Gold

Gold, A rare material whose wealth is valued around the world. Something countless numbers of people search for but only a few find. No matter what state the economy is in, anywhere in the world, to the highly populated cities or out in the dark continent of Africa, gold is said to hold its value. What makes such a metal so precious that people would die for it? Is it really worth what nations have proclaimed? If the world was thrown into apocalyptic event would it still be more valued than food? Weapons and ammo? Shelter? What decides its value? If given the choice between a bar of gold or a pistol and one clip of ammo what would you choose? In realty of an apocalyptic event, that bar of gold won't feed you, its not going to save you from rabid dogs, it will not keep you warm at night. Gold is only as valuable as the situation of the world. If you had a farm in a world scarce with food, would you give it all up for a vault of gold? I for one would not.

New Mexicos Lost Treasure

In 1797 during the last years of the Spanish, stationed at Chihuaha, New Mexico, was a priest named La Rue. As Father LaRue tended to an old dying soldier, he listened while the soldier told him of a rich gold-bearing load in the mountains north of El Paso del Norte   The soldier explained to LaRue that the mother lode could be found by traveling one day north of El Paso until you came upon three small peaks. When the peaks came into view, turn east across the desert to the mountains. On the first mountain range, you will find a basin with a spring at the foot of a solitary peak. This mountain is where the gold vein lies.
Shortly after the soldier died, Chihuaha settlement was devastated by drought and famine. The Priest called the villagers together asking if they would follow him north to a better climate and more water.  Having agreed they migrated north.  After crossing El Paso del Norte, they followed the course of the Rio Grande to the small village of La Mesilla near Las Cruces, New Mexico. North of there, they sighted the three peaks and turned east across the dreaded Jornada del Muerto desert, they finally arrived in the San Andreas Mountains, and just as the old soldier had said, they located a basin in which there was a spring at the base of a solitary peak. Settling the new colony at Spirit Springs in Dona Ana County, Larue sent the men out to search for the gold.  On one side of the peak, they located a rich vein in a deep canyon southwest of the springs.  They tunneled into the mountain and followed the vein downward.  The deeper they went, the richer the ore became.  The priest assigned dozens of monks and Indians to mine the gold, form it into ingots and stack it along one wall of a natural cavern inside the mountain.  For two years He extracted the gold from the mountain. Word made way into Mexico that LaRue was extracting large quantities of gold. Wasting no time the Spaniards rounded up an expedition to send north. While purchasing supplies in La Mesilla, a small group learned the Mexican Army was on the horizon. Hurrying to camp, they spread the alarm. It was one thing for the priest La Rue to leave his post without permission of church officials in Mexico City, but it was quite another not to deliver the Royal Fifth of the gold for shipment to Spain.  Father La Rue immediately started concealing all traces of the mine. Working day and night he had his little group labor to seal the entrance to the mine.  When the soldiers finally arrived and demanded to know where the gold came from which was used to purchase the supplies in La Mesilla, Padre La Rue refused to answer. He died under torture, as did many of his followers. The soldiers searched the entire area, but finding no clues, they returned to Mexico empty-handed. So this is where the question begins. What happened to the gold? Where do you think the mines are hidden? Any answers or ideas can be left in the comment section below.   Thanks for reading and make sure to come back again.     TreasureFaQs

History of the gold pan

Though the first recorded instances of placer mining are from ancient Rome, the first gold pan (that we know of) was the Batea. Traditionally made of a solid piece of wood, the Batea originated from Spain and was later introduced to the Mayans in Mexico and South America. In the hands of a skilled prospector the Batea worked well in those areas, since it could operate well where there is less water available for use than with traditional gold pans.

  In the early days of prospecting one would call his pan a gold dish. Back then many a prospector would carve his (or her) pan from a block of wood. It wouldn’t take much to make a wooden pan–just a pocket knife to do the rough carving, which could then be sanded smooth with gravel from a stream bed. Not only wood but also cow horns could be used to make gold pans. If you would slit it lengthwise and steam it until its soft enough to be worked, then you could open the horn outwards and shape it into a shallow dish suitable for panning. The most popular pan to evolve in those times was the steel pan. It was (and still can be) manufactured by a metal spinning process. Now in this day and age most of us use the more common plastic pans. Designed with riffles, the plastic pans can easily trap the gold, thus considerably speeding up the panning process.

 The most common sizes of pans today are the 8 to 12 inch pan, which are used primarily for sampling, or clean up. The 14 inch pan is the most popular, multi size use. I personally prefer a 12 inch green pan.

What about you? What size pan do you like to use? And what color do you think allows the gold to be more easily seen?  Leave your answers in the comments below. Thanks for reading this article and make sure you stop by again.

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The History of Metal Detectors

                                    The History of Metal Detectors

　
Lets take a trip back in time. Back to 1881. For that was when the first metal detector was made. In 1881, Alexander Graham Bell invented the first metal detector. As President James Garfield lay dying of an assassin's bullet, Alexander Graham Bell hurriedly invented a crude metal detector in an unsuccessful attempt to locate the fatal slug. The metal detector worked correctly but the attempt was unsuccessful because the metal coil spring bed　Garfield was lying on had confused the detector.

