It was probably 20 years ago when George Streeter planted an idea in me that turned into a dream and eventually became a delightful reality. On one of my early visit’s to Streeter’s to pick up some prospecting supplies, George said he had found a more enjoyable way to find a lot more gold than by panning. Instead of going where nature had concentrated gold, go where human nature had concentrated it. No, George was not suggesting a bank heist. The idea was both legal and extremely seductive—go to a beautiful place with exotic shorelines and crystal blue water and recover the tiny treasures lost by well-heeled vacationers.

Over the years George has perfected this simple strategy for helping his customers turn their hobby into a paid vacation: 1st, sell the best detectors (Minelab) at a competitive price. 2nd, invite those customers to join George and a few friends on one of his treasure hunting vacations. 3rd, share all expenses. 4th, find gold. This sounds simple, but it only works because of George’s gracious personality, laid-back style and his skill as a detectorist.

Although George’s plan was simple, timing is everything. It took a while for the circumstances in my life to line up with this opportunity. Our children are grown, I inherited a little bit of money from my Dad, my brother’s were taking up my Dad’s interest in metal detecting and my wife and I were looking for something we could enjoy together. Step one—purchase a detector in memory of my father. This way I could relate to my brothers and we could check out metal detecting as something Cathy and I could enjoy together. We bought an Excalibur from Streeter’s and found some coins and jewelry at a nearby beach. So far, so good. Now the time was right to suggest that we might enjoy a trip to a tropical paradise. I am blessed with the best wife a man could have. She is frugal to a fault, and in her mind vacationing in the Caribbean is only for rich people. I told her that I had discovered a way for us to enjoy a beautiful spot with warm water at a fraction of the normal cost. We would share expenses with some other people and might find some jewelry to offset some of the remaining costs.

My introverted wife was more than a little nervous about sharing accommodations with strangers. I assured her that these strangers were hand-picked friends of George and all would go well. Besides we would be playing in the warm surf every day. Visions of snorkeling among glowing fish won her over and she consented to trust me. Sweet victory! St. Lucia, here we come.

Wow, everything was beautiful, the accommodations were excellent and the treasure hunting was a blast. In my opinion, George has found just the right balance between an intense focus on finding valuable lost jewelry every day and enjoying a relaxing, friendly vacation. On our first day in the water our little group found rings made of various metals: palladium, cobalt, tungsten carbide, and of course gold. By the following day we added platinum and silver, not to mention all of the coins. By the 4th day, George snagged a beautiful ring with a central teardrop emerald surrounded by diamonds. I was informed that we were not finding very much compared to previous trips, but the growing pile of precious finds sure amazed me and my wife. Of course, since we are brand new at detecting, we didn’t find as much as the others.

But we actually came home with gold and silver that we had personally plucked from the waters of our new treasure island.

I know it’s not right to gloat, but…. We were experiencing warm turquoise water, delicious fresh coconut, spectacular vistas, and the scent of exotic flowers while at home in New England they were buried under two feet of snow from a freak storm—sweet deal! OK, the weather wasn’t perfect every day, but even when it rained there were pleasant surprises. One day the sun was shining during a cloud burst and the raindrops hitting the water at eye-level created a surreal glittering diamond shower. My wife says the best parts of the trip were the simple natural pleasures like seeing a tiny hermit crab scamper across the beach, birds diving for their dinner, and silvery flying fish. And it’s hard to beat the sounds of steel drum melodies and peeping frogs rising between the rhythms of waves breaking on the beach.

Our trip was delightful—360 degree beauty, new friends, learning how to metal detect in the surf, and finding valuable treasure. Thanks George for sharing your secret for staying so kind and mellow.

My Gold Mining Trip to South Fork of 12 Mile Creek

By Craig Gifford, Rindge, NH

My trip came to me via a my friend Terry, whom I’ve known since my last trip to Alaska in 1998. In 2002 I returned to Alaska to try to score on some government work. Not being a Union member made it tough however, I did get on a small job that lasted a few months.

On the way out during my second trip, Terry mentioned his private claim on the Koyukuk River, just south of the Brooks Range. He indicated that someday he planned on going up there and working his claim & I would be invited when it was time.

Eight years passed & in the Spring of 2010, I got the go ahead to start planning & headed up to give it a shot. I finished up my work and packed up my gear and headed out.

After 9 days of driving, I arrived in Salcha, Alaska. I won’t get into any details, however I will say this trip was fraught with troubles and expenses and I was not properly prepared. Just the same, the feeling of enjoyment of arriving and being in Alaska was an experience worth the unexpected misery of the drive!

Upon arrival I quickly shock down all my gear and Terry helped me out reducing the amount of stuff I had brought with me. Going to the back country meant you have to think necessity and survival gear on top of a fair quantity of panning & mining equipment. Most importantly of all a well put together tool kit is a must..

