American River, Locations?

[H&F909ORO]

Hi All,

So far I have only mined within a mile radius of the Mineral Bar Campground, maybe a bit farther upstream. Anyway I saw a post that from Marshall and he got some nice gold. Wondering how to get father up the river. Are there any other locations in Colfax that have good gold? Trying to find a place that has not been mined by everyone in town. Also, are there any locations that are near Colfax that are worthy of checking out?

 

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[aarthrj3811]

It has been a lot of years but I took a road out of Colfax down to the Bear River...the road ended with a Gravel pit across the river...Upstream there was some shale like riffles that had a lot of gold...I remember something about the high school......Art

 

[golden sluice]

Hi. Just go to the mining store in colfax and ask the owner there or check out some of his local books in there.

 

[H&F909ORO]

Hey AA do you remember the road name you took to get near the bear river?

 

[Aufisher]

Love that Bear River gold!

 

[H&F909ORO]

Wowee that's some great looking gold you got there! Where is the river? My skills for looking up a locations are not the best. How far from colfax?

 

[Fullpan]

Go to Colfax - ask any local where the Bear river campground is - then try to hike upstream to exposed bedrock. You are likely to find tiny beads of mercury in your black sands also.

 

[Aufisher]

Listen to Fullpan, look towards the bedrock!

 

[ALewis]

Hi All,

So far I have only mined within a mile radius of the Mineral Bar Campground, maybe a bit farther upstream. Anyway I saw a post that from Marshall and he got some nice gold. Wondering how to get father up the river. Are there any other locations in Colfax that have good gold? Trying to find a place that has not been mined by everyone in town. Also, are there any locations that are near Colfax that are worthy of checking out?

I've always heard heard "gold is where you find it".... I have really found that to be true. The gravel bar that I have recovered the most from is upriver from Mineral Bar. That is where I have had the most success in my limited time. I've heard from people out that way the "good Gold" is farther upriver, past secret canyon. Been up that way a few times and never found anything better than my gravel bar.....and I've also heard from others & on this site that the "good gold" is downriver, better spot's or better geology. But, I have yet to check out that way.

If you mean farther up from mineral bar, I start out on Pennyweight Trail, you can go pretty far along the river, or you can zig upwards after some campsite's and connect to Stephen's Trail (I might be butchering these trail names, my bad). From there I've gotten back to secret canyon & a way's past. Pretty cool up that way. My next misison is to Euchre Bar, No idea what to expect for Gold, but really excited to go explore that area.....

 

[H&F909ORO]

I've always heard heard "gold is where you find it".... I have really found that to be true. The gravel bar that I have recovered the most from is upriver from Mineral Bar. That is where I have had the most success in my limited time. I've heard from people out that way the "good Gold" is farther upriver, past secret canyon. Been up that way a few times and never found anything better than my gravel bar.....and I've also heard from others & on this site that the "good gold" is downriver, better spot's or better geology. But, I have yet to check out that way. If you mean farther up from mineral bar, I start out on Pennyweight Trail, you can go pretty far along the river, or you can zig upwards after some campsite's and connect to Stephen's Trail (I might be butchering these trail names, my bad). From there I've gotten back to secret canyon & a way's past. Pretty cool up that way. My next misison is to Euchre Bar, No idea what to expect for Gold, but really excited to go explore that area.....

I never remember hearing that saying, it's good to know. Which gravel bar? I remember there being two. I went to the one that's not best those big boulders, went past that place. I was farther up from there, its the gravel bar where it's real open. Worked there once and found almost nothing, tiny toy pieces from two buckets, but hey that was my first time out. I went down stream the other time, not to far from Iowa hill bridge and I worked the bedrock. I will post a pic of the crevice gold I got so far need to get the rest of my dirt done soon. Anyway I found very small pieces, most likely because I did not go down far enough in the whole. Thanks for the tip, really enlightens me.

 

[aarthrj3811]

Reading A Stream

My old mining friend tells me the name of the road was Ben Taylor Road

 

[bedrock bubba]

Bear River Campground is pretty well worked out.
Ever since they shut down the gravel plant upstream.
I hear Dog bar is better, downstream, but parking is very limited.

You will get a lot of fly poop at Bear, and work hard for a whole day for very little. The secret is to locate the clay layer, which is difficult. And you need to run a puddling tub to break the clay up, before you sluice it. Run a fine gold recovery box, with only ribbed rubber matting, with a shallow, fast flow.

The big gravel bar at the end of the campground looks like Iwo Jima beach, I am told. It wont be long before they shut it down.

I hear there is access at the old gravel plant upstream now, that is closed now. That is where i would go. Its off ben taylor road past the high school, and you turn left onto a dirt road, park and a short hike to the river. Or, you can reach it from the other side, where the gravel plant is.

 

[Aufisher]

Guess I got the last pieces of big gold lol

 

[Aufisher]

Good luck H&F! Keep us posted!

 

[H&F909ORO]

Thanks for the help you guys, I really appreciate the info.

 

[Hoser John]

Go over the hill outta Auburn on 49,hang a left at Cool,go to slaughterhouse road follow past dry diggn' and follow to Cherokee bar. Down and upriver great bedrock. Go Over to foresthill divide,go to driver flats,same same both up/down from camp good gold between hi/lo water mark. Go to Nevada city,brunswick canyon road to Purdone crossing road to the bridge SF Yuba up/down again and righteous gold upstream as ancient river of gold crosses there and constant replenishment goes on-party down,have a ball,lock all vehicles up tight and leave nothing there-John

 

[H&F909ORO]

Tried my skills on mapping and got somewhere. Would digging be the best bet? Or would crevicing do anything good?
Is there any parking by the SF Yuba near the bridge at all? Anymore info you can give about the location would be nice. I have one more question. Is the road paved?

 

[Hoser John]

Groomed well hard packed gravel road and parking lot. Work every area the same-between hi/low waters,landslipes,downed trees,big boulder movement,cracks and crevices.- Talk about boulders here is a 5" and a 6" under the bridge-HIGHLY ILLEGAL by the way, but got poundage though-John