Loaming for Gold Glossary

[Lost Adams]

I am having trouble defining the meanings of the different mining terms in the Book Loaming for Gold by Sam Cash.
If you have any idea or know some old-timer who might know and what I think different
American terms would be.

p8;
Loam => a sample of soil usually from top 1" of surface dirt. Also could be a Dollied up sample of little/big rocks.

Corner => is the left over heavies from panning/dishing down a Loam.

A Corner => can contain just a few (1-3 tiny specs) to pennyweights of gold!
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???? "Unless extremely fine about thirty would form a pennyweight corner."
p8
What is he referring to "...a pennyweight corner." Is this a reference to pennyweights to the Ton/hard rock,
pennyweights to the cubic yard/meter, placer. There is no Context to go by!!!
It obviously can't mean to the pan/dish as small specs can't Weigh a pennyweight, as referenced in prior sentence.
Later p55 "There are few beginners that would not call a grain in weight of gold more than a 5 ounce prospect
from a pound of stone, and that is approximately what it is."apx. +-5 ounces.
1 ton = 2000 lbs x 1 grain/lbs = 2000 grains / 480 g/oz = 4.16 ounces!!!
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On p42; He states that "It would not be much of a patch that failed to yield pennyweights to the dish in fact."
This reference is to keeping your kit Clean so you don't SALT your own samples and
send yourself OFF on a wild goose chase.
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NOW what is a "RED Bar"???
lets start off with what a 'bar' is.
p15 'is almost always in close proximity to a Patch'
some place I read that a Bar is a 'Boat' shaped patch of Red dirt.
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And last for now is what is meant by 'Pressure' as on p21

Sincerely
Lost Adams

 

[Lost Adams]

Well I guess after 62 views there isn't anyone who knows or thinks that defining these terms and other in Sam's book are worth perusing. WE HAVE METAL DETECTORS is the NEW cry!!!
Can I ask how many of you have found even 1% of what Sam did in his First 5 years, over a 1000ozs???
Does anyone have any idea of HOW his method could be used With a Beeper???
I have been hunting "Pocket Gold" here in the States for the last 25 years and have found 3 lost mines since 2016. The Lost Briggs Pocket had Fist sized quartz with a 1" vein running through it.
I tell how I did it in Terry Carter's Treasure Hunting YouTube channel under Pocket Gold. It shows pics of the Specie!

 

[grubstake]

Also:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/threads/the-art-of-loaming.33284/

 

[Hawkear]

Well I guess after 62 views there isn't anyone who knows or thinks that defining these terms and other in Sam's book are worth perusing. WE HAVE METAL DETECTORS is the NEW cry!!!
Can I ask how many of you have found even 1% of what Sam did in his First 5 years, over a 1000ozs???
Does anyone have any idea of HOW his method could be used With a Beeper???
I have been hunting "Pocket Gold" here in the States for the last 25 years and have found 3 lost mines since 2016. The Lost Briggs Pocket had Fist sized quartz with a 1" vein running through it.
I tell how I did it in Terry Carter's Treasure Hunting YouTube channel under Pocket Gold. It shows pics of the Specie!

I must confess to being responsible for a number of the views that have resulted in my rereading of his book that has often baffled me. Overall, his loaming method makes a lot of sense but many of the details are shrouded by his quaint use of language.
Loaming was not invented by Sam, and at its heart is a simple and logical process involving systematic soil sampling to trace gold back to its source. Sam's method just made the process faster, easier and more effective to the extent that he became famous for his skill at it. One even gets the feeling that Sam was persuaded by others to put his thoughts down in writing. I would be interested to know if there are any other publications on gold prospecting attributed to Sam.

For instance, he proposed taking the water to the loaming site for panning. That way he was able to actively follow up on a successful "loam" rather than take it along with possibly many dud loams back to a water source which in the dry Western Australian gold fields could have involved much distance, time and effort.

Re his term a "corner of gold", I interpret as the gold revealed in the pan lodged in the "corner" between a pan's bottom and sidewall after the sand and heavies have been washed backwards or off to one side. A more modern expression may be just a "line or show of gold".
I think Sam uses the term generically to cover a corner of gold from any source be that samples from loaming or crushings of quartz or even calcite which is a hardened layer of soil which can contain elluvial gold.
My feeling is his use of the term "pennyweight corner" is just that, a corner of gold in the pan weighing a pennyweight. With 30 or so coarse colours making up that pennyweight, each coarse colour would weigh around 0.05 grams (or approximately one grain which weighs 0.65 grams). It gives an insight into his thinking as to what he defines as a coarse colour which he references at other places in the book. Gold of that size can nowadays be easily detected by modern gold machines and I and others, rather ashamedly I must admit, still insist on calling them nuggets.

