Saturday was the day to hit the mountains and try to find some "Waste silver" at an old silver smelter site way up in Hells Canyon. The last 10 miles of the trip in was a little scary because it was straight down to the snake river on one side and the road was a dirt one car width trail. Elson was brave and we made it to the old townsite without to much whimpering.
I parked off the road and Elson grabbed his gear and put on his "Laggin's". Have you ever seen him in long pants before? I told him I was glad he was wearing his "Big boy" pants for this hunt. 
[attachment 235159 P6090512.JPG]
We waded across a stream and worked our way through the poison ivy to the smelter area. Elson was swing the "Coll" as soon as he had ground under his feet.
[attachment 235160 P6090515.JPG]
He dug up a lot of old stuff including this mystery piece of copper thing-a-ma-jig.
[attachment 235161 P6090516.JPG]
I hit the first silver with this small chunk. Only about a 2 ounce little thing.
[attachment 235162 P6090514.JPG]
Elson headed over to where the smelter was when I told him that was where the good stuff was likely to be.
[attachment 235163 P6090521.JPG]
We hunted around there for a while and well, we did hit the silver. Here is a photo of some of our finds. We found more after this picture was taken! I think we ended up with about 3 pounds of "Waste silver" before we got hungry and stopped for lunch.
[attachment 235164 wastesilver.jpg]
I have more photos and stories to tell about this hunt to post, including our trip over a mountain range that caused a full blown case of the heeby-jeebies for our intrepid Cajun adventurer. DC
I parked off the road and Elson grabbed his gear and put on his "Laggin's". Have you ever seen him in long pants before? I told him I was glad he was wearing his "Big boy" pants for this hunt. [attachment 235159 P6090512.JPG]
We waded across a stream and worked our way through the poison ivy to the smelter area. Elson was swing the "Coll" as soon as he had ground under his feet.
[attachment 235160 P6090515.JPG]
He dug up a lot of old stuff including this mystery piece of copper thing-a-ma-jig.
[attachment 235161 P6090516.JPG]
I hit the first silver with this small chunk. Only about a 2 ounce little thing.
[attachment 235162 P6090514.JPG]
Elson headed over to where the smelter was when I told him that was where the good stuff was likely to be.
[attachment 235163 P6090521.JPG]
We hunted around there for a while and well, we did hit the silver. Here is a photo of some of our finds. We found more after this picture was taken! I think we ended up with about 3 pounds of "Waste silver" before we got hungry and stopped for lunch.
[attachment 235164 wastesilver.jpg]
I have more photos and stories to tell about this hunt to post, including our trip over a mountain range that caused a full blown case of the heeby-jeebies for our intrepid Cajun adventurer.
DC