There is an interesting thread on Arizonagoldprospectors.com regarding ethics in the field on open ground. Here’s my response:
Obviously more and more of these scenarios will come to pass as the available ground and access to prospecting areas continue to shrink. Twenty five years ago there were few people metal detecting for gold,mostly coin and relic stuff. These days beepers travel far and wide just for a decent place to find a few little nuggets and companionship.A few handfulls of lucky beepers and prospectors must exist in say the lightly populated areas of northern California above Sacramento where the cpometetion is light and people don’t post of their diggings and perhaps confide their finds and stories to a couple of trusted friends. If one has worked a good spot by whatever your preference is, it’s likely you’ve been highgraded and have had equipment stolen, even plastic 5 gallon buckets. When a no nothing newbee rips you off, there is slight room for understanding. On the other hand if a fellow with 30 years in the field, who has half the gold of the Vatican already in his pouch comes a scratching at your spot where there are obvious signs of a recent dig and he knows your the only prospector who does hardrock, well eh matey he ain’t worth a spit of snoose in his eye. It is inevitable that violence will occur in the goldfields at somepoinover a few bits of yellow and fellows arguing principles. Such is the case of whose fire hydrant is it really,as we all lift a leg to mark our teritory. Not easy to be civil as they cut the back pocket right off the jeans your wearing while smiling in your face. Be kind to each other and lend a hand to the newbees as many of you have done. We all must decide what the value of gold really is!

Ah yes,the thrill of searching and finding that elusive yellow stuff. Many of us us on the various forums have found nuggets, quartz species, fine gold, all in varying sizes, configurations and value.This is the end product of the best find, the search itself, for one’s self and sense of accomplishment. Who among us posters and lurkers have not had a helping hand in this gold business, whether it be through a club, a forum, a friend or stranger…even the old odd book or two.New chums to the game should be encouraged and helped as this promotes and keeps alive the spirit of the west,the spirit of the quest, the ultimate American theme,”Persist and do not quit”.These newcomers are likened to young relatives who will pass on the family traditions and keep the prospecting game and know how alive.How many of us in this life when floudering were offfered an unasked for helping hand by a stranger and it pulled us through a hardship or brought us closer to job, a life, a happiness, perhaps undeserved but apperaring out of the blue to put us on the right track. Go west young man is perhaps not a physical direction, but a general encouragement to the old bible saying Seek and ye shall find. The path to the yellow has many great adventures along the way and letting a greenhorn ride your shirtails for awhile is an honorable and useful thing………. Dave Wiseman

Walking through the aisles of the west Los Angeles library in 1976 I noticed a book sticking out vertically from the others which were all stacked horizontally so I pulled it and thus my life and location changed, it was called 100 trails to gold. This must have resparked an old childhood interest of finding gold and treasure on the beaches of Brooklyn, N.Y. where I was born and raised. Soon I was reading everything I could on the gold subject and In Los Angeles that’s alot. Shortly afterward I thought there must be some gold left for me to find so I moved to Angel’s Camp,CA in the motherlode in 1977. Started out panning in 6 mile creek at the south end of town and struck the yellow right away, mica that is. After many outings and much reading and talking to people I discovered what bedrock was all about,and had my best panning day ever at one quarter of an oz. in two round pieces. After two years of panning and detecting with the old Compass 59B and 94B detectors some local old time miners took me under their knowledgeable wings and invited me to their diggings at the old Carson Hill gold mine where they did asessment work for the owners. I carried 5 gallon buckets of ore and muck up and down the hill to the pickup truck and then they ran the stuff through their mill and the gold that showed really surprised and stoked my fires.One day while driving by Angels creek in town I noticed a fellow in a wet suit so I stopped to watch him work and we later chatted about this thing he called fanning. Soon after I bought a wet suit top, mask, snorkel and was off on a 4 year adventure of coins,tokens, artifacts and small nuggets, until my 9 pennyweight day in two hours of work at a spot I was chased out of and where a subdivision now resides. My water days ended with a bypass in my leg from the combination of cold water,wet suit constriction and cigarette smoking. By now, about 1981 my old mining friends, Guy Castle and Chris Porovich told me about their many finds of pocket gold in quartz veins and with no knowledge and only a carpenters hammer and chisel I ventured out the two miles to the area and began breaking out quartz from a narrow vein. I was awed at what i saw upon panning this stuff out, lot’s of small specie and plenty of fines. This is the spot I’m trying to uncover now, more than 25 years later. Found some very beautiful pockets of gold and numerous quartz species over the years using just inexpensive hand tools. Lot’s of rattlesnake, cave in, highgrader stories that could be told. The pirate boy still lives inside and these type of adventures await all who are willing to try, read, try and keep trying….Dave

I’m sure for many of you, Dave Wiseman needs no introduction. He has been around on the forums freely giving advice and sharing stories regarding the dying art of Hard Rock Sampling.

Many of us have found nuggets in washes and even traced the gold back to alluvial hillside patches. But how many of us have gone the extra mile and found the source of that gold? Sometimes the source is long gone or isn’t in the area, depending on the patch. But how many times have we left behind a wealth of gold just “beyond the tip of the pick” as Dave would say?

Dave has agreed to blog here and it’s our pleasure to welcome him. Hopefully we can all learn from his wisdom and carry on with the techniques that Dave has to share.

Dave has written a paper on hard rock sampling that has previously only been available in written form and we present it here for the first time on the web.

Quartz Sampling
Welcome Dave Wiseman!