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Detecting Around The River


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ya, my biggest problem is I have a lot to learn, I just bought a couple of books on the subject to help me out. one is by Jim Straight, its called "Advanced prospecting & Detecting for Hardrock Gold" and the other is by Peter Heydelaar called "Successful Nugget Hunting," both really good books. Jim Straight's book is really in depth and i have to keep referring to the glossary and a dictionary while Im reading it. Still for my thick skull I need to go out and do it to make any sense of it. Out in the field feels so different, it all sounds pretty clear while I'm reading about it and then when putting boots to the ground everything looks different and the landmarks I want to find begin to blur with the landscape. this is what they call GREEN, I'm very green, but want to focus my education in the most productive way knowing there are no shortcuts. 

 

again I'm really appreciating the time taken to answer my newbie questions, its a great help. The lessons from Rudy out in the field were a huge help for me in knowing what I was doing wrong and what to focus on out there in the desert, now this is beginning to put some of the river issues into perspective and how to focus my energy in ways better suited to the equipment.

Thank you

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You definetly need to be on the gold. Picking a spot to detect is 90 percent. And detecting is 10 percent. Not sure what county or part of the river your checking. But do some research. Goto cdnc.org I think it might be .com search for name of river. For example I think you said american river. So type american river nugget in search box. Or say for example plumas nugget or lump. It will find all articles that have the word plumas and nugget in the same article. But back then the papers called the big gold lumps also. Then you can see where they found coarse gold. You might see an article that says for example smith bar on american river 10 oz nugget found. Most places along rivers tradionaly kept the same names so look the places up. But make sure you find out its not private or claimed. I use minecache.com to see existing claims and past. Just so I dont goto someones claim and disrespect them. Make sure in your newspaper search that it searches all newspapers. Sacramento daily union was a good one.

You can search any county by name and nugget or lump and find some fine results.unfortunetly they dont have all the papers that I had a chance to research in the past.

Good luck

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California gold, thank you for the great info something i will use.

 

for now I have been prospecting on club claims "Comstock Gold Prospectors" This last claim I went down into is in a very good area off forrest hill near the location of the old town of deadwood.  I also had a gold pan with me and did one small test sample that had a few specks in it and I know from club reports that there is gold on the claim. now the location of nuggets or if they exist on the claim at this point I am guessing yes based on the history of the area, but I don't know the spot enough to tell if or where any deposits could have originated. it was supposed to be one of the best areas in the old days and I don't think they had any hydraulic activity. tailing piles cover the hillside near the claim and the soil is a deep rich red.

 

I don't think there are any mining claims on top of the mountain all of that is active timber harvest, however I am guessing the top of the mountain would not be the best place to look anyway.

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  One of the best books out there is Fists Full of Gold by Chris Ralph. Alot of good, easy to understand info. I highly recommend reading it..

Thanks Ken, next on my list.

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Depends of the area. But there is lots of gold way up on mountains. Old channel, or some kind of lode deposit. Maybe surface pockets. If you find some old surface diggings up on the hills, thats a good place to start. The old miners were geniouses for finding gold. Then look around in the vicinity for more old diggins or some same mineralization and indicators and you might find a virgin patch. Alot of erosion has happend since the old miners left. Like the torential rains cali had in 1964.or el nino of 97-98. I have found a majority of my gold at old diggins. The old timers found the gold for me. I just get the cleanup. One rule of thumb it seems, the closer you are to a river or a road the more human junk metal you find. Out at old diggings away from roads and rivers you get the old junk the miners left. Also it depends on the person , but I like to go far away from the very popular known digging areas. Alot of people dont like to get far from the car. I usually do the best on long hikes into a gold area. Summertime we save spots closer to the truck. My wife cant take the heat too long and gets red faced and dizzy. So we do the long hikes when its cool.

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Pretty sure youll get plenty of hits, if you google "American River nugget,or lump" lol. That is a good idea Californiagold, just couldnt help get a chuckle ....since the gold rush started on the American. At least he can narrow it to the middle fork. Thats a good area your in, but vlf country in sll that iton trash. Try any hillsides that are doable. Lots of hydro pits nearby.

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No,dont google it. Use newspaper collections cdnc.org of coarse everybody knows about the gold rush in 49' on american. But in old newspapers the articles will tell you most of time where. Like somethin bar on american river or somethin hill. Then you can see where they found some coarse gold. Then you just need to see if its private prop or claimed. Which a majority of that region is.

You will find more gold find info in those old newspapers then any book wrote about the area. Guaranteed. it works for anywhere. Oregon has old newspaper collections online, nevada etc.

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