Are There Gold Detecting Opportunities In Washington?

[OwenT]

I want to get into detecting here and I know that there's a couple places where at least some nuggets have been found but in general WA isn't known for much big gold. Does anybody know anything about or have experience with detecting here?

[IDdesertman]

Hi OwenT,

 

You are right, Washington isn't much for nuggets. There are places to find gold all through the Cascades but most is fine.

 

Liberty, WA is definitely the best-known nugget producing area in the state. I haven't researched land status myself, but I would expect most of this area is heavily claimed since the big nuggets are well-known and the mining district is relatively small. Maybe worth researching though. The pics below are from the visitor sign as you enter Liberty,, pretty nice stuff!

[OwenT]

You're correct, the Liberty area is heavily claimed. I believe also that most of that big stuff was/is recovered from drifting and some pits that go pretty deep. There's some gold throughout the gravels but much of the good stuff is buried deeply and well out of reach for one guy with a detector.

[Rob]

Here's a video of some fabulously large nuggets detected on Oct. 6th, 2013 on a dig in the Swauk Mining district located close to Liberty, WA. The claim owner, Mike Corbley passed away five months later on Mar. 3rd, 2014.

 

 

Liberty WA, is also known for producing spectacular wire gold....check out this video...

 

[OwenT]

I've seen that video a couple times. Fantastic finds. It looks to me like significant work was done to remove overburden though in order to get down to those guys. That wire gold is beautiful and I thought it'd be awesome to find some of that too.