Because we were using ATV’s with trailers & a 20” Carolina flat bottom skiff we could carry some bulky gear.

Our destination for our meeting up with the rest of the crew was a pipe line access area about 6 miles south of Cold Foot, Alaska. This small town is a truck stop location that is seen on the TV show “Ice Road Truckers” Running the haul road to get to your mining site is a very thrilling experience. I could write an article on the haul road alone, but for that matter anywhere you go in Alaska presents itself A story worthy experience.

After meeting up with 2 other guys, I was going to be working with, we started loading my equipment onto ATV trailers and started shuttling gear to the boat landing.

We then loaded gear into the boat, which was followed by a thrilling ride down the Koyukuk river. The boat ride was somewhat frightening. I had never been in a motor boat traveling through heavy current with a 649 pound ATV in the middle of the boat. I was grateful the river was only a few miles long.

We ran a 4 ½ mile trip from the boat landing to a place that was set up as a lower base camp. This camp was made up from an old building left from the Alaskan pipeline construction. These were nice comfortable rooms with a kitchen area complete with a gas stove/ oven sink. It was here that we stayed until we finished building the upper camp where we would be mining.

The next day we started shuttling gear up one of the roughest ATV trails I have ever been on. It was slow going with a lot of water crossings that put your arms and machine to the test. We spent that entire day moving what equipment we needed for that time being. T he next day we set up the upper camp which included building the outhouse (BLM requirement), a fire pit and a rather nice cook tent / dining area.

That evening we started putting the dredge together. It was a kind of new 6’ Gold Grabber with dual 6 ½ hp engines. We finished the dredge, the next day & got suited up for our first dredge run. Not to sound like somewhat of a critic, however my first observation was this was a very shallow creek to put a fair size dredge in it, We were somewhat limited to where we could put this dredge & picked the best spot and fired it up. The first run we ran the dredge backwards so we could create a sport to work from. Upon having done that, we spun the dredge around and worked up stream for a couple of days. One difficulty we were to have was a rather sizeable sheet of ice that was about a mile up the river from us, It was grinding up a lot of clay and silt, making the water very cloudy. Because of this, we were having trouble getting deeper into the clay & bedrock, which was only 2 to 3 feet beyond our reach. Due to bad visibility, we had to move by feel.

After a few days, we did our first cleanup. We hand panned for three plus hours and seemed to be doing alright, though nobody was jumping for joy. The gold was very fine and that puzzled me. I had never seen that much fine gold without a few pieces. I thought  there would have been some sort of explanation, but it was seldom mentioned & never discussed. After that clean up, I started running the Keene high banker & doing some sampling. I was getting color just about everywhere I went. Even though I’m an amateur prospector, I believe that everything was looking good for this creek. I’m sure there is a hot spot here, somewhere.

On the next run, we moved up the creek a little & tried it again.Four days of running and we go for another clean up. We got about the same amount as we did the first time. At this point a little bit of grumpiness is starting to emerge from a few. It has become obvious that we are not on our way to becoming rich. This really stinks, because I felt like I was just starting to get my feet wet.

Mutiny from the skipper. Can the shipper of a boat conduct his own mutiny? Yes, hr can when it’s the only boat out there. THERE SEEMS TO BE A CONCERN OVER THE AMOUNT OF SMOKE THAT IS FILLING THE AIR. A forest fire was nearby and the decision was made that we are leaving. Bummer!

As we are breaking down the camp, a torrential rain storm envelopes us. The creek trail we needed, became impossible.. I mean flood. We moved a lot of gear to higher ground and were marooned until the water reseeded. It took 3 days for the water to drop enough so we could make our run to lower camp. While we were waiting, we weighed up our gold and came up with just under 2 ounces. Finding that out only added to the disappointment of a few members of the group. Not me though, because with 1200 feet of creek claim area felt we hadn’t even begun. The disappointment for me was with three weeks of actual work time after dreaming this trip for the last 8 years along with a lot of preparation & trouble to get there, it just didn't seem right. HOPEFULLY someday I will get to go back to this same beautiful location. I’ll bring simpler equipment and have a few more weeks to test some of the areas that have my curiosity fired up. I don’t want to wait another 8 years.

Happy Diggin’ Craig Gifford, Rindge, NH

GOD BLESS AMERICA

Irving Berlin wrote this song in 1917 for use during WWI. Does anyone know why he did not release it then? He thought it "too sentimental even for the horrific inferno that was WWI. The link below will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of GOD BLESS AMERICA." But, before you watch, you should also know the story of the song.

The time was 1940.America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans. This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers.

And no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith. Kate was also large in size, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, It Ain't over till the fat lady sings. Kate Smith, with her voice coming over the radio, was the biggest star of her time. Kate was also very patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so very, very depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America, and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (also wrote White Christmas) and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country.

