"yes, they were common in the 1800s. I didn't realize how many until I started investigating old mining properties. In many historical reports there are assays of very high grade gold or silver. In my follow-up investigations of several of these, even though there was a hole in the ground, my assays showed nothing. I think it was Mark Twain who wrote - "a gold mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing over it". So I suspect, based on Twain's assessment, it was very common in the 1800s."

"Great story. Any finding some of the salted gemstones is still even better. lol What a kick!

Paul"

"I'm with you Tom. GO GET 'EM GRANDMA!
Tom, I'm getting antsy, I want to hunt so bad. The end of May can't get here quick enough for me. You're still going to take me, Andy, Sharon & Tim to your easy spot, right? Paul also if he can make it. I would love to go to that mine that Andy's Rock Club is going to on the 16th. I know he won't take me, I'm not 100% well. We went there on Veterans Day last year and I found a beauty that weighs close to 15lbs. When ever I get a camera I'll take a pic so everyone can see it.
Take care,
Willi"

"My great grandmother helped the university of Washington compile alot of history information on those days. She had newspaper clippings of all kinds of scams that were pulled up there. She also had facts on certain Alaska "Heroes" that she said were actually crooks and murders. When some family members of these old heroes found out she was telling all they got a court order to keep the university from publishing. But she willed all her stuff to my grandma and now she is working with the university to get all the info back so she can publish it. Since the court order only specified my great grandma and the university they can't stop grandma. I hope she gets to do it cause she will sure shake a lot of reputations,,LOL
Tom"

"Yes, I threw all those gems back (LOL). I haven't really thought about going back there. It is at the base of Diamond Peak in Colorado (one of several peaks named during the scam).

I worked on one scam with the US Postal Inspector that took place in California. It was rediculous how absurd the scam was. Basically, they claimed to have found the world's largest gold deposit and later accidentially found the deposit had platinum. They were advertising the gravel (along the side of the highway) had 15 to 20 ounces per cubic yard of gold with as much platinum. They would sell blocks of gravel to investors for about $20K each and then the proposal was they were to extract all of the precious metals and give them to the investors (no one ever received a grain of metal). They had people standing in line to invest. Even during the trial, the principal scam artist would use the pay phone outside the courtroom during breaks to call other potential investors. They figured he scamed more than 20 million but the government only recovered about 5 million. Went to prison for 2 years and then got out. I'm sure he is now a wealthy man. I did a calculation on how much gold occurred in the valley based on their reports - more than 10 times the amount of gold mined in all of human history!"

"Hi Paul,
You're right - he should have spent more time in jail. But that is just one scam in many.

Last year I had a German investing group contact me about transferring $150 million to a scam artist in Nebraska. They were ready to send the money for a platinum-palladium-gold-diamond scam in the western Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming. All I had to do was say 'yes' there was something there, and they would have made him rich. But I was familiar with the area and knew it was a favorite place for mining scams and also knew that what he was reporting was absurd. What amazes me more than these scam artists, are investors willing to send that kind of money for a property sight unseen. These Germans had never met me and apparently had never met the guy in Nebraska. I suspect they had more money than brains.

These scams are so entertaining that I decided to write a book about them - it is in the works and will be titled Mountains of Gold. I'll let you know when it is done. Hopefully will be finished by the end of the year.

Dan"