Ideas Wanted

rcj3 · Post by **rcj3** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:37 pm

Hi everyone,

It been quiet in hear lately. I am guessing with the return of cold weather that might change.

I am hoping you all might help me with some ideas. I am starting a business to help make ends meet. It is a portable gem mining business. Now I have seen these and they seem kinda boring. I want to make it exciting and fun for the kids and big kids(adults). Here is what I have done so far. I have the trailer which is an old pop-up camper minus the interior and canvas and pullouts. I am theming it to look like a prospectors shack. I am adding some canvas sides. Inside there is a wood barrel with a metal wash tub on top. This is what feeds the water system and hides the pump. The water is pumped into a trough where it cascades over into a sluce that feeds back into the wash tub. I am adding other touches like a crate with T-N-T, old lanterns and I am thinking an old industrial light from the ceiling.

What I am hoping to you all can help me with is a story to add to it to make it fun. I was thinking I could dress like a crazy old prospector and be silly with the kids. Maybe light a stick of dynomite and have someone hold it.

I am open to suggestions everyone. Designing things I can do but I am weak on my writing skills.

If you have any other theming ideas I would love to hear those too. Maybe I change it to digging for moon gems with aliens or and ancient tombs searching for the kings jewels.

Thanks,
Chris

icandrawem2 · Post by **icandrawem2** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:54 pm

Theres a guy on here "steamboatwillie" who i have worked with and hes a great writer...ill tell him to buzz in and see if he can throw some advice your way. I have a friend that has a gem panning attraction and he does really well with it, especially with school groups...Good luck with it!

rcj3 · Post by **rcj3** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:42 pm

Thanks for the reply. I look forward to any help I can get. Life is crazy for my family right now or I would attempt writing. I am hoping to involve my wife and daugthers with this and make it a family thing. We just found out my wife has cancer so I am hoping this will make us closer and help with the bills. I just keep telling myself it is in Gods hands not mine. I just follow where I think he is leading me and things for this just seem to be falling into place.

icandrawem2 · Post by **icandrawem2** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:32 pm

No problem, i am sorry to hear that about your wife. I hope everything works out for you guys, Im sure it will. Keep us posted on your progress. What part of Maryland are you in?

rcj3 · Post by **rcj3** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:20 pm

I am in the Hagerstown Maryland area. Nice area in between the mountains and the flatlands by the bay. Thank you for the well wishes and I will keep you posted. Once it is done I will post pictures to share.

DancinBelle · Post by **DancinBelle** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 8:46 pm

That sounds like a cool idea! My little sister loves rocks. You could make people wear the mining hats with the big forehead lights turned on. Make sure you have loads of fake gold for the little ones, they love anything shiny.

Holly · Post by **Holly** » Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:22 pm

I remember going to a rock and fossil show when I was little and digging for cheap bits of rock. I got a Herkimer diamond, a tiny unpolished emerald, and a few other things. I was very happy to have anything called "diamond" or "emerald", even though I knew they were worth almost nothing! When I was a kid, I was crazy for any rock that was interesting -- I found rocks with tiny spiral-shelled crustacean fossils, a dark purple glassy rock (that my mom told me was probably industrial biproduct), geodes cut in half, rocks of interesting shapes and textures, quartz rocks... Over the years, I have even added an uncut opal, a fossilized mammal shoulder blade (maybe deer), puffer fish mouths, part of a fossil leg bone, many shark teeth and manatee ribs (and even one piece of copralite -- a.k.a. dino poo, found at a phosphate mine... where I also found quicksand!). I never liked the agates dyed crazy colors... but there are so many fascinating things in the world to see! My friend will spend hundreds of dollars on vacation just to "mine" trilobytes. Many people love "beach glass" and make jewelry out of it. Real rocks have stories, and it is fascinating to find something weird and then learn about it... I hope that you have lots of success with your dig, and that you enjoy working with the kids and seeing how fascinated they are with their finds!

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:21 am

Really sorry to hear about your wife. Keep your faith strong. I think you're right about the timing of the other things falling into place. Keep pursuing them and keep your minds occupied on those things, too, for a sort of break from the other stuff. I'll help with some ideas where I can - sounds like you've got a great start on it already. I'll think through it more during my drive times this week and get back to you.

(sorry to all I've been away for a while - too many hours working on stuff to pay the bills, not enough working on my themed attraction writing projects. I'll try to get more involved in discussions again. This is a great community of people!)

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 2:45 am

I've been jotting down a bunch of "blue sky" type notes and some questions.

So far, it involves a group of people (your family) that is on a journey of dreams. The time period is around 1850, when everyone is heading out West for the Gold Rush, and leaving behind a fortune in gems. There is plenty to go around, but help is needed (by the participants) to find the gems in this location before a gang in hot pursuit tries to steal the claim as their own.

I like the ideas you have for remodeling the prospector's shack. I think it could be enhanced even more (involving more senses - more experiential) with a CD sound track coming from inside, with sounds of a running creek and a light, mellow guitar/banjo/fiddle... There could also be rustling around and banging of pots and pans before the grand entrance.
Other parts (in addition to the Prospector) could be a mercantile/shop owner, a school marm, a traveling musician... Any parts played by anyone, depending on how each member of your family wants to do that, or trading off each time, even.
There could be a gem-sniffing dog involved (off chasing rabbits if you don't have one), with the occasional chicken bone thrown into the mix with the gems.

Other educational materials could also be included - geology, gemology, history..., and different things for different age groups.

This is just a rough start - any collaboration is welcome.
I'll do more research into the time period, location...
(I also liked the idea of the king's treasure - they use that at Legoland in CA. The Prospector just seems more fun, to start.)

Holly · Post by **Holly** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:51 am

There's lots of treasure in them thar' hills!
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/LA-Treasures.html

God bless! I hope that your wife gets better soon, and the doctors work with you on the money so that the payment plan is managable...

