Dredge Hole

[Millz90]

Hey guys....im wondering what others do in a situation where you spend hours dredging a hole in the creek and then cant get back to the hole for a week or so.

The problem is that when I go back after say two weeks, the hole is gone and I have to start all over dredging down to the bottom where I ended before.

How do you keep your hole empty or kind of empty from new material from filling it??

There has to be a way right?

 

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[arizau]

I would say that about the only solution is to somehow slow down or fully divert the stream current away from your hole and hope that the flow does not increase to stymie your efforts.

 

[N-Lionberger]

What is the streambed like?

 

[Jason in Enid]

Throw your over-sized cobbles in front of the hole to make a dam. to slow and divert the water around your hole.

Of course, that also means that you have to work sideways or downstream from your start point or else you have to move a lot of rock many times.

 

[Millz90]

What is the streambed like?

bunch of little rocks and sand-ish. it fills in quick though.

 

[Millz90]

Throw your over-sized cobbles in front of the hole to make a dam. to slow and divert the water around your hole.

Of course, that also means that you have to work sideways or downstream from your start point or else you have to move a lot of rock many times.

I was thinking of doing this...ill try it! Can hurt.....

I cant believe no one else has this issue lol....Its a pain in the neck then every time I have to waste an hour digging out where I think the old hole was and then I don't want to just throw that dirt to the side and maybe be missing some gold....lol

 

[Jason in Enid]

bunch of little rocks and sand-ish. it fills in quick though.

Ahhhh, you are going to have a problem. I thought you were just having the current sweeping surface gravels along and its dropping into the hole. If everything in your stream is small and loose, your hole is going to collapse every time. You can try the upstream dam, but I bet you have all loose flood material and nothing packed together.

 

[Mgumby16]

Most gold in rivers and streams is usually locked up in hardpack material. So most dredgers mainly deal with hardpack which holds a vertical wall for a pretty long period of time. Flow sand and gravel is a pain because you have to dredge a massive hole to get down to bedrock since the sides cave at about a 45 degree angle.

Ive never been in a stream or river that doesnt have both hardpack material and loose flow sands and gravels, so your best bet is to dredge sample holes until you come across hardpack (the hardpack could be covered by a skim of loose material). As an added bonus hardpack material should contain far better gold values then what the loose flow material contains.

Hope this helps!

 

[Goldwasher]

Work in layers over a wider area vs. punching a hole.

Punch holes to sample. when you hit color widen out.

You should be sampling by layers anyway.

Either way if you work down in a wider method remove the loose stuff first. Bigger than the next area you will remove next.

Work your opened area from down stream to up stream. once you have an area fully open and the bed rock detailed it wont matter what washes in later. If you do have to leave and come back the material that has flowed in will be easy to remove down to the next harder layer.

Mark the perimeter of your hole. When you have to leave.

You can also disconnect your pressure line and just blow the lighter fill out of your way.

 

[Millz90]

Thanks for the information guys!

Disconnecting the presure line and blowing out what has filled the hole is a great idea as well!

Also, what do you mark your hole with, just larger rocks? In the past i have put larger rocks on the bank pointing to it...lol that didnt work to well

 

[Jason in Enid]

Thanks for the information guys!

Disconnecting the presure line and blowing out what has filled the hole is a great idea as well!

Also, what do you mark your hole with, just larger rocks? In the past i have put larger rocks on the bank pointing to it...lol that didnt work to well

T-posts and a driver. Work great for anchor points to tie off your dredge too also. Angle them back about 30 degrees when you set them. Typically hard to set and easy to pull out. At least in my river.

 

[russau]

Use a bigger dredge! Like GW posted , layer /terrace your hole and sample a lot as you go! Your hole is going to fill in anyway and I liked to use my old hole to dump my tailings into anyway as I go ! Hopefully you can get to the gold each time you go out!

 

[Millz90]

Use a bigger dredge! Like GW posted , layer /terrace your hole and sample a lot as you go! Your hole is going to fill in anyway and I liked to use my old hole to dump my tailings into anyway as I go ! Hopefully you can get to the gold each time you go out!

Ha no doubt...i wish man! Little 2" doesn't move a whole lot of dirt...lol

yeah i think im going to try the dam of rocks and dredge wider like suggested instead of punching straight down and then going out wider on the sides. It just takes so long to get down to the grey clay and old stuff that i like to go straight to it...lol
Also i dont get out ever week and it would be nice to be able to have what i started still their when i get back

 

[russau]

A 2 inch dredge can only effectively go down so far until it's to hard for it to suck further. I sold my bigger dredges and I'm down to a 2 inch myself.

