Could use some help with an old gold mine

Jeff95531

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Feb 10, 2013
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Deep in the redwoods of the TRUE Northern CA
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What I have...
An area of 80 acres that was previously claimed as a placer gold mine (from late 1880's to early 1920's) and is available for prospecting but not claiming.

What I've done...
4 visits with boots on the ground. Completely mapped and gridded the entire area. Sufficient metal detecting on tailings piles to find no obvious gold nuggets. Several pannng samples creek side produced no gold at all.

What I've found...
800 feet of tailings...(hand stacked?) that are 4' high by 4' wide), parts to a water cannon, a diversion ditch, 1" steel cables, the camp, the dump, the grizzly and it's legs and the obvious benches left from hydro sluicing.

What is stumping me...
I don't know enough about old school mining layouts to put all of what I've found to fit this all together. I've been trying to get from A to Z with google but all I seem to get is random old photos and drawings. NOT a complete picture of the entire operation start to finish.

What I'd like is a video or small scale recreation to view so I can take what I have and figure out where the most likely places are to start digging. For instance, where the sluice was (so far guessing at this point) met with a sharp incline...perhaps lending itself to a weak spot or prone to failures? Maybe dig right into the center of where the cabin was? I will do the benches this summer and they will be a bit challenging.

AND, if any of my buddies here has the time and inclination, I'll furnish the background and location of the mine in a pm if it will be of any help. Any/all ideas welcome!
 

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Bodfish Mike

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Dec 12, 2014
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Test test test --- sounds like someone did lots of work and all for nothing? I would go up hill of the tailings and test test test.
They didn't get it all.
Good luck
Mike
 

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Jeff95531

Jeff95531

Silver Member
Feb 10, 2013
2,625
4,094
Deep in the redwoods of the TRUE Northern CA
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Alpha 2000
Primary Interest:
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That's the summer plan. There is a year round creek with adequate water to run my poor mans BGT for sampling. If testing reveals a pay site, attack with buckets for a bit. I'll have to dig steps in to get up and take manageable containers to lower them back down, transport them to the truck/home/sluice/pan etc.

Right now I'm stuck inside daydreaming cuz I'm stuck with storms and outages off and on all day. Woke up to this in the back yard...

003.JPG 004.JPG
 

Goldfleks

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Jan 30, 2016
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Have you tried sampling under the tailings piles? Cabin might be a good start if there is no foundation and it's not considered a historical site. Look for places that are fresh dirt because they were living on them and not digging on them. How deep are you digging for samples? I know where I dig on the east fork it was El Dorado Ville and also a hydrolic mine at one point on the far hill. We're basically digging where the town used to be, so the dirt is somewhat new. It's still pretty sparce diggings though.
 

mike(swWash)

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Starting near the bottom of the hillside they blasted at and look for possible river gravel deposits layered in the hillside slope. At least that's where I'd begin. Should be some at the bottom of the hill and maybe even in the diversion channels. Test, test, test every 10' or so.

Here's a good video.....
 

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KevinInColorado

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Jan 9, 2012
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Summit County, Colorado
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I've had success in an old hydrauliking area by drywashing virgin material from the upper edge of the hydraulicked area.
 

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Jeff95531

Jeff95531

Silver Member
Feb 10, 2013
2,625
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Deep in the redwoods of the TRUE Northern CA
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Thanks Mike. That showed me exactly where the sluice should have been (as I suspected, but it rules it out as a supply ditch for the cannon so also good to know) and a good tip to look for the old stream bed layers in the side of the mountain they were last working on. :icon_thumleft:
 

KevinInColorado

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Jan 9, 2012
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Hmmm. So my super sluice pan, rock hammer and the guts to go 60 feet up huh? Wanna come? :tongue3:

YES I DO! That day will come in its turn :)

But for now, just get to the base of the wall and collect a decent sample.

Can you approach the cliff from above? That's what I've done to get true undisturbed virgin material.
 

