How would you make a Creek gold Nugget Trap?

[ericwt]

I saw and ad that said "How to build Simple effective Creek gold Nugget Traps for absentee gold prospecting", the other day in a gold prospecting magazine.

Sounded like a decent idea. I am sure it is about constructing something like a sluice box and placing it in the creek during the winter.

Well rather than being able to buy this set of plans for a reasonable price this guy wants to sell me like 5 sets of plans and he will include this set of plans free.

Since I only want the one set of plans and I believe the people on TN are probably more informed on this than the guy selling the plans, I was wondering...

How would you build Simple effective Creek gold Nugget Traps for absentee gold prospecting? Any ideas?

 

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[aarthrj3811]

Hey erkicwt....I know people who put sewer pipe in the streams for the winter. You have to remember that it takes a good storm to move the gold so it has to be in the right place and placed so it stays....Art

 

[ericwt]

Thanks for your answers.

The streams I am talking about are in Central America and would be placed down right before the wet season.

I am real interested in what kind of pipe someone would use. What would be a good way to mount the pipe so it would not move. The rainy season in Central America is torrential

Would you add riffles on top of the carpet in the pipe?

The pipe would have to be light enough to transport by hiking it in. There are no roads where I am going.

Thanks for the insight. Just thinking out loud here. Welcome all ideas.

 

[aarthrj3811]

The pipe would be corrugated plastic pipe. There are a lot of different sizes. I have no idea as to how to anchor it….Art

 

[ericwt]

Tent stakes! What a wonderful idea. Thanks

I am looking forward to trying this.

 

[russau]

the first thing you have to think about is that the gold only moves when there is lots of water movement. thats the winter run off in the spring.anything thats in the creek is going to move and that includes a corigated sewr pipe or any carpet,nailed down or not. the best is a deep trench across the wideth of the creek or a bunch of holes drilled into the creek bed.using natural materials or digging a trench is the best way in my opinion.adding anything into a creek is littering and its gonna cause you trouble and besides itll allert someone to your spot if they see it.

 

[ATGem]

You could also try a piece of black plastic corrugated poo pipe available at most hardware stores like Home Depot. Cut it in half down the length and use long tent stakes to keep it in place.

 

[Jeffro]

Eric, I have thought about this one for quite awhile, and have yet to come up with a real good design thats not labor intensive.

It would have to be anchored to the bedrock, or built right into it.

Best would be in an area where there is gently sloping bare bedrock. Cut slits into it with a concrete saw and jackhammer out the crevices. All the way across the creek or river.

Next best would be a 4 by 8 sheet of aluminum or steel, at least 1/8 inch thick (11ga.) Built like a regular sluicebox and have reinforced expanded metal covering it. This would keep out anyone who wanted to clean it out for you, and keep out the bigger rocks, (sort of a self screening thing) while still allowing good water flow.

It would have to be anchored to the bedrock at all four corners with rebar, preferably, and the upper lip where the metal meets the bedrock would have to be sealed with cement or something, to keep the gold from sliding underneath.

A pipe would only touch bedrock at one point.... think half a circle here. You'd have to be awfully lucky the gold would run down that particular half inch or so.

Wider is better, then there would be the trick of leveling while you anchor, might not be the easiest chore in the world....

Here's a quick sketch-




But it can be done by someone with patience, time and materials.


(Wish I still had Autocad at home, LOL!)

 

[Dave45]

find bedrock lay carpet tapcon your riffles through the carpet into the bedrock
tapcons are concrete screws use the bedrock as your sluice

 

[Dave45]

Or better yet buy the biggest sluice box you can buy drill holes through it and tapcon it to the bedrock

 

[whitevette]

...about constructing something like a sluice box and placing it in the creek during the winter.

How would you build Simple effective Creek gold Nugget Traps for absentee gold prospecting? Any ideas?

This is a problem in durability : Anything placed in a flood-prone stream will eventually get mangled / torn / gone! IMHO, groove the rock bed! Use a gas-powered brick saw (any tool rental place will have them) , go out to the stream of your choice(when it's dry?), bring along a rake and a broom, locate a suitable collection spot, rake the stream bed to rock(bottom), then sweep everything down to "clean" rock.

Using the bricksaw diamond wheel, put on those face shields (glasses are too small! Your face needs protecting, too!) & slice several deep cuts from one side of the stream to the other (1 inch apart?). Using a hammer and a chisel, break out every other course of rock. What you should end up with is a series of square troughs in the bedrock about 1 inch apart and 4 or 5 inches deep. Flatten the bottoms with a hammer and a large punch (this is for ease of removal of all the collected material later).

After a couple (?) of good Spring floods, clean out the troughs. I'll bet you find more than sand! Let it flood again! check again! Repeat until you either get tired of it...or you're too rich to care! The rock grooves are indestructable! It is only necessary to keep them cleaned out!

 

[Dave45]

what he said

 

[MrGneissGuy]

It's genius. I'm doing it. Who cares if it's a national forest right?

 

[beekbuster]

i take note of the areas that collect large amounts of ironstone, lead, gold, nails. and check them when im in the area. i have thought about your idea and think that taking a sluice and bolting it to bedrock is the only feasible option. if there are rocks larger than a basketball, your setup will likely be destroyed before you check it. i just found a little spot that was loaded with hematite, i was confident i found a mini bonanza. there was some gold, but being heavily prospected for the last 150 years, there mas no bonanza to be had, just about 3+/- grains of gold amongst a large pile of purple stones. bummer. but i look at the dynamics of the situation and look for it along the creek. there is almost always a pattern or similarity to the deposition of heavies

 

[bcfromfl]

I subscribed to a treasure newsletter back in the '80s that described exactly how to do this. Take a 1-1/2" to 2" diameter galvanized pipe, and saw it into 3" lengths. Carry in a bag to your location along with a sledge hammer, and maybe an impact extension for spots under water, and find exposed areas of bedrock at low water flow. Pound the pipe flush into the bedrock in rows, then hide with cobbles and sand. If possible, angle the pipes away from the flow of the water slightly, so the current won't blow the gold out. Permanent, and unless someone knows exactly where to look, discreet.

 

[Underburden]

You guys are funny. And the mention of finding exposed bedrock at low water as a place to secure your trap...if you found exposed bedrock at low water, WORK THE BEDROCK. Why does everyone think that there is no work involved in getting gold. Set your trap and forget it...go back to your video game.

 

[boogeyman]

I knew a couple of guys that tried this in California. The one guy went out & torched some strips of corrugated iron pipe and attached it to a flat piece on the end stuffed in a gunney sack. Looked like a real good setup. He anchored these with some surplus military spikes. After the storms (2) he goes out to pick them up. Three were discovered and swiped by someone and one got buried under 5 or 6 feet of dirt. The other guy got two made, got a few specks with one & we think a bear used his other as a play toy.

Like underburden said no work no gold. It's like losing weight! There's no miracle solution. Wanna lose weight you gotta exercise! You want gold you gotta exercise!

 

[bcfromfl]

You guys are funny. And the mention of finding exposed bedrock at low water as a place to secure your trap...if you found exposed bedrock at low water, WORK THE BEDROCK. Why does everyone think that there is no work involved in getting gold. Set your trap and forget it...go back to your video game.

The assumption is that you scout out a spot with scoured or flat bedrock that is normally washed clean during high water, where you know gold is located, but may be carried further downstream to spots that may not be as easy to get to during spring runoff. Why not create more crannies to stop it along its path?