New California Downpours

[drplaztics]

I'm from Indiana and have never been gold prospecting but I heard that people still find gold in southern
California. Will these new historical downpours of rain this week make the gold prospecting a lot better
in these areas? Are they allowed to dredge in California or was that outlawed?

I was thinking that if I lived in California maybe the thing to do would be to secure 5' or 10' sections
of corrugated 4" drain pipe in the creeks. When the water goes through it, the heavier sands and
gold particles would get caught in the corrugation. You guys could pull these pipe sections back in
your trucks, take them home and rinse out the corrugations and see if they contain gold. Maybe this
is a bad idea or it has already been thought of but I would think it might work. I would think that this
could be used for prospecting as these pipe sections could be placed in different locations or creeks and
a week later they could be picked up and checked for gold content. Which ever pipe sections held the most
gold content would be the area to work gold in......maybe

[Hoser John]

dredging dead forever in kalif and the last states that allow even tinkertoys in extremely limited seasons following suit too. Get it on or forget it-John :P

[Gravel Hog]

During many of the state water project and federal reservoir constructions the state/feds were setup to recover gold. In one of those instances i heard that they set steel riffles in the creek bed so as the winter/spring high water would process material like a giant sluice. I also heard it just about paid for the project. I think, if I remember correct, it was Tulloch or somewhere there abouts.
As far as dredging in Cal, ain't looking so good for that. Should invest your interest elsewhere or another approach.

[GoldinSocal]

I feel that even IF dredging doesn't become a thang of the past it won't be the same as in stiffer regs. I hate the thought that this could really be the end of it all as i was REALLY looking at making prospecting my full time hobby with dredging being my main reason for getting into it all. I just don't know what will be worse, being so close to having your own dredge and getting out there, or to have dredged knowing whats out there but can't anymore. SOS

[Klondikeike]

Many, many, many years ago.. around 1974 or 5... I did some dry washing in and around the Ord Mountains, near barstow, in the desert... going towards Apple valley, following the old stage coach road.... and we'd get some gold using the dry washers....but was a lot of work...

We saw there was a good storm coming in.. so we went to our favorite place to dry wash.. built a rather good sized dam of rocks and waited for the rain... soon it was raining really hard and many of the dry washes were now running with water.. so we put in our small home built dredge and sucked as long as we could while the water lasted during the cloud burst...

To our surprise, we pulled 3 and 1/2 ounces of gold...... it would take us a week of steady throwing dry dirt through the dry washer to get that amount....

It is really too bad the dredging is being shut down in California...the area I speak of near Barstow is now closed to all morotorized vehicles... and equipment.. it is a nature perserve...set up be the Late Sen Cranston...it covers a large protion of the Mojavie desert...to bad...

klondike...

[GoldinSocal]

Not only is it too bad, it's unjustifiable in my eyes.

[Gravel Hog]

Not only is it too bad, it's unjustifiable in my eyes.

yes, that and just way too green for me. To the very max extreme Cal has become. Come on and just give me a break. Please (see I asked nicely)
But the BS keeps a going on and on......

[Gravelwasher]

Downpour of legislation and crap, I was told this summer while on the cosumnes river in the national forest that by digging with my garden trowel in the water just at its edge in the summer, so water level was low,that it could be construed as eroding the river bank and I had to move into the water further to dig or the forest service would slap me with a stiff fine, was told by a camp host at pipi valley. I normally dig between the high water mark and the water not in the water as I am unable to effectively dig in the water with a hand trowel, how much damage could I even do with a hand trowel before my hands fell off?

[63bkpkr]

Gravelwasher,
Our government is only trying to protect us and keep Our lands Safe so they can be Managed Properly. Excuse me a moment, Ok I had to puke.

Ok, now that I've pulled you leg there is an interesting video about gold mining in Magadan in Russia, I think its a BBC or Canadian broadcast but I do not know that for sure. It tells how the government closed ALL the land to hand prospecting, and there are severe consequences for anyone caught prospecting, including dredging and now ONLY big corporations can mine there and pay lots to the Russian Gov. for the leases. And the land looks truly RAPED because of all the heavy equipment they use, like BIG BULL DOZERS. Second, there is another video made in the U.S. by an avid gold miner and he states he's been noticing how our government has been closing places to small time prospecting and leasing and gives some stats on how much of the "Public Domain" is being sequestered by OUR government. I don't remember voting for that, did you vote for it?

