We Have a Claim in Stanton

We left Quartzsite and headed to North Ranch in Congress AZ, which is an Escapees Park.  Got our site and lady luck was on our side as we were right next to some folks that were gold prospecting.  Once set up we wandered over to talk to them.  They (2 couples) were very nice and we all started chatting about their gold prospecting and checked out their setup.  Well one thing lead to the next and we made plans to go out with them in a couple of days.  The girls and I were drinking wine and asked if I wanted to go with them the following day to Sedona to do some wine tastings.  Well let me think about that for like say a nano second, yes my answer is yes.  We had a great time enjoying wine and making new friend ships.

                                                          Jimmie, lucky me and Sharel
                                                                    A few fun quotes:

The following day we got our license to work the Weaver claim and purchased a dry washer and wet sluice.

This was spotted in the claims office

  That done it was time to do some exploring.  On the way to Stanton which is where the claim is located you first go through Congress and then on your left you will pass very large well known frog.

In 1928 a woman named Sara Perkins, a homesteader's wife, observed that this particular rock, when viewed from the proper angle, resembled a frog. She painted it and it has become quite the landmark ever since.

After the passing the frog you will turn right off the highway and follow Stanton Rd for 15 miles to the town, the road is gravel and rough but worth the trip.  Once known as Antelope Station, Stanton experienced gold rush fever in 1863 in the form of a gold strike. What was once a stage stop transformed over night into a western boom town thanks to its rather large deposits of gold.  Legend has it that when a prospector left his group to go round up some mules on a nearby hill, he literally stumbled on gold nuggets lying right atop the soil. It didn’t take long for Charles P. Stanton to transform the town when he entered in 1871. Not only did this soon-to-be town boss change the name to suit himself, he took on various roles such as postmaster, deputy, and justice of the peace. However, history does not paint a kindly picture of this man of many hats. Apparently, Mr. Stanton had some persuasive “friends” that allowed him to quietly take over the town. This band of thugs helped him stage various dirty deals that landed him a rather poor reputation, even by Old Western standards. Stanton’s hold on the town ended in 1886 when he was shot to death in his own store by a man claiming to be avenging an insult Stanton had hurled at the man’s sister.   By the 1890s, Stanton was a legitimate community filled with miners, their families, a general store, a stamp mill, a hotel, a boarding house, and several other buildings.  Today, Stanton is owned by the Lost Dutchman’s Mining Association and has been transformed into a campground for members. 

This is the road to Stanton complete with wash board bumps and people drive this road as if it were paved.

                 We had packed a lunch so we decided to sit a spell and enjoy this ghost town.

                                 On the way back we rounded a corner and this is what we seen.

Now this has never happened to us before...

what do we do?  Mr. Bull was standing guard as the rest of the family ate dinner.  I'm telling you he stared us down and wasn't giving an inch.  I was afraid he would put his head down and ram the truck!  So we waited and then slowly moved forward, he didn't charge us but he didn't move either.  Now that was wild...I'm accustom to seeing deer on the road and have been known to hit several but have never encountered a bull.

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The next day we followed  Bob out to the site.  Now we had thought about going out on one of those jeep rides through the desert but after driving to the claim we changed our minds as we did some serious off roading to get to the site, I had my eyes closed most of the time. 

The Site

Once you figure out where you are going to dig then you have to mark your claim.  This is done by marking the four corners with buckets, milk jugs or whatever you have.  Put your name and the date that you work the claim and if it isn't worked in 7 days than it is up for grabs.

                                                                     Our Glory Hole

You need lots of buckets and when I think of all the buckets we sold or gave away!  Anyway, dig the dirt, classify it through screens that fit on the buckets and then put it in the puffer and after a couple of buckets you do a clean out.  We on average puffed 6 buckets and then brought home 4-6 buckets to run through the wet sluice. 

Once run through the sluice you do a clean out and then run that through the separator.

Then I pan the results and get the gold.  We did get a picker which is a piece of gold that you can pick up with you fingers.

                    Being a prospector is alot of work but it is fun as well and we did get some gold.

We worked our claim for a while then Bob told us to work in his claim as he was getting some good gold and he wouldn't be able to work it all by himself. 

The day before Jimmie and John were to leave they went to lunch with Sharel and Bob.  The girls got into the margaritas and upon their arrival back at camp they came over telling us to get our glasses, well you don't have to ask us twice.  Needless to say a good time was had by all. 

That evening I cooked spaghetti for our last dinner together, Mexican/Italian not a bad combination.  After dinner Jimmie and Sharel watched a movie with us, "The Long, Long Trailer" with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.  It's an old movie but very funny and it still applies today to the RV life style, check it out.
 

                                                  Jimmie and John Francis from Alaska

Sharel, Bella and Bob (aka Dakota Bob) Spears from South Dakota

We enjoyed our time in Congress AZ at North Ranch with our new friends and look forward to seeing them next year, safe travels.

We leave tomorrow and are headed to Kingman AZ to visit our friends Terri and Danny Baker.