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Jeff95531

Jeff95531

Silver Member
Feb 10, 2013
2,625
4,094
Deep in the redwoods of the TRUE Northern CA
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Alpha 2000
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Have you tried sampling under the tailings piles? Cabin might be a good start if there is no foundation and it's not considered a historical site. Look for places that are fresh dirt because they were living on them and not digging on them. How deep are you digging for samples? I know where I dig on the east fork it was El Dorado Ville and also a hydrolic mine at one point on the far hill. We're basically digging where the town used to be, so the dirt is somewhat new. It's still pretty sparce diggings though.

I haven't disrupted the tailings yet as it's a little overwhelming as to where to begin. I found the dump first which led me to the clearing where a cabin may have been and found nials (round) surrounding the dwelling but no, no foundation. The last location of the grizzly may be a good start as well.
 

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Jeff95531

Jeff95531

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Feb 10, 2013
2,625
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Deep in the redwoods of the TRUE Northern CA
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YES I DO! That day will come in its turn :)

But for now, just get to the base of the wall and collect a decent sample.

Can you approach the cliff from above? That's what I've done to get true undisturbed virgin material.

Yeah Kevin, you may remember the pics I sent you of the place. And yes...from above is an option...just gotta walk/carry stuff a lot further. Come on and we'll draw straws who goes and who holds the rope! In the mean time, mother nature said I might be able to go out and play later this week, so a lower sample is definately on the menu.
 

Goldfleks

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I think the tailing pile closest to the cabin would be the best place to start. That's probably where the tailings started, whereas farther down the line the ground could have been worked before tailings were dumped on top.
 

bug

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Jun 5, 2008
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Can you see the bedrock or have the tailings been back stacked, covering up the bedrock, or buried by sediments/mud?
The area you describe sounds really good for detecting, if you can get your coil close to bedrock.

I personally stay way from cabin areas due to high amounts of trash in those spots, and try to find bedrock exposures to detect.

Target bedrock first, and if no gold detected, its possible you are not in a nuggety type gold deposit, or the miners had ample water, good pressure and 100% efficiency washing the bedrock clean.
 

Goldwasher

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Can you see the bedrock or have the tailings been back stacked, covering up the bedrock, or buried by sediments/mud?
The area you describe sounds really good for detecting, if you can get your coil close to bedrock.

I personally stay way from cabin areas due to high amounts of trash in those spots, and try to find bedrock exposures to detect.

Target bedrock first, and if no gold detected, its possible you are not in a nuggety type gold deposit, or the miners had ample water, good pressure and 100% efficiency washing the bedrock clean.
and bedrock that has been exposed for years could have had how many coils over it? Yet still Jeff worry about the bedrock. Close to the creek and especially adjacent to any of the hand stacks. In small seasonal waterways focus first on any area with any bend or drop sudden wide spot or flattening.
In an area open like that with access to hunters and shooters on top of old mining activity. You need to sample the creek until you find a patch of creek junk. or in crease in lead shot etc. When you find that start wrapping your head around it and see if you can follow it or find similar patches nearby.

I'm going to try real hard for a Norcal So. Oregon trip this fall. I would really like to spend a day with you Jeff. and run into Delnorter and Oregon Viking and Ratled
 

Kenmitch

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Oct 7, 2016
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Sounds like a nice adventure! I plan on taking at least 2 trips if not 3 this year up north. Not sure where I'm going yet as I'm still reasearching. I plan on taking a different approach though. I'm leaning towards the lost more than the unfound currently. I'm really going into it for the thrill of the hunt and the adventures. I don't really want to post the details of my stradegy in public view though. What I'm thinking seems logical with a possibility of a much greater reward in the end. Greed made many a man do strange things in the past. Gold is where you find it which isn't always where it's supposed to be.

....Could just be the voice in my head saying 96lb nugget. Pipe dream most likely! Seems silly to me but just in case I've picked out a couple names based on form and shape of such pipe dream.

Anyway have fun on your adventures, good luck, and remember the adventures are the true reward in the end.
 

IMAUDIGGER

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Mar 16, 2016
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From the sounds of it the cabin site is not built on tailings....that means probably not a Chinese operation, which is good.

Most hydro mines used a race cut into the bedrock as a sluice box, running the material through it. Many were constructed from lumber if it was available.
They used wood blocks, poles, or slats for "riffles". Because of the effort involved in removing the "riffles" and the lost mining hours, many times they only cleaned up once or twice a season.
Somebody had to the keep the sluice from getting clogged up with rocks. They typically used a narrow pitch fork to scoop the rocks out and toss them along side the sluice run. Sometimes I think they tossed out larger nuggets.

