Dredge Earth First Anniversary

[libertydave]

Hi DEF Alumni,

This is in the "How Time Flies" department. This summer makes it ten years since the first Dredge Earth First event. And here goes a great big "Hello"...to all of you DEF Alumni.

Because of obligations I missed the first DEF event (in 2001) but after hearing about all of the fun so many of you had at River's West RV Park and dredging on the NF Umpqua River (located just a couple miles north of the town of Myrtle Creek, Oregon) we would not have missed the DEF event in 2002 for anything.

We came down that following year and stayed for the entire DEF 2002. The RV Park was jam packed with miners and I don't recall ever seeing so many dredges in just one location. It was here I met so many of you....Leonard, Matt, Grivy, Bill Brew and about 1500 others, all having good times dredging, drinking great beer, eating good camp food and enjoying a great time and celebrating what we all love to do. What a fun time and a memorable event. It certainly was one hell of an adventure being camped next to so many of you.

So thanks go out to all who made the DEF events happen, 2001-2003, and thank you all...for the many memories, new friendships and great times together.

To each of you, DEF Alumni, you are all gold in my book.

Cheers and Happy Anniversary. Liberty Dave

[golden optimist]

Thanks Dave! For those of you "newbiews", this is what it looked like. Scott Harn editor of ICMJ and Ken Rucker, ex GPAA wheel camped in my campsite with us.

http://www.golddredgervideo.com/prospec ... ef2001.wmv

Heres a cleanup video featuring Kimepoo and Grivy from 2001. This was Grivy's first dredging trip. Before this he was a drywasher. When the microsluice is off, you can hear the dredges in the river next to the campground.

http://golddredgervideo.com/prospecting/defcleanup.wmv

Here's 2003 in Georgia.

http://golddredgervideo.com/prospecting ... eorgia.wmv

And 2004 at Idaho Springs Colorado.

http://golddredgervideo.com/prospecting/rmmr.wmv

There's a lot of faces here that are still forum members. If you get a chance around the campfire with some of us oldtimers, ask about it. There's quite a story about it.


Leonard

[Bonaro]

I recall at least several sleepless nights while staying at the "screaming Diesel" RV park on the Umpqua river.

[russau]

ill drink to that! it was really good while it lasted! the rallys were great! the friendships that were/are made were even better! SALUTE!

[golden optimist]

I recall at least several sleepless nights while staying at the "screaming Diesel" RV park on the Umpqua river.

My tent wals would actually move from the wind off of the trucks. The good ol jake breaks sounded good in the middle of the night.

You forgot the "free washdown" when the sprinklers came on about 2:00 in the morning. There were a lot of people out running around in their underwear! We found that a plastic 5 gallon bucket over the sprinkler heads worked pretty well.

Leonard

[CalGoldDredger]

I recall at least several sleepless nights while staying at the "screaming Diesel" RV park on the Umpqua river.

My tent wals would actually move from the wind off of the trucks. The good ol jake breaks sounded good in the middle of the night.

You forgot the "free washdown" when the sprinklers came on about 2:00 in the morning. There were a lot of people out running around in their underwear! We found that a plastic 5 gallon bucket over the sprinkler heads worked pretty well.

Leonard

Boy, Leonard that sounds like quite the heck of a trip, hey. Funny- unexpected sprinklers, go figure.

[golden optimist]

All of the trailer spots were taken and just like Bonero's picture, they had us tent camping on the lawn. Not a problem except they forgot to turn off the automatic sprinklers and they came on about 2:00 in the morning. The first thing I heard was a loud hissing as the pipes filled with water and then the sprinklers hit the tent side. I ran out and grabbed a bucket to put over the top of the sprinkler head and thats what everyone else did until they shut them off.

Here's a few familiar faces only 10 years younger.

The Brew

bill1.jpg (57.82 KiB) Viewed 5676 times

Geno

geno.jpg (61.07 KiB) Viewed 5676 times

Grivy

manandhisdog.jpg (26.29 KiB) Viewed 5676 times

Kimmepo

kim1.jpg (45.84 KiB) Viewed 5676 times

Dredge Shark

dredgeshark.jpg (47.1 KiB) Viewed 5676 times

Ed

ed1.jpg (46.03 KiB) Viewed 5676 times

Dave Mack

davemac.jpg (24.93 KiB) Viewed 5676 times

Leonard

[russau]

that ole dredge shark sure has gotten some miles on it! it was seen in Washington state at the NW miners rally also!

[Plumas]

A little known fact is that until the first DEF. event actually started, none of the organizers had even met each other.

Everything had been organized by email and phone calls.

Plumas

[golden optimist]

It just so happens I have a picture of a younger Plumas also. He's second from the left. Matt's on the left. Jeffro is second from right and right is Grivy.

defcons.jpg (41.6 KiB) Viewed 5625 times

Count the dredges here. There is a bunch.

river1.jpg (63.8 KiB) Viewed 5625 times

Here's Robby and Ann.

robbyann2.jpg (70.41 KiB) Viewed 5625 times

They later became famous as cover persons.

Coversmall.jpg (94.5 KiB) Viewed 5625 times

And it wouldn't be complete without a picture of the "honey hole" We were dredging a hole through about 7 feet of overburden and about 11 feet deep. Everyone was getting good gold. It was the personal home of "Billy the bass". He hung out with us the whole time we were there dredging.

dredges2.jpg (57.04 KiB) Viewed 5625 times

Leonard