48 replies to this topic

[Rob Allison]

Hello All,

Many of you probably don't know about this exciting, new program called "Footprints." Well I would like all of you to take a look at this new program and what it has to offer for you.

FootPrints is a series of computer software products specifically designed for the individual prospector. Each FootPrint is a self contained mapping system on DVD.

With FootPrints software you can map your prospecting with GPS tracks and waypoints displayed directly on your map.

Plot design & Print Your Own Custom GOLD Maps!



FootPrints answers the prospectors most important question. Where do I go to find GOLD?

Each FootPrint uniquely maps a known GOLD area.
FootPrints will show you...

GPS
Use your GPS unit to show personal tracks and waypoints on your map. When you are out in the field, mark areas of interest or where you found your nuggets. That way you can always find your way back!

Who owns the land?
Each FootPrint provides a layer mapping land ownership. Private, federal, state, forest service, etc. Land survey layers are included to identify township, range and section.

Historical mining sites
Each FootPrint includes a mines layer. This layer is derived from the USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS). It includes a database of known mines in the area providing information such as major and minor commodities, ore type, mine type and references for further research.

The geologic nature of the area
Each FootPrint provides a Geology layer to indicate basic rock type and age helping to locate the best areas to look for gold.

Research
Miner Diggins encourages all prospectors to get as much information as possible about the sites they are prospecting. Each FootPrint provides a summary of the mining history in the area. We also provide links to prospecting forums, research sites and government agencies.

Current active mining claims
Each FootPrint includes a map layer for lode claims and a layer for placer claims. The claims are mapped by MinerDiggins to their actual boundaries based on original county filings. You will not find this map layer anywhere else.

Newly added and dissolved claims
The only map layer that requires an internet connection links to the BLM active claims map. This layer maps current BLM claims and can be used to find new or dissolved claims.

What the terrain is like?
We provide shaded elevation maps, USGS topo maps and high resolution imagery as base maps to help you understand the terrain. Also included are custom levels of contours that can be overlaid on any map to show terrain variation.

How the water flows?
Even in the desert water plays a part in determining where the gold might be. Each FootPrint provides a data set showing streams, rivers and washes. Drainage basins, flow and wetness map layers are included with some FootPrints to help visualize movement.

Planning your trip
Each Footprint provides an Overview Map to show you where it is located and how to get there. We provide a list of places to stay and get supplies.

So get yourself a FootPrint and go find some GOLD !!! All in One Easy-to-Use Program, NO INTERNET REQUIRED!



Black Canyon City FootPrint

Easy access just off Interstate 17!
Located just 30 miles North of Phoenix, Arizona.
27 Mining Club Claims

Over 50 square miles at 9 & 12 inch resolution.
More than 20 interactive map layers including:
High Resolution Orthos
Detailed Geology!
Topography
Shaded Elevations
Placer and Lode Claims
Land Ownership
Hydrology

Including:
Local Mining History
Local Lodging, Camping and Dining.

Little San Domingo FootPrint

One of the richest Placer Gold Districts in Arizona!
Located just 25 miles Northwest of Phoenix, Arizona.
55 Mining Club Claims

Over 35 square miles at 9 inch resolution.
More than 20 interactive map layers including:
High Resolution Orthos
Topography
Shaded Elevations
Placer and Lode Claims
Land Ownership
Hydrology

Including:
Local Mining History
Local Lodging, Camping and Dining.

Greaterville, AZ Footprint - New

The Greaterville FootPrint covers approximately 72 square miles, centered around the historic town of Greaterville in the Santa Rita Mountains, southeast of Tucson, Arizona. The map extent runs East to Hwy 83, south almost to Sonoita, North to Sycamore Canyon and West to the head of Fish Canyon.

The Greaterville area has a long and storied history of placer & hard rock mining. Placer mining has been done largely by small miners at first with rocker boxes and more recently with metal detectors. A large scale placer operation was attempted by the Santa Rita Water & Mining Company in the early 1900's. Their headquarters is now a Forest Service Heritage Site known as Kentucky Camp.

