Treasure Hunting – Playing hide and seek with gold – Part 2

“Gold is where you find it.” – A stranger

OK…that may be true, but that doesn’t give us any clues as to where the gold is actually hiding. In Part 1 we talked about water, and how water can concentrate gold into “pockets”, and how we can identify the likely location of some of those pockets by imagining where flood-stage water would be fastest and where that water would slow down. However, these are not the only places where gold can hide. Here are some other tidbits from the gold lore. Once again, I am going to focus on gold found in waterways and riverbeds.

First, (and this seems obvious to me) look for gold where gold has been found before. There is no point in looking for gold in a river or stream if no gold has ever been found there. The veterans were thorough in their search, and I doubt there is a place in the northern hemisphere that has gold that the veterans haven’t found at least color. There are many, many books that cover (in detail) where to find gold in your state, or perhaps a nearby state.

Second, gold is heavy. Will be UNDER everything else (overloaded). Don’t pan for gold on top of overload. The action of the water would ensure that the gold is driven into a layer that it cannot penetrate… bedrock. Now, it is possible that the river bed has several layers of clay. This clay can sometimes act as bedrock, and gold can sit on top of this layer of clay until sufficient flooding and fast water breaks it up. But, if it’s not clay layers, look for the gold AT THE BASE…not the top…not the middle. IN BASE!

Third, gold will “fall” into cracks and crevices in bedrock, even in areas where water pressure would be rapid. If you have a section of exposed riverbed that is “craggy”, open it up and clean out the contents… ALL the contents. If there is gold in that crack, it will be at the bottom of that crack.

Fourth, check under the rocks. Do this especially on the “boulder line” between inside curves. But, any rock in the river could be hiding a nugget or two. When dealing with rocks, make sure you do it smart. Always inspect the rock, the rocks it rests on, the direction (slope) it will slide, and gravity. Do NOT compromise by sticking your arm under a rock to get some of the “good stuff”. Don’t compromise by working on the “downhill side.” -a-long’ to move it.

Do you have a metal detector? If so, you can do a much faster search of your area using it. This is not a job for a children’s toy detector. If possible, use a detector made specifically for gold. They are very sensitive, have good ground balance, and very little discrimination, so be prepared for a lot of “garbage” to go along with the gold. Using a detector over a river bed that has many cracks and crevices can show whether it is worth working on or not. It’s also much safer to use a detector and remove some areas in and around large rocks rather than trying to move those rocks only to find that there’s nothing there.

Make sure you have a couple of gold pans with you. When you’re cleaning out cracks or shoveling under a rock, you want to save and test what you’ve spent time gathering. We’ll talk about panning in future articles, but here’s a tip: always pan in a pan (or something that prevents you from losing small gold that accidentally spills out of the pan). Never look directly at the river.

Just remember… gold is good for hiding. But, if you understand how gold moves and where it can hide, you’ll almost guarantee some “color” (almost), and maybe even a little nugget or two. Be persistent. Gold prospecting is not for the easily discouraged. Increase your knowledge. Hone your skills. You will get gold!