You will usually find many nails in these areas, but they are good spots to work. One reason is because most people do not have the patience to dig nails and the other reason is because this is the area where the majority of the gold was handled. The pictures below show poles and slats for riffles.

race3.jpg race2.jpg
 

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Jeff95531

Jeff95531

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Feb 10, 2013
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Deep in the redwoods of the TRUE Northern CA
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Thanks guys and you are more than welcome to come by and share discoveries with me. According to the report, several nice nuggets had been found. So far, the only bedrock I've seen is next to the creek at the end of the claim. I found hundreds of continuous square feet (worn satin smooth from the water) where it is exposed with no seams and my rock pick bounced off it without leaving so much as a nick. Metal detecting (reg metal detector) is 99% quiet with the only trash found being materials from the mine or cabin. I'm beginning to see that (maybe) this was solely a hydraulic mine with the creeks used only for the sluice and cannon. Near as I can tell, the rocks were just set on the ground after they were removed from the sluice.

Thanks again for the help. Thought Reed might have a video closer to what I'm looking for ???
 

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Jeff95531

Jeff95531

Silver Member
Feb 10, 2013
2,625
4,094
Deep in the redwoods of the TRUE Northern CA
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Alpha 2000
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
From the sounds of it the cabin site is not built on tailings....that means probably not a Chinese operation, which is good.

Most hydro mines used a race cut into the bedrock as a sluice box, running the material through it. Many were constructed from lumber if it was available.
They used wood blocks, poles, or slats for "riffles". Because of the effort involved in removing the "riffles" and the lost mining hours, many times they only cleaned up once or twice a season.
Somebody had to the keep the sluice from getting clogged up with rocks. They typically used a narrow pitch fork to scoop the rocks out and toss them along side the sluice run. Sometimes I think they tossed out larger nuggets.

You will usually find many nails in these areas, but they are good spots to work. One reason is because most people do not have the patience to dig nails and the other reason is because this is the area where the majority of the gold was handled. The pictures below show poles and slats for riffles.

View attachment 1405936 View attachment 1405935

YES! The ditch looks like the left pic (minus all the wood of course) and it's nearly a 1000 feet long. I think the sluice was removed as I found no nails where it was. Miners cabin was all about location and I doubt they mined before it was built. Thanks!

BTW, I dig everything cuz you just never know. :thumbsup:
 

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N-Lionberger

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Dec 1, 2013
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Hydraulic pits are hard to detect in my experience, especially around the old sluice runs, loads of iron trash, nails bolts. If you can look up the historical information on the mine you may be able to figure out how rich the ground was. As far as I understand some hydraulic operations went after really low grade dirt, material with 5 cents a yard could be worked profitably. I wouldnt go after the material at the top of the sluffed off hill, I'd focus at the bottom, look for areas with big rocks and exposed bedrock, the ground leading up to it often was cleaned to bedrock but now is covered in a 100 years of dirt and duff. As far as ditches go they did use ditches to supply water but the easy way to tell wether it was a supply ditch or a sluice box is the elevation if its above the diggings it is a supply ditch, if below it is a sluice. The area around the sluice is a good place to look for lost gold, just about any place along the run is a potential place to find some. Their sluices were big wooden jobs made up of many rough hewn boards and weren't the most watertight. You probably wont find any nuggets like this but flat pickers are possible. Wherever the sluice ends is a great place to dig. the big stacks of tailings are worth a try as well, but involve more work as you really have to dig in. If you know where the camp was then this might be a good opportunity for some bottle digging. If you can locate the outhouse you are really in the money, often some of the best lost coin and bottles are found in outhouses. if you are interested in the historical side of things bottle digging can be a lot of fun.
 

mike(swWash)

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Also to consider, this may not have been very rich ground they worked, but even poor ground was profitable when hydraulic mining. Simply because they could process so much material so fast and cheaply. You might have to move 100 yds for 1 gram ???
That might be good enough for them but not so good for a small setup.
 

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