Geo Botany - And Old Charlie

[beepinpete_WA]

Geo Botany, who's ever heard if this phrase ???

Well as i see it, it can be interpreted in 2 ways, the 1st way is this

"plants that are known to prefer ground of high gold PPM or content."

The other way i know of was passed down from an old bloke to me before he passed on to

the great never ending patch.

And that is " not just plant types but also distinctive plant growth patterns"

Some of you may have seen a post or 2 that i have done on this subject before, but for those that

haven't, i'll carry on like an old fart and yous can forgive me and visit me in shady pines one day

"Why ya pissin up the wrong tree pete"......... is what old charlie groves said to me one day when i was

only a 24yr old, out prospecting with charlie out in QLD, it had me totally stumped what the hell he was

saying cause i wasnt pissin, i was diggin up a target with a A2B.

So i i says "what the fark are ya on abowt mate" and thats when i learned about how to read flat ground

for the best place gold can hide.

Charlie was a great old fella, he used to be a fencer on a property up that way, and he'd prospected beyond bumFK and back, and the countless hours spent chatting on his verandah out the front of his tin shack, just me - charlie and his yappin foxy where worth there weight in gold.

Anyway, i said "what are you on about mate ?" and he went on to tell me how to read growth for gold,

"Look" he said, "how many hills have you climbed today for no gold pete ?" stuffed if i know cause i hadn't

climbed a hill for ages, we where in the flat stuff, so his comment had me buggered.

"and Ive not climbed a farkin hill neither, but i got gold" said charlie, not being able to keep my yapper shut

i said "so whats the all mighty secret then lord (with a laugh) hahaha.

"See the way them bushes are growing over there", yeah i says "well whats the bladdy difference tween

them and the buggers 30ft away" i dunno you tell me then we'll both know, and thats when the magic came.

"See the way them trees n scrub are growin there ? " (points) yeah i said, "well do ya see how one is fatter

than the other bugger" its dead i said, "so what" said charlie, "see how its barrel is fatter than his mates?"

it was at this point i just said "stop talkin shit mate n jus tellus ay" hahaha

"Well them trees n scrub are fatter cause they's on the best water on the flat, and now ya think ya such a

smart young bugger i'll tell ya why, water is the major mover of gold, not wind or bloody earthquakes, so

the reason them trees have the fattest barrels is cause theyre on the best water, and that is an indicator

on flats to where the golds concentrated most times" .

I got flashbacks to when i was 18yr old, panning up a ck, and getting a few specs of flood gold and thinking

"where did this come from and where can i get more per pan" its then that the penny dropped and Charlie's

rantings meant something, he went on to say "follow them barrels and stay on the gold, cause whats goin

on is them buggers are on the best water like i said, so under this flat dirt are small creeks and water ways

and even elongated cracks n stuff, gettin it ? " i was startin to, "so when you see fat barrels follow em and

you'll see a pattern comin, thats where the gold goes too mate, follows the water"......

So in a nutshell, what he was saying to me was, look for the fattest barrels on trees n scrub in any area you

prospect, because those trees are growing in small gutters and cracks that hold gold...

And them gutters can be loaded with color and nuggets, he also went on to say that you will notice a track

that the fattest barrels follow, and thats the direction to prospect.

Most of us have pulled nuggets from around and even under trees, besides the roots trapping gold this

is also another reason why so much good gold is pulled from next to trees and even small bushes.

I still use this technique every time i head out bush and it has got me some good gold, and also it leads

you straight to the best spot to start on at a new area....

Charlie was one of the old cut, he prospected all over the land in the depression and before too, he had that

certain "Grace" that the old fella's had, a Grace that said "slow up, no rush to die".

Cheers Charlie, a good cobber and sadly missed

Pete

[Border Boy]

Interesting , now that you mention that it makes perfect sense I got all kinds of thick scrub in some of my patches thick enough that no one has ever detected, loading up my chainsaw for the next trip

[pkirkll]

Thanks for the insight and the stories. You may want to write a book....I love to hear what the old timers say because I dont like to have to learn everything the hard way.....

paul

BB-- i can run a chainsaw, but i am up in Pueblo Co now!!!!