The Gift of the Golden Fox
Ok, nephew. Crawl up here in Uncle Bob's lap, and we'll have a story. Oh, you
want to hear about when Ol' Kenwood and I were young, do you? Well, ok.
Let's see. I know, I'll tell you about the time Ol' Kenwood and I dug for gold
in the old Mother Lode goldfields out in California.
No. Yes. I mean, No, I'm not making this up. Yes, we really did dig for gold,
Ol' Kenwood and me.
There's a spot in the Sierra Mountains out there in California where a whole lot
of gold has been dug up. You ever hear of the 49ers? No, not the football
guys, these were gold miners. Miners dig in the earth to get stuff out, like
gold. They came from all over the country to dig for gold in California.
Well, they dug up a lot of gold a long time ago, but there's still some around.
They called that area the Mother Lode country, 'cause that was supposed to be
where all the gold came from. They figgered if they just kept diggin' and
explorin' they'd find the Mother Lode and be rich.
Ol' Kenwood and I were travelin' through the area years ago, just to see what
was out there. 'Course, Ol' Kenwood was young Kenwood back then, just growin'
out of bein' a puppy. Kind of a teenager dog, you might say. Big head, long
legs, big feet and a clumsy tail. Well, it was nice country, up there in the
Sierras, and the diggin' and pannin' fer gold looked interestin'. So we decided
to stick around fer a bit and see if we could find some gold ourselves.
In some places gold was dug from tunnels into the mountains, some just came from
holes in the ground, and some was dug out of stream beds. We found an old claim
that had been abandoned, and figgered we could just dig around and see if
anythin' turned up. We would dig during the morning and part of the afternoon.
Kenwood was a big help, with those oversize feet he was still growin' into, and
boy, could he throw dirt. Well, in the afternoon, we'd drag a bunch of loose
dirt down to the stream and pan the rest of the day, trying to see if there was
actually any gold in all that dirt we had dug.
Let me tell you, nephew. We dug a whole lot of dirt for mighty little gold. We
were scratching out just enough scraps of gold to buy food, and that was it.
Hard work, and no sign of gettin' rich. Reckon that's why that claim had been
abandoned. Anyway, in the evening, we'd have a fire and I'd cook our food.
While we were eating, sometimes miners from other claims would come by to visit
a bit. It's hard work, and you need to visit with others at times just to relax
and rest up.
One evening our visitor, a rather grizzled old miner who had been out in the
goldfields since dirt was new, told us a story that I rather liked, about the
Golden Fox of the Mother Lode.
I know you've seen pictures of foxes in your school books. Did you know that
some kinds of foxes live in holes in the ground? Burrowin' foxes they're
called. Anyway, this Golden Fox was supposed to be one of those.
According to the story, the Golden Fox likes to dig his burrow where the ground
is rich in gold dust, that's little tiny pieces of gold but a lot of them.
Guess it makes the dirt looser and easier to dig. If you could see him in the
daylight, he would have kind of a golden shine to him, 'cause of all the little
specks of gold caught in his fur.
Well, there aren't a lot of Golden Foxes up there in the Sierras, or anywhere
else, either. You're more likely to hear one than ever see one. Sometimes, you
can hear them singing at night, out there in the wilderness, particularly on
very quiet nights. They don't have as loud a cry as some other foxes, so you
really have to listen for them. Kind of a QRP fox.
Now, as the story goes, if you do hear a Golden Fox singin' in the night, you
want to try to find him. You don't want to catch him, just find him. You see,
while he's sittin' out there singin', he often has to scratch, 'cause those lil
bits of gold get scratchy down in his fur. Kinda like hair clippin's after a
haircut. You've seen a dog scratch, kickin' with his hind leg 'til he gets his
itch scratched. Well, same thing with the Golden Fox.
Well, when ol' Golden Fox has had his evening sing and scratch, eventually he
wanders off to do the usual fox things, like find something to eat.
The lucky miner that found where ol' Golden Fox had been singin' could find a
lot of gold dust shaken out on the ground. He could scoop up all that dirt with
gold dust in it, wash the dirt away with his gold pan, and have a nice little
pile of gold dust. Anyway, that's the story our visitor told us. Didn't really
believe it, though. Sounded like a typical goldfields campfire tale to us.
A couple of nights later, after we had eaten and were just kickin' back by the
fire, we noticed that the night had gotten very quiet. No wind, not much of any
other night noises but the cracklin' of the fire. Then we heard this real faint
singin' in the distance, sounded sorta like CQ CQ FOX de N6WG. The ol' timer
didn't say what the Golden Fox's song would sound like, but we thought maybe
this could be one.
So young Kenwood and I left our camp and struck out into the darkness, following
that faint song. Good thing the moonlight was pretty bright, or we would have
banged into trees all along the trail. As it was, I banged my head on a few low
branches, while young Kenwood just trotted along under them. He couldn't seem
to understand what my problem was.
The song had a lot of QSB, but we were able to follow it in the general
direction of the Golden Fox's singin' place. Young Kenwood's hearing was a lot
better than mine. After 'bout an hour of pokin' around in the dark with only
the moon for light, we finally found the Golden Fox. He was sittin' up in a
little clear patch on a hill, and just a singin' up a storm.
Well, like the story said, we left him alone. However, we did check for some
land marks so we could find the place again in the daylight. Figgered young
Kenwood's nose would help find our way back to it.
Next morning we went back, huntin' for the place where we saw the Golden Fox.
It took a while, 'cause the darn landmarks looked different in the daylight than
they did at night, but we finally found the right hill and the little clear
patch.
Guess what. That old miner hadn't been tellin' us some wild tale. There really
was some gold dust there on the ground along with fox paw prints. Well, we
scooped up every scrap of dirt that had a chance of holdin' any gold dust and
carried it back to our camp. Spent the rest of that day pannin' the dirt away
from the gold dust so we could see what we had.
Let me tell you, that was a surprise. When the dirt was all washed away, we had
a nice little pile of gold dust. Actually a lot more than we had dug up on our
own so far. I put it in my little leather pouch, and young Kenwood and I hiked
into town to see what we had. Went into the Assay Office where they weigh and
buy the gold and had it checked. It was real gold, and we got a lot of money
for it.
Well, nephew, like I said, young Kenwood and I hadn't been real successful as
gold miners. So far, just a whole lot of hard work with not much to show for
it. After seein' how much this gold dust brought us, we just looked at each
other, thought a minute, then hoofed it down to the train station. After I
bought us tickets home, there was just enough left over for a good dinner before
the train left.
There you have it, nephew. That's how ol' Kenwood and I met the Golden Fox of
the Mother Lode a long time ago.
The Golden Fox of the Mother Lode will sing again on March 5 at 0400 UTC
(March 4, 8-10 PM PST) somewhere out around hill 7035.. He will be singing CQ
FOX de N6WG, just as in the story. You are all invited to try to catch a
glimpse of this rare and elusive creature. If you're lucky, you mihgt pick up
some gold dust.
72, Bob N6WG and Ol' Kenwood
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