When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before - way back in 1917. He gave it to Kate Smith and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America" Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America.

Over the years, the Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song. This video starts out with singer Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, You're In The Army Now. At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper - its Ronald Reagan.

To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry, and for many generations of Americans to follow. Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you will enjoy it and treasure it even more. HERE IS HOW "GOD BLESS AMERICA" SHOULD BE SUNG!
http://www.israpundit.com/archives/31462?

Hunting thru a Trash Dump By Mac E

A couple months ago I had an opportunity to detect a friend's yard after the trees were cleared out. His house is about 12 years old, and it is next to a house that was built in the mid-1700's. My friend me warned about a former trash dump that was removed prior to the house being built.

With only a couple hours of day light, and not warmed up yet to focus around the old dump area, I went straight for the stone wall, common to the old house next door--not much found there, but I found some old bits of metal. Working away from the stone wall, across the driveway closer to the former trash dump, I found my first coin--a nice 1746 1/2 reale! At this point, with darkness setting in, I decided to work around the dump area. Surprised to find the area less trashy than I expected, I was able to work through the junk to pick up a surface clad quarter and a dateless Matron Head LC.

I was back three weeks later to finish searching rest of the property, but only to find a large spoon, large buckle, and the usual variety of bullets and shells. Not satisfied going home without finding any coins, I went back to the dump area to work in a slow and tight pattern. This effort paid off--I found two more coins, a 1719 KGI and 1752(?) KGII half pennies, a musket ball, two buttons, and two-and-a-half spoons.
Out hunting only a few times this year and being shutout most of the summer, I was thrilled to have found four pre-1840's coins. Now I wonder if I missed any Indian Head pennies or Liberty Seated dimes...

See pictures @ http://www.northeastmetaldetectingforum.com

The Best Of Country Music Compiled In A Single Album

(NAPSI)—A new album release is designed to hit the right note with country music fans—particularly those who want nothing but the hits.

The world’s best-selling multi-artist album series, NOW That’s What I Call Music!, has released the highly anticipated fourth installment from the respected and successful NOW That’s What I Call Country series of compilation albums. The collection includes 11 No. 1 singles.

America’s Music

If you believe that consumers vote with their wallets, then music fans continue to vote in favor of country music. Consider the following:

• Country music was the dominant music radio format in the United States in 2010 with just over 2,000 stations around the country.

• According to the Country Music Association, Lady Antebellum trailed only Eminem in Nielsen Sound Scan’s top-selling, all-genre albums of 2010 as Need You Now came in at No. 2 with just over 3 million copies sold.

Though her third album, Speak Now, was released only 10 weeks prior to the end of the year, Taylor Swift finished 2010 as the third-best-seller of the year with just under 3 million sold.

• And as if to prove that country fans and artists are comfortable going “new school” when it comes to sales, in terms of all-genre digital singles sales, Lady Antebellum made the Top 10 with “Need You Now” selling 3.18 million tracks.

A Big Tent

Country music continues to be a “big tent” in the entertainment industry with room for all kinds of fans.

Maybe you are the type of fan who was country “before country was cool” and know the difference between a dobro and a pedal steel. Or maybe you couldn’t tell the difference between a honky tonk and a hoedown, but you like the stories and the sound of the songs. Either way, the creators of NOW That’s What I Call Country believe you’ll find something to like in this latest volume.

The album features 18 hit songs from the superstars of country music as well as the best new artists in the format.

Artists featured in the collection include Lady Antebellum (“Hello World”), Blake Shelton (“Who Are You When I’m Not Looking”), Sugarland (“Stuck Like Glue”), Carrie Underwood (“Undo It”), Keith Urban (“Put You In A Song”), Miranda Lambert (“Only Prettier”), Darius Rucker (“Come Back Song”) and everyone’s favorite honky tonk hero, George Strait (“The Breath You Take”).

Celebrated With A Sweep

To celebrate the release of the album, the label will sponsor a sweepstakes. One grand prize winner will have the opportunity to see and meet one of the NOW Country Volume 4 artists of his or her choosing live in concert. (Transportation not included and some restrictions apply.) Other lucky winners will receive a copy of NOW That’s What I Call Country Volume 4.

information, www.NowCountrySweeps.com.

A Multiplatinum Franchise

The NOW That’s What I Call Music! series is a joint venture from EMI Music North America, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group.

The NOW That’s What I Call Music! series debuted in the U.S. in 1998 after the brand had been a multiplatinum international success for 15 years. The series has generated sales exceeding 200 million albums worldwide, including more than 80 million copies in the U.S. Every album in the numbered U.S. series has reached Billboard’s Top 10, and 14 NOW releases have reached No. 1.

NOW That’s What I Call Country Volume 4 is distributed by Universal Music Group Distribution.

To learn more, visit www.nowthatsmusic.com.

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