Photo Credit: Doug B.

John Bucholzer and his wife sponsored an outing to Lytle Creek on 24 Sep 2011. Lytle Creek sits about 16 miles northwest of downtown San Bernardino, just 10 miles from the neighboring cities of Rialto and Fontana.  With a population of 701 as of the 2010 census, this remote canyon community is found on the eastern region of the San Gabriel Mountains and does not extend outside of the San Gabriel National Forest.

The group going on this expedition all met at the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant just off I15 at Sierra Ave and then proceeded to follow the route 9 miles until reaching the end of Middle Fork Road. This was a fun day planned for metal detecting in the Lytle Creek Canyon that is renowned for its gold mining, farming, and recreation activities of camping, hiking, fishing and picnicking since the 1870s.

The stream called Lytle Creek got its name from the Mormon settlers’ leader, Captain Andrew Lytle when they arrived in the valley in 1851. They made camp at the mouth of this briskly flowing creek that ran through the valley to the Santa Ana River. It was a source of abundant water that provided the dense growth of willows and sycamores, cottonwoods, mustard, and wild oats growing on the hillsides.

In the group, we had 21 members joining us for the day as we spread out in every direction of this beautiful landscape armed with metal detectors, prepared to find those remnants from  this settlement society and any others that may have come by since that time. After prospecting, the lunch break followed, then we gathered our finds for a drawing to award the smallest item found.

Sue B. won with a gold earring she found near the parking lot and Lorrie Y. won with a small lead piece. Everyone had a good time and sat around bragging about the unusual things they found.

Our next metal detecting outings are scheduled for 15 Oct 2011 at Canyon Lake and 19 Nov 2011 at 29 Palms. So come out and join us for another great detecting trip and if you need help learning to use a metal detector, there is always someone around to show you how.

Good Luck! And bring home the Gold & Silver!

Attention All California Miners:

There are several articles in various papers, mostly the Sacramento Bee that are carrying stories about the Budget Bill and the Trailer added to add a new 5-yr Suction Dredge Moratorium. Basically, the environmentalists didn’t like what they saw in the initial Environmental Impact Study as it supported the 1994 study that showed that Suction Dredging IS NOT harmful to the environment.

If you ever want to be able to use a suction dredge in California again, it is imperative that you act now and voice your opinion!

Here are links to two articles in the Sacramento Bee where you can leave a comment at the bottom of the article. You may not think that it will help, but it makes a huge impact.

Catch-22 in California budget language may doom suction dredge mining

Ted Gaines blasts how lawmakers stymied suction dredge mining

Here is a link where you can fill out a form to email Governor Brown and let him know how you feel about this change to the budget and the negative impact on the mining community.

Email Governor Brown

The email method is the best way to get the information to Sacramento, but if you can’t do that then here is the Governor’s other contact information. If you use these other methods, try to FAX your comments as the phone calls carry little weight and the mail may not get reviewed for up to 90 days.

Mailing address:
Governor Jerry Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 558-3160

Not sure what to say? Click here to get a sample letter/email. Be sure to change the letter to make it your own as they will typically discard canned letters.

Thank you for your help and support!

We have a booth at the Lancaster gold show. The gold show is a great way to let people know  that we are here and what we do. It is also a great way for us to get new members and make a little money from a raffle. We need volunteers to help out running the booth and answering questions. But most of all we need members to just come. The more the merrier. If you have not been to a gold show it is a lot of fun and you get to meet a lot of great people.

We need some members to help the Gpaa to setup on Friday morning 8am – noon. I will not be able to get there until Friday night due to work. We will set our booth up on saturday morning at 9am. The gold show will run from 10am-5pm on Saturday and 10am-4pm on Sunday. The Gpaa will need people to help take down after the show on Sunday. If you can help setup, take down, or run the booth, please give me a call at 951-244-3442.

The gold show will be held at the Antelope Valley Fairgrownds. The address is 2551 West Avenue H, Suite 102 H Lancaster, CA 93536.