"It would not be much of a patch that failed to yield pennyweights to the dish in fact." In many goldfelds it was common to refer to "the dish" as being what was to be processed by panning after preliminary sieving, sorting, maybe crushing etc had been carried on a load of raw material to concentrate the gold. It was common practice to only process the richest of ground due to low gold prices, so probably a bit hard for us to understand now also with rich patches becoming a rarity.

"There are few beginners that would not call a grain in weight of gold more than a 5 ounce prospect". He is referring to one pound of crushings revealing one grain (0.05gr) of gold being equivalent to 5 ounce (approximately) stone.

I think here he is referring to how one grain of fine gold would actually appear to look in a pan. In those days it would have been almost impossible for prospectors to accurately weigh a grain of gold (still is) and they had to go by sight alone. In a pan, a line of fine gold weighing just a grain (0.065 grams) may look quite unimpressive to the eye and that appearance would lead some to fail to recognise that rich workable stone had been found leaving that opportunity open to later more careful miners.

"Red Bar"? Possibly referring to ironstone, which is now known in modern orogenic models to be an associate mineral often deposited in bands alongside auriferous quartz reefs.

"Signs of pressure?" Here he may be referring to bending or narrowing of reefs suggesting that some force was acting change its direction eg a fault or squeezing or pinching the reef at that point.
Just a few thoughts offered to help discussion on this most fascinating book that I am sure contains more than just a few secrets hidden within its pages of quaint language.

 

[Lost Adams]

Thank You Hawkear for your response!!!
Where is my saved POST???
I lost 10 min of writing a reply.
Does the site have a place to recover lost posts???
Or do we have to copy and paste from wordpad??

 

[Lost Adams]

Here is the one about gold nuggets found East of Ely, Nevada.

Enjoy!!!!

 

[grubstake]

Where is my saved POST???
I lost 10 min of writing a reply.
Does the site have a place to recover lost posts???
Or do we have to copy and paste from wordpad??

The site automatically saves Draft text while you're entering a post, so it's normally pretty difficult to lose one!

There's Undo and Redo arrows in the right-hand group of icons at the top of the text entry window, to allow you to step back from errors. Also, the right-most of those icons is a floppy disk, with a down arrow beside it that lets you choose between Save Draft and Delete Draft.

 

[Lost Adams]

What is the time frame for recovering your lost post? minutes, hours, days???
after you leave the post page/thread.

 

[Hawkear]

Usually straight away. Has happened to me many times when writing a post on my underpowered iPad when it often crashes. When I go back to PA using my laptop computer most of my comments are still there waiting for me to continue with the post.
I say “most of” but usually not the very last words or sentence.
I think the loss of those last words or sentence may be more to do with the iPad crash than the PA website.
You should be able to check this yourself by doing an experiment. Try closing your device midway through writing a reply and without pressing the post reply icon. Go back into PA and the topic you were in and if your unfinished post is not there something else may be involved that is causing loss of you unposted texts.

 

[Lost Adams]

Sorry for the late Thank You Hawkear, I was in a hurry on Sat to get to the shop. The owner was coming down to help me move some 120lb Doors I am going to make a 28ft bench against the back wall of the shop. The Doors are Commercial Solid Core 2hr Fire rated doors, and I got them for FREE from the Remodeling going on on the Library and New Senior Center here in Duchesne, UT.
I also threw my lower back out of whack loading 8 of them on Thur before last. Now going to the Chiropractor to have him put me back Together. At almost 74 my Brain(whats left) keeps FORGETTING that my Body wont do what I could do just a few years ago.

 

[Hawkear]

Sorry for the late Thank You Hawkear, I was in a hurry on Sat to get to the shop. The owner was coming down to help me move some 120lb Doors I am going to make a 28ft bench against the back wall of the shop. The Doors are Commercial Solid Core 2hr Fire rated doors, and I got them for FREE from the Remodeling going on on the Library and New Senior Center here in Duchesne, UT.
I also threw my lower back out of whack loading 8 of them on Thur before last. Now going to the Chiropractor to have him put me back Together. At almost 74 my Brain(whats left) keeps FORGETTING that my Body wont do what I could do just a few years ago.

74 just a pup! Never let your brain tell you what your body can’t do, just how to do it.

 

[Lost Adams]

Thanks Hawkear I needed that!!!
I'm not sure how this got over in the conversations part of the forum but I'm posting a link here so others can view a Lot of info I have accumulated over the years.
High, IBGold see you have found the Mess I've gotten myself into on this forum.
And I also see DO and grubstake are watching also.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/conversations/loaming.193591/#convMessage-488612

 

[grubstake]

I'm not sure how this got over in the conversations part of the forum but I'm posting a link here so others can view a Lot of info I have accumulated over the years.
High, IBGold see you have found the Mess I've gotten myself into on this forum.
And I also see DO and grubstake are watching also.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/conversations/loaming.193591/#convMessage-488612

Unfortunately, Conversations are private between the parties they are addressed to and cannot be linked in a public forum post, so nobody else can follow your above link.