Most of the land in this area is now part of the Coronado National Forest. However, it was not always that way. In the early 1900's most of the land became patented. The Santa Rita Water & Mining company held the patents on about 3,000 acres of the best placer ground in the area. The company failed and the patented land remained in private hands until 1989 when the land was acquired by the US Forest Service through a land swap.

This FootPrint includes all the standard map layers plus several unique layers pertaining to Geology. The geology is mapped at 1:24,000 around the major gold-bearing gulches showing faults and hard rock intrusions. We have created a unique layer mapping the historic placer gulches and their extents, identifying them by name and detailing where the gold was found in each gulch. Several in-depth geologic studies have been done on this area and the full reports are included as pdf documents.

Rich Hill/Stanton AZ Footprint- New

The Rich Hill FootPrint covers approximately 52 square miles, centered around Stanton at the base of Rich Hill. The extent includes almost the full reach of Antelope and Weaver Creeks and the lands northwest of Stanton up to Yarnell.

This FootPrint includes all standard map layers. Plus for the first time we have added a Patents layer. This layer maps all Patents granted in the area, their authority and their mineral reservations. Copies of the original Patents are included.

Rich Hill is famous for the quality and quantity of gold that has been found in its vicinity. The drainages surrounding Rich Hill are the legendary Weaver and Antelope creeks that have been the source of successful placering operations for a century or more. These placers are still actively worked today by prospectors with metal detectors, drywashers, and even on a much larger scale with trommels and backhoes.

Vulture West FootPrint

Includes the Historic Vulture Gold Mine!
Located just 7 miles South of Wickenburg, Arizona
8 Mining Club Claims

Over 60 square miles at 9 inch resolution.
More than 20 interactive map layers including:
High Resolution Orthos
Topography
Shaded Elevations
Placer and Lode Claims
Land Ownership
Hydrology

Including:
Local Mining History
Local Lodging, Camping and Dining.

Gold Basin Footprint- New

The Gold Basin FootPrint maps almost 200 square miles, covering the Gold Basin and Lost Basin mining districts in northwestern Arizona.

This area is perfect for a week long prospecting trip. It's less than a two hour drive across the Colorado River from Las Vegas, NV. Day trips to Lake Mead or the Franconia strewn field to look for meteorites are well worth the time.

The placers in this area were not heavily worked until the 1930's and they have only been worked on a small scale ever since. The area is relatively remote with the small towns of Meadview and Dolan Springs being the closest settlements.

Northern Bradshaw Mountain Footprint- New

In the cool pines of the North Bradshaw Mountains this FootPrint covers more than 200 square miles of the most productive gold districts in Arizona. Including the famous mining districts of Lynx Creek, Big Bug, Walker, Groom Creek and the Upper Hassayampa this FootPrint is the most comprehensive map of the North Bradshaws ever made available to prospectors.

The North Bradshaw FootPrint encompasses an area that includes parts of Prescott in the Northwest all the way to Mayer in the Southeast. Included is the public prospecting area of the famous Lynx Creek basin. We have never mapped an area with such a high production of gold. Historically the placers of this region are the most productive in the Southwest.

All Footprint programs are $70.00 each, plus Shipping & Handling.

We have all the Footprint DVD's in stock and ready to ship.

Online Store: Visit http://www.robsdetectors.com

To Order by Phone:
Phone - 623-362-1459 office line
Cell - 602-909-9008 business cell

Email Order - rob@robsdetectors.com or auplacers@yahoo.com

Please post all questions here on this thread.

I highly encourage anyone from a beginner to an advanced prospector to purchase these DVD's.

If you would like to learn more about this new product, please visit the Footprints main website at - Footprints Main Website

Take care,

Rob Allison

[Terry Soloman]

This is really exciting Rob! I know these will be huge. Cheers! - Terry

[Rob Allison]

Hello Terry,

I agree with you 110%. When I met with Clay and Ruby they shared the same passion I have when it comes to gold prospecting, metal detecting and research. What's great about this product also is the fact they have a site for tech support 24/7 for anyone that has internet access. As I become much more knowledgeable, I will be able to help customers also from my forum, email or phone along with Clay and Ruby.

Always great talking with you Terry. Pass the word around if you would.

P.S. Anyone that purchase a Minelab Metal Detector will also get one of these Footprint DVD's for free.

Take care,

Rob Allison

[fla mick]

I was lucky enough to get to test this product. believe me this is so more advanced than anything out their, easy to use, and self explainatory. Even an old fart like me thats computer illerate can use it. mick

[Jim P.]

Hi all, Rob knows I love to research, so he asked me to try these DVDs out and post my feedback.
They take some time to load, something like 4Gigs. Once loaded, they are browser based, so I'ts just like going to a web site. Each type of map has it's own button and opens in a new window, or you can use the custom map and include layers from all types. It was a little confusing at first, not realizing that the map was in a different window.
I spent most of my time on the ownership map, playing with different layers, zooming in and out, using the information tool, Etc. One thing that impressed and surprised me was that they included images of the actual filing from the recorders office. The claims are fairly accurately drawn onto the digital map, letting you see what's covered and what's not. I especially liked using the custom map and placing claims with names, private, state, and BLM property on a satellite image. Having done the same thing onto a topo map, by hand using Geocommunicator, LR2000, and county records I can tell you that this program can save many hours of your time.
As long as users are aware that land status is in a constant state of change, and that these maps are only a tool, and more or less a snapshot in time, I think they are a huge resource and time saver. That being said, I don't know of any way to know the land status, up to the minute. Geocommunicator can be up to six months behind, LR2000, as long as two weeks, county records, as long as six weeks, even the BLM state office can be several weeks behind, and the last time I was there, they no longer allowed the public to look at the "newly filed" folder. Even if you check all those places, there is a 90 day window where the claim could be located and staked, without being filed at either the county or the BLM. I think that's why they took away the "newly filed" folder, people were predating their location date to one already filed at the BLM. ( I had it happen to me)
The other map types, are helpful for researching potential new areas, possibly expand known areas and maybe locating the source of known patches. The geology map especially, pulls multiple sources together and puts them on the map. This is also where the "mines" layer (MRDS I believe) can be activated. All of this is click-able (is that a word?) and the format they use to layout the information makes it easy to read and understand and gives you multiple layers of information on the same page.
I don't have much negative to say, other than the navigation tools are a bit confusing. If any of you have used older GIS web pages or the old Geocommunticator you will have no problem. You just have to double check where your tools are set before clicking refresh or clicking on the map.
I'll keep playing with them and post more as I learn more about them. Thanks Rob, Clay and Ruby for the chance to play with a new toy. Later...Jim P.

[Bunk]

For sale now!
http://bunksarizonaprospecting.com/
http://www.minerdiggins.com/index.html
Bunk

[Rob Allison]

Hey Bunk,

Great to have you onboard selling the "Footprint" DVD's. I was informed today that I will be receiving a very large order for them. There will be a handful of new areas coming very soon.

If you're currently prospecting or plan on prospecting any of these areas (San Domingo, Vulture West and East, Bradshaw Mountains), I highly recommend you purchasing one of these DVD's to help research areas that have open and closed mineral claims.

With these DVD's you can research out potential new claims for staking, figure out where to go/not to go and get a much better idea where the mineral claims are, which tells you the mineralized zones.

Anyone looking to order these DVD's can contact me directly or contact any of the dealers that are selling them. I highly recommend you support your local dealers.

Take care,

Rob Allison
Footprint DVD US Distributor

[Terry Soloman]

Great News! I got the following email from Lost Treasure Magazine today:

Dear Terry,
I am writing to let you know that your FootPrints DVD/software review has been selected for publication in our August 2010 magazine. Congratulations!

Have a great day,
  
Carla Banning
Managing Editor
Lost Treasure, Inc.

Way freakin' cool! - Terry

[clay diggins]

Congrats Terry!

