Report Share Posted June 3, 2011 What a difference a few days makes in the view! I worked Gold Gulch near Burro MT Homestead back in the '80s but it had been scraped with cats bank to bank even earlier but the little side flows still had a little, I expect that's all under claim now. The creek right in Pinos Altos was so dry one year they dug with back hoes out in the middle and high banked the bottom. I believe that was private property, it was in peoples back yards and the Forest started on the Mt side of the highway (E) across from the creek. All those Hot Shot crews earn their $, what a lot of people don't know is when they are not on a fire they are out cutting brush everyday day in some of the worst hell holes, most people could not even reach those spots. I have a couple of very good contacts up on the White River Reservation. The boys are a little far from their support group so I think they are making short weeks, like 2 1/2 or 3 Days?? I don't know. Polly and I are into some tiny perfect Epidotes (like 1/8") and some bigger more solid Schorl crystals ,keep hoping it will pocket out, should be getting some assay results soon but they are like a month behind. Steve got a tiny round nugget from breaking some of the quartz, it broke in half and the other half lost, mine was an iron cored copper ball with a a thin plateing of gold? on the out side, buckshot size. Just came on the TV that Alpine , AZ was being evacted, guess luna and Reserve will be next, you guys got anything left to burn? I am taking a Navy newbie up tomorrow. Ran a compass bearing down from the NWC to the SWC and determined that the entire wash is on the claim as presently marked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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