panning in illinois

[tlbm9902]

I am new to prospecting, I am hooked on the gold shows. I have property in coal city illinois, there is a good amount of sediment dumped on the property years ago from when the strip mines in the area were dug. There Is a good size stream that branches off of the mazon river that runs through the property. Is there any gold to be panned in this area or is the area sound favorable to find gold. any help would be great, thanks in advance

Tony

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[Axgar]

howdy neighbor, being here in ohio had many of the same questions. The best thing to do is look for clubs in your state on the gpaa web site .. google your area for gold related links .. and best of all ..

Just get out ther dig some holes and pan it out ... ( if it were only that easy. ) I do it for fun and relaxation. not to get rich cause here in ohio the gold is very very fine.

things to consider..

How big is the stream .. wide.. deep .. volume .. that will tell you some what how far the gold might move in recent floods... look on the INSIDE bends of turns mid way through .. and around obsticals..

take some pictures to look at when teh water is low and high .. that will give you an idea how the currents run .. and you are looking for fast to slow water movement

I just got into late last year . and found a lil bit of gold .. i plan to get more and find me a nugget ..!!or two .. or three ..hehe ..

you can check out my lil bit of info here at my web site.. http://www.chameleons-blinds.com/bones.htm

if you find black sand that is good if you find black sand then gold that is even better.

Best of luck and welcome to the gold bug club .. hehe


Axgar

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

9902,

welcome to the forum.

Not into panning myself; do know the Mazon basin and Coal City area.

Only area I heard of in Illinois is near where the Wabash River and Ohio River join; On the border with Kentucky,
Indiana, and Illinois. Picked this info up somwhere along the way, also if I remember it is not a big gold area.
Have never seen anyone panning for gold in Illinois.

Like I said, not into panning for gold.

have a good un...............

 

[tlbm9902]

yeah, i'm not looking to get rich either, just want to get into it so me and my 6 year old daughter have something to do together she is hooked on the shows too. Thanks for all of the help and ill try your tips

Tony

 

[lostandfound]

There is gold there of sorts...I used to live in south wilmington...the mazon is one of the best places in illinios to find fossils, you can just walk along the river and you will see them!!

Good Luck my friend, Randy

 

[hoosier hunter]

Hey Tony Here is a web site I found that may be of some help to ya. Good luck and keep us posted. And if i can find any more info on illinois i will be sure to pass it on to ya. http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/faq/gg-faqs/GGQ19.html

Hoosier Hunter.....H.H

 

[russau]

tony, try out attica indiana. look up summers rv campground. there is a creek about 5 miles away that has gold in it and is dredgeable. most of the dredgers stay there at summers rv camp ground. go to yahoogroups and punch in indiana and look for indiana prospectors.

 

[Jaxom]

Tony,

Here's my two cents worth. Illinois is not known to be a "gold state". However, all is not lost. There is gold out there, it's VERY fine. To find the best sites, or even to check weither your site is good or not, I suggest getting a good contour map of your area. The whole state would be even better! (I use topoUSA myself).

With a few hours research in, this is what I found. There's a ridge that runs from the Wisconsin state line, down just west of the Fox river towards Bloomington then it curves over towards the Indiana state line. Kinda like a lazy "C" that's slumped backwards a bit. That ridge was formed where the glaciers stopped during that last ice age. When it started to melt it left behind that ridge.

Even if your creek doesn't come off that ridge line, all is not lost! I'm panning in the near west forest preserves of cook county. (Salt Creek) And I'm still finding some grains here and there.

Good luck!

Jaxxx

 

[EDDE]

"I'm panning in the near west forest preserves of cook county. (Salt Creek) And I'm still finding some grains here and there. "thats my old stomping ground for about 26 years!

"There's a ridge that runs from the Wisconsin state line, down just west of the Fox river towards Bloomington then it curves over towards the Indiana state line. Kinda like a lazy "C" that's slumped backwards a bit. That ridge was formed where the glaciers stopped during that last ice age. When it started to melt it left behind that ridge.'

its called the bloomington morainic system (the largest)there are about5-7(in that area small ones)that are in a similiar pattern as jaxx describes in the coal city area......

 

[Jaxom]

I tried to find my glacial maps so I could scan them and post, but alas, I can't get my hands on them. Besides the one ridge I mentioned, there was others too. Remember there was atleast 3 major ice sheets covering the area. One sheet left another ridge line over just east of Galena and just north of Shawnee national forest.

One project I have in mind is taking my topo maps and making a tansparency and laying that over a road/river map. (TopoUSA gives me the option of what features to include in a map), with this I could just spend time going out and sniping colverts from streams coming off this ridge line.

Jaxxx

 

[EDDE]

wisconsin30,000-10,500 years ago,illinois300,000-130,000 ya ,pre-illinois1,600,000-500,000 ya
One sheet left another ridge line over just east of Galena and just north of Shawnee national forest.
illinois episode

 

[russau]

sure would like to see the different glacial drifts and their morains seperatly for Ill. i know what the gpaa guide has, but its not very clear. ive been into some of them above Alton Ill. and got color.

 

[EDDE]

illinois ice age legacy
myrna m. killey
geo science education series 14
1998
illinois state geological survey
DNR

 

[russau]

thanks dekalb!

 

[EDDE]

suck a toad.......

 

[tlbm9902]

Thanks for all of your help guys, I now live in Dyer indiana. I tried the area in Coal city, well east brooklyn ( I thought it was coal city) and had no luck I panned about 30 sample pans and found only black sand and bullets. I also tried a creek here in dyer indiana and also only found black sand and bullets. I do think the area in east brooklyn might have some color still because the creek is right at the base of a 100 foot tall sediment hill from when they were digging the strip mines in the area. If there are any other areas you guys could help me with in ill or ind i would appreciate it very much!

Thanks,
Tony