CENTRAL VIRGINIA GOLD PROSPECTORS

REPORT ON AUGUST 21, 2004 MEETING

The August 21, 2004 meeting was called to order by our 
President, Ben Vaughan; 55 members and guests were present. I 
believe this is another attendance record--we are steadily 
growing.

The minutes of the July 17 meeting were read and approved.

The Treasurer’s Report was given and approved.

OLD BUSINESS: Field Days of the Past to be held in Gooochland 
on September 17, 18 and 19 was discussed. Ben announced he had 
12 volunteers--that is great and thanks to them. The festival 
is held at the Fairgrounds--take exit 173 off Interstate 64. 
Ben and his crew will be doing panning competitions and gold 
raffles in an effort to get the idea of gold prospecting as a 
hobby before the public. 

Dredging Class: No date has been set for the dredging class to 
become permitted for dredging in Virginia. As soon as we get 
the go ahead from them, we will let you know.

NEW BUSINESS: Ben had the finalized lease for the 256 acres 
the club has acquired. Ben read the lease which runs August 1, 
2004 thru July 31, 2005. 

Some of the rules set forth are: No open fires, no littering, 
no dredging (yet), no gas powered equipment;

Metal detecting is permitted but any holes that are dug must 
be filled-in. Also, overnight camping is OK.

A vote was taken approving that a member must have paid the 
$10 member contribution for the 2004 season to be able to use 
the land. This $10 would also cover immediate family members. 
(At the next meeting we will discuss what we want to do about 
taking guests.)

We are sharing this property with a hunt club and during deer 
hunting with dogs season when dogs can be used, which runs 
from the 3rd Monday in Novmber through the 1st week of 
January, we can only use the property on Sundays.

We were reminded that it is time to elect new officers. It was 
decided that nominations will be taken at the September 
meeting and then the election of officers for the 2005 season 
will be held at the October meeting. Please give this some 
consideration and if you are willing to fill a position or 
have a nomination, please let us know.

Last but not least, the raffle drawing for two really nice 
nuggets and a bag of concentrate was held.

NOTE: AT OUR SEPTEMBER MEETING WE WILL DISCUSS CHANGING THE 
DATE OF THE OCTOBER MEETING TO THE 30th.

Since everyone was anxious to go to the new property and try 
their luck, the meeting adjourned early and a convoy of 
approximately 20 vehicles set out with Ben in his camper in 
the lead.

The mad rush started:

Bob and I were part of the convoy going down Route 15 to the 
new property. I couldn’t help but think of the old wagon 
trains and how we were kinda like a modern version. You could 
feel the excitement of GOLD FEVER in the air. After traversing 
several serious mud holes and fording the stream things came 
to a screeching halt because of a tree across the "road". At 
that point Bob and I decided that our next trip would be in 
the 4-wheel drive and with a chainsaw. While waiting for the 
obstacle to be cleared and pulling one member out of the mud, 
some of our zealous members tried their luck in the stream and 
one went off to the tailings pile.

We hung around for a while but the sky was beginning to look 
like rain was definitely coming and we feared getting the van 
stuck so we left. Since then, emails and telephone calls have 
been received talking about the gold that was found (nothing 
big has been reported as of yet) and how great it is that the 
club finally has a place to go. A number of people did weather 
the big rain storm that happened and stayed overnight and 
prospected the next day. I have heard from about 12 people who 
were on the outing and all but 1 reported that they found gold.

One member sent a photo along with this report:

After last sat. driving around the mine property and running 
into a dead end lane,pulling"Floyd out and up the hill I had a 
lot of mud on my truck . That's the way goldmining is. I 
washed my truck sun,and had a pile of mud that had washed off. 
Well, I decided to pan it out and guess what . The piece in 
the pic is a piece of gold with mercury on it . I'm sure we 
are all going to find good gold there."

About 9 days later, I had a similar experience.

I took my van to the shop to get the oil changed and the 
mechanic asked me if I had been "mud bugging". My reply was 
No, just out in the boonies with the gold club. He then said I 
see lots of shiny "Fools Gold" under here in the red mud. I 
took a look and my eyes got wide--there were gold flecks 
everywhere. I went flying home, spread out a piece of plastic, 
got a hose and washed under the van. I have heard of "setting 
on a gold mine" but I was riding on one. Bob said he needed to 
take a picture of Sandy prospecting.

Don’t forget our next meeting on September 18, 2004, Small 
Country Campground, Louisa, VA at 10:00 AM.

DIRECTIONS;

From Richmond Area: Interstate 64 to exit 143 (Rt.208-
North)...go 2.5 miles and turn LEFT at small sign onto 640 and 
go 150 yards and turn RIGHT at small sign on 649. Go 2 miles 
(bearing left on 649) into Small Country Campground. 
Campground entrance will be on the right. As you drive up the 
dirt road, pavillion is on right.

From Harrisonburg Area: Route 33 East- go through 
Ruckersville, Barboursville and Gordonsville to Trevillians-at 
intersection of Routes 33 and 22 turn left onto Route 22 then 
take immediate RIGHT onto Rote 613 - go to Route 649 and turn 
LEFT - go 2 miles (bearing left on 649) into Small Country 
Campground. 

From Manassas Area: South on Route 29 to Route 15 South. Take 
15 South through Orange to Gordonsville - turn LEFT onto Route 
33 - take 33 to Trevillians - turn LEFT onto Route 22 and 
immediately turn RIGHT onto Route 613 - go to Route 649 and 
turn LEFT. Go 2 miles (bearing left on 649) into Small Country 
Campground.

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In conclusion, I would like to say it has been my pleasure to 
serve as the Central Virginia Gold Prospectors Club Secretary. 
In the last several years I have gotten to know some of you 
fairly well and I have certainly learned about prospecting. My 
prospecting adventures started out by just taking a Saturday 
morning ride with Bob to the meetings and things have 
certainly grown from that. There has been a lot of hard work 
done by our officers, past and present, and now we have 
finally become a real club with friendships formed and good 
times had on outings and at meetings. Hopefully, new members 
will step forward and assume officer positions and bring some 
new thinking and fresh ideas to the club and that will we 
continue to grow.

Sandy Stowe, Secretary