PO BOX 2923 * San Bernardino, CA * 92406
Valley Prospectors, Inc. Information
- What is Valley Prospectors, Inc.?
- We are a non-profit corporation whose goals are:(1)To protect and preserve the rights given under the 1872 mining law. (2)To obtain, hold, purchase or maintain mining claims. (3)Exchange ideas and information on prospecting, such as; drywashing, sluicing, dredging, recovering gold from black sand concentrates and metal detecting for gold and other hidden objects.
- Meetings:
- We meet the last Thursday of the month at 7:00pm at the Knights of Columbus Hall located at 1729 East Base Line Rd., San Bernardino Ca. (corner of Del Rosa Ave., on the south side of Base Line Rd. enter from rear of building)
- Programs:
- Each month we have a program on prospecting topics or techniques. We have a find of the month contest. Members bring in their finds and everyone at the meeting is encouraged to come up and look at what is on display and cast a vote in each of the following categories : Electronic Gold (metal Detecting), Traditional Gold (drywashing, sluicing, highbanking and dredging), and metal detecting (best finds, best relic, foreign coin and best jewelry). The votes are counted and gold bags are awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners. When the winners collect their prizes, they tell us how and where they recovered their treasure. At the end of the year, the points are tallied and the person with the most points wins a trophy and Treasure Hunter of the Year, in each of the various categories. We have refreshments, door prizes and a lady luck drawing at the end of the meeting.
- Newsletter:
- Each month the Drywasher Gazette is mailed to all current members. It informs you of programs, outings and feature many informative articles
- Valley Prospectors, Inc., claims:
- Number of claims: San Bernardino County (7) Big Bear (Holcomb Valley), (6) Cajon Pass, (3) Barstow (Coolgarde), Kern County, (2) Randsburg. Sierra County, (4) Downieville (near the north fork of the Yuba River in Northern Ca).
- Mining Equipment:
- Before you purchase $$$ worth of mining equipment, we suggest you come and see what kind of gadgets and machines our members are using (gold extracting machines and metal detectors). Some members will even let you try some of their equipment and let you try finding that elusive gold we are all searching for. The sight of that first fake or nugget infects most people with GOLD FEVER ! Symptoms may include RAPID HEART BEAT, MUSCLE-TWITCHING and SWEATING. You'll be infected for life, and it is vary CONTAGIOUS!! Many of our members construct their own equipment. For our members we have a library that contains plans for various gold machines as well as other books on prospecting, rock hounding and other topics. We have instructional videos on prospecting, highbanking, dredging , drywashing , panning and past member outings
- Monthly Outings:
- Each month(weather permitting) we have an outing at one of our claims. Sometimes we will go to the beach and metal detect in the dry sandy beaches or in the serf (water-proof metal detector required). We invite you to join us on a outing prior to being a member, You are permitted to attend three (3) outings accompanied by one of members as a guest. All the gold you find is yours to keep. The outings are usually three day events (Fri,Sat and Sun). You can pitch a tent, tow a trailer, or drive your hotel on wheels ( for those of you who don't like roughen' it). Some people just lay a sleeping bag in the back of their pickup or car (in the trunk?) and gaze at the stars. 90% of our claims are accessible by trailers and motorhomes. If you bring a family pet, keep them on a leash. Not everyone likes animals. Saturday evening we usually have a potluck dinner. After dinner we get together and have a camp fire (if permitted) , play bingo, sing songs, gaze at the stars. Breathe the cool night air, tell jokes and stories ( like the time I almost struck it rich). Sunday morning we have a breakfast provided by Valley Prospectors, Inc., (if we can find some willing sole to cook it for us). After breakfast we normally have a metal detector hunt, or dig for the gold we missed the day before. In the afternoon (or whenever you feel like it) we break camp, pickup all the trash we brought with us (garbage in - garbage out), fill in all our holes (where we dug for GOLD or other minerals) and go home. We always leave the area better than we found it.
- Membership:
- Memberships are on a calendar basis Jan. through Dec. There is a one time initiation fee of $100.00 plus $35.00 for yearly dues. New member yearly dues are not prorated. A full $35.00 is collected any month of the year. This is a family membership for anyone in your immediate family under the age of 18 years of age. With your paid membership, you will be given the Valley Prospectors, Inc., by-laws and maps to all of our claims. As a member you may use the claims as often as you wish, provided they are open.
