Abandoned hydraulic mines in california.. what to do??

[ttmike42]

OK I'm new to metal detecting. I went out yesterday to a creekbed that had been mined with success a hundred years ago during the gold rush. I live in the northern mother lode and am surrounded by abandoned hydraulic mining diggins. I also know locations of the old townships themselves. I tried nugget hunting for the first time yesterday and found nothing. (I also wasnt able to get to where I had researched, so I was forced to just kind of stop at a swelled up creek and prospect there) and ended up finding several old nails and bullets, and what looks to be a very rusted iron valve handle. No gold, no valuables. Here is where I need help!! I have been looking online and apparently folks have done quite well metal detecting these old diggins, as the state decided hydraulic mining was too much impact on farming and outlawed it before most of the gold could be recovered. I'm looking for any advise on finding nuggets in these diggins as possible. Do I need to look on the sides of the banks that have been cut away with water and dig horizontally to find nuggets? or should I just stick to the ground and dig everything (I do that anyway out of curiousity!). Also, what ratio of trash to treasure do you all find? So far all I dig is trash and I'm wondering if it gets better or if I'm not being discriminating enough? If anyone is experienced and wants to help I'll take them to several old mines and they can show me what to do right and look for? any help you can give to a newbie I'm thankful!

 

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[Las Vegas Bob]

Although trash is fun and can have some value if you find something really cool, it has been my experience that the areas where Hydraulic mining took place most of the big gold (nuggets) in the soil are gone.

You can however seek out any exposed areas of bedrock, locate cracks and holes in the bed rock.

Detect over these areas. You would be surprised how large nuggets can find their way into such small cracks and crevices.

My Fisher Gold Bug has produced a lot of nice nuggets for me out of such crevices.

If this does not pay out and since you have a creek at your disposal I would consider doing this.

Set down your M/D, pick up a gold pan and pan for the fine stuff in and around the creek.

There should be plenty of fine gold in and around the area.

Most of the fines were washed away by the large volumes of water used to wash out the hill sides and then channeled through the primitive sluice boxes.

Even if copper riffles, coated with mercury were used by the old timers in the long toms, the fines still could get passed them. Just do to sheer volume of material being moved.

Now days a lot of people turn up there noses at prospecting for fine gold.

Some think it's a waste of time. They want the BIG score.

But as far as gold goes it all adds up.

Good luck.

 

[ttmike42]

OK well I don't own a pan, but may consider buying one in future. Here is what I understand about these hydraulic mines in particular:
They were actively mined with sucess until farmers in the CA valley complained about the silt runoff from hydraulic mining. I think the mines came up with a few ways to help, but ultimately, the mining was made illegal by the state due to the damage it was causing farmlands. I'm trying to put an emphasis on how these mines were shut down. They werent closed because they werent producing, but only because their method was outlawed. In fact, I have learned through research that small scale mining by private companies still takes place in the diggins. Although I dont know what method they are using. In some of these areas it looks as if they literally shut down the monitor and left. 50 foot banks that drop almost down to bedrock in some areas were cut away and left mid process. Through researching I've also learned that folks still do take out nuggets. The state of CA has an official study that says these mines were not worked out and still have gold remaining in them. (They know this because they are doing lots of studies in the area to determine polluted ground water and soil from the old mines) These mines are little known mines in the backcountry, they mostly now just see dirt bikes and four wheelers. In fact, I have not seen anyone out metal detecting them, ever, and I've lived here for 25 years, and spent lots of time on a dirt bike back there myself. There are also several abandoned townsites nearby that have the same namesake as the diggins. I even have a friend who tells me he knows the owner of one of the old townsites and would ask for permission for me to detect there. The rest of this land is BLM, some forest service. The chances of any kind of official patrol coming by is slim, this country is kind of lawless and cops just seem to ignore it. So I'm convinced hunting the bluffs for nuggets would be at least worth a shot, considering I have no pan, and lots of these diggins are without water, and even worse, polluted with mercury and other mining wastes.
OK so how do I go about this? Am I totally wasting my time to go up alongside the bluffs and detect the side of the hill, and dig horizontally in them? Or should I just stick to the floor of the diggins and search in cracks as suggested before? We have had double the amount of rain and snow here in northern CA we normally get and the ground is VERY saturated and I've noticed lots of little land slides off these bluffs. Probably good news? Or should I just stick to hunting the old townsites for relics and coins? Anyone in northern CA that wants to go out there with me is welcome, I would just hope you have some experience to impart to me
The roads to some of the backcountry mines have been washed out and crossing some of the creeks to get there wont be a possibility for a while, but some of the closer mines are still very accessible. Any info? want to come?

 

[idagon]

Hey Mike where do you live?

I live near Colfax, I have a whites GMT and Minelabs new xterra 70

Dan

[email protected]

 

[ttmike42]

I live in nevada city. Do you know the mines/diggins I'm talking about?
I have a bounty hunter land star. My mom bought it for me for christmas
Of course that means I owe my first decent find to her I figure :P

If the weather stops dumping I'm thinking of making a trip out there this weekend. I may even go tomorrow, friday the 31st. In any event, I'm addicted to MD'ing with just finding garbage.. I can only imagine what is going to happen when I find something that is worth something. I have a 4x4, but the creek at red dog is so swollen, brown and fast I dared not cross last weekend. I know we could cross at you bet road and get to all the old townsites and mines, but that is our only way in or out! buckeye crossing is too swollen, the bridge is out at lowell hill/steephollow crossing, and chalk bluff is snowed in.

[email protected] if you want to get together and find some garbage! I can safely say so far I'm an expert at that. Or be thinking of any other areas we could go..

I'm also really drooling over s. yuba river rec lands.. now can someone tell me in california, is "state park recreation area" the same as state park? does that mean no MD'ing? or in the very least, hidden and quiet metal detecting? I'm willing to bet that lots of people drop jewelry etc on those beaches and that all sorts of treasures gets washed downstream in the spring...

 

[packerbacker]

Funny to come across your post today. I had just printed out some maps of the Downieville area for future reference. Right in your back yard. I'd guess the best thing for you to do would be to detect the tailing piles themselves. They didn't get it all! A higher-end metal detector would help a lot but I've seen nuggets come out of the ground that yours would have found also. Move slow and dig it all. I'm no expert; I haven't found any myself but I've been with people that have that were using the same machine I have (MXT) and they did well. I just didn't go over any gold. Got plenty of bullets and square nails. The nails are a good indication of sluice boxes. I don't know about State Recreation areas but State Parks are off limits. I know national recreation areas such as Whiskeytown and Shata are off limits but the ranger in Trinity said it was okay as long as I didn't remove artifacts. Go figure.
If you're using a detector you will have to go to areas known for nuggets and not just the fine stuff. With all the rain we have been getting, I would think a slide area in nugget country would be a good place to look. Let mamma nature do the hydraulic work for you. Good luck to ya. Gold's hovering around $600 an ounce right now and a nice nugget is worth even more. A friend of mine found one recently that weighed just over a pound. It wasn't mostly quartz either, it was gold!!

 

[cali209]

This is an older post but I wanted to mention something for those who posted here.

One of the areas of hydraulic diggings mentioned above is mainly private property and even on the BLM land in that area there are people who have claims on about all the land there that was hydraulic mined.

I see people tresspassing and mining on other peoples claims all the time. Its getting old.

Pay for your own land and claims and stay off ours.

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Cali209,

I'm with you, 100%. People say "oh, its BLM land" or whatever. Just because its BLM land, or whatever, doesn't mean it isn't claimed, and certainly doesn't mean you have the right to metal detect or dig.

(as you can tell, we have the same problem all the time)

B