Searching for the D&J #1 part 2

We both jumped out of the truck eager to stretch our legs after the rough trip up the mountain. I walked down the road a short distance and took a picture of Dave at the first parking spot. There were two that I saw although I may not have walked all the way to the top end of the claim. There were several nice small camping spots.

Dave alongside the creek

The river wasn't very big here but it had enough water to run just about any size dredge. There was bedrock and bedrock cracks running across the river everywhere. Knowing the size of nuggets that had been found at Downieville, I could imagine the beautiful gold that had been found in the 1800's. Oh to have had a dredge and hooka setup in the early days of the gold rush. You would have had to had an 8" just to keep the nozzle from plugging up with gold nuggets. You would have had to have a partner at the sluice box just to pick the big nuggets out from in front of the first riffle. 

Looking upstream

The right side of the river went very steeply up the side of the mountain.   There were very few places you could even walk. This is very typical of the area around Downieville. The road was on the left side of the river and the camping spots were sandwiched between the road and the stream. Upriver a short distance was a claim marker signifying that it was the lower end of a lode claim. I don't know how much further upstream the placer claim went. Placer claims and Lode claims are two different types and they can occupy the same physical area.

Did we find any gold? No. Not because of the  presence or lack of gold but because we had forgotten to put the gold pan in the truck. We didn't even have a metal detector with us. Some great prospectors we made. Even without wetting a pan though we considered the trip a success. The scenery was beautiful and besides: We had found the D&J #1!

If you decide to visit the D&J#1, a truck is definitely recommended. Any thing much larger than a standard pickup may be difficult to maneuver on the narrow and twisting roads. Be alert for other vehicles! The road isn't wide enough to pass other than a few wide spots. Watch for each of these spots so that you know how far they are if you should happen to meet another prospector.

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