Please highlight all the text you wish to share with the rest of us and use copy/paste to put it in a new message box below this thread, here on the open forum.

 

[Lost Adams]

The whole concept on what a weight/measure of a Corner of gold is in Dish is, has to do with some amount of gold per Ton or Per cubic Yard/Meter. I'm still struggling with what he means. I have been able to read and reread enough times that I think that a "Pennyweight Corner" has to refer to a pennyweight to the yard or to the Ton of Hard-rock.
Here are some Videos you may like. I Find them Very Fascinating.




Have fun!!!

 

[Lost Adams]

Pocket Mines.
ALEX. QUARTZ.
Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco, July 8, 1893, page 22
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Pocket Mining. NUMBER II.
ALEX. QUARTZ.
Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco, July 15, 1893, page 37
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Pocket Mining. NUMBER III.
Free or Decomposed Pockets.
ALEX QUARTZ.
"Oregon," Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco, July 22, 1893, page 53
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Pocket Mining. NUMBER IV.
Free or Decomposed Pockets.
ALEX QUARTZ.
"Oregon," Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco, July 29, 1893, page 68
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Pocket Mining. NUMBER V.
Free or Decomposed Pockets.
ALEX QUARTZ.
"Oregon," Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco, August 5, 1893, page 84
===================================================
Now here is a link to a NEW Lead I just found a few minutes ago.
Have a good read and lets discuss this in relation to Sam's Work!
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https://truwe.sohs.org/files/pockethunting.html
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FYI;
I MUST Admit Here and Now that I haven't found a Pocket YET, by the methods discussed, and AM STILL A "Pocket Hunter" and NOT a "Pocket Miner" and I haven't MET a "Pocket Miner" YET Either!!!
Although a lot of them would like you to Believe Such, they are Still Hunters!!!
Always remember that a Gold Hunter/Pocket Hunter/ Loamer is a Perpetual Optimist, or he/she just Quits and goes back home with their Tail Tucked Between their legs!!!

 

[Lost Adams]

DIY Dry Shaker Gold Concentrator - YouTube

 

[Lost Adams]

BTW, the term Lime as Alex uses it is just Calcium Carbonate or Calcite for the newer mates.

 

[Lost Adams]

I think the old-mate was right about ONLY taking Samples from the Surface to 2" deep.
First is the Terrain which is a Very Dry Desert environment with not much vegetation. From the Videos I have watched of the different areas there is a LOT of what is Called "Desert Armor". This is where the Wind Blows a lot of the Topsoil and Dust off the surface and leaves the Bigger Rocks and Pebbles. This Protects the underlying Soil from Wind Erosion. IF the wind gets strong enough to move the sand and or small particles of Gold (100mesh-) then the Bigger Rocks and Pebbles would form an eddy, like in the water to capture the Fine Gold Particles. If we can Imagine a cylindrical pipe as a source of gold and it goes 1000's of feet up in the surface over the present ground, Then imagine this all weathering down to present surface. Only the FINE Particles would travel the farthermost from Source, the central pipe. This Pattern under the surface we are standing on today would look like a Funnel. Something like the attached photo;



Here is what I imagine the weathering of a Pipe/gold shoot would look like. I think this is how the old mates looked at it also. Just my best Guess!!!

 

[Lost Adams]

The finer gold will be moved further from the source! This has to do with the direction of the prevailing winds and rain storms.
How many of you sat in camp during a heavy rain storm. I'm talking about one that looks like an old cow pissing on a flat rock, and watch what it does to the surface, down to 3-4", It liquefies it and turns it into a watery mud that starts to FLOW in any direction it can!
When we watch what a Drop of water(half the size of a pea) does we can begin to understand what is moving the dirt and gold around.

When we look straight down onto the Pipe from above we will see a picture similar to what Sam is illustrating on page 18 fig. 1, on a 5 deg slope. In my illustration the top of his page would be to the left side showing prevailing wind/rain with the pipe being represented by his X.

My Illustration is meant to show a perfectly level surface and how fine gold will have a tendency to Drift to the Downwind(right) side of the pic.
I know that this is very tedious for some to watch or follow, BUT the Ground Work has to be laid or we will not get an understanding of what Sam is Trying to Say in his Book. I first read his book 20+ years ago and could see where and what he was trying to get across. BUT I couldn't get past the Quaint Lingo he was using. I have been Pocket Hunting as the old timers called it in the States for the last 15 years.

 

[Lost Adams]

Here is My interpretation of what Sam it saying on page 12 under Systematic Loaming!
It's long and involved it took me 2hrs+ to get it down on paper. In the Lower Right is the explanation for the Loam Spread which is ==> to 0-1 colors to the dish. Please feel free to comment and criticize the Drawing I would love to hear your opinions whether positive or negative as I'M trying to get my head wrapped around what he is saying in the Book!!!