EAGLE'S NEST MINE: Placer County California, THE

Normally the removal of quartz requires the use of hydrofluoric acid (HF) but more recently I have been using only mechanical vibrating tools with carbide tips to spall the brittle quartz from the more ductile gold. This is especially true of specimens which I plan to market in Europe. Europeans are often adverse to acid-etching of gold specimens, even though they may already own benitoites, silvers and other specimens which have been etched from the matrix. The rules seem to change when it comes to gold!

THE FUTURE

The outlook for continued production from the Eagle's Nest mine seems promising. The current owner/operator of the mine along with his two sons have become accomplished miners and seem to be able to "read the signs" of a pocket mine even better than their grandfather and great grandfather. Currently mining is concentrated on the two claims partially owned and leased, with plans for further development on the Hope and Wildcat at a later date. However, several significant specimens have been found on these claims using recent improvements in metal detectors, even though the old workings can only be worked with a wheelbarrow and hand tools. In the future the Hope and the Wildcat will likely provide some of the best specimens from the claims which make up the Eagle's Nest mine.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The energy, passion and commitment of the current operators of the mine are inspiring. A man, his wife and his two sons and their young families have been through the best of times and the worst of times. The recent death of the miner's wife has left all of us who know this family deeply saddened.

Thanks are also due Harold and Erica Van Pelt and Jeff Scovil for their unique talents in photography. And thanks to special friends like Dick Thomssen, Bob Jones, Bill and Roberta McCarty, Richard Bideaux and to all of our supporters. And a special thanks is owed to Stephanie Andrews for always "being there" when needed.

And yes, there is indeed a woman behind the man [WCL]: my wife of 39 years, Dona, has been a willing partner through ups and downs of a somewhat crazy business.

REFERENCES

BLAKE, W. P. (1855) Observations on the extent of the gold regions of California and Oregon . . . and some remarkable specimens of crystallized gold. The American Journal of Science and Arts, 58, 72-80.

BRADLEY, W. W. (1922) California mineral exhibit during the Shrine Convention. Annual Report of the State Mineralogist, p. 275-277.

CHANDRA, D. K. (1961) Geology and mineral deposits of the Colfax and Foresthill Quadrangles, California. California Division of Mines Special Report 67, 50 p.

FERGUSON, H. G., and GANNETT, R. W. (1932) Gold quartz veins of the Allegheny district, California. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 172, 139 p.

JOHNSTON, W. D., JR. (1944) The gold quartz veins of Grass Valley, California. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 194, 101 p.

KNOPF, A. (1929) The Mother Lode system of California. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 157, 88 p.

LEICHT, D. (1982) What's New in Minerals? Mineralogical Record, 13, 385.