Has anyone ever prospected corrugated storm tubes?

[mr_larry]

I know a place that had two gold mines in the 1850's. They shut it down because it wasn't particularly profitable, especially since there was all of that gold in the Sierra Mountains.

Anyhow, I know this place holds some gold, and there are a lot of creeks that come down off the mountain. As you drive along the road, there are a bunch of these corrugated tubes that pass under the road to let the streams flow through. I was thinking that they are like a sluice box that has been operating for the last 150 years or so. I'm sure people clean out the tubes of branches and debris, but I really doubt they scrape out the deposits in the riffles.

All of this land is part of a State Park, but I was thinking of sticking my head in some of these tubes and pulling out the concentrates to refine at home.

I was thinking of taking samples from the first few upstream riffles from each tube and putting them into a one-gallon ziploc bag, each labeled individually. I'd label each and attempt to find the gold later from home using methods for separating fine gold.

Is this idea totally crazy or is it worth a shot?

I'm talking about tubes roughly 3-5 feet in diameter, much like the ones pictured below.

 

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[Jeff95531]

"I have to go dig and classify it into buckets, then haul it back to the house to process it."

I know EXACTLY what you mean.

 

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[Jeff95531]

So, I went back yesterday to collect more material from that culvert. Here's the bridge that sits on top of it.
View attachment 783246


Here's the entrance
View attachment 783244


....and here's my giant, personal sluice box about 10 feet in. Had to use the camera flash since it's pretty dark in here.
View attachment 783243


Here's the spot on the upstream side where the most heavy material has collected. I took samples from different spots, but the majority was taken from right here. Each scoop was taken from the very bottom with my trowel scraping the bottom of the culvert.
View attachment 783247


Here's what I brought back with me. It's about 5 times what I brought back last time. It's still not a whole lot, but I wanted to pan this out and see what I got this time before I REALLY clean that culvert out good. I'll let ya know what I find in here....
View attachment 783245

Now THATS a culvert! I suggest to classify your sample on-site so you can bring home more productive material. Good luck and looking forward to your report

 

[goldenIrishman]

I know EXACTLY what you mean.

Did I forget to mention that I'm walking here Grasshopper? I can't get a truck into the wash and it's "interesting" hauling tools, two buckets of classified materials, etc back. I made up a yoke that I can haul both buckets at the same time with but 10 gallons of materials is a lot of weight to haul a half mile across the desert rocks.

 

[Jeff95531]

Did I forget to mention that I'm walking here Grasshopper? I can't get a truck into the wash and it's "interesting" hauling tools, two buckets of classified materials, etc back. I made up a yoke that I can haul both buckets at the same time with but 10 gallons of materials is a lot of weight to haul a half mile across the desert rocks.

Have you tried strapping the buckets to a hand truck? We have the pickup but from river to truck is difficult most times.

Oh, and I'd call the yolk something else. Defined:yokes

Definition of YOKE

1
a : a wooden bar or frame by which two draft animals (as oxen) are joined at the heads or necks for working together
b : an arched device formerly laid on the neck of a defeated person

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well it was the only thing I could think of to call it at the time. I based it on those things they used to use to haul water that go over your shoulders. Bucket on each side for balance etc etc etc

Edit: The hand truck idea while good would only be more of a pain in the a$$ given the roughness of the ground here. I'd need to have large wheels to smooth out the ride as well as a wider stance to keep it from tipping over and dumping out the materials 1/2 way home!

 

[Jeff95531]

I just gave away my latest issue of Family Handyman. In it they built the high wheeler cart just like you described. Couldn't find it on their site tho. Check it out if you can.

 

[goldenIrishman]

Well that last batch of materials we brought back from that culvert was sure not worth the time and effort for the most part. Thirty gallons of what was essentially over burden just to get to 5 gallons of stuff from the "riffles". The over burden wasn't worth squat as there was hardly any black sands or Garnets in it at all. Now the last 5 gallons was pretty good with quite a bit of flour in it. We've decided that we're not going to haul and process the top layers. Just clean them out of the way by hauling it towards the downstream end of the pipe and get the stuff from the riffles.

 

[Paul from SFbayarea]

Well, due to life getting in the way of me panning down that material I collected from the upstream end of the culvert about a week ago, I finally got around to panning it out. Nothin...not even a speck!! I'm gonna head back and sample again from where I originally did, which was closer to the downstream side. Not quite as much material in the "riffles" in that part, but I had gold flakes just from what I sucked up in my snuffer bottle from that area. The bummer is that I'll probably have to wait til the weekend to head back over there.

Sounds like a plan Paul. Although you're SUPPOSED to be cleaning out the culvert, I'd leave that trunk in there as it may help slow the flow so heavies can drop out even during the "Wet Season". I I do have to ask one question though. What the heck is all that green stuff in that area? Could they be real trees? I seem to remember something like that but I've been in the desert for so long now..... We expect a report on the findings soonest.

I don't think I could move that trunk if I tried....so it's staying. Oh, and yes, that green stuff....it actually IS growing out of the ground in the form of trees....with real branches and leaves!!

 

[goldenIrishman]

LOl... I THOUGHT those were trees! Guess my memory isn't as bad as i thought. Robi and I will be heading to San Diego at the end of June so I'll have plenty of time to see real trees again.

Sorry to hear that the stuff you brought back on your last trip wasn't worth the time to get and pan down. However you've already proven that there's gold there so now like the rest of us you just have to track it down. You gotta remember that that stuff likes to hide from us!!! the trick is to be more persistent than it is.