The January 2012 Temecula Valley Prospectors meeting will be held on Saturday, January 14th, at 9:00 am. Our meetings are held at the Temecula Community Center located at 28816 Pujol St., Temecula CA. Everyone is welcome, so we hope to see you there!

Here are some of the things going on this month:

Item 1:

We will be selling special raffle tickets for a one week trip to Alaska to participate in the GPAA 2012 Alaska Gold Expedition.

• Tickets are $10 each
• Only 500 tickets have been printed. Once they have been sold, the trip will be awarded.
• This trip is for the first week out at the camp (June 23 to 30, 2012).
• If there is room available on a different week, the GPAA may allow you to trade. But no guarantees can be made.
• What is included:
• Alaska Gold Expedition 2012 for one person on the week of 6/23/2012 to 6/30/2012.
• ATV Rental for 1 week
• Round trip airfare from Southern California
• Total value of the package: $2,500

For those of you who can’t make it to the club meeting, but want to get some of the tickets for this special raffle, please send an email to Alaska2012@gpaatvp.com with your Name, Address, Phone #, & how many tickets you would like. We will then generate a PayPal invoice to you for payment and mail your tickets to you. Please note: A small convenience fee will be added to cover the PayPal Fees & postage.

Item 2:

Have you been out Metal Detecting or Gold Prospecting this last month? Find anything? Then bring it to the meeting so we can see. All entries are voted on and the top two of each category will win a prize.

Item 3:

We have four great raffles each month (not counting the Grand Prize & Alaska Trip) that you can participate in while at the meeting. Not only is it a lot of fun (especially when you win), but it helps to support the club.

• Door Prize Raffle (Free): Just by signing in, you are entered into the Door Prize Raffle. We normally have 1 to 4 items that are given away each month.
• 50/50 Raffle ($1 per ticket): This is the easiest raffle of them all… if you win, you split (50/50) all of the money collected for the 50/50 raffle with the club. For example, if $70 is collected, then you, as the winner, get $35 and the club keeps $35.
• Gold Raffle ($1 per ticket): There are typically 3 to 4 items each month. One bag of gold concentrate to work on your panning skills and some nice gold nuggets to show your friends.
• Table Raffle ($1 per ticket): You might think… what am I going to do with a table?, but the Table Raffle is an array of items sitting on a table that the winners can choose from. There are typically 10-15 items ranging in value from a few dollars to over a hundred dollars on occasion. The nice thing about the table raffle is that you can see what is there before you purchase your tickets.

Item 4:

A new Grand Prize Raffle item has been added!

Description:

Through a generous donation, the club is able to offer an incredible trip to Roaring Camp Mining Company on the Mokelumne River in the Mother Load Country of California.

Here is what the package includes:

• 1 week stay for two at Roaring Camp
• Prospector’s Camp Cabin
• Gold Bearing Gravel Pile
• Saturday Night Cookout
• Reservation Week can be selected by the winner
• We have made special arrangements with Roaring Camp to allow the winner to choose the week they want to go.
• They are open from May to September
• Must be used in 2012 or 2013
• Value of the package is $1,050!

Note: The winner is responsible for transportation to and from the camp and for all meals other than the Saturday Night Cookout.

To learn more about Roaring Camp Mining Company, visit them at www.RoaringCampGold.com

The March 2012 Temecula Valley Prospectors meeting will be held on Saturday, March 10th, at 9:00 am. Our meetings are held at the Temecula Community Center located at 28816 Pujol St., Temecula CA.

The February 2012 Temecula Valley Prospectors meeting will be held on Saturday, February 11th, at 9:00 am. Our meetings are held at the Temecula Community Center located at 28816 Pujol St., Temecula CA.

The January 2012 Temecula Valley Prospectors meeting will be held on Saturday, January 14th, at 9:00 am. Our meetings are held at the Temecula Community Center located at 28816 Pujol St., Temecula CA.

The Temecula Valley Prospectors will be hosting their Annual Christmas party on December 10th, 2011. This is also the normal date for the monthly club meeting. We will start at 9:00 am and will end around 12:00 noon.

The party will be held at our normal meeting location at the Temecula Community Center located at 28816 Pujol St., Temecula CA.

This year we will be having a pot luck party and invite you to bring your favorite holiday dish to share with the club. It could be a main dish, a side dish, or a dessert and should be enough for 6 to 10 people. The club will be providing all of the paper goods (i.e. plates,utensils, napkins, etc.) and the drinks.

We won’t be having any general raffles this month (i.e. gold, 50/50, or table), but tickets will be available for the Grand Prize and the Alaska Trip.

It looks like we will be able to award the Grand Prize at the meeting, so make sure you get some extra tickets!!

We will also be having a special Christmas raffle which will work as follows:

• Everyone attending the meeting will receive one Christmas raffle ticket for coming to the meeting.
• If you bring a non-perishable food item, you will receive one Christmas raffle ticket.
• If you bring a new unwrapped child’s toy, you will receive one Christmas raffle ticket.
• The food items collected will be donated to the Senior Citizens Service Center of Temecula Valley.
• The toys will be donated to a local charity (still to be determined).

Here are some things you should be aware of:

Item 1:

We will be selling special raffle tickets for a one week trip to Alaska to participate in the GPAA 2012 Alaska Gold Expedition.

• Tickets are $10 each
• Only 500 tickets have been printed. Once they have been sold, the trip will be awarded.
• This trip is for the first week out at the camp (June 23 to 30, 2012).
• If there is room available on a different week, the GPAA may allow you to trade. But no guarantees can be made.
• What is included:
• Alaska Gold Expedition 2012 for one person on the week of 6/23/2012 to 6/30/2012.
• ATV Rental for 1 week
• Round trip airfare
• Total value of the package: $2,500

We are limiting the sale of the tickets at this point to club members, so be sure to get your tickets now! However, based on how the ticket sales are going, we may open up the sales to the general public (i.e. Gold & Treasure Shows, Internet sales, etc.).

For those of you who can’t make it to the club meeting, but want to get some of the tickets for this special raffle, please send an email to Alaska2012@gpaatvp.com with your Name, Address, Phone #, & how many tickets you would like. We will then generate a PayPal invoice to you for payment and mail your tickets to you. Please note: A small convenience fee will be added to cover the PayPal Fees & postage.

Item 2:

The Grand Prize Raffle item should be awarded this month, so be sure to get your tickets.

Tesoro Vaquero

Description:

During the design phase of the Vaquero (pronounced va-care-oh), we knew
that it was going to be a very hard working detector. It is designed as
an all-around detector, able to do just about everything that any
detectorist could want to do. Vaquero is the Spanish word for cowboy.
When we think of hard work and the ability to take on any kind of tough
job, we think of the cowboys of the old west.

The main part of the Vaquero’s versatility is its three and three-quarters
manually adjusted ground balance. This will give the detectorist the power
to set up his machine to best suit the mineralization conditions that he
is working in and his personal treasure hunting style. The Vaquero adds an
ED180 discrimination feature to filter the trash from the treasure and a
Push Button Pinpoint that makes digging up the goodies that much easier.
The discriminate knob is also used to switch into a threshold-based All
Metal Mode.

Tesoro Vaquero

Features:

• MicroMAX Design
• VLF 14 kHz Frequency
• One Drop-in 9V Battery
• Variable Threshold
• 3 3/4 Turn External Ground Balance
• Ultra-lightweight Design
• 9×8 Monolithic Coil
• 3-Piece Knockdown Pole
• Lifetime Warranty

Specifications:

• Operating Frequency  14.3 kHz, 14.5 kHz, 14.7 kHz
• Searchcoil Type  Monolithic (Carbon Fiber)
• Searchcoil Size  9 x 8
• Cable Length  Approx. 3′
• Audio Frequency  Approx. 293 Hz or VCO
• Audio Output  1 1/2″ speaker and headphone jack
• Headphone Compatibility  ¼” stereo plug
• Weight (may vary slightly)  2.2 lbs
• Battery Requirement  One 9 Volt DC (alkaline)
• Battery Life (typical)  10 to 20 hours
• Optimum Temp. Range  30° to 100° F
• Optimum Humidity  0 to 75% R.H.
• Operating Modes  Threshold-based All Metal
• Silent Search Discriminate
• Pinpoint Mode  All Metal Fast Auto-Tune

Item 3:

Do to the rental agreement we have with the City of Temecula, we can no longer have club vendors setting up tables to sell their goods at the monthly meetings. We previously had a special arrangement with a particular person at the City who allowed this activity, but unfortunately they are no longer responsible for our location. So rather than jeopardize our meeting location, we have opted to comply with the agreement.

We know that having the vendors there is important to you, so we will be working with the City of Temecula to see what can be done to remedy this issue (permits, licenses, etc.) and we will let you know their response.

Just because the vendors aren’t selling at the meeting, doesn’t mean you can’t make arrangements with one of them to bring you the gear you need to the meeting. We encourage you to talk with them when you are in the market for new items.

