Astrobouncer
Hero Member
- Jun 21, 2009
- 823
- 343
So yesterday I printed up a map of a local river here in upstate SC which gold was first found in over 100 years ago. The same river which has 2 placer gold mines not 2 miles away from where I live. I spent some time panning along a couple different overgrown bridges and overpasses on this river before meeting a nice man who owned some land next to the river who told me I could prospect on his property anytime I wanted. He also told me his dad used to tell him stories about all the prospectors who would spend all day panning this river and make 20-40 dollars a day in the early days (around 1908).
The panning was slow going so I got my sluice with an extra long inspection mat (a copy of this sluice here: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,176317.0.html ) and proceeded to run some material from several spots through it.
The river has so much black sand that after only a couple shovel fulls it would fill up the riffles and I would have to stop and clean it out. At first I was happy I was hitting black sand because I thought that meant I would surely find some color, but no luck. I moved locations several times, working material from both sides of the banks but I didnt find anything.
Can you guys give me some tips on where I should be looking? I dug mostly under/into some sandbars, along the banks, and behind big rocks in the river. I stayed away from the gravel locations but I am wondering now If I made a mistake in doing so. I still havent panned a lot of the 10 pounds of black sand I got from the sluice cleanups, but the couple pounds I did pan I didnt see any color but there are alot of little garnets and other clear stones, along with some lead and buckshot.
When I go back tomorrow I will take some pictures. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
The panning was slow going so I got my sluice with an extra long inspection mat (a copy of this sluice here: http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,176317.0.html ) and proceeded to run some material from several spots through it.
The river has so much black sand that after only a couple shovel fulls it would fill up the riffles and I would have to stop and clean it out. At first I was happy I was hitting black sand because I thought that meant I would surely find some color, but no luck. I moved locations several times, working material from both sides of the banks but I didnt find anything.
Can you guys give me some tips on where I should be looking? I dug mostly under/into some sandbars, along the banks, and behind big rocks in the river. I stayed away from the gravel locations but I am wondering now If I made a mistake in doing so. I still havent panned a lot of the 10 pounds of black sand I got from the sluice cleanups, but the couple pounds I did pan I didnt see any color but there are alot of little garnets and other clear stones, along with some lead and buckshot.
When I go back tomorrow I will take some pictures. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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