　The first modern metal detector was made when Gerhard Fisher had developed a system of radio direction-finding, which was to be used for accurate navigation. In 1925, he applied for, and was granted, the first patent for a metal detector.

　Many manufacturers of these new devices brought their own ideas to the market. In the 1950s White's Electronics of Oregon began by building a machine called the Oremaster Geiger Counter. Another leader in detector technology was Charles Garrett, who pioneered the Beat Frequency Oscillator machine. In the 1950s and 1960s, the invention and development of the transistor  allowed metal detector manufacturers and designers to create smaller, lighter machines with improved circuitry.

  The biggest technical change in detectors was the development of the induction-balance system. This system involved two coils that were electrically balanced. When metal was introduced to their vicinity, they would become unbalanced. This allowed the detectors to discriminate between metals, because every metal has a different phase response when exposed to an alternating current. A disadvantage of discriminators was that they reduced the sensitivity of the machines.

　With new coil designs and pulse induction, metal detectors have come a long way from their predecessors. There are many different types and uses of metal detectors, more than you might realize. There are ones made for hobbyists(like you), for the military, and there are ones used by archaeologists. Also, let’s not forget the kinds used for security screening　at your local airport. Metal detectors are also used in the industrial world to find contamination in food from metal shards broken from the processing machinery during the manufacturing.

Leave a comment below and tell us what your favorite detector is. With so many types and brands of metal detectors to choose from, what do you think is the best one you've used?

Thank you for reading this weeks article and if you enjoyed, don't forget to share us on Facebook. Also make sure you come back next week where we will be talking about Gold Prospecting.

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Lost Treasures of the Civil War

                                  Lost Treasures of the Civil War                                                

The year is 1863. The time of the Civil War. A young blue-coated lieutenant is given a task by his superior officers. The task. To transport a wagon with a false bottom. In that false bottom. Gold Bars. Twenty six to be exact, each with a weight of fifty pounds. The lieutenant and his entourage of nine individuals, eight cavalrymen and one civilian guide, headed northward from Wheeling, West Virginia. Believed to had made their first stop in the town of Butler, a lumber community just north of Pittsburgh, the young lieutenant took ill. So severe was his fever it forced him to ride in the back of the wagon, which was covered in hay to mask the identity of their true mission.

 With the lieutenant ill, the civilian guide, named Connors, took command. Unbeknownst of the wagons true cargo, Connors lead the party through Clarion Valley. After they reached the town of Clarion, the pale, sickly officer resumed command. Feeling they were far enough north the lieutenant choose to head northwestward to Ridgway, then eastward to the Sinnemahoning River near the town of Driftwood. There they would construct a raft and float down to the Susquehanna River, and then to Harrisburg. After their arrival in Ridgway(and a little trouble with its inhabitants) the expedition set out towards St. Marys, a small Dutch community eleven miles to the east. During the night the young lieutenant had another severe seizure. In agony he cried out the true intention of of their mission, stunning the men he was with.

  After a night at St. Marys, Connors, the civilian guide, once more assumed command. He announced that the expedition would be heading over the rugged mountains towards Driftwood. Though they where but twenty miles from their goal, the hard part was yet to come. The group left St. Marys, and that was the last time anyone laid eyes on them. In August, a wild eyed, disorient Connors stumbled into the town of Lock Haven where he told everyone about the deaths of those that were with him and the loss of their cargo. Overwhelmed with sympathy, the local residents believed Connors depiction of what happened, while the army did not. They questioned him relentlessly. First Connors told of the officer dying and being buried, and then he told of a terrific fight. After that he claimed he lost his memory.

 The army turned the case over to the Pinkertons. For almost a year the forest wilderness swarmed with agents, who hired on as lumberjacks and teamsters. They searched the area but had no success. During the summer some dead mules were found—perhaps the ones that pulled the wagon. Two or three years later, several human skeletons, believed to be those of the guards detail, were found in the Dent’s Run area of Elk County not far from Driftwood. But the gold bars where not among them. Occasionally one claims to have found the spot where the treasure was lost, but so far the treasure has yet to been found.

The answers of what happened to the gold bars are still lies a mystery. There is a theory that the little band was ambushed and massacred by Copperheads or a Gang of robbers. Some feel that Connors may have planned an ambush. So what do you think happened? Leave a comment below on how you think the Gold Ingots of Dent’s Run happened to disappear.

Thank you for reading our first article and make sure you take part in this months survey. Also don't forget to stop by next week where we will focus on The History of Metal Detectors. If you liked this article please share.

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Welcome to TreasureFaQs

                                                Welcome to TreasureFaQs

TreasureFaQs is a new online Blog where we talk about, you guessed it, Treasure Hunting. Each week we will post articles on everything from Metal Detecting to Gold Prospecting. And on the first week of each month(just to spice things up a bit)our articles will focus on Treasure Legends.


With surveys and total access, anyone(Google member or not)can comment on our articles, making this a community based Blog. If you find something wrong with an article, bad info and such, make a comment. Your comments will encourage us to further dig into our research, which will allow us to post better articles in the future.      


Thank you for taking the time to read this article and don't forget to choose your answer in this months survey.                                                                                                                                                  



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