Gold Prospecting in North Idaho

[CompassJim]

Hello,

New to the site and just wanted to see if anybody lives in or prospects in North Idaho. I've been up in the Murray - Prichard area and had a little luck, finding two tiny pickers. Have a couple more buckets of cons to go through, still green at the whole panning thing so I will probably pan it all over again when I get through it.

Notice a lot of black sand, but cant see any gold flakes in the sand.

Joines a local Gold Prospecting Association, but still thinking about joining the GPAA. If there are any members that are in the North Idaho panhandle, let me know!

 

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[warsawdaddy]

A teaspoon of black sand can hide flour gold.You will not see it just by looking at the sand.You have to learn how to pan it to separate it.

 

[notarichman]

I live in Murray, been detecting for just a short time now without luck. found a bit while panning, but lots of work for 4 tiny pieces that i have to use a microscope to see!
still looking for the big nugget in the dredge piles...railroad spikes are all i find.
i wish you luck.

 

[Auhunt]

P.m me

 

[Lanny in AB]

Hello,

New to the site and just wanted to see if anybody lives in or prospects in North Idaho. I've been up in the Murray - Prichard area and had a little luck, finding two tiny pickers. Have a couple more buckets of cons to go through, still green at the whole panning thing so I will probably pan it all over again when I get through it.

Notice a lot of black sand, but cant see any gold flakes in the sand.

Joines a local Gold Prospecting Association, but still thinking about joining the GPAA. If there are any members that are in the North Idaho panhandle, let me know!

Welcome to the forum, and if you're already finding pickers, you're doing something right.

I hope the PM gives you something to go on, but the local club may be a good bet if you take the time to get to know some members well.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Underburden]

Since this post originated almost 8 years ago, those two pickers would have been nuggets by now.

 

[Auhunt]

,should be some colour up there.

 

[Maitland]

One of the coolest places I've visited in recent times was the "Bedroom Gold Mine" in Murray. Unfortunately, the Spragpole Museum was closed. I really wish I could've found time to do some prospecting in the area when I was there on vacation!

 

[Clay Diggins]

Hey Maitland, long time no see! Did you see that 4,440 acres of placer claims opened up last week in South Dakota? That's truly epic stuff for the smallest mining state. It looks like a good time to get some prospecting done.

Heavy Pans
Barry

 

[Maitland]

Hi Barry, yes I've been working steady and haven't had much time to check out TNet, unfortunately. Holy smokes! No, I didn't see that! I will have to do some checking around and see what opened up for mineral rights. A fair portion of the placer claims out here aren't really worth the gold to be found on them by the average person (in my opinion), but there are a few "hot" areas in Pennington and Lawrence countries that I usually keep an eye on. I've been on a crusade all winter long to get in a little better shape physically, so I'm hoping it'll be a heck of a good season for prospecting this year!

 

[Clay Diggins]

Most of the closed claims were in Custer county with a few (about 400 acres) in Lawrence and Pennington.

Heavy Pans

 

[Maitland]

Awesome, thank you! Quick question while I'm on the subject: does the Claims Advantage membership break down recently-closed claims as a number of them per county, or does it get more detailed (like which township/range/section the closed claims were in)?

 

[Clay Diggins]

Awesome, thank you! Quick question while I'm on the subject: does the Claims Advantage membership break down recently-closed claims as a number of them per county, or does it get more detailed (like which township/range/section the closed claims were in)?

Much more detailed Maitland. Each closed claim is individually mapped to the section and has a link to the claim's serial register page that describes the claim's ownership history.

There is a free sample report you can download HERE. Just scroll down the page and you will see a button that starts the download. The Sample Report doesn't have the same claims as the twice monthly reports but it's got the same features as the actual reports so you can see how the reports work.

Heavy Pans

 

[Maitland]

Thanks for the info, I overlooked it earlier when I was attempting to answer my own question. Certainly something for me to consider as the weather starts to warm up here!

 

[Auhunt]

Interesting I'm thinking king of doin lil prospecting by the Wallace area any info would be good .Pm if possibld

 

[Auhunt]

Nice

 

[Ragnor]

I spent a day down around Murray when I was living in Idaho. It seamed pretty well picked over and claimed up from my brief inspection. You mght try your luck a little farther north. Maybe up towards Naples area.

 

[Auhunt]

Intrestung

 

[Maitland]

From what I gathered, most of the gold in northern Idaho seemed to be around the Wallace area and a little north of there. I will note that a buddy and I went canoeing and discovered evidence of mining around Garfield Bay on Lake Pend Oreille, we even went into an old drift mine that was only accessible by canoeing into it since whenever the lake had been dammed up. There was also evidence of mining along Priest Lake and Upper Priest Lake, including an old mine called the "Woodrat Mine". I believe gold was one of the commodities being mined around Priest Lake (which is quite far from the Wallace area, of course), but I am not certain about the Garfield Bay area near Sandpoint.

 

[Ragnor]

From what I gathered, most of the gold in northern Idaho seemed to be around the Wallace area and a little north of there. I will note that a buddy and I went canoeing and discovered evidence of mining around Garfield Bay on Lake Pend Oreille, we even went into an old drift mine that was only accessible by canoeing into it since whenever the lake had been dammed up. There was also evidence of mining along Priest Lake and Upper Priest Lake, including an old mine called the "Woodrat Mine". I believe gold was one of the commodities being mined around Priest Lake (which is quite far from the Wallace area, of course), but I am not certain about the Garfield Bay area near Sandpoint.

A.K Klockman who located the largest known exposed silver monolith (400'x800' verticle exposure) ever found in north Idaho in the 1800's prospected along the pend-oriel in a place only accessible by canoe.
And stay away from preist lake area, bad spirits up there HAHAHAH!


"Stone Johnies cabin had large piles of ugly , ordinary looking rocks piled around it. He mined them somewhere near by. On occasion he would take a load of them to spokane for processing. Allot of people just thought he was crazy, but apparently he made a living at it. Nobody ever know what he was mining".......