Gold Diggin's

heatherfeather

For pretty much forever, every bit of camping my family has done has been around my dad's favorite recreation: Gold. So this last weekend when all the extended family got together for a camping trip, it was no surprise when we ended up at Crow Creek, in Girdwood Alaska. Crow Creek is a recreational gold claim open to the public. For the most part, we are all content to sit around the fire and roast things while dad works his tail off being what we call the "human backhoe"...

I decided that although I don't have the "gold fever" dad's favorite activity needs documenting.

The trail...
I walk for a mile or so through the beautiful forest on a groomed trail for hikers. It is really nice. Then I spot the landmark I was looking for... The sign for Gatoraide Hill... It says "Gatoraide Hill, travel at your own risk" for a reason. A person can stay on their feet on the way down, but without the ropes, it would be very difficult and dangerous.
1.


2. About 1/3 of the way down I stop for a photo of what I have come down...
Not too bad, but it is quite a bit more than a walk. There are 3 rope segmants to the bottom and each one is more necessary than the last.



3. At the bottom, Dad meets me at the bridge.


4.
Before we head to dad's dig, we stop by a cabin of another gold miner nearby. Chris and his son are just having some breakfast before they continue their own quest for gold. Chris shows us the gold nugget threaded on a chain around his neck, it is the size of a mans thumb. Dad asks him where he dug that out and Chris answers, "Oh, around." Apparently that is privaleged information.



5. The "cabin" is made out of blue tarps, a piece of plywood or two, and decorated with all kinds of stuff they found in the woods that was left behind by miners in years gone by. There is a welcoming sign by the door that says: If ya didn't pack it in, it ain't yours. If ya didn't ask permission, ya can't use it. Other than that, hope you find more gold than we did."


6. He also takes a minute to show us his hat, which is decorated with gold that he has cast into shapes. My favorite is the mosquito biting the giant nugget. Each ornament is really well done, and I am impressed.


7. Dad and I left the cabin and walked a ways to his setup. Dad has a pump that brings glacier water from the creek up to where his dig is. I notice he has a clean shirt hung on a tree. At the end of the day, he took a quick wash in the creek and swapped the clean shirt for the dirty one on his back. He left it hanging there for the next time he would come. I just shake my head and smile.



8. Once at the dig, dad sets up his sluice box and prepares it for the water. He puts in a deeply grooved rubber truck mat and a metal grate.


9. Once he has everything set up, he shovels the gravel and dirt from the hillside into the shoot and it washes down. The grooves in the sluice box catch the heavier material and hopefully any gold flakes that are mixed in.



10. Every so often he has to dislodge some larger rocks and things from the sluice to keep everything moving.


10. It is lots of digging and picking..... for hours. Backbreaking work for anyone... and he is in his 50's. I asked him why in the world he loved to find gold so much and he answered, "Why do you like photography so much?" I laughed but after a bit of thinking he came up with two reasons.
#1. It's like finding easter eggs. -And-
#2. Maybe its just a little bit because he likes to play in water. :rofl



11. After an hour or so of him digging (and me watching), he goes on to the next step, emptying out the sluice. The dirt trapped in the sluice is the gold concentrate. Every bit of dirt is carefully cleaned into his buckets.
Gold is a very heavy mineral, so when he cleans things, he washes them into the bucket where he collects the concentrate. The water runs over freely but the gold sinks to the bottom of the bucket.



12. After the sluice box and all of his tools and grids and mats are washed into the bucket, we head back to the creek, for the fun part- panning.


13.
He pours the concentrated gold dirt into the pan...


14. And then he sits down on a rock and begins to pan out the gold.

This is the photo that I came for, so I feel very satisfied while I take it.:lust



15. The panning process is like this: Fill the pan with water and jiggle it around in a circular motion for a while....


16. ...Pour off the top layer of dirt and water and then go back to step one....


17. Pretty soon, you will have it down to mostly just gold.


18.


19.


