best way to mine this deposit? Options

[rich on western ...]

Found a section of cut out bench placer. It is a verticle wall of gravel on bedrock. Has color in it. Problem is that it is several yards thick with a lot of larger boulders mixed in. There is a lot of stuff that has fallen at the base of it (lose sand and gravel forming a fan). What would be the best and safest way to dig into this matterial? It is dry and hard compacted alluvial deposit that is at least 100' above the existing river. Another problem is trying to get this stuff down to my truck or area where I can process it. There are several cobbly lenses mixed in. Would these be areas that acted as an armour layer? Also, would the lose matterial at the base probably have color in it as well?

Forgot to mention that I only have hand tools at my disposal and would be working this by myself. Anybody interested in going in on claiming this area? Would be nice to have a partner to help work it

[Chet]

Found a section of cut out bench placer. It is a verticle wall of gravel on bedrock. Has color in it. Problem is that it is several yards thick with a lot of larger boulders mixed in. There is a lot of stuff that has fallen at the base of it (lose sand and gravel forming a fan). What would be the best and safest way to dig into this matterial? It is dry and hard compacted alluvial deposit that is at least 100' above the existing river. Another problem is trying to get this stuff down to my truck or area where I can process it. There are several cobbly lenses mixed in. Would these be areas that acted as an armour layer? Also, would the lose matterial at the base probably have color in it as well?

Forgot to mention that I only have hand tools at my disposal and would be working this by myself. Anybody interested in going in on claiming this area? Would be nice to have a partner to help work it

I guess it'd depend how into this you'd wanna get?...
If it was worth working as much material as possible (you know, not just 15-20 buckets twice a year), here's what I think I'd do:

100 feet of vertical seems like it'd be way too much for a simple highbanker pump, not even considering the 100ft+ length of hose. So I'd say that's out of the question, really. A recirculating highbanker would very quickly be working in some super mucky water, I'd imagine, when the material is dry and dirty. If you're only wanting to work 15 bucketfuls or so though, it my work. Hauling buckets of dirt down to the river is fine for the first ten buckets or so. What I'd do is try to set up some way that you could get the gravel down to the water, without carrying it.

My first thought was to buy some cheap plastic tubing and run it from the river up to the site. Maybe tying (bracing) it to the bases of trees whenever possible, hammering in some stakes and tying off, etc. All this while keeping it as straight as possible. Then you shovel into a flared end at the top, and your material slides down the tube or chute to where you'll work it later. Although with this you'd run into the problem of not having a steep enough angle, required bends of the tubing, clogs, and the like.

Which is why I thought of a zip line system, of sorts! Find two sturdy trees - one at the base, one at the dig site - and tightly string a long rope between them. You'd want to avoid sagging as much as possible. Then you could get a wheeled gadget (the term slips my mind, sorry), or just some sturdy S hooks, that you can hang a bucket from and send it on down the line. If the bucket would gain too much speed, a second long length of rope tied to the bucket could be used to ease it down the zip line. Just bring a stack of ten buckets or so up with you, send them down, then come back up with your newly empty buckets! It'd be quite the process, but if the area has good gold, why not?

As for safely digging the material, it sounds pretty precarious. I'd bring a long rod to use to 'poke' out some the larger rocks from above, or maybe even try to attack the wall from the top. Whatever you do, just make sure you don't undercut anything. Maybe just stick to the stuff that's already sloughed off, if possible?...

Sounds like quite the project!