Drywashing A Small Wash

[Jim Schneringer]

So I have been hitting this area drywashing and it has been slim pickens. If I get 0.1 grams after 100 shovels that would be a good day. Usually get half that. But hey it gets me outside and being active and it is still gold. 

So I tested numerous small washes. We are talking 100ft to 200ft long washes. I ran 20 shovels in each wash. One was 5 colors. One was 12 colors. One was 2 colors with almost a tiny picker. Then I hit this 200ft long wash and it was over 40 colors. Been working this wash now for awhile starting 1/3rd the way up. Buddies working the bottom portion. 90% of the gold is right in the middle of the wash. Been tossing rocks and digging a 3ft wide trench down to caliche and moving up the wash. Sides have almost nothing in them. I hit one spot where I found 12 tiny pickers which was one of my best days. 0.82grams in a couple hours with about 240 shovels. This type of wash has been rare in this area and only about 75ft to go before the wash ends. Wash is small loose rock and dirt, more like a hill not very steep. No exposed bedrock sticking out. Looks like some bedrock possibly under the surface. Detected the heck out of the hill with PI and VLF and nothing yet. 

Question for those with experience. What should I normally expect to find as I work the rest of the way up? Maybe the gold gets less and less? Get to a spot and it is suddenly no gold? Start checking the sides when the gold tapers off? Would I expect to be able to follow the gold to a source or even see a source? What is a good way to approach this? Or just stop yappin and dig! Any tips for this wash as it seems like a great wash to learn from. 

Many thanks for info or advice. 
 

[GotAU?]

Hi Jim, looks like you’re in one of the same places I like to go. But I guess they all look alike sometime don’t they? 

I think you’re right, you’re in a place where gold is either washing down during local seasonal flooding from up channel (alluvium) and from material sliding down from the side slopes (colluvium).  If there are any sources on the sides they’re probably getting covered up by the colluvium in the slope 

Your sampling technique is a good idea, I’d think that’s probably the best way to go. It’s a good idea to be taking a few shovel fills as you go up the wash and concentrating in those areas where you get the most returns. And yes, if you are in the area where you notice a concentration, testing a couple holes along the side slope above it may be useful as well.
Good luck with that, looks like fun!

-Anthony

[MD4V.org]

Have you gone down to bedrock? Are you vacuuming the bedrock? 

[Jim Schneringer]

3 hours ago, GotAU? said:

Hi Jim, looks like you’re in one of the same places I like to go. But I guess they all look alike sometime don’t they? 

I think you’re right, you’re in a place where gold is either washing down during local seasonal flooding from up channel (alluvium) and from material sliding down from the side slopes (colluvium).  If there are any sources on the sides they’re probably getting covered up by the colluvium in the slope 

Your sampling technique is a good idea, I’d think that’s probably the best way to go. It’s a good idea to be taking a few shovel fills as you go up the wash and concentrating in those areas where you get the most returns. And yes, if you are in the area where you notice a concentration, testing a couple holes along the side slope above it may be useful as well.
Good luck with that, looks like fun!

-Anthony

First time I hit a wash like this. It is a fun wash and I think a great wash to learn from working my way up. It did rain a bit and I noticed the caliche looked like it dissolved a little. Weird stuff! 

I dug another 10ft up the wash today, probably run it tomorrow. Now that I have room to work, it will be easy to test the sides like you suggest. 

[Jim Schneringer]

2 hours ago, MD4V.org said:

Have you gone down to bedrock? Are you vacuuming the bedrock? 

Down to caliche which is a false bedrock. I usually do not find anything in that false bedrock or below it. The caliche is soft so my shovel digs in a little so i get the top surface. I do brush, but the shovel does such a good job, I find very little after brushing it. But you gotta do it! 

But you have me thinking, maybe some real bedrock is sticking out above the caliche in the wash? Something I need to look for here. Thanks!

[GotAU?]

If you are willing to hack and dig through it, don’t write off what may beneath a caliche layer. GoldSeeker5000 found a nice lunker of a nugget encased inside caliche, and a buddy of mine who drywashes in Az gets a lot of his color only on the true bedrock underneath all the caliche layers at his site.

[MD4V.org]

2 hours ago, Jim Schneringer said:

Down to caliche which is a false bedrock. I usually do not find anything in that false bedrock or below it. The caliche is soft so my shovel digs in a little so i get the top surface. I do brush, but the shovel does such a good job, I find very little after brushing it. But you gotta do it! 

But you have me thinking, maybe some real bedrock is sticking out above the caliche in the wash? Something I need to look for here. Thanks!

Brett Chilcott (pictured), told me you can't get a man to vacuum a rug, but he'll vacuum a gold bearing wash on his hands and knees!

[GotAU?]

Hi Jim, I know it's probably been too hot lately to work your site, just curious if you went back earlier and found good results with your sampling?

Also sent a PM - curious about your astronomy hobby.  

-Anthony

[GotAU?]

On 4/1/2025 at 6:25 PM, MD4V.org said:

Brett Chilcott (pictured), told me you can't get a man to vacuum a rug, but he'll vacuum a gold bearing wash on his hands and knees!

My new patent that should make a bundle! Designed for cleaning the home and making everyone happy!