It was a cool overcast day yesterday- we drove for about 50 miles before finding the site. We parked and clambered down the steep bank to the orange colored creek....The bank was wide, broken rocks were everywhere, the orange coloration gave the area a weird feel . The creek meandered lazily. This was good spot to try- the depth and current was just right.

Nothing lived here. Not one bird flew in the sky. We didn't see a single set of animal tracks... no fish, nor even a single water bug could be found. The orange rocks seemed suspicious -the water itself was clear, but the rocks and the soil were discolored...we were near a power plant, but maybe there was another cause....We had entered a dead zone in pursuit of a goal, a task to find something precious and rare.

Where I live, there is a 15 mile wide, 200 mile long gold bearing pyrite reef. There are 200 defunct gold mines. We were about two miles from a dozen of these mines...we found ample evidence of prior gold diggings all around the creek.

I built a special device- a sluice called a Henry Henry. We had pans- after three hours of work, we had samples that were too small to determine exactly what they were... These will go to the lab for analysis.

(before heading out, I had this dream this morning: I was standing by a road that seemed like one I know three blocks from me....but I wasnt home, I was in Philadelphia. A car speed past, I heard gunshots. To my left, about 100 meters away, a black woman fell backwards. I saw to my right a bronze maverick or pinto like car was speeding away. I saw a black man in a white tee shirt- he was the shooter. I called 9-11...the operator berated me- she said "How can you witness a crime when your at home fixing coffee?" I yelled at her to tell her that I was not home, I'm here on the street, etc.