It's nice to have your work published. MinerDiggins appreciates your efforts too!

Your Black Canyon City FootPrint has a GPS Update ready at the UPDATE link on the Support Page for FootPrints. We noticed a potential problem with the GPS function on Black Canyon City FootPrint and even though no one has reported a problem yet we thought we might as well have the update ready in case anyone did run into trouble.

It's a good idea to check in at the UPDATE page now and then to see what's new for your FootPrint. I hope everyone that got the FootPrints 1.5.1 version has updated to 1.5.2- it's got some new features and runs faster and smoother than the earlier version.

Of course all of our program updates are free to all FootPrints users. If you have registered your FootPrint you are also eligible for free claims and data updates as they become available. As always we are happy to answer any mapping or prospecting questions you may have... No purchase required!

Thanks again Terry!

clay
MinerDiggins

[Terry Soloman]

Thanks Clay! I look forward to seeing you and your Better Half in the Fall. Cheers! - Terry

Congrats Terry!

It's nice to have your work published. MinerDiggins appreciates your efforts too!

Your Black Canyon City FootPrint has a GPS Update ready at the UPDATE link on the Support Page for FootPrints. We noticed a potential problem with the GPS function on Black Canyon City FootPrint and even though no one has reported a problem yet we thought we might as well have the update ready in case anyone did run into trouble.

It's a good idea to check in at the UPDATE page now and then to see what's new for your FootPrint. I hope everyone that got the FootPrints 1.5.1 version has updated to 1.5.2- it's got some new features and runs faster and smoother than the earlier version.

Of course all of our program updates are free to all FootPrints users. If you have registered your FootPrint you are also eligible for free claims and data updates as they become available. As always we are happy to answer any mapping or prospecting questions you may have... No purchase required!

Thanks again Terry!

clay
MinerDiggins

[Terry Soloman]

Just picked up the August 2010 edition of Lost Treasure magazine. I'm very happy to report the FootPrints review is on page 62. God Bless! - Terry

[Bunk]

Terry, Your review in Aug. LT was excelient! I have had many calls since the Aug issue hit the streets. Thanks,
Bunk

[Terry Soloman]

That makes me feel good Bunk, and this is the best reward a writer can hope for!!! Cheers - Terry

Terry, Your review in Aug. LT was excelient! I have had many calls since the Aug issue hit the streets. Thanks,
Bunk

[Bunk]

The Rich Hill Foot Print will be released any day now. These will be VERY popular, you may pre order now! Call me.
Bunk
928-830-5350

[Rob Allison]

Hello All,

Many have been waiting for this Footprints DVD to be released. Now you can purchase the Rich Hill, Stanton DVD from Rob's Detector Sales.

This Footprint lets you explore the famous Rich Hill goldfields before you ever leave home. Covering over 50 square miles of the Weaver Mining District, this Footprint is the most comprehensive map of Rich Hill ever made available to prospectors.

Home to the historic town of Stanton and the Octave Gold Mine, the area is known for its large nuggets and beautiful high gold content.

The Rich Hill Footprint Layers include the following:

Aerial Imagery, Shaded Elevations, Transparent and Base Topo Maps

Hydrology Includes:

Water Flow Visualization
Drainage Basins
Soil Wetness
Ortho Rectified Streams

Land Ownership Includes:

Placer Claims, Lode Claims, Mineral Patents, Homesteads, Historic Mines, Geology, Ortho Rectified Roads, BLM current claims display, GPS capable

With this footprint you can display and print your GPS and track waypoints on any map.

System Requirements:

Windows 2000 or newer
including XP, Vista or Windows 7
32 or 64 bit operating systems
125 MB of memory
2.5 GB of Disk Space
DVD Drive
Admin Privileges
*Internet Explorer Browswer (required for GPS download fuction only)

Retail Price - $90.00
Your Price - $69.95 + Shipping/Handling

Give us a call to order by phone at -

Rob Allison

[Treasure huntin Kelly]

I'm digging the Rich Hill Footprints I got from Bunk yesterday.

