Gold in Moses Lake WA?

[OwenT]

I was just down at the lake today and since the water is down I noticed some several small areas of black sand deposits at the edge of the water. I know that there's gold in the beach sand on the west side of the state and I was curious if there could be gold over here being that the whole area is just sand and basalt.

 

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[DizzyDigger]

Welcome Owen...

Best way to find out is to grab a bucket and flat blade shovel.
Scoop only about 1/2" (or less), so you get only the black sand.

Pan it out and you'll have an answer...

Certainly is gold in the area, so it may well be that there's some
fine flood gold in the Moses Lake/Potholes area.

 

[OwenT]

Thanks, I'll check it out and report my findings.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Thanks, I'll check it out and report my findings.

Please do! I've often wondered about that area myself.

 

[OwenT]

Yesterday I got a bucket of sand and brought it back to the house. I don't have a pan so I set up a sort of miller table and tried to wash a few scoops. Either I was doing it all horribly wrong or it's just all sand because I didn't find anything in there. The only thing that looked even close to gold was some microscopic pieces of some translucent yellow mineral. The sand is also very sparkly so I'm thinking theres a lot of little pieces of mica or something as well.

 

[enamel7]

I would have to say setting up a "sort of" miller table won't cut it. If it's not set up right you won't see gold. You should be able to get a pan for a low price on line.

 

[OwenT]

Okay, I was wanting one anyway. Any recommendations for a good pan? I'm thinking like green plastic and like 12" because I've heard 10" is hard to work with but I want it to be as light as possible so I can just take it on a hike or something and not have it really be much extra weight. What should I be looking for? The thing I wonder about most is all the different riffle designs. I also want to note that the sand is very attracted to a magnet.

 

[et1955]

Hi, well as for what pan you may need, what will you do with it, for testing a round pan is ok but once you find a good gold producing area a LaTrap square pan is best if you cannot run a sluice box. I personally only use a round pan for cleanup only. I looked up the historical records of your area and there was no records of any finds there, the closest area would be the Columbia river
but since that river is so dammed up now it is hard to find a place to mine, if there are any streams running into the lake, that is where I would test, but I applaud your spirit in your attempt's, keep it up and next I would suggest you focus on the rivers coming off the cascade mountains, there is a lot of gold in them, been there and found it, Good Luck

 

[OwenT]

I do hope to check out some places in the Cascades. I go hiking a lot around Leavenworth mostly so I'll want something that's easy to bring along and that I can just dip into pretty much anywhere I want and will get the job done without breaking any rules. I don't think I'm interested in a sluice because there are some restrictions on where and when you can use them, right? What would be the best kind of all-around pan? Like a Garret, or the Le Trap?

 

[et1955]

Do you have the Fish and Gold book, it will tell you about all the rules you have follow and times you can mine, you can download it from the WDFW website, I work under class 0 so I sluice year round here on the western side of the cascades, some people like a round pan, I prefer the Letrap square pan, I can run 3 times the material that a round pan can do in the same time and you don't need a safety pan when panning, it's very hard to loose gold from a square pan, also it fits in a backpack. I have been mining in this state now for over forty years so if you need more advise please ask

 

[OwenT]

Reading the Fish and Gold pamphlet I got that Class 0 is only pans, and that sluices are class I. Also I was confused about the time restrictions, do you have to follow the restrictions only for the watercourses listed in the charts?

 

[et1955]

Class 0 lets you use a pan, sluicebox with 3sq. ft of rifle area and also you can use an electric recirculating high banker plus some others. There are no time restrictions on class 0 unless the river is listed as closed to all mining.

 

[et1955]

Sorry about that this tells you how long I have been mining, Class 0 or class 1,2,3 were used in the old fish and gold book, page 10 of the new book list the rules for mining without timing restrictions.

 

[OwenT]

Thanks, I see it now. I've been seeing stuff from the 1999 version too and that was confusing, guess just the new one is what I should be reading.

 

[OwenT]

Received my Garrett pans today. Panned for about a half hour and found no gold, none that was big enough to see with the naked eye or a magnifying glass anyway.