Setting a sluice in a small stream and leaving it.

[watersteps]

I would guess that most people would say "that won't work" . Well here is my idea, I want to place 1,2 or 3 sluice's in a small stream on my own property. Now, I live in Potter County, PA. and the stream is about 600' long. I don't have a sluice or know which type to build, but what the heck if it works while I metal detect other areas, why not?
The last thing is, is there any gold in Potter County, PA.?
Anyone got any ideas?

 

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[watersteps]

Thanks Guys,
I have attached some pics of my finished sluice. Yes I know this is not how the utube videos show you how to build one but I only paid for the miners moss.
I also attached some pics of the gold I got out of my first clean out. I only panned about a cup of material and got these results. One nice piece and some flour gold. It is hard to see the flour gold. I hope the blue bowl with help me separate the fine stuff.
Yes I'm new at this and I don't know what I'm doing at this time, but I will learn.

 

[Duckshot]

Hey- if you are getting results why not just stake down a riffle or few down across the entire stream?

Better yet go upstream to cig and sluice, if you can, that's where the flood gold is coming from.

 

[SchoolOfHardRocks]

I appreciate all of the thinking outside of the box... but if it were me: I would locate an area with some drop & bedrock crevices... throw my sluice box in the water and dig out nature's natural sluice box in the summer/ spring.
1. I don't risk losing my sluice box (which is highly likely)
2. Even if your sluice survived winter and it's storms, I do not think it will likely catch gold. It takes significant flow to really move gold. So significant that your sluice would be flapping in the stream similar to the way a flag blows in the wind LOL.

But this is an interesting thread/ idea nonetheless. I would be really interested to see someone try it, and post the results...

 

[N-Lionberger]

You should maybe try "boomer" mining, my claim has evidence of such activity by the old timers. Set up your sluice at the bottom end of your stream and build a dam at the upper end, when you have a nice bit of water open the dam and you have winter flood stage for a minute or two.

 

[firebird]

I appreciate all of the thinking outside of the box... but if it were me: I would locate an area with some drop & bedrock crevices... throw my sluice box in the water and dig out nature's natural sluice box in the summer/ spring.
1. I don't risk losing my sluice box (which is highly likely)
2. Even if your sluice survived winter and it's storms, I do not think it will likely catch gold. It takes significant flow to really move gold. So significant that your sluice would be flapping in the stream similar to the way a flag blows in the wind LOL.

But this is an interesting thread/ idea nonetheless. I would be really interested to see someone try it, and post the results...

Might also be an interesting idea to try and create more bedrock crevices yourself too. I think I'll try that in a location I know that has gold flowing in it.

 

[watersteps]

Thanks for the great ideas guys. This stream runs dry in the hot summer months, and there is not suppose to be any gold here. While someone forgot to tell mother nature and the glaciers from a million years ago.
For several months of the year this stream runs high and fast, so much so that I must hold on to the small trees on the bank when working in the stream. Keep in mind that a stream in PA can be from 6 inches to 6 foot wide, my stream is about 2 foot to 6 foot wide and from 2 inches to 20 inches deep.
Bedrock? what bedrock? I have found up to 24 inches of mud, gravel, and rocks in this stream but I have never hit any bedrock, yet.
I replaced my gold catcher (sluice) in the stream yesterday now I'll wait 2 weeks or so and see what it looks like.
I'm building another gold catcher right now but this one will have my special rubber mat then some expanded metal and some riffle angles across the flow. I'll post pics when it is finished, you won't believe what it is made from.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Your experiment has been much more successful than I expected, so a hearty congratulations are in order! When people say there isnt gold in your area, they are most likely talking about "native" gold, deposited by volcanic actions, and they are probably correct. Its very likely what you are finding it glacial till gold. You are finding a good amount of it though. Do you have any glacial moraines close to you?

 

[RobertF]

On one of my claims, when we were initially exploring the area there was an old 10' long sluice box secured by a cable across the creek. By the looks of the sluice it had been there for many years untouched... total gold in it when we cleaned it out, zero. Plenty of gold elsewhere on the claim luckily

 

[watersteps]

Thanks Jason in Enid, Glacier Moraines? I don't know have any idea. I live in a long valley, which I would think was cut out by a glacier and then eroded by rain, snow and stream activity.

 

[watersteps]

I believe a good type of Miller Table will work well to catch a lot of flour gold but I don't have one at this time. As soon as I receive my Blue Bowl I'll see how that works.
I was thinking about using electricity to help get the gold. But I don't know if that will work.
I also thought about heating the gold and sand in a small cast iron pot, but I'm afraid the gold will melt and engulf the sand.
At the present time, I took some flour gold that is mixed with sand and I dried it out. I poured the mixture on a piece of blue paper and now I will pick the gold out as time permits.

