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Gold And Quicksands


tvanwho

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I was out in a seemingly dried up creek panning for gold in southern Illinois. A lot of the local creeks going under the roadways were about dried up I noticed, even some rivers.

I stopped at a creek out in the boondocks that was 40 feet wide and a gravel bottom but hardly had a trickle and a few inches deep of water flowing.

I never expected to encounter quicksand in pea size gravels but in one area closer to the bank with seemingly no water present, I went in up to my shins unexpectedly.

Being 500 feet from the bridge , on a Sunday, in the country,well screaming for help would not have worked too well with nobody around !!

Fortunately, I got out ok and told myself, lets get outta here. No gold was showing up and I was kinda scared. Not worth the risk.

I know when we were at Ganes creek gold mine they warned us not to go in areas where they were washing gravels by the big sluice. I never understood why until now.

Be careful out there. Its not just quick sand but quick gravels too on what looks like solid ground. Has anybody else had this happen to them? How do you get out if you do go in too deep and nobody around to help you?

 

-Tom

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The science of quicksand/gravel is pretty interesting...apparently the right combination of sand/gravel, organic material and an up-flow of water can cause this...

The experts say to relax and swim your way out...

When I was young I tried to make quicksand but never got it right...

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There are several scary YouTube videos of quicksand/gravel situations, 1 guy was stuck for 3 days  in a gravel pit he was hiking around in, fortunate to be rescued but almost lost his legs to gangrene, another persons horse went in out in a California desert along a sandy creek, took a helicopter to get the horse out, in England they use 2 x4 foot pieces of plywood as stepping stones out to the person in distress.

As a teen we walked on quick sand where a dozer operator told us he had compacted it to where it was safe as he was excavating a swamp. It was like walking on rolling jello as I recall, a VERY uneasy feeling.

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