" Sampling" what a concept !

[oldbrundogg]

So for the past couple months I've been sitting here stirring and feeling sorry for myself complaining about not having time to go prospecting. Today I said enough is enough, I had a two hour window between finishing things up around the house and picking the kids up from school. Sampling, I grabbed some tools, couple pans, half inch screen threw them in the pack and headed up the hill. Twenty minute drive parked walked 100ft down the creek found a crevice and worked 4 pans from it. Damned if I didn't find color, teeny tiny color but there it was. Snuffed the black sands up jumped back in the truck and made it back in time to get the kids.
Two great hours some tiny gold and stress be gone.
OBD

 

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[Rawhide]

I been sampling for over a year, and got nothing. But I will keep trying.

 

[Goldwasher]

olbrundog in your first pic left hand side, there is a crack with some grass growing out of it.....see it? You MUST clean out that crack!!!!..if you find color in it find more like itYou should be able to pop that rock off actually with a cowbar......and above that is another moss covered piece of bedrock with a crack hit that one too.

 

[oldbrundogg]

thanks for the advice Pville, so many cracks to choose from.
OBD

 

[Fullpan]

Pville, - I never see posts of mossing techniques. When I was prospecting, the drudgery of moving dirt all week would cause me to take a break and go
mossing once in a while. It was much easier physically, and always yielded a half gram or so of super fine gold for a half days work. Did you do any mossing?
and what success did you have?

OBD - glad you got out to de-stress for a couple hours!

 

[kuger]

Pville, - I never see posts of mossing techniques. When I was prospecting, the drudgery of moving dirt all week would cause me to take a break and go
mossing once in a while. It was much easier physically, and always yielded a half gram or so of super fine gold for a half days work. Did you do any mossing?
and what success did you have?

OBD - glad you got out to de-stress for a couple hours!

Fullpan,beat me to it!!!Get that moss too.Mash it up in your pan,you may be very,very surprised!!!!
I have done quite well through the years just mossing.One spot in particular,I bet through the years I have taken ounces from the moss.Its in a tight canyon,choke point,that doesnt get much sun,so there is moss on every thing.The area is pretty rich,so at high water(flood stage)all that fine gold is water borne,and that moss acts as ...well,like "Miners Moss",in your sluice box,the natural carpet of the waterway!I have also got some mellon seed sized pickers "mossin"

 

[EuropIan]

Hi OBD. Your little sampling spot is what some people would walk miles of creek to find. Just from the pics it's clear that the signs are good, cracks & crevices, water worn rocks etc. Move up to a little sluice & you could do well. Remember that the creek may not have always been the size it is today or run where it does now. Search either side for similar features & test again. As you've already been advised ..... get down those cracks, the pickers & clunkers are down the bottom. Nothing like success to drive the enthusiasm. Best of luck.

 

[63bkpkr]

Thank you OBD as you've just added some fresh air and sunshine to my day. Lovely pictures, great story and great replies......................63bkpkr

 

[Goldwasher]

yep....wash the moss....also wheneer you find bedrock with a "line of moss"...that is a crack dig it... Moss is also a good inital sampling tool if your on a creek run some moss from both sides wichever side has the most gold in the moss is a good side to start sampling better traps. OD looking at the pic with the little waterfall and bedrock dike unless thats a boulder....makes those cracks look even better. During high water its not always about if an obstruction becomes a trap....its also about how does this obstruction affect the current 5 to 15 feet downstream? those traps downstream are just sitting there with there mouths open...mmmmmmm....I love cracks

 

[chowe]

Root clumps too.

 

[oldbrundogg]

Thanks everybody for the encouragement and helpful advise. I think I have a better understanding of the cracks to look for at first I was trying to read the creek bed like a sluice but now thinking about it if there is a crack in the bedrock the gold bouncing around the bottom will drop in and stay put it doesn't have to be behind a riffle source. Now I would like little more info on mossing. .
This I showed on another thread to N8 would like to gravity dredge this hole it's about 1/4 mile down from the pics. Also someone at work suggested I get that moss on the wall.
Thanks again still need lots of help
OBD

 

[Fullpan]

OBD - I sorta taught myself mossing, so i'm sure there's different methods and different conditions. My river was fairly wide, with a low gradient and lots of gravel bars and bends, but the south side was almost always in shade due to the steep, deep canyon. In my case there were two "types" of moss - the fresh green stuff next to the bank, and old brown moss that collected flood gold. A large spoon, a dull knife, and a wire brush and a gold pan or square tub to catch
the material scraped off the rocks and boulders, was my basic tool kit. Then you wash, scrub the moss to get the fine sand out - its kinda tedious, you never
know if you get it all washed out. Then slowly pan it down. The material is like concentrates from sluicing all day, so always use a catch pan, and its a slow
process. Today, I would use a gold cube to process it. Hope this helps.

 

[oldbrundogg]

Thanks Fullpan, I'll give it a try then probably have many questions after. Like that I don't have to add much more to the pack think ill throw putty knife in too. Time to get a bigger pack though. Any particular area seem better than other as in up stream side of boulder down stream side, middle of creek sides of creek , on the trees next to water? I know sample, sample, and sample!!
Thanks OBD

 

[Fullpan]

If you check the history of river flooding in norcal (including the Feather) you'll see 20ft high water or more occurred every 10-15 years or so. Try to
imagine back eddies at that height carrying the fine gold in suspension, like Kuger said above, and choose the moss that would collect that suspended
sediment. There's a good pic of the SF Yuba flooding in 97' on Reed Lukens Miner's Meeting video that shows what I'm talking about.
Anyways, it doesn't take a lot of extra tools in the ole packpack, and like Pville said above, dig deep in those cracks too!

 

[kuger]

........also visually LOOK in those cracks too when you think your done....nuggets will stick in places you wonder how in heck did they do that!!!I have had nuggets it took 15+ minutes to chip out of cracks

 

[oldbrundogg]

Thanks Kuger, hell,I'll spend as much time as it takes to chip out a nugget if I can see it. Don't think I could bring myself to leave without it lol
OBD