Every year a deluge of flood waters dislodge thousands of ounces of placer, crystalline, nuggets, and free-gold from the canyons and hillsides world-wide, for the "Weekend Prospector" to find.
With a few simple tools costing less than $100.00, you can have a wonderful time enjoying the natural beauty of the outdoors, while at the same time pulling money right out of the ground! The United States is rich with a constantly replenished source of wealth,
just waiting for the person with the right tools to find and "harvest" it.
Metal Detectors
There are many different types of metal detectors, but if your search is for gold nuggets, I would suggest the White's GMT or the White's Goldmaster GM3
, the Garrett Scorpion Gold Stinger, the Fisher Gold Bug 2 or the Minelab XT 17000 Gold Detector. These detection devices are field-proven to find nuggets in a wide range of terrain conditions and ground mineralization. If you are interested in comparing these and many other fine detectors, there are many
prospecting shops close to you.. You can even find treasures in your own front yard. Just remember that detectors can be costly: about $600.00, for most good quality detectors on an average.
The basic operation of most gold and metal detectors is the same, although they employ many different sophisticated electronics to achieve the same end results. When the detector's search coil is passed over a metal target (at a speed similar to a grandfather clock's pendulum), its circuitry converts the reflected signal into an audible rise and fall in either pitch or volume as heard usually through headphones. When the search head (coil) is positioned directly over the center of the target, such as a coin or nugget, its signal will sound at loudest volume or highest pitch on the detector's headphone speakers.
A gold pan can be purchased for as little as $6.00. The newest pans have built-in ridges and "gravity traps" which help to isolate heavier metals such as gold and platinum with less strenuous effort, and with minimal experience.
A couple of old, clean 5 gallon paint buckets.
An old, but not too rusty garden trowel.
Some fine pointed but sturdy tweezers.
A fine point camel hair paintbrush, with a tip about 1/16 inch in diameter and 3/16 inch in length.
An "eyedropper" or small suction tube.
An inexpensive magnifying glass or "loupe".
An airtight plastic bottle, small enough for a shirt pocket, clear if possible.
A 35mm plastic film can, with lid.
An old pair of tennis shoes, or even better, a new pair of NikeAqua Sox.
The last item in the "inexpensive" list is the most expensive, but isn't absolutely necessary to find gold. A quality lightweight and "packable" sluice box can be purchased for as little as $35.00. Remember, having the "right tools" will make your efforts more rewarding.
Are You Ready to Try Your Hand at Stream Panning?
Most U.S. Forest land is still open for the careful use of the people, but check with your local prospecting shop first for any possible regulations or limitations. Gold "sniping" or hunting is allowed in most National Forest land without permits or fees, but it's always best to play it safe, especially within the National Parks.
Put on your old pair of sneakers or waterproof shoes, because you're going to get wet! It's mighty slippery walking on those river and streambed rocks, so please be very careful!
As you scan the terrain looking for likely spots to prospect, consider your impact on the land by always leaving your site the way you found it or better! Along with my "treasure bag", I always carry a "trash bag" for packing out pop tops, tinfoil, cans and other souvenirs of modern man's "progress".
Look for a bend in the stream or river, then, making sure that the current is not too strong, search along the inside curve of the bend, paying close attention to areas of black sand. This iron ore is the indication of where the heavier ores accumulate. Hope you didn't throw away that old 5 gallon paint bucket, because that and your garden variety hand shovel (trowel) are perfect for scooping up gravel from under the downstream side of rocks and boulders (a well-known hiding place for nuggets).
Now What Do I Do With All This Dirt?
When your bucket is full of gravel dug from the deepest crevices and pockets, carry it over to the side of the stream to practice your panning skills with one trowel full at a time. Before you toss that big rock out of your pan, take a second short but close look at it. Even pro's have thrown away large nuggets in their haste to work a pan down to fine ore, and once it's back in the stream you have to find it all over again. Besides, if you are a rockhound like me, you will see the beauty and uniqueness of every stone as part of the enjoyment that comes with the search for gold. Near the side of the stream, slowly circulate the pan just under the surface of the water. This action will cause the less turbulent current at the side of the stream to gently wash away the lighter minerals and sand, leaving the heavier deposits to fall to the deepest portions of your pan. As you break up clods of dirt with one hand, keep circulating the pan and you will soon see that the stream's current does most of the work in separating the lighter minerals from the potential "paydirt", which inevitably is the last material left in your pan.
You can set up a tub of water in the backyard (one that's at least twice the diameter of your gold pan), to practice moving the lighter material out of your pan. In the stream, the current makes your pan and it's contents more visible by keeping the "clouds" of dirt from blocking your view. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the backyard tub, but it really doesn't matter that you can't see the pan through the murky water. Remember: Gold is very heavy, and will always be the last material left in the gold pan.