 

[mendoAu]

Sounds like a small stream and not to deep (2inch dredge) so I'd suggest buildind a visqueen wing dam with a rope at the top of the visqueen and rocks holding down the bottom. Allot of times you can divert the stream flow away from your work area...no flow=no rock movage. Of course it helps to have trees and such as anchor points but pounded in re-bar works to a degree. Maybe this is a good spots to tell you how I do this. I'll look at where I want the dam (either to divert water to or from) I've used thirty foot plus pieces before. Cut a piece of old 3/4 inch black irrigagation tubing and run a rope thru it. Then roll the top of the black plastic around the rope/tubing and stitch with nails every few inches. Anchor the bottom of the plastic (varies with depth of water) with cobbles and use a come-a-long to tighten the rope which only needs to be about a foot above the water line. I suppose a video is in order...will try this weekend. It can be a challenge by yourself but with a couple extra hands it's a long lasting remedy to aleve just your problem. And also a solution to keep some of those shallow side channels full of water and deep enough to dredge. One tip....Don't try on your first attempt to try to make a DAM just try for a wing dam at an angle with the current...channel it, don't try to dam it. And in deeper water the same theory works and dose not have to be more than a few feet from the bottom to divert allot of the current to either side of your hole.

 

[Millz90]

Sounds like a small stream and not to deep (2inch dredge) so I'd suggest buildind a visqueen wing dam with a rope at the top of the visqueen and rocks holding down the bottom. Allot of times you can divert the stream flow away from your work area...no flow=no rock movage. Of course it helps to have trees and such as anchor points but pounded in re-bar works to a degree. Maybe this is a good spots to tell you how I do this. I'll look at where I want the dam (either to divert water to or from) I've used thirty foot plus pieces before. Cut a piece of old 3/4 inch black irrigagation tubing and run a rope thru it. Then roll the top of the black plastic around the rope/tubing and stitch with nails every few inches. Anchor the bottom of the plastic (varies with depth of water) with cobbles and use a come-a-long to tighten the rope which only needs to be about a foot above the water line. I suppose a video is in order...will try this weekend. It can be a challenge by yourself but with a couple extra hands it's a long lasting remedy to aleve just your problem. And also a solution to keep some of those shallow side channels full of water and deep enough to dredge. One tip....Don't try on your first attempt to try to make a DAM just try for a wing dam at an angle with the current...channel it, don't try to dam it. And in deeper water the same theory works and dose not have to be more than a few feet from the bottom to divert allot of the current to either side of your hole.

This is what i was after! That sounds exactly what im looking for and yes its a very small creek, only like 10' across and not deep at all.
Also making a pound of water is needed a lot of times to because in the summer it dries up and i struggle for water!

If you could post a video that would be amazing! Ill google it to im sure theirs a lot out their on it.

Thanks again!

 

[Millz90]

Sounds like a small stream and not to deep (2inch dredge) so I'd suggest buildind a visqueen wing dam with a rope at the top of the visqueen and rocks holding down the bottom. Allot of times you can divert the stream flow away from your work area...no flow=no rock movage. Of course it helps to have trees and such as anchor points but pounded in re-bar works to a degree. Maybe this is a good spots to tell you how I do this. I'll look at where I want the dam (either to divert water to or from) I've used thirty foot plus pieces before. Cut a piece of old 3/4 inch black irrigagation tubing and run a rope thru it. Then roll the top of the black plastic around the rope/tubing and stitch with nails every few inches. Anchor the bottom of the plastic (varies with depth of water) with cobbles and use a come-a-long to tighten the rope which only needs to be about a foot above the water line. I suppose a video is in order...will try this weekend. It can be a challenge by yourself but with a couple extra hands it's a long lasting remedy to aleve just your problem. And also a solution to keep some of those shallow side channels full of water and deep enough to dredge. One tip....Don't try on your first attempt to try to make a DAM just try for a wing dam at an angle with the current...channel it, don't try to dam it. And in deeper water the same theory works and dose not have to be more than a few feet from the bottom to divert allot of the current to either side of your hole.

Im not really following what the black irrigation tube is for....lol....i see running a rope through it but then i got lost again at, 'roll the top of the black plastic around the rope/tubing and stitch with nails'....like a said a video would be nice or a little more explanation....please

 

[Goldwasher]

Also you can consider raking all the top layer out of your way. if it's loose and barren there is no reason to dredge it with a two inch.

I love a three or two inch in a small stream.

an hour spent with a rake and chucking cobble will move more overburden out of your way than a two inch.

For a dam get sturdy sandbags fill them with gravel as needed.

 

[Goldwasher]

Plastic works though it rips and turns into smaller plastic. Any time in the sun weakens it.

 

[mendoAu]

Yes and no...ha! If you use a heavy weight black visqueen it will hold up for a season. And maybe a couple. Before we go any further can I suggest investigating the water rules in your neck of the woods before damming a creek. In a ballpark kinda way if you only "dam" up a third of the creek or at the very least allow fish access you will probably be just fine. Or not!!! CHECK As for the black tubing and top of the visqueen and "nail stitching" ...the rope by itself tends to sag but with the black plastic tubing (kinda cheap, considering) it tends to keep the rope taint and above water. Wrapping the top of the visqueen and nail thing...OK...I'll post a vid. soon.