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As gold miner I always looked forward to May 15, 2016

Legand of a Bucyrus Crane

                       By Sharon Bissell

She worked this land
Many years ago
Now off walking
She will go
To another mine
She loves so fine
Digging that yellow stuff
We love so fine
Each step she takes
Brings her closer
To her new gold filled home
Oh the stories she could tell
And how the crowd would listen
About the days of gold
Their quest for gold
They were so bold...
So listen closely
To her tracks
As she slowly makes her way
Down this busy highway
Let it take you back
To the time her work was new
Shell'll tell the tale of riches
And dreams that never came true
Her days at Franklin
Are still recalled
As they were like yesturday
This was the place
She made it big
As it was where
They found the most
There were 2-U Cats
Of every size
But only one Bucyrus
So now she's walked not her last
But a new story is starting fast
So listen to those tracks
The stories they could tell
It's not the treasure of the Atochia
Or that of the Golden Reef
Although its's mystery is unknown
This quest for gold
Can steal your soul
If you listen to a Bucyrus
                      *2008*

In memory of Harold Mitchell.  He was owner of mine at Mosquito Fork Bridge, Near Chicken, Alaska.   Harold was from Baraga Michigan which in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  He passed away in 2009 at his home.    

     Original owners were in the history books under the name Bob and Molly McCombs.   They were the first to frieght supplies into this region of Alaska.   On week of June 16, 2008.    Harold Mitchell and myself and others were walking this crane down the Taylor Highway.  This was a slow process and Harold was piloting the van as to warn others this crane was walking or coming down the road.  This was a 4 1/2  hour walk as this was a big crane.  Traffic was minimal and everyone was there to help.  As this crane was walking on the still dirt road I listed to the crane and I asked Harold if he had pen and paper and he said yes and that is when this little poem came to life.  And now I again share with everyone.     Sharon
Ham Mining
Chicken, Alaska

Memories here is Jim's Navy picture

I love the Fortymile and I always will.  We are soon approaching the week of my late husbands death.  We were on our way to cabin back in the deep heart of mining country where there is no one and believe you me, I truly understand the depth of that.  Gold mining has taken several things I loved from me.   And if you let it, it will take things from you too and it wont ask permission.  Death comes in many different way and Jim and I had talked about dying back here in this mining country but we never really believed it would happen to me  or us.  

On the morning of March 8th 2007 my now late husband and I left Tok, Alaska at a -50 degrees outside.  We never came back the same. He died in my arms on the top of Mt Witherspoon, Alaska on March 10th, 2007.  If our mining partner hadnt been with us at the time I would have sit there and died with him.  

Yellow Stuff  by sharon eddy bissell

Be careful of yellow stuff

Death is not a bluff

Like life is full of stuff

Stuff you like

Stuff you hate

It'll make you wait

There is no mistake

Death is more than stuff

Stuff you like

Stuff you hate

Yes it will make you late

Dont hesitate

You'll find your fate

Or they'll find you

Frozen cold 

From following the gold

Make your plans 

Yes you can

God alone knows your hand

      ----Sauna Creek Widow

             Sharon Bissell 

             2014

For though’s of you gold prospectors things to look for when locating or discovering an ancient riverbed gravels to harvest for the weekend gold prospectors. Might be common sense to some, but to others.. it might be helpful!

Gold prospectors moraine tips

For the weekend Gold prospectors this glacial rock, mud and gold materiel may have been pulled off a valley floor as the glacier advanced foreword or it may have came off the valley rock walls as a result of freezing and thawing wedging or landslides. Moraines may be made of deb-re in size from silt-sized genealogical flour to huge boulders. The debris is mostly sub-angular to rounded in shape as it is ground up by the weight of ice. Moraines may be on the glacier’s surface or left as piles or sheets of debris where glaciers has melted.

Glacial drifts in the Midwestern and North Eastern United States. These areas were previously not widely known for gold occurrences, but after increased attention they have surprised a lot of people with the amounts of gold now been recovered.

To give a little background, understand that during the ice ages, (both Wisconsin and Illinois stages), the glaciers acted like giant bulldozers pushing enormous amounts of rocks and (gold bearing) gravel down from the sources in Canada many states were completely covered by the glaciers and (left with) moraine (gravel) deposits in bands (see moraine deposits, maps of Michigan, etc.). we also show the Moraine terminus (Southern extent) in all of the Midwestern and northeastern states certain states have incomplete (NY, PA, NJ, MN), or no specific (NH, VT, MA, CT, RI, ME) Moraine information by researching state or regional glaciation books (. Available at college geology apartments or in state geological surveys), you can then determine more specific Moraine deposit locations. Another way of determining moraine locations locally is by simply locating area gravel pits.

read the rest here and video at  http://prospectminingforgold.com/glacial-drift-gold-prospectors-tips/