Herb Hyder, Alpine Gem Miner...playing the waiting game - A Fly On The Wall’s Views and Reviews

GUEST POST: I want to thank Christine Ford for this touching story.

…if you have been blessed – please try to give this young man a hand.

Christine has recently found her passion in her writing and we are grateful for it. I think I have her talked into starting her own blog – so keep an eye out!

HERB HYDER: LIVING THE DREAM FOR US ALL

…One Meal At A Time.

The Life of an Alpine Gem Miner

waiting for his claims to melt.

By Christine Ford

32 year old Herb Hyder is enjoying a lifestyle many of us only sit in our armchairs and dream about. He mines gold and gemstones in the rugged and beautiful wilds of British Columbia.

It is not unusual for this determined young man to hike twenty or thirty kilometers a day in search of rare and precious treasures from the earth. He has at various times found aquamarines, gold, agates, topaz and moonstone. He also currently lives in his truck and is going days without food while he waits for his high altitude claims to melt in this late spring.

Hyder had a hard start in this life. His parents, a silversmith father and water colorist mother, were “both never very successful” as artists and lived a nomadic, hippy-type lifestyle, says Hyder. High rents kept them from a stable situation, and the only time he ate well was when they were able to plant a garden.

Despite their poverty, he was able to spend time with his mothers family in the U. S. before he began school, and had his first exposure to gem and mineral shows at that time. An aunt took him to a show and he was fascinated by the crystals in all their various forms. He even went on some digs and found a small blue aquamarine, which he lost in the shag carpet and still regrets to this day! He also learned something about gems from his silversmith father.

His parents divorced when Hyder was 13. He stayed with his father, but their extreme poverty singled him out for bullying in school, and after a few years, he could take no more and dropped out of school in the seventh grade. Spending time at home, where meals could be days apart and strange characters abounded was not an option for Hyder, he took his love of hiking, learned from his mother, and began exploring the slopes above Nelson, B.C. Eventually he discovered mine tailings that yielded crystals, one of which netted him fifty dollars. It bought food, and a new way of life for Herb Hyder.

He began to spend each day hiking and exploring new locales, taking the bus to more distant locations. He talked to people and read every book on geology he could get his hands on. He began to have some success as a miner. Of course, Hyder has held many various jobs over the years, always with the intent to earn enough to work his claims. Once he was even paid handsomely for a graphite discovery, but Hyder says it was mostly in company stocks governed by U.S, law and as a Canadian he was unable to benefit as he should have. He has suffered other misfortunes, once losing his vehicle ( and home) to a rollover accident on icy roads, then having all his goods impounded while he was in the hospital.

Times haven’t always been bad for Hyder. Once he had a home, a girlfriend, a normal life, all things he hopes to have again someday. Meanwhile, he keeps chasing that dream, searching for that one big find.

As a journalist who wrote about the reality TV series Prospectors, I know these finds are possible. I also know how many people sit at home in the evening after a long day of work and go on Facebook to rock hounding sites and say, “ I sure wish I could do that.”. I have followed Herb Hyder on Facebook for some time. He works and struggles constantly to succeed, taking odd jobs, doing whatever he can to survive, and always his optimism and spirit show through.

“I just hope I can survive until the snows melt and hope I find lots of gems this summer. Hope. It’s all I can go on right now,” said Hyder.

He has a passport and is ready to travel if a real job is offered. He has even spoken to the Discovery Channel, who interviewed him for a reality TV show, something not many would want to cope with if they lived alone in the mountains and dreamed of making it big on their own, but Hyder is desperate.

If you are one of those armchair wishers or even a miner yourself, and would like to help Herb Hyder stay in B. C. and live the dream for us all, please read his own words at http://www.gofundme.com/6qt0es. Please share his story with your friends and family.