a Time Flies Travel Company (TFTC) geocache
Miner, Miner, 49er
placer mining: the mining of stream bed deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment.
Because loose gold was so plentiful in and along California's rivers and streams, early 49ers were able to retrieve gold flakes and nuggets with their hands or simply pan for gold. However, since panning is a small scale, individual endeavor, industrious groups of miners graduated to placer mining, using cradles and rockers to process larger volumes of pay dirt. In the most complex placer mining, groups of prospectors would divert the water from an entire river into a sluice and then dig for gold in the newly exposed river bottom. Over 370 tons of gold were removed in the first five years of the Gold Rush, mostly from placer mines. By 1853, hydraulic mining was used on gold-bearing gravel beds found on hillsides and bluffs. In hydraulic mining, a high-pressure hose directed a powerful stream of water at gold-bearing gravel beds. The loosened gravel and gold would then pass over sluices, with the gold settling to the bottom where it was collected. Another 340 tons of gold was recovered by "hydraulicking". A byproduct of these extraction methods was that large amounts of gravel, silt, heavy metals, and other pollutants went into streams and rivers. Many areas still bear the scars of hydraulic mining, since the resulting exposed earth and downstream gravel deposits do not support plant life. The final stage to recover loose gold was to prospect for gold that had slowly washed down into the flat river bottoms and sandbars of California's Central Valley. By the late 1890s, dredging technology had become economical and resulted in more than 620 tons of gold being recovered.
Both during the Gold Rush and in the decades that followed, gold-seekers also engaged in "hard-rock" mining. In this method, extraction of gold is accomplished by digging and blasting to follow and remove veins of gold-bearing quartz. Once the gold-bearing rocks were brought to surface, they were crushed and the gold separated by washing the sand over copper plates coated with mercury (with which gold forms an amalgam). Loss of mercury in the amalgamation process of that time continues to be a major source of environmental contamination today. Hard-rock mining eventually became the single largest source of gold produced in the Gold Country with an astounding 2,300 tons recovered using this method.
- This geocache was placed with the permission of the F. D. Roosevelt State Park Manager
- Park hours are 7am-10pm.
- A $5 daily park pass is required for each vehicle entering F. D. Roosevelt State Park.
- While visiting any Georgia State Park, please obey all park rules and remain on the marked trails as you make your way to the geocache location.
- Pets are welcome but must be on a 6' leash at all times. Please be a good pet owner and clean up after your pet.
Note For New Geocachers:
Join us and enjoy the adventure of Geocaching. Please don't move or vandalize the container; simply replace the geocache where and how you found it. Before you leave, make sure the geocache is completely out of sight. The real treasure is discovering the location, signing the log book, trading even or up with personal SWAG and sharing your experience with everyone online in your "found it" log. You might even find a trackable item!
Note For Geocachers:
In your log, please indicate the condition of the container without giving any clues to its hiding spot (post no spoilers!). This will assist us with maintenance and provide a pleasant experience for others. Please replace the container in the same hiding spot as you found it. If the container is not found, please log your DNF and do not replace the geocache with a "throwdown".