MA/VT/NH Panning

[dvdtharaldson]

Hi ,

This is the first time I have posted on this website. I live in Western MA and am planning a trip during the last few days of September to Vermont to try my luck panning. I was going to try Buffalo Brook and Five Corners in the Bridgewater area. Does anybody know how far down you ordinarily have to dig to hit black sands in those areas? Any comments on whether you have to dig deep or just stay on the surface? I was thinking Irene probably deposited alot of flood gold on the surface. Does anybody know if some of the small brooks high up in the mts. north of Bridgewater contain gold? All I ever hear is Buffalo Brook and Five Corners. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As you probably could tell I am new to panning for gold.

Thanks,

David

 

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[triple d]

The wild ammonoosuc. Did have permission.

 

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[nh.nugget]

COOL that's where I go ! I stay at twin rivers camp ground maybe we'll cross paths some time! The only reason I asked about permission we have some that just go where ever and do whatever and make it hard for those that try to do it right . If your up that way again PM me maybe do some digging.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

I just got back from camping with a group of friends. I was able to meet up with KIC and WMG to do a little prospecting. As usual, WMG found a gold bearing section in a river with very little gold in it. Kudos to him for putting all three of us on some colors.

It seemed that a lot of my time was spent prospecting sections of the river that weren't holding very many colors. They certainly looked productive though. I plan on re-checking them at some time in the future because I feel as though I didn't spend enough time there. It never ceases to amaze me that being off a foot or so can lead to empty pans, while moving a foot or so from an unproductive spot can lead to colors in your pan.

The good news is the last place I checked lead to some pretty good colors. I probably found about 15 colors there with just a pan and a hand trowel. I prospected the spot by myself for about an hour. I ended up with 41 colors for the week. Actual prospecting time around 10 hours spread out over a week. If I return to the known spots instead of prospecting I think I could average 10 colors per hour.

The big surprise this time- How many colors I found in my cons the second time around. At least 10.

Best Colors,
David

 

[sweetsound]

Met up with Mike Sweetsound from R.I . For a couple days of N.H Prospecting. First day Moved a lot of dirt and rock. Mike had just got a 30" Bgt sniper. And had to try it out. For the size hole we dug. Not a lot to show for it. 20 pieces of fine very fine placier gold. The 2nd day. Found what looked like a good spot. Set up and started digging. Was down to a clay layer in no time. Did a test pan and saw we were on some gold. Did a clean up for lunch. And it was showing some good gold. We keep following the clay layer. And when we cleaned up did a quick pan. And was showing some nice gold for N.H. Brought the cons home. And the final clean up showed 130 pieces. Plus a lot of super fine gold. For N.H some really nice gold. It weight just under .07 Grams.

We had a great time up there! I can't say enough good things about Triple D. He is a great guy! We managed to get on some good gold on our 2nd day. I'll get a pic up when I get caught up with work.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Hey Mike,
What do you think about your BGT?

 

[sweetsound]

Hey Mike,
What do you think about your BGT?

I am honestly impressed with them! It captured such fine gold that it really earned my trust. When you do your cleanup and you find -150/200 or so with a loupe etc... You know your catching it!
Also I had a great conversation with Todd the owner of the company. He is a great guy and knows a lot about prospecting and understands that a lot of us up in the NE are chasing the real small fine stuff. And his product gets it.
I am as big of a skeptic as their is and I can say I am happy with the BGT!
Quick to setup too.

 

[Adventure_Time]

For anyone that hits the west side of the white mountains in NH, just a tip; look for abundant amounts of dark colored basalts and felsic rhyolite & quartz. Essentially the entire area west of the mountains was / is a back arc basin of a subduction zone that occured along the western edge of the bimodal volcanic rocks, later the chambers were intruded by plutonic granite formations. There is also a stretch of epiclastic rocks straddling the white mountains east of this basin. The Wild AM cuts through nearly the widest portion of this belt of bimodal rocks.

The more you know. Hope this helps someone.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Adventure Time,

Thanks for contributing to my thread. I had often wondered if the colors of the Wild Am were the result of a suture (Iapetus Ocean?) or one of the mountain building events (orogeny). The subduction zone with a BAB due to rifting and plutonic intrusion due to volcanism answers that question. Both.

Do you know if any back arc basins and bimodal rock formations exist in Vermont? Especially west of the green mountains. I am wondering if what happened west of the White mountains could of happened West of the Green mountains?

Thanks.
David

 

[Adventure_Time]

Adventure Time,

Thanks for contributing to my thread. I had often wondered if the colors of the Wild Am were the result of a suture (Iapetus Ocean?) or one of the mountain building events (orogeny). The subduction zone with a BAB due to rifting and plutonic intrusion due to volcanism answers that question. Both.

Do you know if any back arc basins and bimodal rock formations exist in Vermont? Especially west of the green mountains. I am wondering if what happened west of the White mountains could of happened West of the Green mountains?

