Tomah Wisconsin GPAA Chapter – July 2016

Welcome

Welcome to the 2016 GOLD FEVER Newsletter.  Another year, another gold prospecting opportunity.  If you have not tried to find gold, you need to give it a try.  Let us know if you need help to get started, there are many people with experience that the help you.

 Do not forget the Newsletter and pictures can always be found at:

President’s Message

It was a fair turnout at Nugget Lake even thou it was hot upper 80's to low 90's there was a good breeze coming in off the lake. It was worse Friday no breeze and higher humidity, even thou I fell in the creek three times and was completely soaked I was still unbelievably hot. I was able to get out all three days I was there and run my sluce but was not impressed with any of my cleanups. Most of the gold was mosquito poop and not as plentiful as in past years.

  I should get used to the heat for our trip to North Carolina's Thermal City will probably be even hotter. Gayle and I have a room at the super 8 on hwy 221 a few miles from Thermal City. That will be air conditioned so I will be able to sleep at night.

  We will be running trammels while at the camp and then we will visit the Broad river gold and gem shop while we are in the area. Our trip is from July 21 thru 25 or 26ths. We are traveling with Chris Bung the Vice-president of the Wausau chapter and planning to stop in Kentucky on the way home to see Mammoth caves.

  There are no indoor meeting until October, Try to take in as many outings as you can this summer.

  For those of you who don't know Earl Thompson and Guy Unger have left for Alaska for a two month prospecting trip. I have already seen some nice pictures of their travels they should be there soon.

         Stay Cool Prospectors and I will see you in the creeks Mike

Upcoming Events

 July 22-24, 2016 - Thermal City outing Thermal city NC. Group dig with the Wausau chapter. Send $50 to Barb Bublitz by May 2 if you plan to go. If you can't make it your money will be refunded to you.

August 19 -21, 2016 - Outing and swap fest with Wausau chapter at Snyder county park, Neillsville WI. This is our meeting day so we will join them at Snyder.

Sept 9-11, 2016 - Geode outing (Wausau Chapter) Jacob's Geide Shop and Mine in Hamilton, Illinois

Sept. 10, 2016 - Tomah Club Meeting Metal Detecting dig at the Marshfield Wild Wood Park.– at 1:00 pm

October 21, 2016 - Tomah Club Meeting at Town of LaGrange Town Hall – at 1:00 pm

Tomah Wisconsin GPAA Chapter Minutes June, 2016

Old Business:                                                                                                                                                              

The June meeting was held at Nugget Lake.

We had 21 members show up for the outing at Nugget Lake. We managed to pick another very hot day at least there was a breeze off the lake. Jennie cooked hamburgers, Brats, and hotdogs for the members. Some dirt was brought up from the creek for members to pan if they were just learning or couldn't make it to the creek. Several members made it to the creek after the meeting. The water was cloudy and high. Three of us were able to run our sluces at the same time in the same rapids by the under look. It was cooler there in the shade.

 Those who were camping enjoyed leftovers from the meeting along with a campfire and good conversation.

New Business:

No indoor meeting until October

July 22-23 Thermal City North Carolina outing $50 must be sent to Barb Bublitz of the Wausau chapter before the dig. If you can't make it they will return you fee. Barb's number is 715-340-9720

Raffles: 

Thank you to all that donated items for the Table Raffle – Bev Bender, Larry Bender, Mike Fait ,Jeff Hastings I know I missed some I forgot to write them down as they came in.  Thank you to all. 

50/50 raffle winner – Larry Eberhart

Gold raffle winners:   Doug Sasse – nugget & Dave Vind - Pay Dirt

Jennie Morrison won the Keene A52 Sluce box

 Gold Price on 7/4/16 was $1,341.90                Silver Price on 7/4/16 was $19.76

Respectfully submitted by Diane North – Newsletter Editor

The Helical Flow Effect

How do gold placer deposits form?

Raging floods quickly erode soil and rocks that contain gold. As the soil and rocks are eroded, they combine with other debris and begin to flow rapidly

down the slope. This makes a kind of dense mixed slurry, much like concrete in a cement mixer. As a flood accelerates this massive load of water, mud and rocks together. All the heavy objects in its path will get caught up into the flow. This debris flow is building up a huge amount of energy as the stream accumulates mass and motion together. Quickly sinking to the bottom-most levels will be gold.

One important thing to keep in mind is that any heavy dense material will always be at the bottom of this rushing bed-load, not floating up toward the surface like some people draw it. Gold is one of the heavy dense elements that will tend to follow along the bedrock or lowest part of the bed flow and stay there. That's part of what makes gold concentrate, and that's also why you must go to bedrock when you sample!

