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Minutes of The Wyoming Prospectors Association
The meeting was held on August 11th, 2001 at the Dredge
Restaurant, Atlantic City, WY.
Meeting was called to order by President McMillan.
President McMillan, Vice President Luers, and Secretary Drake were
present, with Treasurer Armstrong being absent.
Minutes of the last meeting were read. Motion was made to except
minutes as read. Motion was seconded and carried.
Treasurer’s report was given. Motion was made and seconded to accept
the report as given. Motion carried.
Bruce Drake introduced guest speaker, Dan Hausel, state geologist for
the State of Wyoming. Dan spoke about the numerous sheer zones around
the South Pass area. He explained that drainages downstream from these
zones are good places to look for gold. Dan further went on to state
that
there is a lot of un-worked areas in the Atlantic City / South Pass area.
Gold is not the only mineral members should be looking for when they
are sampling, Dan stated. Diamonds are one miners should be looking
for, he said to look for something different in your pan. They will appear
greasy (water won’t stick to the gem) and they are usually attached to
a
gold band wore on a female’s hand. Dan was asked if anyone had ever
found any emeralds in the area. He stated as far as he knew there had not
been. He stated that garnets were fairly common. Not many of jewelry
quality but every now and then it was possible. Dan told the members
that the area has paleo placer deposits, and at one time a larger mining
company had considered mining the area. One of the ways to locate one
of these areas is to look for large river washed boulders on an open flat
area. Another way, Dan stated, was to look for the white posts sticking
out of the ground. Dan talked little about others minerals found around
the state, and stated he gives tours around the state. Randy Hutchison
asked if Dan would be willing to come back and give us a talk on the
Strawberry Creek area (since most of our claims are in this area.). Dan
stated that he would be more than happy to come back. Dan stated he
had to be back in Laramie that night and said his good-byes. President
McMillan presented Dan with a WPA membership card and thanked him
for speaking.
President McMillan asked Randy for a report on the raffle tickets sells.
Randy stated that he had a good count going until Day- in- Park. Funds
from panning, hats, and raffle tickets were mixed up there, but as close
as he could tell there were 1173 tickets sold. Five members sold 100
tickets or more, four sold 50 – 100 tickets (592 total), with the
remainder of the tickets being sold by the rest of the membership. A
profit of approximately $690.00 was made. The membership applauded
Randy on his work done with the raffle.
Randy and Vice President Luers gave a report on the outing. It was
stated that between 40 and 50 people attended the outing. A total of
approximately 33.4 grains of gold with the spot price of the day of
$18.44 was found. Scott explained they had taken the pickers out,
counted heads, and divided the rest out. Randy stated that there were
four high-bankers set up and everybody learned something. Attendees
were fed twice and it seemed everybody had a good time. The last
statement was met with many positive comments from the members
present that had attended the outing.
When asked by President McMillan about the hats, Randy stated that all
the hats that had been made were all sold. Randy further stated that 36
more hats were ready but he had not picked them up yet.
New business was called for.
Ross Power stated that there was a new fence around the Lame Jack
Gulch #1 claim. Scott and Brad both stated that they believe there is
another gate further down the road. It was stated that was believed to
be
Harry Reed’s fence and Brad stated he would look into it.
President McMillan stated that with the new membership software the
club had purchased it was possible to stager the dues out over the year.
Motion was made to made membership fees due on the member’s
anniversary dates. Motion seconded and carried.
Barbara Palmer asked the club to consider doing the panning
demonstrations at Gold Rush Days held in South Pass City. Discussion
was tabled until closer to the time of the event next year.
A question of foregoing meeting during the winter months was brought
on the floor. After a short discussion, it was decided to let the board
of
directors make that decision at the next board meeting. Board of
Directors meeting was then set for August 23rd at 5:00 P.M. at the
Golden Corral in Riverton.
The price of membership dues was questioned. Pros and cons were
brought up by the membership. After a time it was decided to have the
board of directors discuss this at they’re next meeting also.
Randy stated that he had been asked to set up a booth at the Wyoming
Trappers Association meeting on August 24th, 25th, and 26th. He said
that he would be taking pans, bags of sand, applications, and hats to sell.
Jim Hime and Tom Grahm will be attending the outing to help Randy.
Next meeting is to be held at the Dredge on September 8th at 6:00 P.M.
Being no more business meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted by Corette Drake, Secretary WPA
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