2005/06 Alaska Trip - Road West - Spokane Bar mine |
|||||
Saturday June 25th
Saturday was a driving day, 450 miles, firstly up the Yellowstone River, with cliffs on both sides, ten miles apart, a sign of some massive floods in the past. In the afternoon we climbed into the mountains, and along the Gallatin River under dark clouds with cold rain. We ended up at the Jo Bonner recreation area near Canyon Ferry, on one of the large lakes created by the dams on the Missouri River. Thanks to the bad weather there was plenty of room even on a Saturday night. We were just a short drive from where we hoped to mine for sapphires the next day.
 |
Montana (Spokane Bar mine) |
|---|
Sunday June 26th
We had sunshine early in the morning, and it looked good for a day’s mining, so we unhooked the truck and set out
for the mine, whereupon the rain started! We were going to the Spokane Bar mine where we spent a day with Michael and Christina a couple of years ago. Just like last time there were deer everywhere. We paid our fee at the mine, and drove up to the customer pits on Cactus Hill. This is one of the more scenic mines, with mountains all around, and a view across the valley to the Missouri River and the Gates of the Mountains area.
The mining is pretty conventional, using pick and shovel to get the gravel layer out, and a rocking sieve to separate 
the finer gravel. This time we dug down to bedrock and scraped the cracks out too, as the heavier sapphires tend to find the lowest point. There was no water on the hill so we had to drive back to the mine to wash the gravel and look for the sapphires. The weather changed from wet and windy to sunshine and then to a heavy thunderstorm. We were still working in the rain after the mine owners had gone home. It was a productive day, though, as we had a number of nice blue sapphires.
We took a quick look at the Gates of the Mountains area, hills around the Missouri, named by the Lewis and Clark expedition, but the rain had set in and we spent the evening planning the rest of our trip west.