Gold in all the wrong places - your stories please

PickAxeCA

Jr. Member
Nov 1, 2018
39
117
Okanagan, BC, Canada
Detector(s) used
Barely a weekend warrior. Hard rock + placer together = a more complete sampling picture for AU.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
It's well known that gold tends to settle out at inside bends, where rivers and creeks widen, in tree roots, or behind / downstream of obstructions such as large boulders or groupings of boulders.

I'd like to hear some counter-examples of gold being found in the wrong places - outside bends, areas where the river is totally straight, areas where the river narrows, in front / upstream of obstructions etc.

Of course gold is where you find it, but it would be interesting to build a case for looking in the wrong places as well as the obvious ones.

Let's hear some stories!

-Xplore
 

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et1955

Hero Member
Jan 10, 2015
913
1,783
Shoreline,wa
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Equinox 800
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First of all as you look at a river don't assume that is the way it flowed, I learned that a long time ago, for you high benchers look at the deposits behind the rocks you move out of the banks, there will be a place behind it that is rich in gold also the usual heavies, for example my main river I have been mining for over 30 years I noticed the the gold and heavies were deposited differently than the present flow of the river, I call it archeologic mining. As I have dug down to 8ft. plus mined above the river 400ft. and spent over 10,000 on this river and had a lot fun doing it, best advice to all is look at the indicators. If you want to know what the indicators are" like 'this post and I will share also support MY Land Matters.
 

N-Lionberger

Bronze Member
Dec 1, 2013
1,365
1,959
Arcata, California
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Yeah the normal flow isn't really that great for judging gold locations, at flood stage things are a lot different.
 

mikep691

Hero Member
Aug 6, 2015
858
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Northeastern Sierra's
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If you can find a map showing the ancient river beds, one thing you'll notice is that most were north-south flowing in their day. When the plates shifted these rivers were diverted and new east-west rivers were formed. I think this why you find bedrock at 6000 feet elevation. Some of these ancient rivers after the shift are now at the top of mountain ranges. If you're lucky enough to find the actual ancient river bed, though it may be very high up from the current east-west river, there may be a spectacular placer deposit. My claim, with fairly good gold is at 5000 feet and some, including me, is very near the ancient channel which runs near the Sierra crest.
 

Bodfish Mike

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Dec 12, 2014
503
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Bodfish and Marin county CA
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I have found gold at estate sales - yard sales - garage sales.
Even found it dumpster diving which is definitely the wrong place for it.
Cheers Mike
 

metrotec

Sr. Member
Jan 5, 2020
413
695
East Tennessee
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Agreed, even the Mighty Mississippi has moved as much as a mile. Where there are fields, was at one time the river channel.
 

russau

Gold Member
May 29, 2005
7,278
6,735
St. Louis, missouri
And you would be surprised to see the amount of gold in the Mississippi & the Missouri River's ! Now if I could get a MASSIVE dredge permit to suck it up! The permit is named a sand & gravel permit and it's the EZest permit to be had ! If I was only half my age !!!!:occasion14:
 

Capt Nemo

Bronze Member
Apr 11, 2015
1,058
1,609
Oshkosh, WI
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Well, not gold but amethyst. Found a couple small rounded lumps of amethyst in the Tomorrow River. These prove the ice shove theory over glacier theory. These are Thunder Bay amethyst which should be over by Duluth, but were found in the Green Bay Lobe area which never went through Thunder Bay. But, you take a circular piece of floating ice with CCW rotation, with a minimum diameter of Green Bay to Detroit, and place it at Thunder Bay on the north side, the southern edge will be exactly over the Tomorrow River. This ice may be Greenland's glaciers today.

For more proof, take a look at the nautical charts for Gray's Reef in Northren Lake Michigan. The reef is cut on a NW/SE line, instead of the NE/SW line that the Lake Michigan Lobe supposedly took. You can see it with Google maps.
 

et1955

Hero Member
Jan 10, 2015
913
1,783
Shoreline,wa
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Equinox 800
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I have found gold at estate sales - yard sales - garage sales.
Even found it dumpster diving which is definitely the wrong place for it.
Cheers Mike[/QUOTE
I work in the University District in Seattle, you would not believe what these collage kids throw away when they move, I found a 1867 gold 20 franc coin dumpster diving and a lot of silver jewelry and a lot more. Cool thing is at the end of every quarter people move out and more treasures are found.
 

winners58

Bronze Member
Apr 4, 2013
1,729
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Oregon
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I've found gold in worked out areas on top of large boulders, I have concluded in the high water stage that some nuggets bounce.
 

RTR

Gold Member
Nov 21, 2017
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32,469
Smith Mt. Lake Va.
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Last week my dog found this on my clean-up room floor :BangHead: 002.JPG
 

Laz7777

Sr. Member
Dec 19, 2015
255
494
South Fork Yuba River, Motherlode
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GoldBug II
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I regularly look in places that seem to not be worth anything, and I've found some good color simply because others didn't think so either.
outside curvers on bedrock higher up than normal are good for large flake and flour, for example.
 

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PickAxeCA

PickAxeCA

Jr. Member
Nov 1, 2018
39
117
Okanagan, BC, Canada
Detector(s) used
Barely a weekend warrior. Hard rock + placer together = a more complete sampling picture for AU.
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Some interesting stories everyone, thanks!
 

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