Beach Gold #2

     My experience with beach gold has been limited to the beaches of north San Diego County, from a few hundred yards south of the old power station remains in Del Mar to Ponto Beach in southern Carlsbad, about ten miles of beaches. Most of my time was spent close to home, I would walk south on Sierra Ave. to the stairs near Bank of America (on HWY 101 and Dahlia), and walk on the beach south to the next set of stairs.  Here, black sand often collected at the bottom of the bluff and between some outcrops that these stairs were built on. I spent more than a few hours over several years learning about beach gold, how it was distributed and the general structure of the beach. I also explored other beaches and usually found at least a micro fine, but not always. My best areas were the area beside the staircase I walked to, the small beach just north of River Mouth (the Del Mar Race Track can be seen from River Mouth 1/4 mile east), and small bedrock enclaves just south of the main beach in Del Mar. All produced at least some placer gold that looked much like the gold I had recovered from my claims near Julian.

     While I was studying the beach, a young man was also studying the beach, seventh grader Allen Harker. He measured the beach sand levels for three years, he had some personal pointers from Scripts Institute. After seeing his story in the paper, I visited him and asked for copies of his data, promising to always give him credit when I used his data.  Between what I learned and his data, I was able to write a paper, "Beach Placer Theory" which I sent to the Alaskan Placer Conference in 1986. It was accepted, but I couldn't go there and give a talk about it, no money or costs covered except a room.