Briefing.A FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT OF RUNNING A SMALL BUSINESS THE gold rush isn't over. Today, local prospectors, or hobbyists, in need of anything from a pan to a pick often go to Keene Engineering Co. in Chatsworth. Started 50 years ago, the family-owned business is run by Wayne Keene and his sons, Mark and Patrick. Staff reporter Claudia Peschiutta talked to Mark Keene about the market for mining equipment. "(My grandfather) started off as being a miner prospector. He started to build equipment for himself because, in those days, there was no mining equipment. There was nothing more than picks and shovels. "Being an engineer, he had come up with some designs where you basically had an underwater vacuum cleaner vacuum cleaner, mechanical device using a draft of air to remove dust, loose dirt, or other particulate matter from dry surfaces. It is especially useful on highly textured surfaces, such as carpets and upholstery, that are difficult to clean by wiping or brushing. . You suck
You Suck: A Love Story is the tenth novel by Christopher Moore. It is a sequel to the author's Bloodsucking Fiends up the material from the bottom of the river. Then, it runs it through a sluice box and everything just falls. All the gold that's in the material settled into the sluice. "Some of his friends liked his equipment so he started making things for them and one thing led to another and now we're in our 50th year of business. "We're primarily a manufacturer. We make, starting on the low end, gold pans. We are the world's largest supplier of portable prospecting equipment. On the high end are the more sophisticated gold dredges The gold dredge is a mechanical method of extracting gold from sand and gravel. The basic concepts of retrieving gold has not changed much from the beginnings of the gold rush. The concept is that gold will settle as it is heavier and the dirt, sand and rock will wash away. and we're also into making reclamation Reclamation A claim for the right to return or the right to demand the return of a security that has been previously accepted as a result of bad delivery or other irregularities in the delivery and settlement process. dredges now, too. A reclamation dredge is a machine that scoops up the material on the bottom of a pond, lake or marina. Then, it agitates it and sucks it up and passes it through a pump and can discharge material a mile away. "We have a lot of retired customers. We have doctors, lawyers, retired people, people on welfare. It's kind of a mixed group. One of my best customers is a 16-year-old girl. "Business is really good for us right now. We're probably doing as good or better than we've ever done in the past. "If a person wants to just go with the bare minimum and wants to go and have some fun, they can come in and get a gold pan, maybe a rock pick and a gold bottle sniffer See network analyzer. sniffer - packet sniffer and that's enough just to get someone started. (That costs about) $25. "Locally, probably one of the most popular areas (for mining is at) the San Gabriel River San Gabriel River is the name of watercourses in two states:
A 15 year Gold FHLMC (Freddie Mac) bond; similar to a Dwarf. and it's really fun. "It's not just hard work. It's that you're up in the mountains and away from the city. That's the appealing part." * Have a Story To Tell? Please write to Editor, The Weekly Briefing, 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 170 Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , CA 90036 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion