CA-10, ELK CREEK GROUP

LOCATION

TOWNSHIP, RANGE, SECTION:T15N R7E,8E SECTIONS 19,24,30

USGS TOPOGRAPHIC MAP:Huckleberry Mountain

RIVER OR STREAM:Elk Creek

COUNTY:Siskiyou

STATE:California

DIRECTIONS:

Can be reached by driving a little more than nine miles up Elk Creek Road and watching for the first substantial road that turns left. There is bridge, which is located at about the center of the claims. After crossing the bridge, you can turn right or left to gain access to camping and other creek access points further up or downstream on Elk Creek. If you go downstream, you will be turning left on Forest Service road #15N02, and you will find the lower creek boundary posted on a tree .6 of a mile alongside the road. There are various primitive access roads extending down toward the creek. The last one is best and is marked with a New 49?er directional sign. This access road extends directly to the creek. The upper end of the creek claims can be located by continuing upstream on Elk Creek Road. The upper creek boundary is posted on a tree alongside the road .5 mile upstream from the 10 mile bridge.

REPORTS:

I am very confused about this group of claims. The New 49'ers have the claims marked as New 49'er claims and the GPAA has it listed in there claim guide as CA-10. The GPAA says the names of the claims are Last Chance, Second Chance, Second Chance #2 and Valley Joe #3. Anyway to get there follow the directions on The New 49'ers claim information page for claim E-4 "Elk Creek Claims at the ten mile bridge". I have got this same conflicting report from several people. It doesn't matter to me because, I belong to both clubs, but it could be confusing to members of just one of the organizations.

Reported by: Douglas and Susan McCrady

In august of 1998 my wife and I, being new members of the GPAA decided to seek out the Elk Creek claims. Living for the past twenty-five years on 180 acres of heavily timbered land in northern California certainly came in handy in or attempts to locate these claims. We did however, locate all of the Elk Creek claims. Grant you it was difficult, but we were successful at locating all of the listed claims. They did not seem to be listed by both organizations (GPAA/New 49er's), the 49er claims were clearly just prior to the beginning of the elk creek group and at the end of the elk creek group. By the time we located the claims it was getting late and we had little time to prospect, however I did find a pinhead sized nugget under some rocks only a few inches down next to the creek. This was just after crossing the bridge and pulling off the right. We are going to return this season. Thank you for you time and your great web site, I love the links.

PROSPECTS:

There has been very little prospecting and mining activity on these claims, even though the area has a rich gold mining history, with old mine workings along the banks near Doolittle Creek. We had several members say that they found good gold while dredging in the creek near the lowest access point toward the lower end of the claim. Other than that, we don't have much more information. But because of past mining history on this area, we know the prospects are good.