Reliance Shafts
Photos courtesy of Katarina Bjorkman

After our mid-September motorcycle trip, Katarina and I left immediately to stake an important claim that was coming open. We drove five hours to the Manitou Lake area (southwest of Dryden) and camped so we could get an early start.

After staking, we checked out some of the old mine shafts and tried to find V.G. (visible gold).
Photo: Katarina sampling the dump pile beside the shaft.
Photo: Katarina sampling the dump pile beside the shaft.

Photo: Sample of dump rock


Katarina decided it was very important to get that piece of rock she's reaching for. She is overhanging the shaft (in the next photo) and the water is 30 feet below. The rock ended up falling to the bottom anyway.

Photo: Looking into the shaft, you can't see the bottom in this photo.
We were successful at finding a few pieces with VG.
We were successful at finding a few pieces with VG.