Lode gold and ancient alluvial placers are picked up and carried along for the ride. This mixed slurry of material contains rocks with quartz gold lode along with any ancient placer gold that was trapped deep in the hillsides that are now being ripped apart by the torrent of flowing mud and debris.

Placer gold deposits form when the debris flow slows sufficiently to drop the gold out of the moving slurry, even in desert (flash floods.)

It isn't until the flow starts to slow down that it begins to drop its pay load of gold. Specifically, the torrential flow will drop the gold at the earliest point possible depending upon the size of the gold and its density. Dropping gold will also depend on whether or not it's trapped inside of something lighter in density such as quartz in the form of gold lode float. It's not unusual for gold float to continue traveling on downstream, with its

Gold payload still embedded, until it finally breaks out of the quartz it's trapped in.

What Kinds of Water Flow Impact Gold Deposits?

Swift moving - high energy flood flows will impact the depositing of gold. These flows need larger water volume and steeper slopes to have enough energy to move gold and the streambed overburden covering it.

It takes a very swift high energy flow to entrain gold and push hard enough on the gold and stream bed overburden to move the gold bearing slurry downstream. This is because gold is much denser than anything else in the stream bed and tends to travel on the bottommost layer of material that is flowing down the stream along with other very heavy large or dense objects.

That means, to move significant gold, we're talking about super high raging flood waters- think extreme flood condition; hundred-year plus floods. Of course lighter gold particles will re-concentrate every year in seasonal floods hence the name flood gold. Coarser and denser pockets of gold such as nuggets are going to need something really big to move the gold and the boulders that they tend to be trapped under.

To move gold the flood must have enough energy to move dense and heavy objects and keep them moving. Energy is the key to understanding flood flow and whatever it drives downstream. That means that this flood water is moving deep and steep, steep enough to generate swift currents downstream.

This torrential flow moves gold downstream but does not always concentrate it in a line. When a flow strikes against gold or the things gold is being carried along with, it tends to move in a line straight downstream unless acted upon by some current or force that would steer it in another direction. We'll discuss what forces would do that in a moment, because there is something really important to pay attention to, as it will steer gold into a direction you care about

How Helical Flow Affects Gold

Helical flow is needed to make a line or pay streak. Helical flow has the ability to steer gold perpendicular to the stream direction. In other words, it can cause gold to move sideways along the stream bed. Of course it's not going to move directly sideways across the current; instead it will move in a diagonal direction.

The important thing to note here is that all of the gold is going to be moving along this diagonal and at some point along the diagonal the gold combined with the slowing velocity of flow will strike a balance and the gold will drop out. In fact, under these conditions, gold will tend to drop out in such a way to form a line or a paystreak based on the average size of the gold particles sorting heaviest first, to lightest last, when you move toward the inside of the flow.

To be continued Next Month with:

What Clues Do You Look For?

Prospector Jess - Hunting4Gold.com

Officers – all officers were re-elected for 2016.

President – Michael Fait (mgfait@charter.net) 715-384-9265

Vice-President – Gary Morrison 715-316-2160

Secretary – Jeanne Morrison 715-316-2160

Newsletter Editor - Diane North (dbnorth@centurytel.net) 608-635-7031

Treasure – Gayle Fait (mgfait@charter.net) 715-384-9265

Outing Chairman – Richard Niemyjski (richnski@frontiernet.net) 608-637-3295

Claims Director – Richard Niemyjski (richnski@frontiernet.net) 608-637-3295

State Director – Mike Flint (mwink12@excite.com) 608-372-0694

Wisconsin Area Clubs

Greenbush Wisconsin GPAA Chapter – Greenbush Prospectors meet every second Saturday of the month at Salem United Methodist Church   120 Sheboygan St.    Fond Du Lac, WI. 54935 (change of time) 1:00 PM Meetings

Midstate Metal Detecting Club – meets every 3^rd Wednesday at 7:00 pm at Shooters Bar and Restaurant at the intersection of Hwy 39 and 54, next to the Shell Station.  Contact: Steve Miller 715-572-1845

Wausau Prospectors – meets the 1^st Saturday of the month at 11:00 am in the Wittenberg Town Hall - HWY 29 East of Wittenberg.  Take HWY 29 west – to exit HWY 45 south then left to stop sign, take Business 29 to the left for about one mile, the town hall is on the left side of the road..  Contact:  Kurt Bublitz 715-340-2831 or e-mail lizzy101@charter.net

Wisconsin Northwoods Adventures GPAA Chapter – holds their meetings on the 2^nd Saturday of every month at 11:00 am, at the Cameron Community Center, 512 W. Main Street, Cameron, WI. Contact Dave “Wire” Heinsohn (715) 353-2261