20. Back at the campground, all the neighboring campers come over to our area to see how much he got. They are all pretty amazed, since he does very well. He offers to show them his spot, but they are all daunted by the ropes and hill.


21.
Dad has never sold any of his gold and wouldn't even know where to do so if he wanted to. Over the weekend, he got about 2/3 of an ounce... which when you think about it, gold is something like $950 an ounce right now. This photo is only one morning worth of gold.


It isn't a bad take for a weekend of playing in the water.


(Now that you have learned more than you have ever wanted to know about gold panning and my family... make a comment. I love that.)

sweet caroline

Lots of great stuff here. #14 is perfect:)

Caroline

Art Scott

it is very cool to see some someone beside the Massey Family on Outdoor channel diggin' for gold.......my Dad prospected in Ak, as well as Ca and Nv before settling down and Marrying my mother....ahhh, the stories I used to hear......
Looks like a lot of fun..............errrrrrr WORK.....

When the time is right I am sure your Dad will find his way to the ASSAYER..................


Great set of photos,really enjoyed them.bowbow

Elaine

This is a wonderful family story, documented beautifully with photos and words. This is the kind of thing to pass along to younger generations and it will be treasured, I'm sure. Nicely done, Heather!

heatherfeather

sweet caroline wrote:

Lots of great stuff here. #14 is perfect:)

Caroline

Thanks! I love it too. I am thinking I need it on a smallish canvas in my house. He is such a sweet old silly dad. I am very fond of him.

heatherfeather

Art Scott wrote:

it is very cool to see some someone beside the Massey Family on Outdoor channel diggin' for gold.......my Dad prospected in Ak, as well as Ca and Nv before settling down and Marrying my mother....ahhh, the stories I used to hear......
Looks like a lot of fun..............errrrrrr WORK.....

When the time is right I am sure your Dad will find his way to the ASSAYER..................


Great set of photos,really enjoyed them.bowbow

Thanks Art... I had to look up what an assayer was... (I thought it must have been a euphemism for somthing, ha ha!) Yes, I suppose he could. A lot of the guys in the campground sold their gold to the tourist trap at the gold mine to seed the tourist dirt. People pay $15 a pan full for that stuff. One guy said he made his house payment several times doing that.

heatherfeather

Elaine wrote:

This is a wonderful family story, documented beautifully with photos and words. This is the kind of thing to pass along to younger generations and it will be treasured, I'm sure. Nicely done, Heather!

Thanks!

rainbow

Thanks for sharing. Very educational and a well told story.

A few weekends there yourself and you can purchase some more nice camera gear. Maybe you can bring the gold to the camera store with your scale like the good old days...

Scott_Quier

There are two things in this story that really strike me:

(1) The sense of individuality I feel when looking at the "cabin" of Chris and his son - especially that "Welcome Sign". That was good.

(2) As you said, we now have a real sense of at least one aspect of your father and, by extension, a better understanding of who you are. This is a lovely story of beautiful photography and narrative that I'm sure you will treasure in the years to come and, I think, well risking your lovely neck to get.

Thanks so much for sharing.

jeffreaux2

Well you certainly nailed 14.......the rest too, but I imagine that you had played 14 over and over in your head.....or maybe in your heart before you ever left home.

This is family history...heritage....and personality at it's finest. As GOOD as your paid work is (and it's very good...consistantly), it's quite obvious that the photographer here cares very deeply about her subject. It just pours out of the images.

I think an 8x8 hardbound is in order.

...and I couldn't help but think about how much these photographs will be cherished in the years to come....like maybe when YOU are 50.....or when your children are of that age.

We all began our photography fetish for a reason.

After viewing these, I can imagine that your reason isn't too off the mark from mine.

Thanks for sharing this beautiful corner of your life.

mmmatt

This is fun Heather. What a neat peak into your Dad's life. I'm sure your family will treasure these pictures always.

Matt

lizzard_nyc

Heather,
You are an amazing story teller.

When people ask what my goal is in learning photography, well your photos are it. Story telling at its best.

Thanks for the inspiration, motivation, and general kick in the pants--Will think about your photos while I juggle the camera manual and "The Digital Photography Book", all while looking at my camera and realizing the reason I can't see anything in the viewfinder is because my lens cap is still on.

Thanks Heather for posting this slice of your life.

VayCayMom

Thank You! these are great, what a hobby. Your dad will treasure these and you will too. Very nice job, congrats.

bdcolen

Very nicely done - You've told the story well, and while we need the text to know your subtext, the story of the modern 'prospector' is there in the images and doesn't need any words.

I'd probably trim it down a bit - some of the long shots, particular at the beginning, seem extraneous. And I'd tighten up a bit on some. But overall, it's really terrific. Finally, this is one where the black and white works really well, because it serves to isolate the subjects and also plays to the 'old fashioned' story.

mtmcelvy

I am becomeing a huge fan!! You do an excellant job of story telling. Superb photos!!

D'Buggs

Tell Dad that I'm an assayer..... send me the gold and I'll pay him top dollar.

I really like the shot "that you went for" and enjoyed the series. Thanks!

Qarik

whoa! he basically found a 50mm 1.4G nikkor + shipping ...all in mornings worth of work! awseome

afev0602

What a wonderful series. As successful a day of work it was for your dad, it appears yours was even more successful.

Your dad oozes character, shot 14 and 19 are wonderful.

heatherfeather

Geez guys... you are makin' me blush.

He is a very sweet man and I like him a lot! I am happy to have these photos since I haven't been with him to see his gold panning in quite a while... and he does it so frequently... He also wants to write up an article on his particular methods of getting the gold. So, there is quite a few more photos than I intended first off.

Meanwhile:

To Scott: Did you notice he is wearing the hat? We talked about it when you were here... Alaskans really DO wear them. So you can too! (But he is from MT, and a diehard cowboy so that might have something to do with it.) Thanks for the comments!

To Jeff: Sheesh you are sweet. Never thought about gold panning being a "beautiful corner" of my life. Mostly it is very dirty. But I get what you are saying. Thanks again for sweet comments! (Your wife must love that about you, lol!)

To Lizzard: My storytelling comes from my dad. We would spend hours and hours listening to him come up with stories on the fly about "back home on the ranch". "Sam and Sue" (2 raccoons) was our favorite series.

As for the "kick in the pants" I am always willing to give someone a nice little nudge. Go out there and document your own life! Peter Pan said it best: I think life is the greatest adventure of all.

To BD: Of course you are right about the long shots in the beginning. Meanwhile, I tossed around doing all b & w for these, but the colors of the forest just kept on making me choose color. But I do want you to know how you have influenced me... I am trying so hard to make my photos more real and genuine, and not so perfect. Life is messy and it should be reflected in our photos. But I have no problem with the thought of getting some good composition mixed in the mess.

To DBuggs: Ha ha! and Thanks!

And thank you to the rest of you that commented.

divamum

Really, Heather - I'm running out of superlatives! And what could I add that hasn't already been said anyway?

Beautiful.

NateW

Heather-

I really liked the story telling aspects as well as the photography. Good job!

I also really liked the little girl half hiding behind the tree in #20 (behind and to the right); I can imagine a whole story about her reasons for staying where she was while everyone else was standing around the table.

Very nice!
NateW

heatherfeather

NateW wrote:

Heather-

I really liked the story telling aspects as well as the photography. Good job!

I also really liked the little girl half hiding behind the tree in #20 (behind and to the right); I can imagine a whole story about her reasons for staying where she was while everyone else was standing around the table.

Very nice!
NateW

Yay! I am glad somebody noticed her. She was one of my favorite parts of that photo.

seastack

Great series, a tighter edit would help it a lot. I don't think you need to show everything, or show it sequentially as it was shot, to tell a good story. I love the black and whites and image 4 is just excellent with depth, layers, good composition and great edges. To me, photos like this one are much more interesting than a perfect shot like 14. Don't get me wrong, it's good but I felt like I'd seen it before many times. #4 is unique. Love it!

