More questions

[sidvail]

1st.
I've been wondering about moss. At mineral bar I noticed the moss grows mostly at what I believe is high water mark and above. Some rocks sport moss closer to current water levels. Can someone explain moss from a prospectors view? I like the whole moss/tree roots idea and my best gold came from under a tree(bush?) on a gravel bar. Another good spot was a bush growing out from under broken bedrock right at water level. I have yet to find gold in moss though. Is there something I should be looking for?

2nd.
Trees. I have found trees close to the river banks that look old (big) and wonder if they are pre 1850's, or if they've grown over top of tailings. I'm going to study up some on trees of the american river to get a better idea - ages, how quick they grow, types, etc. I found a huge tree maybe 50 feet from the river (maybe 30 feet higher) that someone dug up under. All the way under it was cobbles. Is this a high bench? Or just a tree growing on top of tailings? Anyone willing to talk trees and moss would find an avid listener here.

 

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[MadMarshall]

I do sample moss and have been known to clear whole areas of all the moss..And when you are thinking of moss in relation to gold it is very much the same as the carpet in your sluicebox..As for it relation to the high water line that is not always the case..Moss for me is just another indacator that a possible decent dig site may be near or if I might be walking on..I do not rely strictly on moss..It can be deceiving as well.

Trees I honestly dont know a whole lot about as I think for the most part you may find yourself in trouble if some one complained..And usually trying to dig in roots and cutting them is a pain and time consuming..I do admitt that I have found myself in the situation where I was hiding my Tailing of small trees and bushes ect but I try to keep it in check as I think it is a great way to attract bad attention to your work site.

 

[sidvail]

I was thinking that cracks filled with moss would be a good spot to look. If there's moss, then no one has creviced it for awhile. But I don't know how long it takes for moss to form. A year? A month? And how about crevices with bushes or long grass growing out of it? I've had no luck so far with these, but can't help thinking it's still a good spot to check.

 

[Fullpan]

I liked the moss that only gets action (wet) during floods. It looks dry and brown compared to the greener moss. Like Marshall said, this moss acts just
miner's moss, and catches the gold (-20 and smaller) when the river is full of sediment. There is always a higher % of gold per cupfull of dirt, but you lose
that advantage with the time it takes to scrape all that with a spoon, and washing to make sure you get all the material out. I've thought about using powered
sanders/paint strippers to make the process go quicker, but never actually tried it.

 

[sidvail]

Maybe scrape the moss and take it home to dry it out? Then powder it and pan? Wonder if a grout scraper would help.

 

[Island_Hunter]

I have heard of guys scraping dried flood moss onto a cookie sheet, then burning it with a torch. They wash and pan the ashes and do quite well.

 

[Fullpan]

2nd question - its a safe bet 95% of trees are post 1850-1860. If they were near mining ops in those days, they got used for flumes, looonng toms, underground timbers, fuel to run machinery. Take a look at old photos, the hills were de-nuded.

 

[63bkpkr]

Tales of Moss & Trees

Tales of Moss and Trees and Gold but then "gold is where you find it".

I've tested moss, green moss in a place that could have been good but only got the white curds out of it, they look like cottage cheese. Not even a fleck of gold. Pville even told me to go there!!

The softwood trees grow at the water line, out in the river and anywhere they can get a foot hold. The Oaks and Pines tend to be near the river but not usually out in it unless they are floating in it. So, I've detected the roots of many a fallen tree and I've yet to find a signal but they all have nice rounded river rocks right up tight to the underside of the tree and all over underneath where the tree was. There could be gold there but none the detector has sounded off on. Also, roots are terrible stuff to dig in/around/near or wherever. The trees have been there for a very long time up to a very very long time.

The softwoods have a higher probability of having something in them but again I've found darn little in and around them. The benches are just that old river bed and there are some good sized trees that have grown on them. I've found test digs left from the old timers but usually no more than 8' to 12' deep. Roots and rocks mixed with humus dirt and they must have had a real crew doing the digging but, they stopped and went elsewhere.

I have found gold in with an old dead root that was in the high flood zone but it was also in a boulder crack so I'd give a higher percentage of chance to it being there because of the crack. Of course the crack was there because of the root so not much can be taken from that experience Except what we've all read "look on the down river side of obstructions to the water flow" and I know that saying is true, said another way it is golden! Took ~ a 1/4 oz. from the backside of the boulder.

There are still gold deposits in the old placers, the high placer walls along the main canyon sides, the walls up the side canyons to the river and it will continue to come down with each years snow melt off. I've seen it for to long to not believe that last sentence to be true but it's not like it was, for the most part, when the 49ers hit it. Those were the glory day's of mining! The best pickings are on the bottom of the river. But then, gold is where you find it!

I don't think any of this in general helps, it just discuses 'what is'. So there you have it.................63bkpkr

 

[sidvail]

63bkpkr
You answered a bunch of the questions I had. That one tree I found was just like that. They had dug maybe 6 feet under and down, but apparently quit at that. The tree was close to one of those flat rock constructions of a little room with 100's of rusted tin cans outside the door. It was a good sized tree with cobbles and powdery dirt underneath.

Fullpan
Right on, I didn't even think of that. And I've seen some of those pictures - if there's resources close by, they get used.

Amazing, every time I go out I end up with more questions than I had going in. Like gravel. Some of that stuff if starting to make sense. Gravity, obstructions and water dynamics. Who'd a thought.