Before I was using Geocommunicator, Google maps and other searches.

All of that combined didn't have the useful info that Footprints has all in one place.

I wasted time and banged up my truck looking for an unclaimed part of Weaver Creek last week; the Footprints program showed me that the area I was hoping to explore is State Land - DOH!

I can see that Footprints is a great resource and may very well buy additional locations.

Great job gang!

[Bunk]

Kelly,
I am glad you are enjoying your Foot Print! I know you will find it very useful. Also, Congrats on the new detector! Thanks,
Bunk

[Treasure huntin Kelly]

Here's another benefit of Footprints: it's available offline.

I spent the past two days at a claim on Rich Hill.

Despite ample research using Google satellite maps, I never would have found the claim without Footprints. It never fails that being there looks different than the overhead view.

I brought the application up several times on-site to verify the correct location using Ownership & Ortho view.

I've wasted so much time & diesel looking for claims across the country- wish we had Footprints for Everywhere!

[Rob Allison]

Hello All,

The Greaterville, AZ Footprints DVD is now available and in stock. Same price as other Footprint DVD's, $70.00 + SH.

Here is some information on the Greaterville DVD -

FootPrint Details

The Greaterville FootPrint covers approximately 72 square miles, centered around the historic town of Greaterville in the Santa Rita Mountains, southeast of Tucson, Arizona. The map extent runs East to Hwy 83, south almost to Sonoita, North to Sycamore Canyon and West to the head of Fish Canyon.

The Greaterville area has a long and storied history of placer & hard rock mining. Placer mining has been done largely by small miners at first with rocker boxes and more recently with metal detectors. A large scale placer operation was attempted by the Santa Rita Water & Mining Company in the early 1900's. Their headquarters is now a Forest Service Heritage Site known as Kentucky Camp.

Most of the land in this area is now part of the Coronado National Forest. However, it was not always that way. In the early 1900's most of the land became patented. The Santa Rita Water & Mining company held the patents on about 3,000 acres of the best placer ground in the area. The company failed and the patented land remained in private hands until 1989 when the land was acquired by the US Forest Service through a land swap.

This FootPrint includes all the standard map layers plus several unique layers pertaining to Geology. The geology is mapped at 1:24,000 around the major gold-bearing gulches showing faults and hard rock intrusions. We have created a unique layer mapping the historic placer gulches and their extents, identifying them by name and detailing where the gold was found in each gulch. Several in-depth geologic studies have been done on this area and the full reports are included as pdf documents.



Placer Information
This information is taken directly from US Geological Survey Bulletin 1355, Placer Gold Deposits of Arizona, by Maureen G. Johnson, 1972.


Extent:
The placers in the Greaterville district are found in streams that drain easterly from the Melendrez Pass area in the Santa Rita Mountains to the Cienega Valley. The deposits are in the southeastern part of T. 19S R.15E and in the southwestern part of T. 19S R. 16E. The gold-bearing gulches are, from north to south: Empire, Chispa, Colorado,Los Pozos, Hughes, Ophir, Nigger, and St. Louis Gulches, tributaries to Hughes; Louisiana, Graham, Sucker, Harshaw, Kentucky, and Boston. Placers were found not only in the gulch gravels but also in gravels on the hillsides and ridgetops between gulches.Hill (1910) describes the distribution of the gold-bearing gravels in each gulch in detail, and, as his report is well known, I will only summarize his description.

In general, the gold is found in the lower 2 feet of angular gravel overlying bedrock and underlying less rich gravels; in places, the gold was concentrated in natural riffles in the sedimentary bedrock.The gold recovered range in size from flakes to large nuggets. Hill (1910, p.20) states that the gold washed in 1909 ranged from small flakes to particles 0.1 inch in greatest dimension. Most of the largest nuggets were recovered during the early mining period in the district; at that time (1874-86) nuggets worth $1 to $5 (about 1/20 to 1/4 oz.) were common, and one nugget weighing 37 ounces was found.