Thanks.
David

To my knowledge, what is exposed in VT is largely faulted and folded shales to gneiss which formed from Iapetus Ocean sediments. There was very little igneous activity associated with what you see, the Taconic mountains however are the result of VT's subduction during the Taconic / Acadian Orogeny. New York claims all gold and silver found belong to the state government though, even on private property... so I dont think its worth digging into that area too much.

Gold in VT will always be associated with chloritic serpentine & quartz.

 

[E.MassAuMan]

To my knowledge, what is exposed in VT is largely faulted and folded shales to gneiss which formed from Iapetus Ocean sediments. There was very little igneous activity associated with what you see, the Taconic mountains however are the result of VT's subduction during the Taconic / Acadian Orogeny. New York claims all gold and silver found belong to the state government though, even on private property... so I dont think its worth digging into that area too much.

Gold in VT will always be associated with chloritic serpentine & quartz.

And the Gold found on the East Slopes of the Berkshires and the Connecticut River Valley

 

[Adventure_Time]

And the Gold found on the East Slopes of the Berkshires and the Connecticut River Valley

Large outcropping of chloritic greenstone @ Berkshire

This same outcropping continues south along the entirety Connecticut River Valley, albeit in scarcer abundance than what is found at Berkshire.

USGS has great maps that you can open in google earth to get an idea of where these outcroppings pop up.

 

[mountainjack]

Howdy!!!
This has been a great resource thread and I'm greatful for all the information I've learned reading it. I've noticed that most of the info is for southern and central vermont. I live in northern Vermont and am curious about spots up here. I've panned gold brook in stowe with a little luck, but am interested in other known spots. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!! Mountainjack.

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Mountainjack,

Welcome to the thread. Northern Vermont is my favorite place to vacation in. I have panned the Stowe area with some success. I found a couple of colors in Gold Brook and a few in Sterling Brook. Just about any stream up that way has colors in it. Any of the tribs of the Winooski are a real good bet. It really is just a matter of spending the time to find the hot spots.

I really wanted to make it back to the Stowe area this year but unfortunately it's not going to happen. I am concentrating on extreme western Vermont this year. I do feel that the Stowe area has some of the best potential for good color in all of Vermont. The next time I am up there I am going to concentrate on the rivers Northeast of Stowe, I have heard that there is some interesting geology up that way.

There are a lot of resources on-line that detail the waterbodies that are known to contain colors and the counties they are in. If you have a hard time locating these websites pm me and I will give you their web addresses. But finding the pay streaks is still up to you. We look forward to hearing about your future successes as well as failures.

Best Colors,
David

 

[mountainjack]

David,
Thank you for your quick reply!!! I live right near smugglers notch, which is about 15 minutes from Stowe. Anytime you come back into the area, pm me, I'd love to pan with someone with more experience. Professionally I work with youth in states custody and I've found that panning for gold with the kids is a great activity to develop patience, however I do want them to find some color for their toil. Any and all help is appreciated. Mountainjack

 

[nh.nugget]

From what I have read and researched just some of the NH.web sites they say that a lot of the gold came in from Canada [Quebec] on glaciers ' It starts from northwestern side of the mountains in Maine following into the western side of the White Mountains to the eastern side of the Green Mountains of Vermont down the Conneticut river valley to at least to the Mass. Conn. border

 

[dvdtharaldson]

mountainjack,
I am a retired special education school teacher my self, so I know where your coming from. Just a suggestion. I would try obtaining some pay-dirt and have your youths try panning in a controlled environment. If some show an affinity for the event and develop some skills, take them streamside. We used that sort of tactic at my old school, not just for the students but the teachers as well! The exercise got rave reviews.

In my younger days my wife and I stayed at Smuggler's Notch resort. Great vacation. Fly fished the whole time. Can't afford to stay there at the present time. There are some pretty good colors over that whole area. I would still concentrate on the tribs of the Winooski though. All those rivers are in shear zones. From what I understand that area has been metamorphosed at least three times. Major tectonic activity in the past.
Best Colors,
David

 

[dvdtharaldson]

Just wondering. Has anybody come across any asbestos containing rocks? I was prospecting last week and found some highly foliated rocks. They appeared to have filament-like structures contained within them. They didn't look exactly like what is pictured on-line with respect to asbestos. But close enough to get me thinking. So here's the question. Does one have to be concerned with handling rocks that contain asbestos? Rocks were partially submerged and always wet when I worked with them. Any help would be appreciated.

David

 

[KevinInColorado]

Inhalation of fibers is the risk David so as long as it's wet you'll be fine

 

[GoldpannerDave]

Inhalation of fibers is the risk David so as long as it's wet you'll be fine

Well, you said what I was going to say!

 

[dvdtharaldson]

KIC and GPD,
Thanks for the info.