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IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!It is the first three day weekend of the season and I always take my grandsons camping and mining. The new Gold and Fish handbook for 1999 is out but I haven't had a chance to pick one up yet. Whenever I go into a mining shop or call the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, they're all out. Oh well, there can't be that many changes, right? I load up my 2 1/2" Nugget highbanker and dredge combo, stock the motor home and we are ready to go. I pick up my grandkids and head for Swauk Creek. I remember that Swauk Creek was open all year round for dredges up to 6", so we should be safe there. The gold and fish couldn't change that much and I still have my statewide HPA that l got last year. We arrive at our destination, a nice meadow off the main highway that we've been camping at for years, but now there's a sign bolted to a tree that says: No Motor Vehicles. We try a few more of our old campsites, but they're all the same. It's getting late so we end up in a pay camp. The next morning we head out to do some mining. We drive to the spot we want and get the highbanker set up. There is a nice little spot for a settling pond, so we set the motor and run the hose about 75' from the creek. We fire everything up and get to work. We break for lunch and I notice a forest service truck parked across the creek watching us. I figure he's just making sure that our water off the sluice was not returning to the river without settling out first. We finish lunch and get back to work. One of my grandsons was working the bedrock and finds a beautiful 1 1/2 DWT nugget. We start whooping and hollering and jumping around, it's the biggest piece of gold any of us had ever found! that time the ranger starts toward us, only now there are five of them in two vehicles. They are all carrying guns and looking pretty serious. They ask me for my permits and I give them my old ones. They tell me that they are expired and that we are breaking the law. Then one of them asked me for my water rights permit (whatever that is!) When I admitted that I had none he told me that this was a very serious offense with the D.O.E. As I was pleading my case with the first ranger, the others took out tape measures and started measuring the distance to the creek and the screen on my footvalve. Another one asked for my certificate of inclusion, what was that? The boys are now arguing with the rangers because they confiscated our gold and I took exception to the way they were treating them. When I voiced my opinion of this they asked me to turn around and tied my hands together with one of those plastic ties and set me on a log. That settled my grandsons right down. They now inform me that I am under arrest for a multitude of crimes including' Illegal fish take, working too close to the creek, mining without an HPA, removing water from a creek without a water rights permit, mining outside of the time allowed by the new gold and fish book, mining in a closed riparian zone, parking on the side of a road without a permit, hiking in the woods without a permit or paid fee slip, etc. As they were reading this list of charges to me I was wondering what happened to my right as an American to enjoy publicly owned land for recreational use. I was also really wishing I had tried harder to obtain a current fish and gold book! The fines I received from this little misadventure ranged from $500 to $10,000 plus 10 years in jail. Although we don't necessarily agree with the new regulations we do need to abide by them, at least until we can get them changed. Don't let this happen to you. OLE PROSPECTORS TRADING POST: Gold Screw Brand Trommel Trommel with gold wheel attached for one pan a day cleanups. Good condition, includes 100ft of hose, some pans and other mining supplies. Asking $1695 or make offer. Call Haines at (503) 659-0
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