To practice, use a piece of lead (fishing weight or bullet) to simulate a nugget in your pan of gravel/dirt. If it makes you feel better, you can paint the piece of lead with gold paint or gold leaf.When you progress in skill, use an ever smaller piece of lead and see how quickly you can "work the gravel down", leaving only your lead "nugget" and some heavier ores (like black iron) in the pan. Remember that gold is heavier than lead, so if you are successful at keeping the lead in your pan, the real gold will be even easier to retain.
Sometimes the gold that you find looks so microscopic that it hardly seems worth the effort. As the old saying goes, "a long journey begins with a single step", so too does a vile full of gold "dust" begin with a single grain. To pick up those little pieces of gold, I have found that a small camel hair paintbrush works well. When your gold and iron ore are worked down in the pan, drain off any water left and use the wet tip of the brush to snag the gold flake (don't worry, it will stick). Then, holding your plastic vile full of water over the pan, immerse the tip of the brush into the vile, using a little agitation if necessary, and watch as the tiny flakes or nuggets drop to the bottom of the vile. An alternative to the paintbrush is an eyedropper or turkey baster to suck the gold up for transfer to your vile.
A sluice box may be any size, but the use and construction of all sluices is basically the same; A rectangular box of wood or aluminum with the upstream end flared out to divert the stream's current into the box and across its riffles. The upstream end of the sluice box should be elevated about 1" to 3" above the downstream end, depending on its length. Also, a "classifier", which is just a framework with a 1/4" screen (screen size can vary), can be home-made to fit on top of the upstream flared end of your sluice box. The classifier keeps larger stones from clogging the action of the current at the top, and must be occaisionally emptied out as you shovel in more gravel. Some prospectors use a classifier on top of their 5 gallon paint bucket, allowing only finer gravels to be dumped onto the sluice. Situating the sluice box along the side of the stream, find a spot almost equal in depth to the sluice's depth, place the sluice parallel to the current, and adjust the angle with stones under the upstream end. Make sure that the current is not too strong, or your sluice will wash away!
A good current will wash the heavier stones across the riffles and out the downstream end, but you should see finer gravel circulating in "eddies" downstream of each riffle.
When you have washed about 5 to 10 buckets of gravel across the sluice box, it is time to carefully lift the box out of the stream and put the downstream end carefully into your empty and clean 5 gallon bucket . Carefully wash the sluice with your other bucket full of clear water, concentrating on the sides and keeping the box tilted slightly off vertical so as not to lose any ore. Loosen the riffle screen (carefully), and wash the screen thoroughly before removing it from the sluice box in the bucket. When you have inspected the screen and riffles for any obvious ore, set it aside. Now, carefully roll the "rug" material from top (upstream end) to bottom so that any ore remains inside the rug. Wash the sluice frame thoroughly before removing it from the bucket. You should now have plenty of water in the bucket to wash the rug out. It may seem that you don't have much ore in the bucket for all your efforts, but when you pan out the heavy ore in the bottom of the bucket you will find much more gold than you would with just random shovelsfull out of the stream. When you find any gold, stick to digging in that spot, as gold does accumulate in pockets.
There are some alternative forms of sluices and pans, but I have not personally tried them, nor can I vouch for their effectiveness.
When you are rich enough from your finds to afford one, a dredge will speed up the processing of river gravel by acting as a "vacuum cleaner" for the streambed. Commonly, dredges run from $500.00 and upward, although you might pick one up used in classified ads for much less. I have had good luck using a Keene Engineering model "Backpack Dredge". With the proper equipment on, you can explore mid-stream crevices and under submerged boulders for the heavier and more elusive nuggets that like to hide in midstream.
In Jamestown, California, along the Golden Highway 49, many prospecting packages are offerred for families interested in trying their luck.
Public lands belong to all taxpaying citizens for their pleasure and enjoyment, but please try to conserve and keep our natural resources clean and unpolluted, and "PLEASE" be careful with fires.
My name is Jim Porter.
Please feel free to e-mail me about your fortunate true experiences in gold prospecting, and I will try to add any helpful new information to "The Weekend Prospector", so that we might all have better luck in the gold fields!
For additional information about prospecting and gold, silver, and platinum, please visit my blog
Many thanks to John & Yoko Lennon, and all the Beatles for their immeasurable contributions to the world of music, and for allowing me to use my interpretation of "Free As A Bird" on this web page.
gold pan can be purchased for as little as $6.00. The newest pans have built-in ridges and "gravity traps" which help to isolate heavier metals such as gold and platinum with less strenuous effort, and with minimal experience.
This iron ore is the indication of where the heavier ores accumulate. Hope you didn't throw away that old 5 gallon paint bucket, because that and your garden variety hand shovel (trowel) are perfect for scooping up gravel from under the downstream side of rocks and boulders (a well-known hiding place for nuggets).
Please feel free to e-mail me about your fortunate true experiences in gold prospecting, and I will try to add any helpful new information to "The Weekend Prospector", so that we might all have better luck in the gold fields!
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