NateW

Looking back through, were you holding the vial at the end shot?
I can tell whoever was holding that was not the miner themselves.... Nails are pristine! (and long for "working" hands...)

Just my last look before busting off to bed too late for the 6am alarm.

G'night!
NateW

jeffreaux2

heatherfeather wrote:

Thanks again for sweet comments! (Your wife must love that about you, lol!)

Not sure (though Im positive it isn't for my full head of hair ), but she has her reasons, and that's plenty good enough for me.:D

You...and this set of photos....are gonna make me spend a day with the camera...and my dad...out on the bayous wetting hooks. I hope I do as well as you did here.

Mitchell

Great storytelling with even better photos. Nice work!

JimM

This is a fantastic photo essay with great pictures, an interesting story and a great use of black and white. Thank you so much for sharing! I felt like I was there!

heatherfeather

NateW wrote:

Looking back through, were you holding the vial at the end shot?
I can tell whoever was holding that was not the miner themselves.... Nails are pristine! (and long for "working" hands...)

Just my last look before busting off to bed too late for the 6am alarm.

G'night!
NateW

Oh you weren't supposed to figure that out. My nails were terrible from camping.. ha ha. Though that was only day 1 out of 3, so they were much better then than they were at the end of day 3. I washed my hair 5 times that night and it still smelled like campfire to me. But it was worth it!

heatherfeather

seastack wrote:

Great series, a tighter edit would help it a lot. I don't think you need to show everything, or show it sequentially as it was shot, to tell a good story. I love the black and whites and image 4 is just excellent with depth, layers, good composition and great edges. To me, photos like this one are much more interesting than a perfect shot like 14. Don't get me wrong, it's good but I felt like I'd seen it before many times. #4 is unique. Love it!

I totally hear where you are coming from. I like perfect photos.....I also like real ones like #4. To me, a perfect session should have a balance of both to make it work. As to a tighter crop, I keep hearing that. I guess it is the wedding photographer in me that is always leaving room for standard crops so I can sell the other sizes. My only excuse, really.

heatherfeather

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Not sure (though Im positive it isn't for my full head of hair ), but she has her reasons, and that's plenty good enough for me.:D

You...and this set of photos....are gonna make me spend a day with the camera...and my dad...out on the bayous wetting hooks. I hope I do as well as you did here.

Oh yay! *rubbing hands together*

I had an especially poignant reminder this week of how important photographing life as it happens is. My grandfather passed away Monday and we are all experiencing the mad scramble of putting photos together of him playing the accordian, or him with so and so...

What we wouldn't pay for a good set of photos of him doing what he loved. So, consider your rear in gear and get to it. Ok?

And get a shot of you wrestling a gator or two while you are at it.

jeffreaux2

heatherfeather wrote:

Oh yay! *rubbing hands together*

I had an especially poignant reminder this week of how important photographing life as it happens is. My grandfather passed away Monday and we are all experiencing the mad scramble of putting photos together of him playing the accordian, or him with so and so...

What we wouldn't pay for a good set of photos of him doing what he loved. So, consider your rear in gear and get to it. Ok?

And get a shot of you wrestling a gator or two while you are at it.

Heather my heart goes out to you and your family in regards to thae loss of your grandfather. Truely. My grandmother passed away last year. That she enjoyed 95 years of life did little to ease the pain for those first weeks...and admittedly I wish she were still here with us. I will offer a prayer for you.

But you have said now what I cleverly avoided saying in my first post. When I typed out that first message I had JUST come from the funeral of a close friend of my wife's who had lost a 12 year battle with breast cancer. She left two boys behind...and a husband. I sat there feeling like the biggest lug in the world...wishing I had drove up to that hospitol and captured her....once more....for those boys. If only because that is something that I COULD do for their family.

Ill be sure to get you that gator pic.