Panning and MDing in Llano area. Need recommendations.

[fishnfacts]

Panning and MD'ing in Llano area. Need recommendations.

I am going to head down to Llano area for a weekend of primitive camping and looking for gold. Need recommendations on some place to camp that is close to river / creek area to pan / sluice and shale fields to detect.
I am not looking or expecting to come back a millionaire or even a hundredaire, just looking to maybe find some color and memories of a great weekend.
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

Longs fish camp in Kingsland or llanogold are the places I've heard of. I can't seem to pull up llanogold.com website today.

Wayne

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

 

[VernonWalter]

A day of Llano Research

So here are some leads / thoughts about potential search areas:

History Excerpts

• Settlers began to move into the eastern part of the county shortly thereafter, the first ones settling at Tow Valley and Bluffton on the Colorado River in 1852. A saltworks between the two places operated until after the Civil War, and there was also a sawmill in the area. Small farms were established, and by 1853 settlement had begun in the northwestern part of the county. Soon two settlements, Whistleville and Bugscuffle, combined to form Valley Spring.
• Llano County officially founded in 1856 – 250 acres
• Farming was the chief occupation in the north and ranching in the south.
• After 1892 Llano became a railhead and attempts were made to mine iron deposits in the area.
• The county's economy declined between 1900 and 1920. The number of farms dropped to 795 by 1910 and 686 by 1920; the population also shrank during this period, to 5,360 by 1920. VW NOTE: Finding the names of those who died “suddenly” might be an entry into abandoned cache sites in the area?
• Samuel Insull's Middle West Utilities Company had been searching for sites for hydroelectric dams since as early as 1926, and in April 1931, after negotiations with local power companies, Middle West began construction on what was then called Hamilton Dam on the Colorado River. Work stopped, however, in the summer of 1932 as a result of the depression and the collapse of the Insull enterprises.
• In 1892, at the peak of the boom period, the town was incorporated, the river was bridged, and the Austin and Northwestern Railroad was extended to a terminal on the north side of Llano.

Organizations / Groups / Companies / Industries

• Third Frontier District – 100 Llano County soldiers who joined others at Camp Terry
• The boom years of Llano-from 1886 to 1893-were launched. The Llano Improvement and Furnace Company undertook plans for an iron furnace and foundry, as well as for the development of commercial real estate, on the hitherto undeveloped north side of the river. Charters were undertaken for a dam, an electric power plant, a streetcar system, and electric street lights, while expectations of growth were high.
• In 1900 Frank Teich established the Teich Monument Works (Teich was a sculptor)
• Later that year (1934) the Lower Colorado River Authority was established, and it received $20 million to build other dams downstream, largely because the water that caused a destructive flood in 1935 came from the Llano River, which joins the Colorado below Buchanan Dam. Buchanan and Inks dams were completed by 1938.
• Angora goats, although declining in importance, also played a significant role in the area's post-World War II economy. In the 1940s there were as many as 40,000 Angoras in Llano County, but by 1983 there were only about 5,000. VW NOTE: Again, finding legacy information about residents who may have passed away suddenly in this area could reveal worthwhile cache prospects?
• The Algona Hotel became a focal point for the town's new social life. It was damaged by a cyclone in 1900 and burned to the ground in 1923.
• In the 1920s, Llano was a major shipping point for cattle
• The Roy Inks Bridge, named for a former mayor, was built after a flood crest of 42 feet in 1935 swept away the 1892 structure.

Conflicts / Battles

• August 4, 1874, when a group of eight men led by Capt. James R. Moss trailed some Comanches who had been stealing horses, surprised them on Packsaddle Mountainqv, and defeated them

Community Leaders / People

• Frank Teich was a sculptor whose work may be seen in Confederate monuments in several Texas cities
• http://rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txllano/LLANO COUNTY FOUNDING FATHERS.htm