Just thought I would post this for someone who knows. I just got into panning and knew a place a few minutes from my house on the Ohio river where I had seen some black sand on the bank before. I went and shoveled a bucket from the beach with black sand and a bucket from a bank wash out that had river gravel and some quartz(maybe) looking stuff in it. I got home and started panning and nothing at all in the beach sand but the gravel sand was a different story. I couldn't believe it, it was a very little amount out of a 5 gallon bucket but it is gold. Everything i've read about WV says there are no known gold found in WV and that the glacier deposits went around WV. Is there anyone here from WV that has found gold also? and if I found these little tiny pieces does that mean in all probability I won't find any pickers or is it worth trying to pan some more? It's so funny, everyone around here thinks i'm crazy, I can sit out there all day and pan till my hearts contenet LOL and not think anything about it.
It is very likely that the gold you have found is glacial gold since the Ohio River runs along the border of Ohio and West Virgina and also down from Pennsylvania, there are glacial deposits in both Ohio and Pennsylvania and most of the tributaries in these glacial deposits would be draining into the Ohio River bringing some gold along to the river and some fine gold would very likely be migrating downstream.
Skip
SEEK AND YEA SHALL FIND and when you do THANK GOD!!!
if you have found a secert gold spot -- SHUT UP ALREADY !!! blabbing about just makes for "competitors" to horn in on your action -- keep very quiet about it --tell no one of your "find"-- milk that baby for all shes worth . --these are words for the wise to live by as far as "gold panning" goes.-- it is possible that you found some old time gold deposited long ago --if so get it while the getting is good --let them laugh now --you will laugh later when you cash in on it. --all the way to the bank --PS you got "nothing" TO PROVE TO ANYONE --OTHER THAN THE GOLD ASSAYER
I gotcha, i'm not saying a word to anyone but thought it was pretty cool to find some here. Thanks for the replies. I'm going to keep on panning, thought about making a sluice.
If you want to keep it a secret I wouldn't pan on site. Find the gold layer and fill up some 5 gal. buckets to take home and pan on the back porch. If people see you panning at the site they'll get wise, but if they see you filling up buckets with sand they won't think anything of it. That's what I do anyway and never have any problems or curious people. Find out how fine your gold is and classify it at the river before you bring it home. If anyone does ask, you just tell them it's for your kid's sandbox. You'll have enough in one 5 gal. bucket to pan for quite a while. Have fun!
Just thought I would post this for someone who knows. I just got into panning and knew a place a few minutes from my house on the Ohio river where I had seen some black sand on the bank before. I went and shoveled a bucket from the beach with black sand and a bucket from a bank wash out that had river gravel and some quartz(maybe) looking stuff in it. I got home and started panning and nothing at all in the beach sand but the gravel sand was a different story. I couldn't believe it, it was a very little amount out of a 5 gallon bucket but it is gold. Everything i've read about WV says there are no known gold found in WV and that the glacier deposits went around WV. Is there anyone here from WV that has found gold also? and if I found these little tiny pieces does that mean in all probability I won't find any pickers or is it worth trying to pan some more? It's so funny, everyone around here thinks i'm crazy, I can sit out there all day and pan till my hearts contenet LOL and not think anything about it.
Hi there
I'm from Saint Albans,WV..I've found a few small colors in So.Charleston,like fly poops cut up.But gold none the less.....I've heard the Elk River carries small amounts of gold.Behind my house there is a cliff face of sandstone about 30 feet tall and you can see layers of round river washed quartz in layers about a foot thick.....Never know till I crush some of it though...
BTW, I've got a 48" 12volt power sluice if u want a hand...LMK
If not,go to nytimes.com and do a search "the westvirginia gold fever".Its pretty good and worth at least a quick read....
be sure to search from 1851 to present,it's a very old article..
James, your link didn't work for me so I did a search, here is a link to the search page of the NYT, not all of the items are for gold but there seems to be a few on the first page.....
If not,go to nytimes.com and do a search "the westvirginia gold fever".Its pretty good and worth at least a quick read....
be sure to search from 1851 to present,it's a very old article..
I find this interesting and have been wanting to get into finding anything i can and to do so with my boys. I have been searching for anything within a short drive of where I live but I dont want to work where someone else is working. I am in Huntington so I have a 3 state option but would really like to find something near home. Any ideas of any place in the tri-state area to find anything of interest?
Yes there is some Gold in West Virginia. I just started A chapter of the GPAA in Nitro WV. We meet the 2nd sat. at 2pm. The location is at BrandyWine Flea Market in Nitro,WV.We also treasure hunt ,gem,and metal detect .E-mail at GPAAWV@Yahoo.com Thanks Gentleman Joe
While a member of the Southwest Prospectors & Miners Assoc. in California, we had access to numerous claims in So. Cal and some of them were pretty remote so backpacking tools and other (lunch, of course) in was a pain.
One of the most ungainly things was the sluice and several of the claims had very low water flow available.
After gaining some experience and seeing that gold is naturally 'lazy' because of its density, I put together a sluice (well, several) weighing less than a pound each.
I'll post one photo here but a .zip file with a half-dozen images showing detail can be had on request.
We used these for years and never found gold more than 4-5 ripples down from the funnel so they are safe to use even in higher flow rates.
One caveat; y'all remember 3 pound coffee cans?
Ain't no more-
Steve A.
Freedom is inversely proportional to the size of government.
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to horn in on your action -- keep very quiet about it --tell no one of your "find"-- milk that baby for all shes worth . --these are words for the wise to live by as far as "gold panning" goes.-- it is possible that you found some old time gold deposited long ago --if so get it while the getting is good --let them laugh now --you will laugh later when you cash in on it. --all the way to the bank --PS you got "nothing" TO PROVE TO ANYONE --OTHER THAN THE GOLD ASSAYER
Originally Posted by rob3273
