River bedrock for miles

[gravelMaster]

Now that the winter is almost finished here in the upstate region of NY, been searching for places to explore and prospect. Since a significant portion of New York is public lands, prospecting is not as challenging as one might imagine. Besides that, there are NO mining laws in the state where if one smiles at something, they tax it or regulate it somehow. I do most of my preliminary exploration on Google Earth to find areas that appear worthwhile investigating. One of the characteristics that I search for is the holy grail of prospectors - BEDROCK! I've already picked out several candidates to explore... similar to the one that appears on the map near Schaghticoke, NY. This area is not too far from the gold bearing area of Vermont but on the New York side. The river exhibits an area of well exposed bedrock that I am going to preliminarily explore with my Minelab metal detector and my vibrating gold pan.

The advise that I am looking for is simple... What areas would you begin at, with a higher degree of possibly finding glacial gold deposited in the bedrock cracks. The river is flowing from east to west (right to left) at a fairly fast rate, so I'll be wearing a personal floatation device. Ideas please. The white areas are not sand/gravel, but solid rock.

I'll be going there in about two to three weeks.

Thanks.

 

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[southfork]

Now that the winter is almost finished here in the upstate region of NY, been searching for places to explore and prospect. Since a significant portion of New York is public lands, prospecting is not as challenging as one might imagine. Besides that, there are NO mining laws in the state where if one smiles at something, they tax it or regulate it somehow. I do most of my preliminary exploration on Google Earth to find areas that appear worthwhile investigating. One of the characteristics that I search for is the holy grail of prospectors - BEDROCK! I've already picked out several candidates to explore... similar to the one that appears on the map near Schaghticoke, NY. This area is not too far from the gold bearing area of Vermont but on the New York side. The river exhibits an area of well exposed bedrock that I am going to preliminarily explore with my Minelab metal detector and my vibrating gold pan.

The advise that I am looking for is simple... What areas would you begin at, with a higher degree of possibly finding glacial gold deposited in the bedrock cracks. The river is flowing from east to west (right to left) at a fairly fast rate, so I'll be wearing a personal floatation device. Ideas please. The white areas are not sand/gravel, but solid rock.

I'll be going there in about two to three weeks.

Thanks.
View attachment 2143516

I think the left bottom corner speaks for itself.

 

[arizau]

I think the left bottom corner speaks for itself.

Inside of that bend would be my choice too. Don't forget to look up top for elevated bars above the channel too. They are older and could be productive.
Good luck.

 

[Clay Diggins]

You can pan gold but it's not yours to keep if you found it in New York. It's called the "Kings Law" and it has been in place since New York State was founded in 1788.

New York State Law:

Minerals subject to state ownership; exploration of mines on state lands
Public Lands (PBL) CHAPTER 46, ARTICLE 7

§ 81. Minerals subject to state ownership; exploration of mines on
state lands. 1. The following minerals are the property of the people
of the state of New York in their right of sovereignty:

(a) All deposits of gold and silver in or upon private lands and lands
belonging to the state heretofore or hereafter discovered within this
state.

(b) All deposits of minerals and fossils heretofore or hereafter
discovered in or upon any lands belonging to the people of the state of
New York.

2. The commissioner of general services may, upon written application
by any citizen of the United States, issue to such applicant a permit,
consent, or lease of such duration as the commissioner may deem
advisable, upon such terms and conditions as the commissioner shall
determine, to enter upon state lands, for the purpose of exploring for
mines and minerals or for the purpose of breaking up such lands and
working any mine or extracting any mineral in such lands.

In the case of state lands other than unappropriated state lands, the
state department, agency, commission or institution having jurisdiction
over such lands shall receive notice from the commissioner of any
application to explore, break-up or mine, and shall have a period of not
less than thirty days to report thereon in writing to the commissioner,
and no permit, consent or lease shall be issued until such report has
been received or the thirty day period has expired, and shall not be
effective until approved by the governor.


"State lands" means all lands now or hereafter owned by the state
of New York except lands in the forest preserve as defined by section
sixty-three of the conservation law.

 

[gravelMaster]

You can pan gold but it's not yours to keep if you found it in New York. It's called the "Kings Law" and it has been in place since New York State was founded in 1788.

New York State Law:

Minerals subject to state ownership; exploration of mines on state lands
Public Lands (PBL) CHAPTER 46, ARTICLE 7

§ 81. Minerals subject to state ownership; exploration of mines on
state lands. 1. The following minerals are the property of the people
of the state of New York in their right of sovereignty:

(a) All deposits of gold and silver in or upon private lands and lands
belonging to the state heretofore or hereafter discovered within this
state.

(b) All deposits of minerals and fossils heretofore or hereafter
discovered in or upon any lands belonging to the people of the state of
New York.

2. The commissioner of general services may, upon written application
by any citizen of the United States, issue to such applicant a permit,
consent, or lease of such duration as the commissioner may deem
advisable, upon such terms and conditions as the commissioner shall
determine, to enter upon state lands, for the purpose of exploring for
mines and minerals or for the purpose of breaking up such lands and
working any mine or extracting any mineral in such lands.

In the case of state lands other than unappropriated state lands, the
state department, agency, commission or institution having jurisdiction
over such lands shall receive notice from the commissioner of any
application to explore, break-up or mine, and shall have a period of not
less than thirty days to report thereon in writing to the commissioner,
and no permit, consent or lease shall be issued until such report has
been received or the thirty day period has expired, and shall not be
effective until approved by the governor.


"State lands" means all lands now or hereafter owned by the state
of New York except lands in the forest preserve as defined by section
sixty-three of the conservation law.

All of the above are reasons that NY has such relatively poor mineral development because of some old laws that still exist. People that do find gold or whatever mineral, never will report their findings or "turn" it over to the state. Maybe one day the legislators will overturn these counterproductive laws. In the meantime, I'll hopefully locate deposits with my MineLab metal detector and pan, before using my 4" suction dredge equipped with a Gold Well Vortex sluice which is great for fine gold.

 

[et1955]

Would I mine that area? No, why because the bedrock is smooth and probably by glacial activity plus river flow. Maybe in the crevasses you may find gold but that would require a lot of work. On smooth bedrock gold just flows on but on ruff bedrock gold will be caught just like in a riffle of a sluice. Your best chances would be to check the higher benches above the bedrock and if no gold is found forget it. I find gold up to 200ft above the river I have been mining for over 30 years, good luck.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Some interesting stuff about that valley...

https://www.williamstownhistoricalmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Hoosic-History-12_2014.pdf

 

[russau]

PBS (Public Broadcasting)Has a show about the creation of North America that might be interesting to people that like to prospect ! I just watched one of the shows "Making North America Life " and I'm looking for anther link so I can set my recorder to copy the seirs of shows. Thye next showings are on PBS (channel 9 for St .Louis, Mo) will be April 24 @9 PM and April 25 @2PM.. .......The show I watched was S42 E13 For us prospectors just read between the lines as you view this Series ! This series is on Nova (PBS) and the shows title is "Making North America Life" !

 

[goldenmojo]

Forget your high dollar gear. Take your pan and run any moss you can find. If you get lucky enough to find a speck or two try to figure how they got to where you found them. Good Luck and Stay Safe.