Cascade Steven

Welcome to the forum!

Travis: Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your finds with us. Some nice looking pieces and congratulations on your finds. If you don't mind me asking, did these come from a creek or from a dredge tailings or some other source. Just curious. Best wishes for continued success.

Welcome!

Again, thank you to all that taken the time to offer a response. Your input is greatly appreciated.

Steve and Jasong: Thank you both for your comments and I do understand and appreciate your comments on fishing and also the public disclosure information. I will try the fishing pole approach. 🙂

Steve: Thank you for the links. Much appreciated. I suspect that I should have stated more clearly my desire. Specifically that I was hoping against hope that there was some sort of informal list of "better known patches" that would include for example: Nevada-Rye Patch, ABC and DEF; Idaho-GHI and JKL; Oregon (northeastern)-MNO, and PQR in southwestern Oregon [where ABC, for example, is the specific name of a location]. I do appreciate everyone's input. Thank you.

WesD: Thanks for the help.

I have read numerous comments on this forum about nugget patches. In several comments the Rye Patch, Nevada area was referenced. In the book "The Complete, Unabridged Zip Zip" by Larry Sallee, in chapter two he comments "...most of the better known patches are getting hit pretty hard." As a beginner, is there a place (or reference) where I might find location information on these "better known patches" (maps, text description, etc.)? I have tried to read many of the comments on this forum regarding nugget patches but have not yet found an answer to my question. Did I miss something? I certainly understand why some of this information might be considered "proprietary". Any help would be greatly appreciated and thank you in advance for your input. An added note: I am interested in not only Nevada but also all western states including Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Jeff: Thanks for your help

Jim: Thanks for your advice. Much appreciated.

I am new to gold prospecting and nugget hunting and just recently purchased a new Goldmaster 24k. To learn more about this endeavor I have been reading as much as possible on this and other forums. I have read comments on this forum that one advantage of the VLF detector is its ability to discriminate between gold and junk in areas of past or historic mining activity. And I have also read that the conductivity of gold will vary depending upon its purity. At the risk of sounding dumb and having missed the obvious, my question is this: How do I use the VLF to discriminate, find gold and avoid the trash in a trashy area that may have iron scrap, bird shot, empty 22 shell casings, aluminum foil and other modern and old trash? Thank you to all of you in advance for your patience and help.

Welcome to the group.

Welcome aboard and glad you could join us.

Unfortunately I found the White's forum only weeks before it closed. Otherwise I too would have been a member. Welcome.

Just a couple of site-specific notes on the Pacific Northwest based on some limited initial VLF detecting. In the Oregon Cascades, the Quartzville Mining District appears to be an area of mild mineral content. In eastern Washington, the area about 10 East-Southeast of Spokane, in the Spokane Valley area is also of mild mineral content. In both instances I have focused on small areas where I had permission to use a detector. Other areas nearby may be different.

As a young man over 50 years ago I became interested in prospecting for gold, especially in the Western Cascade Range of Oregon. As is often the case, life has a way of diverting ones interests and attention through such events as jobs and family. Now that I have finally retired and am living near Spokane, WA, I have once again chosen to pursue the hobby of gold prospecting. Only this time I decided that in addition to the gold pan, I would add a more modern companion prospecting tool, the metal detector. I am a lifelong fan of White’s metal detectors and have for many years wanted one of their instruments. This fall when I learned of their closure I decided to act quickly while I still had some opportunity for equipment acquisition, albeit limited. While doing research on equipment options I found this forum. I do greatly appreciate the wealth of information presented here, and must give a “shout out” to several people on this forum who were willing to help me with basic questions about equipment and aid in purchasing the proper coils and related items for gold prospecting. I now have both a White’s Goldmaster 24k and also a White’s TDI SL. After viewing several videos on YouTube to learn the proper settings, I was able to test my 24k in one of the mining districts in the Cascades. I am pleased to report that although I have not yet found gold, I did find some very tiny flakes of iron shavings and also a couple of lead bullet fragments. This provided the needed encouragement that the 24k had the correct settings and now all I need is to practice and find favorable terrain. There are also candidate terrains in Idaho that I hope to research. I do appreciate the wealth of information provided on this forum.