 

[N-Lionberger]

I have an article somewhere from the 60ies that describes making a "long-board" basically a massive miller table that sits at the end of a dredge sluice for cleaning concentrates, an old timer from Trinity County told me about how he cleans his cons right in his dredge sluice by similar action, getting it to sit almost flat with the aid of a two by four, he recommended roughing up the sluice bottom with various grits of sand paper and using a squeegee to work the material around.

When you get your blue bowl it would be a good idea to wash off any mold release from the plastic but be real careful not to scratch the inside surfaces of the bowl, it needs to be nice and smooth. I like my blue bowl, it does its job though I rarely use it, maybe once every couple years when I have enough sand to bother concentrating, I mostly use a clean up sluice followed by a spiral wheel and delicate finish panning, everything super fine is stockpiled for a winter day. I dry it, screen it all out, remove the magnetic sand with a spin it off magnet then I roast and crush the non magnetics and send it through the blue bowl, works great.

I am a glassblower and use gold to color my work, different gold bearing regions give different colors due to varying impurities. Fines are difficult to use as it just burns up before it can adhere so I will make a bead out of my fines, to do so I utilize a marble mold made of graphite, you could also use cast iron or better yet a piece of unglazed pottery such as a piece of flower pot. I then mix in with my fine sand and gold some borax with a little water to make a paste, 20 mule team laundry borax is just fine it can be found in the cleaning isle of a grocery store. The borax acts a flux, the stuff can be used in a pinch as a soldering flux and is used by blacksmiths to aid in forge welding. You hit this mix with a mapp gas torch, if you have oxy acetylene it goes a lot faster be careful. The gold all fluxed up with gather together into a bead contained in the glassy remains of the sand and flux, which is crushed up and panned to get the bead. Another great use for borax is for treating athletes foot.

 

[watersteps]

Thanks N-Lionberger, that is a lot of great info, I will try the borax very soon, thanks again.

 

[alaskaseeker]

The carpet I think is a good idea, you can clear a spot and place it right on the bottom, if you want to get real jazzy, use rocks across the carpet to make riffles. Keep in mind with a sluice box you need gradient and stream pressure with the carpet the fines will be constantly moving across the bottom. Think about this a little it's a common sense deal...

If you decide to use the carpet probably would be a good idea to get some 1/8 X 1/2 flat bar and pop rivet it to the bottom of the carpet with wide head rivets, was thinking a little about this, would stay in place better but you decide, think this setup will catch some fines

 

[watersteps]

Hello All, I am back.
Thanks for the email 3cylbill.
I'm still alive and kicking. I did find a small pc of gold and a bunch of sand full of flour gold. I bought 2 blue bowl separators, first one was new from the USA but the seller shipped it from China. When it was supposed to come from the USA. EBay returned my money and kicked him off of EBay. The second one was a used unit and looks good, but I did not even get a chance to use it yet.
The wife's car died so we had to buy a new one, ouch! The house needs paint and I am painting it now, just think a 70 year old man on a 24 foot ladder. I hold on with one hand, two feet and my teeth, and their false. So it is taking awhile. Deer season is fast approaching I need to do some scouting.
So back to gold, I figured out that when my stream is real low and almost dried up I can dig sand and stones with a shovel and put it in a bucket for later.
What I need now is an honest friend that would look at my tiny pc of gold and some flour gold and make sure I have real gold. I can send it to someone if I knew who.
Well it is suppose to rain today but the sun is out with no sign of rain, darn, now I guess I gotta start painting again.

 

[Goldwasher]

Hello All, I am back.
Thanks for the email 3cylbill.
I'm still alive and kicking. I did find a small pc of gold and a bunch of sand full of flour gold. I bought 2 blue bowl separators, first one was new from the USA but the seller shipped it from China. When it was supposed to come from the USA. EBay returned my money and kicked him off of EBay. The second one was a used unit and looks good, but I did not even get a chance to use it yet.
The wife's car died so we had to buy a new one, ouch! The house needs paint and I am painting it now, just think a 70 year old man on a 24 foot ladder. I hold on with one hand, two feet and my teeth, and their false. So it is taking awhile. Deer season is fast approaching I need to do some scouting.
So back to gold, I figured out that when my stream is real low and almost dried up I can dig sand and stones with a shovel and put it in a bucket for later.
What I need now is an honest friend that would look at my tiny pc of gold and some flour gold and make sure I have real gold. I can send it to someone if I knew who.
Well it is suppose to rain today but the sun is out with no sign of rain, darn, now I guess I gotta start painting again.

just take good pictures. if it is gold we will tell you

 

[watersteps]

Thanks Goldwasher, I will take some pictures and post them.

 

[watersteps]

Here are a few pictures.
Don't strain your eyes. I tried to crush it but it just flatten out.

 

[Goldwasher]

IDK doesn't really look like gold. in the light or shadow

 

[CyHawkGold]

If it doesn't pulverize when you hit it with a hammer, but just gets smooth and flatter, it just might be gold, as long as it has a yellow tint and not grey.