Strike it Rich!

John’s recent job in Atlanta has ended and we have a month until the next one starts. We have decided to head to Pennsylvania to spend some time working on our rental and visiting with family and friends. Though we can make the trip in a couple of days or even one, our life style isn’t about the destination, it is about the journey.

First stop on our journey is The Lucky Strike Campground. It is a gold and gem mine that has a campground, located on the Second Broad River, in Marion North Carolina. In case you didn’t know, because we certainly didn’t, North Carolina is the site of the first place documented to have gold in the United States. Until the California gold rush, North Carolina was the place to be.

As the story goes the Nichol’s Mine, where the campground is located, is the site of drowned gold miners. Apparently, the nearby Second Broad River flooded and trapped the men in the mine.

The opening of the mine is still visible through the foliage.

And appears to be still somewhat submerged.

There is also the partial remains of the stamp mill used by the miners. This type of mill breaks up rock not by grinding but by pounding the rock, crushing it into smaller pieces so that minerals, like gold and gems, can be removed.

The campground is in the process of obtaining funds to rebuild this historic site, which currently, is just a small portion of the stamp mill foundation.

As I mentioned, this is still a working mining camp so if you come here don’t expect pristine grounds and great views. The views come from the shiny things you see in your pan.

But that doesn’t mean the amenities are rustic. The bath house is beautifully designed and well-kept, as is the laundry facility.

The campground also displays lots of old mining equipment adding to the atmosphere of what it might have been like back in North Carolina’s gold rush days.

There are several ways to pan for gold. One is called “high banking.” This is where a scoop of dirt or silt is taken from the Second Broad River and piled next to a small pond.

You then rent a sluice and start shoveling the dirt into it and it sifts out the large particles leaving behind buckets of sand and hopefully some gold in your sluice mat.

Don’t worry if you think this guy is looking a little lonely. The local ducks and tons of butterflies are keeping him company.

You can then take your bucket of sand over to the covered panning area to further sift through looking for every piece of shiny stuff you can find.

This is a great area for the kids with their seeded buckets of dirt, working at the flume under a covered area keeping them out of the sun and heat providing safe fun.

All of that high banking stuff is great but we have chosen the third option, free to campers, panning in the Second Broad River. Since we are here to relax, the great scenery and quiet away from the noisy sluices, seems the best choice. Did I mention it is free to campers?

John starts us out by shoveling some dirt, rocks, and sand into our sifter.

Once we have about a third of a bucket full, we sit down on our chairs and begin to pan, and pan, and pan…just about going blind looking for a shiny piece of gold amongst all the shiny mica that is present. After I don’t know how many minutes or hours, it is quite relaxing and time passes quickly, we manage to find two pieces, of gold. Not bad for our first time. Oh look! My nail polish matches my gold pan. How fashionable, I’ve got it going on!

We are hungry now and the Miners Diner seems like an appropriate place to continue our relaxing afternoon, brag about our finds and see how the other miners are making out.

The front porch of the diner is a great place to just hang out and chat with the locals and other campers and miners. While our food is being prepared we take the time to admire the signs and artwork.

There is a regular camper that comes through who is also a junk artist. I’m not sure what this is exactly but he has more imagination than I do to take the scraps of metal and put them together in an interesting way.

Like I said, they have lots of great signs posted all over the building too.

We were talking with one of the owners or caretakers of the camp and he told us about the mill and waterwheel. They are trying to restore that as well. They have the mill and shaft part, they have the waterwheel and the generator to run it. They just have to put all the parts together.

It will make a great addition to the whole experience.

This really is a great stop for rockhounds and those wanting to get a taste of the gold rush of yester-years.

But the best part for us when exploring a new area, is the people that we meet. Though we are only here for two days, we make fast friends with Barb and Warren from Iowa. They spend a good portion of their travel and camping time hopping from one mining campground to another looking for gold and gems along the way.