A Modern Take On Old Time Drift Mining

[Flintgreasewood]

I’ll start with a bit of recapping of my prospecting adventures in interior Alaska. Early in my researching of all things gold in this great land I discovered The Alaska Gokd Forum. That was in 2006 and to my posted questio...was there any good ground near Fairbanks still open for staking Jim responded with a pretty emphatic...everything close in has been taken. Well, Jim, thankfully you were wrong. I’m quite certain God’s providential hand guided me to a group of eleven 40 acre claims smack dab in the heart of the Fairbanks mining district that had been dropped two years previous. Prospecting and developing those claims has been my delight and at times my headache for nearly eight years.
Leonard was correct in stating I’m not afraid of hard work. I’ve never had enough money to get anything done any other way. I do try to find inexpensive ways to make the hard work a bit easier. So when I set upon sinking a shaft

[Flintgreasewood]

Sorry folks, looks like a lot of my post didn’t get posted. I’ll get it figured out soon.

[Flintgreasewood]

Is there a limit on number of words in any given post?

[Jim_Alaska]

Is there a limit on number of words in any given post?

No Kurt, there is no limit on words in a post. Must be something with your computer.

[Geowizard]

Jim,

I think there is a DIFFERENCE between "Quick Reply" and "Post Reply" options. Quick Reply looks to have a short editor unless you select "Full Editor".

- Geowizard

[Jim_Alaska]

Jim,

I think there is a DIFFERENCE between "Quick Reply" and "Post Reply" options. Quick Reply looks to have a short editor unless you select "Full Editor".

- Geowizard

Wiz may be right, I never looked into it.

[Geowizard]

I tested the Quick Reply editor - filled 20 + lines. It posted okay.

If in doubt, it's a good idea to save a copy of your post on your PC.

- Geowizard

[Flintgreasewood]

Resuming where I left off.
In sinking my new shaft I needed not only to make hard work easier but I also had to make a way to accomplish the task alone. I knew from previous experience that a medium size electric jack hammer with a chisel point was very effective at breaking up frozen muck. The first 8' of shaft had to be nearly 8' square to accommodate crib logs and still be 6' square on the inside. And from the surface down to 8' I was able to pitch the muck with an aluminum scoop shovel. From there on down I needed a mechanical helper to get the muck out.
The previous winter while at our home in Colorado I fabricated out of high density and ultra high molecular weight polyethylene plastic a half size version of the Fairbanks Self Dumping Bucket carrier, an aluminum bucket [made of salvaged road signs], the latching bail, catch pin and dump stop. I was able to take tracings for the various parts of the carrier from an original 100 year old carrier lying on the bank of a creek on my claim. All I needed was a gin pole, a cable high line extending over the shaft and anchored in back, and an electric winch. I rounded up those items in Fairbanks and on line and proceeded to set it all up. My first gin pole was the tallest black spruce growing in the position I needed it to be. Sending up my first bucket full and seeing it dump and return to me in the bottom of the shaft was extremely rewarding.
The next order of business was to deck the shaft and build a shelter over it, the head frame and hoist area. A ladder is, of course, essential and I had brought up two 16' sections of an aluminum one. Another thing I learned from my first shaft was ladder climbing was supremely tiring especially when wearing full rain gear and bunny boots.
So I built a man lift out of electrical conduit and plywood very securely bolted and screwed, attached to a small electric hoist operated by a pendant switch on a cord I held in one hand and with the other hand on the ladder in front of me. It, too, worked very well and i certainly could not have done what I did without that little elevator. The ladder did, however, serve a dual purpose. When hoisting I wanted protection from the possibility of a falling bucket or any of its contents, and as the ladder hung free suspended solely from cable secured at the top, I was able to step behind it and feel safe.
I had begun the shaft at the end of December so it was not only very cold and snowy, but much of the work was done under work lights due to the short amount of daylight. I even set up lights by the gin pole and a video camera so I could observe the bucket dumping and know when to reverse its travel. However it didn't take long for me to realize I could watch the heavy counter weight attached to the trip line resting on the floor of the shaft. When the line tightened and lifted the weight off the floor i knew the bucket had dumped and could be reversed. I scrapped the video camera.
Frozen muck may be easy to break up except when it is filled with tree stumps, roots and branches and at times I had plenty of them. I typically used an axe to get through some of the tangled mess, but on one occasion four and five inch trees crisscrossed blocked my way. The trees were not only frozen but they were relatively ancient and very dense. I made a difficult decision; i brought down my chain saw. Yes, I know a gas engine in a confined space can be deadly. So I first sized up where I needed to cut, then I took a deep breath and began cutting. I got through what I needed to, shut the saw off, jumped on the elevator and got up to the surface where I took my next breath. Other non muck stuff started showing up as I approached the depth gravel would begin showing.
At first it looked like a tree stump but rounded on its top surface and its color was not like that of old wood. Chipping away a few more inches of muck revealed the undeniable shape of a bone, a very large bone. The next hour was devoted to carefully extricating an eighteen inch mammoth leg bone and more than likely a junior size.
Nearing the level I knew i could start seeing gravel I proceeded to recover numerous smaller bones and pieces of bone and tusk. The next biggest find was a 10" long section of tusk. I almost forgot my main purpose in sinking a shaft...to find gold. At approximately 54' I picked up my first small piece of gravel, a most welcome sight.

[Micropedes1]

Kurt, do you have cribbing all the way to the bottom of that well? I am wondering about the thawing of that permafrost muck over the summer.

[Jim_Alaska]

Excellent post outlining your shaft adventure Kurt. When I lived in Fairbanks there was a small company that was sinking shafts near Fox, on the Elliot highway. They were working in a historical area that was well known for good gold and lots of old shafts. Like almost all old shafts made in permafrost, the old shafts would fill with water as the permafrost melted in summer, then freeze solid in winter. So needless to say the old timer's endeavors were a "one shot" deal. They only got one winter to work their shaft and had to abandon it after winter.

This company was able to get multiple seasons out of their shafts by installing a freezing unit over the shaft, thereby preventing any melting. That way they could work the shaft the next season, allowing them to extend their drift operations a lot longer than the old timers could.