Production History:
The early production is not accurately known. For gold recovered before 1900, estimates range from as high as one million to as low as $500,000. During the 20th Century the placers have been worked continually by many individuals using rockers. Much of the placer ground has been reworked several times, but a considerable of gold is said to remain in the gravels. Various attempts have been made to mine the gravels in different gulches using hydraulic or dredge mining methods, but thickness of overburden made large-scale mining unprofitable. In 1948 a dragline shovel and dryland washing plant treated 90,000 cubic yards of gravel from Louisiana Gulch, recovering 535 ounces of gold, an average of 21 cents per cubic yard (or .006 oz per cubic yard). This was the largest amount of gold recorded from the placers in any one year during the 20th century.

Source:
The placer gold was derived from erosion of free gold-bearing veins genetically related to a quartz latitie porphyry (dated at 55.7 m.y.) intrusive into Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. These veins are found near the heads of the gulches and have been mined for the gold content at the Yuba, St. Louis and Quebec mines.

Order today by calling one of my dealers, or by calling 623-362-1459

Take care,

Rob Allison

[clay diggins]

This is the first in a series of articles on mapping for prospecting success.

All the images below were taken as screenshots of the actual Rich Hill FootPrint application. They are reduced to 300 pixels wide from their original screen filling size of more than 1200 pixels wide. The print function produces an even larger image.

Some of the map layers in FootPrints may not seem very useful at first but each layer IS there for a reason. Remember these maps are made specifically for the prospector.

Lets take a look at the Hydrography group of layers to see how the various aspects of water flow and accumulation can help you find gold. Each of these map layers are custom made for each map by MinerDiggins - you won't find this information anywhere else.

____________________________________________

Hydrography Flow Layer with Transparent Topo Layer




The Flow layer may seem confusing at first because the desert typically doesn't have any water flow. But desert washes do flood and sometimes quite violently, just not often. Since we are looking at things on a geological time scale flooding can be very important for the movement of some gold. This map layer shows you what happens in a big flood, the darker the blue the higher the volume of water. It may be important to note that some washes become one big wash during floods or that in some areas the flow spreads out and becomes a gold trap.

____________________________________________

Flow Layer with 5 foot Contours



One of the secrets of desert gold is that much of the gold never moves. The gold sitting on top of undisturbed benches tends to end up in shallow depressions called "patches". This static gold tends to accumulate over long time periods into larger size nuggets. Many of these patches are only a few feet across. A single good patch can keep you busy for a whole season. The flow layer and the fine contour layers can give you hints to where these undisturbed patches may be.

____________________________________________

Flow Layer with Washes Layer and 5 foot Contours



The washes layer is mapped to the actual stream beds as seen on the aerial photo "ortho" layer, these aerial photos were made in 2007 for Rich Hill. The flow, shown in the picture, is derived from the Rich Hill 1968 geological survey data. You will notice discrepancies between the location of the current wash channel and the path of the flow coverage. These differences are due to the wash channel moving between 1968 and 2007 (39 years). This movement could be due to mining activity, building or flooding. Several prospectors have reported success from exploring these old abandoned wash channels.

____________________________________________

Wetness Layer with Ortho Layer



The wetness map layer may seem like a waste of pixels until you have tried drywashing moist ground. Drywashers work best when the material is bone dry. The green areas, indicated by the wetness layer, retain moisture and are the last areas to dry out. The ambitious drywasher would be well advised to avoid working these damp areas. The metal detectorist might want to specifically seek out old drywashing piles in these areas knowing that the operators may have left behind significant gold values in their piles.

____________________________________________

Basins Layer with Transparent Topo Layer




The Basins layer defines the drainage area of the major washes. It is often difficult in flat desert ground, or on large benches, to tell which drainage you are working in. This can lead to wasted time prospecting in a less productive drainage. When tracing the origin of placer gold the basin edge defines the limits of your uphill search area.

This is only a brief overview of the reasons we provided prospectors with so many mapping choices. In future articles I will show you more gold prospecting possibilities with FootPrints.

Stay tuned - next is Geology.

Clay
MinerDiggins