-----------------
P.S. It might be interesting to provide the opportunity to learn other crafts of the period that might be common on the frontier -- ex. carding wool, making candles, making butter, sampling/making food that a family headed west would have eaten on the trail, etc. Many "frontier crafts" are relatively cheap materials-wise, and provide kids with an opportunity to understand what daily activities were for a real family before modern conveniences.

P.P.S. Here's some interesting information, maybe some stories that could fuel the imagination:
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Oregontrail.html
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/home.html

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 3:21 pm

Great links, Holly!

icandrawem2 · Post by **icandrawem2** » Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:36 pm

By the way RCJ, PM me your email address and I will get you in touch with my good friend in NC who has been doing the gem panning thing for about 4 years now, he might can point you in the right direction on some aspects of operating it. Did you already choose what company youre going with on the equipment? I think he went with a company out of canada, they exhibit at IAAPA every year, very nice people.

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:23 am

Any updates on how this is going? And how's your wife doing?

I've written down a bunch of pages of rough notes. I'll try to make sense of it soon and post it to see what you think.

Keep hanging in there.

rcj3 · Post by **rcj3** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:38 pm

Hey everyone

It has been a crazy time. Progress has been slow. With weather and doctors I havent progressed very far on it. I am trying to get back into finishing it. There is a lcal event the end of March that I am hoping to be ready for. Keeping my fingers crossed. I look forward to hearing your ideas.

My wife is doing okay. As best as can be expected with the chemo. No worries as God will get us through.

everyone enjoy the coming spring and warm weather.

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:14 am

Good to hear an update from you. Keep hangin' in there. I'll try to post something more complete (as far as a backstory) very soon. I've been going through my notes again this week on a few different projects, and will move this to the top of the list.

rcj3 · Post by **rcj3** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:09 am

Just checking back in. Things are moving along slowly. My pump for the water came in and I have the trough almost finished. I just need to get the cables fixed so the top goes up and down. So hopefully by the end of this month it will be ready.

On the home front my wife is down to 2 chemo treatments left then she is all done. YEAH!!!! After tomorrow it will be one. Just in time for summer. I want to thank everyone for the well wishes.

Keep Smilin' everyone

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Fri May 08, 2009 2:46 am

I really am working on this, still. I got "derailed" when I found out the time line of railroads didn't line up with part of the direction I was going, but it needed to be more simplified anyway. I found some good books to use as reference this last weekend and got a good amount done on the outlining last week. I'll try to get it done soon.
If you want to figure out a way to add on some cardboard or wooden wagon wheels, either after arriving at each location or permanently, the "shack" could be a water wagon (that assisted travelers headed West as your group headed East), that would be part of the back story for the water flume.
I'll get a more complete story out soon.

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:36 am

How's this going on your end? I've done a lot more research and got many more notes and ideas. Did you ever get it up and running as a business? And, how's your wife doing?
Hope all is well for you and your family.

rcj3 · Post by **rcj3** » Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:59 pm

Wow it is great to see things back. I missed this place. Well things got to a stand still over the summer with getting it done. Work and finances slowed things down. I hope to get it going again soon. Thanks for not forgetting about it. It has been pretty frustrating to me looking out and seeing not progressing.
Thanks for asking about my wife. She is doing good. She has the last of her treatments in January. YEAH!!!! We didnt the Koman walk in October which was her one year anniversary of being diagnosted with cancer. It was a incredible and moving weekend. I am so proud of her.

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:39 am

Good to see people finding it back up and running again.
Great to hear about your wife.
I understand about being busy with work. I've still been trying to juggle different writing projects and been busier with regular work than ever. I'll get back to you with more stuff soon.

Holly · Post by **Holly** » Sat Dec 12, 2009 1:37 am

So glad to hear about your wife. It's nice that she can enjoy the holidays and only have to think about making it through one more round. When you have to go through something tough, it's nice when the end goal is within sight and you just have to get through the last push... Kudos to her -- I'm sure going through all of those treatments feels like quite an accomplishment. I hope some good things come to you both in the coming year, so that you can just rest and enjoy time together...

It seems like everyone has been slowed down lately and there's not a lot going on for most people because of this economy... but there's a lot of hope that everything will start rolling again in a matter of months, and there will be more things to work on than time to do them in... Hopefully the pieces will fall together for your project some day when you aren't looking for it... We look forward to hearing more about your project. But for now, have a wonderful holiday!!

joan frazier · Post by **joan frazier** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 2:17 am

I agree with what DanicnBelle posted here. Kids love shiny things, and if they would go with their parents in gem mining, maybe it would be nice if you could give them something safe to wear and something to bring so they would not be bored.

I hope I have helped with you with some of my ideas. have fun!

Thanks for sharing.

http://practicebuildingcenter.com

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Sun Aug 15, 2010 11:40 pm

How are things going with this? Still working on it? I wanted to bring it back to the top of the discussion and see how you are doing. Hope you and your family are well.

rcj3 · Post by **rcj3** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 2:31 pm

Yep I am kind of working on it. Right now it is parked. Other priorities have been pushed ahead. Thanks for asking. The family is doing good. Kids are growing faster than I want but that happens. I will keep you posted if I get some steam behind it again.

Michael143 · Post by **Michael143** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 8:33 pm

I like the suggestions here. I'm sure if you follow the suggestions here Chris, your portable gem mining business would be very fun and exciting.

wokcreative · Post by **wokcreative** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 10:55 pm

It's been quite a few years now. I didn't know if this board was even still going. I got side-tracked with personal stuff, especially this last year. I'm trying to get things going again.
I actually did do a lot of research and notes on this and can send or post them.

It would be great to see this site active again.

~<80]

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