Placerville Sluicer new to forum

[Gravelwasher]

Happy New Year and Greeting to all,

I am a Placerville area sluice boxer, I enjoy prospecting on the weekends . Yes I have been bitten by the elusive goldbug and gotten the fever, I guess this is what happens when you live in the gold country for most of your life. Last summer I was talking with an inlaw about gold and he asked me if I had used a sluice box and offered to loan me his as he wasent using it so I gave it a try and have been at it almost every weekend/day off since even christmas day. Let me know if you too like digging holes getting wet and working 100 times harder than you do at your day job, all for the connection with nature and the sound of gravel going through the sluice, oh ya and some gold dust the miners left behind. Good prospecting to you all!!!!

 

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[River Rat]

Gravelwasher

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[DigginThePast]

Welcome to T-Net.



That color is enough to push anyone over the edge.

 

[Gravelwasher]

River Rat & Diggin the Past Thanks for the welcome!!!

That color was the first for me, oh ya got me real excited, started dreaming about it . Thanks Gravelwasher

 

[smugpot]

worked a mine outside placerville back when you could ride a cherry picker into town miss those days

 

[Gravelwasher]

A cherry picker, that would be a sight to see!! Up until about 10 years ago I would see a man with a donkey and one with a horse come through downtown Placerville, they looked like old time prospectors. I talked with one of the guys, he was a little crazy and stunk like a dead animal. He told me god wouldn't let him take all the gold he found, he had to leave it high up in the sierras, that's what he said. He had a little rubbermaid panning station set up on main street during wagon train one year, he let me pan out what others missed and gave me my first gold pan. Placerville is a great littel town with lots of character. Gravelwasher

 

[smugpot]

YES SIR MEET A HERMIT UP THERE THAT LET ME AND MY BROTHER WORK A DRY HOLE WE WOULD DIG ALL DAY SUNDAY AND THEN RUN IT THREW THE LINE AT THE MINE ON MONDAY

 

[Gravelwasher]

So Smugpot how did it pan out from digging in the dry hole? What type of mine did you take it back to, were you, are you working a mine? I recently heard about a mine up off Big Cut I think the Donovan mine, anyway the city shut em down wont let them mine it anymore, the Donovan's claimed its an operational gold mine since the 1860s and has had continuous gold extraction which would give them some right to keep working it but the city says it hasn't been continually operated that it shut down during war time and no record of selling the gold to the mints exists so the city says whatever mining was going on was illeagle and unless they willingly signed over the right to mine the property the city would fine them for the illegal activity. Now the new owners want to mine the property but cant do it legally. So I guess to be within the law the new owners have to just say the are recreational prospectors, right? Gravelwasher

 

[smugpot]

this was back in the mid 80,s was just a spell out side of tell ride was the Tate mine but Tate sold the mine to 2 diff people and they both started to damage the equipment they were just about to the point of hurting someone when father said lets get out of dodge. from what i hear they have now turn the mine into a state park . no mining we worked the dry into the washboards and slusbox of the working mine it had a upside down wash table that was gravity feed we had to move 3 to 5 tons of product to get a oz of gold i was 15 working for my father who is a archaeologist and a Geo flow oi gist we got some nuggets out of the dry nothing more then a few penny weight but good enough to keep trying

 

[Gravelwasher]

Wow sounds like an adventure Smugpot!! I know what you mean about finding just enough to keep your attention. I think I am collecting what the 49ers didn't find worth while to collect, the dust and fines and hopefully eventually a nugget they missed. Right now I am still in the process of finding places I can use my sluice and trying as many spots as possible. Crazy when someone sees you with a gold pan all of a sudden they don't want you to access the water, had a lady in her 60s kick me out of under a county bridge off newtown road, said if there was any gold there it was hers because her property backed up to the bridge and she considered under the bridge her property, I think shes wrong but left anyway. Smugpot do you still enjoy the adventure of sluicing? I think I am headed out again this weekend, if anyones interested let me know. Gravelwasher

 

[smugpot]

i went from hunting ground finds on indian camp sites to now hunting treasure
i also do period hunting from time era,s raelly in tx where i live there are few gold finds just flower gold really so no more gold hunting unless its jewlery which i have found zero as far as gold
i have talked to dad about going back to the mine for a week or two on vacation and running things down to black sand and cxarting back here to tx for final panning but he is older now and the enviro is to hard for him i think i have passed our prime unless i can spark this intrest in my kids
my heart is with you on going out but i am geo challanged in tx best of luck keep us updated
my first box was made from wood and shag carpet haha for the wash mats

 

[Gravelwasher]

Smugpot I am sure one day your kids will love it. That sounds really awsome about the mine and geology and stuff I really enjoy the geology side of prospecting, I am always looking at interesting rocks and formations and try an imagine the forces at work.
Went sluice boxing this weekend and wanted to share here some pics of what came from 2 days sampling. One day sampling in a new area and not much au from the 1st day at all. Met up with chaos and his Bro and did some good sampling but just dident pan out. 2nd day went to a previous sample area and it went better. Heres the pics of just what I sluiced and panned over the 2 days. Hope you enjoy the pics Gravelwasher

 

[smugpot]

wow nice flower that would be enuff to hook me again

 

[Gravelwasher]

Smugpot if you make it up on vacation I would be more than glad to put you on some gold like that and hopefully some bigger next time.

 

[DW96790]

YES YES OH! $%$& YES I have been here for a year (Placerville) been getting the property ready a constant chore as you might know. Have all the toys Highbanker which I converted to a solar powered one = very quiet! Blue bowl qualifiers old gold pan magnetic pick, well just about everything. Also have all current claims in el dorodo county current, abandoned, never done, Google earth overlay, of area. But nothing beats your living here. I'm 57 disabled so can work to your schedule. Love to tinker and build new things current project I call the skidder it will be a shark cage like elevator able to move 2000 #'s of equipment at a haul, meaning it will be able to get to those hard to reach BLM lands that there are no claims on. You know the ones that just about go straight up and down walls . Anyway give me a yell.
DW
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