Looking for help in Idaho

[Cactus]

Hey TN.

Wife and I are Michiganders visiting Idaho. I want to take her out to do some panning. Having a hell of a time figuring public land and what is or isn't claimed out here. Anyone know where we could go in the Boise area? Or have a claim we could jump? Can't do much damage with a couple of pans, just want to get the wife out for the afternoon. I prospected with Gold Tramp down in CA for a few months for those of you that know him.

Thanks for your time,

Cactus

 

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[vpnavy]

You might consider also posting this request on Forum: Idaho.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Find a free-flowing stretch of the Snake and have at it. The gold will be extremely fine, but it will be there. Might have to drive a ways.
Jim

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Must not be much gold in the Snake? Otherwise there would be a bunch of claims along it, which I don’t see.

 

[Underburden]

I'd refrain using the word "claim jump". Been a sore subject on here lately.

 

[Gambrinus]

You could try here https://idwr.idaho.gov/streams/map.html you will need to get a permit. Grimes creek is open all year, is not a great distance from Boise and historically has had a lot of gold come out of the area. However most of the creek has been mined already most of it done by bucket dredges but I have heard that people are still finding some gold there.

 

[Gambrinus]

Must not be much gold in the Snake? Otherwise there would be a bunch of claims along it, which I don’t see.

There is a lot of gold in the Snake river, but as Jim in Idaho said it is very fine gold making it difficult to recover but there is great amount of it. There have been successful operations done there in the past.

 

[Cactus]

@Underburden Context is important.

@Everyone else, thanks for the info, I'll continue to do research.

 

[roconnor]

Claims are not allowed on the Snake. It's considered a Navigable river . There is plenty of gold in it. Catching and keeping it is quite a science. Good luck.

 

[ratled]

Must not be much gold in the Snake? Otherwise there would be a bunch of claims along it, which I don’t see.

Didn't there used to be but the area was closed to dredging. I thought it use to be a very good place to dredge

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I see, the mineral rights were withdrawn.

Sounds like a good place to see some specks in the pan. I did read something about a recreational mining permit...is that required to pan?

 

[OwenT]

I’d recommend panning on the S fork Payette River. There’s gold and not a lot of claims. The payette below its confluence with the s fork should also be fine but then you get down more into private land going towards horseshoe bend.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Must not be much gold in the Snake? Otherwise there would be a bunch of claims along it, which I don’t see.

There's lots of gold. The problem is it's so fine you can't make money at it. They took 24,000 oz's out of my county, alone. I'd say that's a bit of gold. Total for the entire Snake is over 98,000oz;s, and they figure there may have been much more that was never reported.
Jim

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Didn't there used to be but the area was closed to dredging. I thought it use to be a very good place to dredge

I think the first suction dredge ever used was by the familuy of Edgar Rice Burroughs (AUTHOR OF "TARZAN"). THey sold their ranch near Oakley to go into the gold business. They had some success, but eventually gave it up. Same problem occurred....had to move too much material to recover sufficient gold. That problem has plagued everybody that tried dredging on the Snake. The bulk of the gold has been recovered using the old methods...pans, sluices, rockers. The serious miners eventually settled on using burlap linings in the sluices as the best method. My buddy and I once found an old cabin near Massacre Rocks that still had the hooks along the main rafter where they hung the burlap mats to dry. After drying, they beat them to make the black sand and gold fall onto a canvas sheet on the floor, before final recovery. They also tried copper, coated with mercury, in the bottoms of the sluices, and I still recover mercury-coated gold from some of the old workings.
Jim

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

There's lots of gold. The problem is it's so fine you can't make money at it. They took 24,000 oz's out of my county, alone. I'd say that's a bit of gold. Total for the entire Snake is over 98,000oz;s, and they figure there may have been much more that was never reported.
Jim

Those production numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt. I tend to think the actual numbers are much higher.
For example..my area is reported to have produced 2,000,000 ounces. Yet a only a short stretch of river was reported by the state mineralogist to have produced $25 million in placer gold prior to the 1930’s gold rush. Something doesn’t add up!

At any rate sounds like there is no shortage of recreational panning opportunity in Idaho!

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Few people realize how big the overall action was on the Snake. At Bonanza Bar, alone, there were 1,500 people working. That's on one bar that covers about 2,000 acres. Add to that the people working the river and benches in the canyons upstream into Wyoming, and the numbers of ounces become easily understood. The numbers reported are from Federal Government sources.
Jim

 

[galenrog]

Getting back to the original question. If you will be primarily in the Boise area, the Boise River, which runs through Boise, is historically productive. I have panned out color within the city limits from the Boise River. Just another option.

Time for more coffee.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Jim, I think you missed my point. It’s my opinion that the production numbers are generally much higher than typically reported. Like I said, take the information, regardless of the source with a grain of salt.

There were far more 2-3 man partnerships that didn’t report compared to the larger companies that were promoting their mines.

It’s just a guess.

To the OP, check out
Landmatters web site, it’s pretty easy to see that there are little to no claims near Boise. Yet there are several rivers apparently that carry gold.

 

[panningjack]

You could try here https://idwr.idaho.gov/streams/map.html you will need to get a permit. Grimes creek is open all year, is not a great distance from Boise and historically has had a lot of gold come out of the area. However most of the creek has been mined already most of it done by bucket dredges but I have heard that people are still finding some gold there.

No permit needed for panning. Just stay in Boise and find a rusty colored layer of sand. You’ll be sure to find some gold and garnets. I do all my dredge mod testing on the Boise. If I can catch that fine stuff I’ll catch it all

 

[Gambrinus]

No permit needed for panning. Just stay in Boise and find a rusty colored layer of sand. You’ll be sure to find some gold and garnets. I do all my dredge mod testing on the Boise. If I can catch that fine stuff I’ll catch it all

I stand corrected about the permit. Unfortunately for me between a nerve issue in my neck and the medications I am taking for it, that confusion has been an ugly issue that I have to deal with.
Anyway I'm in Idaho City. I don't have my own ground right now otherwise I would have given an invite.
Were do you dredge ?