See Videos: Magadan Russia's Gold Mine, Finding gold XVII, gold gold gold more gold methods (look for these titles on you tube)

Our governments claim is that dredging damages the rivers and the fishing. Yes dredging sucks the gravel, small rock, dirt, etc. off the river bottom and then spits it back out with usually the heavier items falling down faster leaving the lighter stuff on top where the fish use it. A dredged river should be very similar to a natural river, has anyone presented evidence that truly shows the condition of a river is worse after dredging? Has anyone seen California rivers in high flood stage? They are milk chocolate brown from all the dirt in them and you can hear the rocks moving down in the river. Spring runoff brings in way more dirt and disturbs the river floor way more than dredging does and the fish still thrive in it. So yes, what is going on with the closure of dredging in CA??!!

When we are out in the wild we have very little influence from Big Brother however, we should reclaim the spots we are "prospecting" after we've finished. Yup more work but it keeps the place from looking like a pack of wild pigs have been rooting around AND gives "Them" less to take pictures of to show how bad we are. I will be interested to see what my site from last year looks like as I reclaimed it when I quit for the year. I may have made it into an even better gold trap than it was before I got there. I will take pictures and post them in July 2011.

Oh darn, I just stumbled over my puke bucket so I have to go and clean it up. 63bkpkr
I turn the soap box over to the next frustrated miner especially as its way past this little boys bedtime, where's my teddy bear.

[Hoser John]

EPA mercury study published and they reign supreme from sea to shining sea and no longer just kalif as the total ban everywhere is a coming asap so KEEP YOUR CASH N' YOUR POCKET---- John

[63bkpkr]

Hoser John,
I'm attempting to read between the lines of your post on the mercury. Are you indicating that the EPA study shows an increase in the mercury levels in streams/rivers due to dredging activities pulling the mercury off the bottom of the streams? If so did the study include tests on the same streams during the spring melt run off and how did the two tests compare?

What if a mercury trap were included with each dredge so that dredging actually cleaned Mercury out of the streams/rivers?? The Mercury trap would need to be monitored by both the dredger as well as some government agency but it would serve two purposes 1) clean up old mercury and remove it from the habitat 2) allow dredging! The trap (and I do not know what it would be or if this could even be done) would have to be handled carefully along a river so the mercury was not lost so I would think it would need to be some type of filter media which would be another cost of dredging. If the government would accept it dredging would be back in business, the fish would be better off and the price of mercury would go down as more would be available from dredging operations. Oh, old dredges would have to be retrofitted with the device but I would think Keene would be willing to do this rather than be shut down, or any other dredge mfg. company for that matter. This could be a win win for everybody!

Just another wild thought, 63bkpkr

[goldfever]

The environmentalits that are trying to shut down mining are complete hypocrites.
Just like the rest of us, they use natural resources to survive.

They really only care about their own back yard.

By using natural resources such as Platinum for their catalitic converters for their cars and gold for their computers etc...
They are creating demand just like the rest of us.
So they dont care if the resources they use comes from some 3rd world country, where they completely destroy the environment to get their gold, etc.

If I were an environmentalist( which im not) I would rather keep the mining in my back yard so that at least I would have some kind of control over how much damage occurs to the earth.

Then all those friggen environmentalists celebrate Earth Day.
COMPLETE HYPOCRITES !!!!

[Bumpstick]

Mercury my backside isn't coming from any mining activity.
We have mercury in the streams of Wisconsin and the fish of the Great lakes and there is no mining going on. It is coming from the burning of coal.
The mercury gases off and comes back home in the precipitation. Some old paper milling processes of years back; paperless carbon; Sent some pollutants down the rivers.
Just think; if the China Man burns coal and the pollution in the stratosphere floats over the ocean and precipitates down on California. Humm!

And then there are those Eco-Light bulbs with mercury in them from China. Great Job Bozo!

[63bkpkr]

Hi Bumbstick,
Yes you are correct about where some of the mercury is coming from but indeed the folks that mined CA did leave some of it in the rivers, streams etc. And yes what about those energy saving mercury vapor filled light bulbs from China!

I see you listed a fisher Gold Bug as one of your machines. Is it the GB first issue?

63bkpkr