On November 7th we will have booth at the Heritage day in Temecula. The event will start at 10am and run until 3pm. We will getting to the Sam Hicks Park  around 9am to start setting up.

“Come celebrate our local heritage and learn about what makes Temecula a special place. Heritage Day is being held in conjunction with the opening of our annual Erle Stanley Gardner exhibit and Writers Weekend. Among Performers: Judy Taylor - Singing and Wild West Show  Ballet Folklorico – Mesa High School Frank Matthies – Blacksmith and Blue Grass Band Pam Grender – Historical Presenter as Helen Hunt Jackson Dale Garcia – Historical Presenter as Cowboy Sheriff”

We are planning on running an information booth, give away some gpaa magazines as well as a gold drawing. Come and join the fun.

If you have any questions give Josh a call at 951-244-3442

Come join us on September the 12th for some good gold talk and fellowship. Everyone is welcome to come.

Don’t miss this meeting. We have a lot going on. We will be giving away the F2 Fisher metal detector that Legends Prospecting Supplies donated to us. We will also be voting in new board members along with all the regular fun we have. Don’t worry we won’t make you be president.

Come and see who the new officers will be. Please leave all tomatoes and fruit for throwing at home.

Ready to try a new place to meet? We will be meeting at the Temecula Community Center. The address is 28816 Pujol st. Temecula, CA. We will get there around 8am to start setting up and will have to be out of there by 12noon.

We should have a lot of fun. If you are new to prospecting this is the perfect place for you to come and talk with people who share the same interests. If you are more experienced please come and join us and share your knowledge.

Can’t wait to see you all there.

Josh

Jay led us up the mountain to Big Bear for our August 2009 outing.

What a great place to go when the weather is still hot. Plus, “everyone” likes the mountains and there is actually gold to be found.

Holcomb Valley is the site of Southern California’s largest gold rush in 1860. It is now home to the Holcomb Valley Scout Ranch.

The Gold Mountain and Holcomb Gold claims are part of the GPAA Claims Guide and are a great place to visit and prospect. Drywashing and Metal Detecting are the recommended means of finding the yellow metal and you have to remember to take lots of water for drinking and panning.

Most of us met Jay at the Big Bear Kmart around 8:00am and hung around until 8:30am to make sure we didn’t miss anyone. I think we had around 20 TVPer’s.

The road up to the claims is rough in places, but most vehicles can make it. It’s just better if you have a truck or SUV.

What a beautiful place to spend the day. We checked the temperature most of the day and it held at 72 deg with a nice breeze. You couldn’t ask for better weather.

After checking, most prospectors using a drywasher were finding some fine gold. They had to work very hard and move a lot of material to get it, but they were getting it. (See pictures)

Prospectors metal detecting picked up the usual, a few coins, ammo brass, nails, cans, etc.

Yes, it was another great day, whether you found gold or just enjoyed a beautiful day in the mountains.

Thank you again Jay, for your leadership and help.

Tom

With Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature at the bottom of California Senate bill SB-670 on August 5th, 2009, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has issued an immediate moratorium on “Instream Suction Dredge Mining.”

Here is an excerpt from the DFG notice:

“The new law, SB 670 (Wiggins), prohibits the use of vacuum or other suction dredging equipment for instream mining in any California river, stream or lake… A violation of the ban on instream suction dredge mining is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to $1,000 in fines and six months in jail.”

This new law impacts current permit holders by making their permits null and void (with no refunds by the way) and prevents any new permits from being issued until the environmental review by the California Environmental Quality Act is complete which could take until Summer 2011 according to the public notice issued by the DFG.

If you would like to read the public notice issued by the California Department of Fish and Game, click here for the pdf version.

If you would like to read the bill as signed into law on August 5, 2009, click here for the pdf version.

If you are mad about this action, as many of us are, let yourself be heard. Here are some ways to make some noise:

1. Contact the Governor’s office directly and let him know how unhappy you are.
2. Contact the folks at Public Lands for the People to find out what you can do to help with their efforts to over turn this law.
3. Leave a post here.

Just make sure you do something, or you may never be able to use your dredge again in California.