Here is a list of our club vendors:

American Prospector Treasure Seeker - General prospecting supplies & metal detectors

Executive Detectors – Metal detectors

Legends Prospecting Supplies - General prospecting supplies & metal detectors

Nugget Hunters of America / Gold Prospecting USA - General prospecting supplies

The December 2011 Temecula Valley Prospectors meeting will be held on Saturday, December 10th, at 9:00 am. Our meetings are held at the Temecula Community Center located at 28816 Pujol St., Temecula CA.

This is also our Annual Christmas party, so please be sure to read about what will be going on. 2011 Annual Christmas Party

The November 2011 Temecula Valley Prospectors meeting will be held on Saturday, November 12th, at 9:00 am. Our meetings are held at the Temecula Community Center located at 28816 Pujol St., Temecula CA. Everyone is welcome, so we hope to see you there!

Here are some of the things going on this month:

Item 1:

We will be selling special raffle tickets for a one week trip to Alaska to participate in the GPAA 2012 Alaska Gold Expedition.

• Tickets are $10 each
• Only 500 tickets have been printed. Once they have been sold, the trip will be awarded.
• This trip is for the first week out at the camp (June 23 to 30, 2012).
• If there is room available on a different week, the GPAA may allow you to trade. But no guarantees can be made.
• What is included:
• Alaska Gold Expedition 2012 for one person on the week of 6/23/2012 to 6/30/2012.
• ATV Rental for 1 week
• Round trip airfare
• Total value of the package: $2,500

We are limiting the sale of the tickets at this point to club members, so be sure to get your tickets now! However, based on how the ticket sales are going, we may open up the sales to the general public (i.e. Gold & Treasure Shows, Internet sales, etc.).

For those of you who can’t make it to the club meeting, but want to get some of the tickets for this special raffle, please send an email to Alaska2012@gpaatvp.com with your Name, Address, Phone #, & how many tickets you would like. We will then generate a PayPal invoice to you for payment and mail your tickets to you. Please note: A small convenience fee will be added to cover the PayPal Fees & postage.

Item 2:

Have you been out Metal Detecting or Gold Prospecting this last month? Find anything? Then bring it to the meeting so we can see. All entries are voted on and the top two of each category will win a prize.

Item 3:

We have four great raffles each month (not counting the Grand Prize & Alaska Trip) that you can participate in while at the meeting. Not only is it a lot of fun (especially when you win), but it helps to support the club.

• Door Prize Raffle (Free): Just by signing in, you are entered into the Door Prize Raffle. We normally have 1 to 4 items that are given away each month.
• 50/50 Raffle ($1 per ticket): This is the easiest raffle of them all… if you win, you split (50/50) all of the money collected for the 50/50 raffle with the club. For example, if $70 is collected, then you, as the winner, get $35 and the club keeps $35.
• Gold Raffle ($1 per ticket): There are typically 3 to 4 items each month. One bag of gold concentrate to work on your panning skills and some nice gold nuggets to show your friends.
• Table Raffle ($1 per ticket): You might think… what am I going to do with a table?, but the Table Raffle is an array of items sitting on a table that the winners can choose from. There are typically 10-15 items ranging in value from a few dollars to over a hundred dollars on occasion. The nice thing about the table raffle is that you can see what is there before you purchase your tickets.

Item 4:

A new Grand Prize Raffle item was introduced at the September 2011 club meeting. It is a Tesoro Vaquero metal detector and retails for $525, so be sure to get your tickets for this one.

Tesoro Vaquero

Description:

During the design phase of the Vaquero (pronounced va-care-oh), we knew
that it was going to be a very hard working detector. It is designed as
an all-around detector, able to do just about everything that any
detectorist could want to do. Vaquero is the Spanish word for cowboy.
When we think of hard work and the ability to take on any kind of tough
job, we think of the cowboys of the old west.

The main part of the Vaquero’s versatility is its three and three-quarters
manually adjusted ground balance. This will give the detectorist the power
to set up his machine to best suit the mineralization conditions that he
is working in and his personal treasure hunting style. The Vaquero adds an
ED180 discrimination feature to filter the trash from the treasure and a
Push Button Pinpoint that makes digging up the goodies that much easier.
The discriminate knob is also used to switch into a threshold-based All
Metal Mode.

