Gold Basin Mining District has a long and colourful history. Starting back around 1861, the road now called Pearce Ferry Road, was the trail that took the old timers down to the Colorado River. The River separated Arizona and Nevada. The Ferry was the only way for travellers to cross. Outlaws, Indians, cowboys and settlers heading to California were all part of the local landscape. This is the area where Dartagnon Jackson detected an amazing find with his Gold Monster 1000 on January 22, 2019. "Dar" had purchased his Gold Monster 1000 from Doc at Doc's Detecting in Henderson Nevada almost one year ago in January of 2018. Doc, a Minelab dealer for 27 years, had taken him to Gold Basin for a day of one on one training. Dar lives in the state of Washington, and only gets to Gold Basin twice a year. He joins his brother, J.R. from Utah, and they travel to Gold Basin to detect. Dar has been looking for elusive gold nuggets for 15 years with no success. He has owned every low end $200 detector on the market, with no success. However, armed with his Minelab Gold Monster, all of that was about to change. As he was detecting, looking for meteorites, and of course his first gold nugget, if he could be so lucky. He stumbled upon a good target. At three inches he uncovered a pull-tab. Somewhat disappointed, he said, "I remembered what Doc had taught me. Always check your dig hole before you fill it back in, there might be another target." Somewhat reluctantly Dar swung the 5 X 10 coil of his Gold Monster over the shallow hole. He got a good target sound. It was registering as non-ferrous, however the pull tab also registered as non-ferrous. Dar started to dig deeper, and the ground started getting more hard packed. Ringing in the back of his head was Doc's admonition, "When the target is deep and the ground is hard packed, it is less likely to be a trash target." At 8 inches, Dar saw a glint of gold. Could this be his very first nugget after 15 years? NO! It was something much more impressive that spoke to the unique history of this Gold Basin area. It was an 1852 U.S. Gold dollar. The coin was in amazing condition considering it was 167 years old. Needless to say, Dar, can't believe that he found such a unique treasure, let alone, it was the very first piece of gold he has ever found. Dar related, "I know I have one of the best detectors made, and I know I had some of the best training with Doc. However, until you find that first piece of treasure, you always question if you are doing something wrong. This amazing piece of history has boosted my self-confidence immeasurably. Now I know I just need to do the things that I was taught, and be patient and persistent, and the payoff will come." Gold Fever? Yes, Dar has a really bad case of it now!
Dartagnan - Washington, USA
