Scattered Gold...

As often as I have been out in Gold Basin, in northern Arizona, it never ceases to amaze me how TOTALLY uneven the gold is scattered all over the place.
Normally, if gold is being carried by a running steam, the heavier water during flood stages, will carry and deposit the larger pieces of gold higher up on the banks and the bigger stuff will drop before the smaller gold will settle farther downstream, but gold basin doesn't seem the fit the pattern at all.

I have found some rather good size pieces, a bunch of smaller pieces(in the same spot) then absolutely nothing...Yes! I was stumped...until I talked to a former geologist, who told me it all makes sense IF we think back about 10,000 years ago(which he says is a short time in geological terms). He tells me that back then the entire area was under water...not a running stream as we might think but an ocean bottom. Makes more sense knowing this... I think?
Often, I have come clear up out of the washes and found more, and bigger gold than down in the wash...

Getting out of the House...

When the sun came up this morning I just knew I had to get out of the house. The weather was warm and there was a slight breeze to whisk me along the way.
I loaded up my Whites Metal Detector and set out for a somewhat remote spot I had recently discovered. There had once been an old house there, but since, ancient history. Hummm! Wonder what might be buried around there? Already, my pulse was racing. Just thinking of the lost treasures I might find. There was no stopping me now...
The drive took about an hour total. It was a bit warmer by the time I got there, but who cares? I just KNEW I was going to find something. Something lost and valuable.
I got my White's tuned up and started moving the search head back and forth, knowing that any minute I would find my fortune. I was only about 5 minutes into my search when I got a loud signal. Oh boy! This was it! I was there.
It took me a couple of minutes to unearth my prize, which, unfortunately, turned out to be part of an old rusted tin lid. Rotten luck, on the first hit...
Feeling a little disappointed I started to fill the hole back in, but something caught my eye. Whoa! What is this? I decided to run the seach head over the hole one more time before I finished cleaning up my mess(filling the hole).
Again, I got a signal, but this time a bit deeper. I was excited at the thought that my luck was not all bad. Maybe, this time?
I pulled the dirt from the hole with my hands, being careful not to lose anything. One handful, then two. There is was... all darkened and caked with dirt... a coin of some kind. My heart was racing as I slowly wiped the dirt from my treasure.
Oh Lord! I couldn't believe it. As I wiped away years of dirt that had hidden it, I could see it was a silver coin...But what?
When it was cleaned as much as I could for now, I saw that it was dated 1877 and was a silver dollar. Maybe not a fortune, but not bad for a morning out...
Between my heart beating from excitement and the sun getting higher in the sky I knew it was time to go back home, but I knew I would be back. Somewhere here, were more untold secrets, and I HAD to find them...