What Did I Just Dig Up?
Digging In The Garden.
Last week, while digging in my garden area, I discovered an interesting spot. It still had the usual amount of rocks, but the soil had a different consistency. It had a sandy, graveled texture.
That reminded me of my gold panning days. I thought, “I wonder if there was any trace of gold or other minerals I might find while panning in a stream.
I knew where my gold pans were, so I stopped, got the pans, and put some of the material in a gold pan. Beside the garden area, my wheelbarrow was filled with rainwater from the recent rains, so I panned out some of the material I had dug out.
A lot of dirt/soil was left with the gravel, but it panned off quickly. I used a classifier to remove the larger gravel to make the final work easier. I used a small magnet to remove some of the magnetic material.
This meant I was getting down to the heavier material. I continued panning until most of the material was out of the pan. This was when I decided to see what was at the bottom of the pan by swirling a little water over the surface of the material in the pan. I didn’t see any gold flakes, but very fine white grains were at the bottom.
My first thought was platinum: “Could this be platinum?”
I had to find out, so the next day, I took it to a gold and silver processing place here in Portland to find out. I knew they had a special device that could identify minerals brought in for identification.
The white grains of material turned out to be titanium, a tough material but a material that was not “precious.” They said it was common to be found where there had been rivers or creeks flowing in past years.
I wondered if there was a titanium mine somewhere in Oregon. I didn’t do any research to find out, but at least I knew there was titanium in the bottom of my pan and scattered throughout my soon-to-be garden, at least when spring came.
Written 12/22/2024
Larry E. Whittington
At 87 years old, I would still like to do some gold panning.
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Quite a process you went through - I wouldn't have known how to do that. Sounds like your vegetables will have a little titanium in them - that should make you strong!
I think it is pretty cool that you continue to have adventures, even if they are only in your garden. I guess that is the blessing of having an inquiring mind.