Rock Cutting & Polishing

[Jim Hatt]

That is a difficult question to answer Paul. In the summer of 1998 I brought a piece of quartz out of the Superstitions, and left it with Clay to do a fire assay on. He set it up on the shelf in his lab, and neither one of us gave it another thought for 3 months, until Clay discovered that it had gold in it, that was visible with a loop. (long story made short). At that time, Clay couldn't remember where it came from. When he asked me if I had ever seen it before, I could not positively identify it from many other pieces of quartz, I had left with him. After weeks of racking his brain, Clay came to the conclusion that "I" had left that rock in his lab. (another long story made short). Between the time the rock was left there and we discovered it contained visible gold, I had been many many places, and there was no way I could remember where I had picked up that rock for sure. All of them were in the Superstitions tho. We finally broke the rock in half, Clay keeping half, and he gave the other half to me, for one thing he was certain of, was that the rock was not his. We have both carried our half of that rock in the mtns many times since, and never been able to match it up with anything out in the mountains. We have come close a few times. We have found similar quartz in similar host rock, but it has not had any visible gold in it. I must have made over 200 trips into the mtns just to check possible places where that rock could have come from. To this day, I still have not found a match for it.

For years I carried sample bags with me, and never brought a sample out of the mtns without putting it in a bag, and marking the location where it came from clearly on the bag. Eventually after years of carrying out rocks that had nothing in them, I quit carrying out so many rocks, and quit carrying the sample bags. If we would have noticed the gold in the rock within a day or two... maybe even a week. I might have been able to remember where I got it from. But three months later was just too long, and I had been too many places.

I used to read stories about people finding gold, and never being able to get back to the place where they found it. I didn't believe those stories when I read them. I didn't think anybody could be that stupid in real life. Well... I learned different! A lot of well known Dutch-Hunters have examined that rock, and heard the story about it, in the last 10 years. They all give me that look, as if they do not believe anybody could be that stupid... All I can do is hang my head, and blame it on the elapsed time between when it was found, and when we realized it had gold in it.

Clay blames me for not putting that rock in a sample bag with it's location (where found) marked on it. (Very TRUE) I blame Clay for letting it sit in the lab for three months, without examining it closely. (Also Very True) That way... neither one of us has to feel too stupid.

But it still haunts us both a lot!

Jim

[Guz]

Oh great! Add another lost mine to the list! The lost Hattman, perhaps?


Guz

[TradClimber]

Classic one, Guz!

TC

[cubfan64]

Hehe Jim - I can imagine how you and Clay both feel. It seems like that kind of thing bites us all in the rear end at times - you start out being super careful, and then gradually over time you find that you get the same results no matter what. Right after you decide not to bother wasting time on the intricacies, something like this happens that's a glaring reminder to never take anything for granted

Well, the good thing is it came out the Superstitions - the bad news is there's now the "Lost Hatt Ledge of Gold" out there to be found.

[Jim Hatt]

Oh great! Add another lost mine to the list! The lost Hattman, perhaps?

Guz

I am sure it did not come from a mine Guz. I have always been very careful, about documenting the locations of mines that I have found.

This was either a piece of "Float" Quartz I picked up (Highly doubtful), or it came from an outcropping that had not been worked before.

Jim

[Jim Hatt]

Hehe Jim - I can imagine how you and Clay both feel. It seems like that kind of thing bites us all in the rear end at times - you start out being super careful, and then gradually over time you find that you get the same results no matter what. Right after you decide not to bother wasting time on the intricacies, something like this happens that's a glaring reminder to never take anything for granted

You couldn't be more correct Paul,

For at least 5 years I kept a small spiral notebook in my shirt pocket and kept notes in it from every trip. Every time I stopped to rest, I would make a few notes in it. One day I was going through it, and noticed that it was the same thing over and over again. "Parked at the trailhead at XX:XX AM. Made it to the first rest point at XX:XX AM. Had lunch at XX:XX PM. First I decided that I was not going to write anything down any more unless it was something unusual. I went so long without writing anything down, that I eventually quit carrying it in my pocket, and left it buried somewhere in my backpack. A lot of things should have been written down that I never did because it was no longer easy to get to as it once was.

I had quit using it 6-8 months before I found that rock. If I only knew the exact date I found it, I could look at all my old 35mm photos from that period, and maybe see what area I was in on that date, and narrow down my search to a specific area. Then again... I did not take photos every trip, because I was using a film (not digital) camera back then. It is possible that I never even took a photo on that trip.

The "If Only's" go on and on... <SIGH> When you start getting sloppy like that, it seems that you always make a bunch of mistakes in a row. All of which could have been avoided, by "Paying attention to details".

If I had only made a note in my notebook.
If only I had taken some photos and logged them to a specific date.
If only I had put the rock in a sample bag and marked it.
If only Clay had examined the rock the day I left it with him...

The rock just didn't look that good to either one of us with the naked eye. It was just another piece of quartz. Until.... we put a loop to it! The gold was easy to see once you knew what it was. But with the naked eye, it just looked like dirt, unless you held it in direct sunlight and it flashed at you.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Jim


BTW: That rock (before Clay and I broke it in half) is in the A&E documentary, about the Lost Dutchman Mine at 39 minutes and 56 seconds into the movie.

[cubfan64]

Ahhhh - very interesting!

Hey, for what it's worth, I'm looking into getting a little handheld digital audio recorder to carry with me from now on out there. Instead of stopping to write things down, I can just record myself describing something and give information like what I see - whether I'm taking a photo here - what the GPS coordinates are, etc...

Even if I don't go back and transcribe the information, it's simple to just transfer it to a digital computer file and I'll have a record when I want to go back.

May not work for everyone, but I find stopping to take notes and even stopping to take photographs sometimes to be annoying!

[Jim Hatt]

I already have one of those Paul. I just got it a couple of months ago. They are on eBay for about $20. It looks like an ink pen. You can carry it in your shirt pocket. You just hit a button on the top of it to start/stop recording. A light comes on to let you know when it is recording. It has 4GB of storage in it. I never go anywhere without it now. I have another one similar to it, that even has a video/audio camera in it. They are only about $40 plus shipping. Amazing what they have on the market these days!

Jim

[Guz]

Oh great! Add another lost mine to the list! The lost Hattman, perhaps?

Guz

I am sure it did not come from a mine Guz. I have always been very careful, about documenting the locations of mines that I have found.

This was either a piece of "Float" Quartz I picked up (Highly doubtful), or it came from an outcropping that had not been worked before.

Jim

Well, yeah but The lost Hattman float quartz pile of rocks/ outcropping just doesn't have the same ring to it!


Guz

[roc2rol]

Hi Jim !
Interesting story. I can only wonder about all those rocks you carried out of the Supers. Wow!
Knowing you there more to them then meets the eye.

I’m hoping to talk my neighbor into helping me rent 10” tile saw so we can do some big time slab cutting.
Matter of fact --I’m willing to invest money in a large lapidary saw. They can be a substantial investment.
But having a place to set it up is even more of a problem.
Anyway if that happens---
I’ll be looking for rocks.
Sound like you may have a mother load!
SuperSlabs!!!
Ed