Tesoro Vaquero

Features:

• MicroMAX Design
• VLF 14 kHz Frequency
• One Drop-in 9V Battery
• Variable Threshold
• 3 3/4 Turn External Ground Balance
• Ultra-lightweight Design
• 9×8 Monolithic Coil
• 3-Piece Knockdown Pole
• Lifetime Warranty

Specifications:

• Operating Frequency  14.3 kHz, 14.5 kHz, 14.7 kHz
• Searchcoil Type  Monolithic (Carbon Fiber)
• Searchcoil Size  9 x 8
• Cable Length  Approx. 3′
• Audio Frequency  Approx. 293 Hz or VCO
• Audio Output  1 1/2″ speaker and headphone jack
• Headphone Compatibility  ¼” stereo plug
• Weight (may vary slightly)  2.2 lbs
• Battery Requirement  One 9 Volt DC (alkaline)
• Battery Life (typical)  10 to 20 hours
• Optimum Temp. Range  30° to 100° F
• Optimum Humidity  0 to 75% R.H.
• Operating Modes  Threshold-based All Metal
• Silent Search Discriminate
• Pinpoint Mode  All Metal Fast Auto-Tune

Item 5:

If you are looking for prospecting gear, one of our club vendors, Nugget Hunters of America, will be there this month with all of the latest items for you to see and purchase.

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!

City of Canyon Lake Website

On October 15, 2011, John and Mary Bucholzer hosted our latest metal detecting excursion that took us to beautiful Canyon Lake, also known as the Railroad Canyon Reservoir, which was created in 1927 back when the Railroad Canyon Dam was constructed. This reservoir is the result of storm runoff that pours in from the San Jacinto River from the mountains east of Hemet and winds its way through the Perris Valley, ending at Lake Elsinore. It’s the winter rains that has Salt Creek merging with the San Jacinto at Canyon Lake and amounts to approximately 383 acres with 15 miles of shoreline. It is currently owned and operated by the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District.

City of Canyon Lake Website

The famous Santa Fe Railroad bought the California Southern Railroad that was originally built in 1882 and ran along the east side of the river from Perris to Elsinore, joining it with the San Bernardino line. After repeated floods washed out the tracks the line was eventually abandoned leading to the sale of the railroad right-of-way to the Temescal Water Company. This is when they began dam construction for the purpose of storing water and ended up producing the two parcels that comprise most of Canyon Lake today.

Photo credit: Google Earth

Canyon Lake is actually one of only five gated cities that exist in California and is a fully governed city in itself. It began as a master-planned community that was developed in 1968 by the Corona Land Company. The actual city of Canyon Lake wasn’t incorporated until 1990. It has become a recreation community with a population of nearly 11,000 today who enjoy the amenities of the lake stocked with fish, surrounded by stunning homes, a lovely lodge with restaurant and banquet facilities, including an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a 10-acre equestrian center, an 18-hole golf course and country club, plenty of campgrounds, beaches and beautiful parks.

It was at one of these parks where our Temecula Valley Prospectors enjoyed The Second Annual Metal Detecting Hunt. We were directed to Sierra Park with its accompanying beach, which was a site to behold and expansive enough to accommodate our largest showing to date: 52 treasure hunters.

Photo credit: Doug B

Amongst a group of this size we saw a wide variety of experienced metal detectors who were more than happy to show their skill to some of our newbies, thus allowing everyone to enjoy finding the salted treasures in the sands.

It proved to be a day that offered up a wealth of coins including pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, on up to half-dollars and dollar coins. Adding to the mystery were foreign coins and tokens. There were some diligent hunters who even found coins from our last treasure hunt held there. As an added bonus, there were two Grand Prize winners who were awarded $25 gift certificates for finding a casino poker chip.

Photo Credit: Doug B

We were able to have two treasure hunting sessions throughout our day at the park with one on the right side and the other on the left side of the beach. An added benefit of having a group this large armed with metal detectors is the result of having the majority of the scrap metal bits and pieces removed from the shore line. Between fishing line that had attached lures, hooks, some rusted nails and a variety of miscellaneous items, we left an area cleaner and safer than the way we found it.

Photo credit: Doug B

It is always comforting to know that our presence leaves a place safer for future beach goers who likely enjoy running around in the sands sans kicks (without shoes).

Another advantage to such a successful showing at an outing of this size is the pot luck lunch that always serves to provide a bounty of food and refreshment. This time was no less abundant and delicious.

The Temecula Valley Prospectors would like to extend our appreciation and many thanks to Cynthia K. for sponsoring this group on such a fun and fruitful day. Without her qualified support, this memorable event could not have occurred. Thank you, again. We would also like to extend our appreciation and special thanks to Cliff D. for donating two of his Silver Eagle coins that were prize drawings won by John McK and Ken R.

This was a day of great fun and memories and leaves us all anxious for the next outing scheduled for November.

Good Luck! And bring home the Gold & Silver!

The November 2011 Temecula Valley Prospectors meeting will be held on Saturday, November 12th, at 9:00 am. Our meetings are held at the Temecula Community Center located at 28816 Pujol St., Temecula CA.