Swede coming to Cali/Idaho!

[HappySwede]

Hi all,

I'm a 29 year old prospector from the city of Stockholm, Sweden. Despite my urban residence, I try to get away and prospect for gold as much as I can. Due to lack of a proper own location to mine, I try to visit as many new countries to prospect in instead.

So far, I found gold in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Scotland, France, Serbia, Czech Republic and Poland. And as of right now, Im waiting for my VISA to be done for finally visiting the US.

I intend to book a flight for 9th of october or a week later, traveling alone and staying some 11 days. I will be landing in San Francisco.

For unknown reasons, Im kinda in love with Idaho since a few years back and the goal is to visit that place and do some prospecting, probably in the mountains above Boise.

I've however been recommended to try panning in Cali aswell, and Heard about some public free-panning location on the Bear River. Where excatly is this one, or are there several locations?

-What does the law say about light prospecting with a shovel and pan only? If I find a Creek in the middle of nowhere, is it free to pan in both Idaho and Cali, or am I most likely intruding on someones land?

-If so, are there claims where the public can pay to pan? Im willing to do so for decent gold rather than getting in trouble or not finding anything.

-Other input, anything else I should know, or visit or do...?

 

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[HappySwede]

I’m using it as a deodorant and it kept them bears away so far.

It is really nice, warm and fun in the US. Enjoying my stay. Addicted to Taco Bell. So much more foods to chose from than in Europe. Probably heading a day or two later into Idaho than planned. Weather forecast turned from winter to summer for next week in Elk City, lucky me.

 

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[Obsessive]

Taco Bell of all things, ugh. Try In-n-Out Burgers at least. Where abouts are you now?

 

[HappySwede]

Working my way up the west cost, spent some time on the Klamath sampling but I only got a pan with me so no results to show for yet. Not really here to extract gold day and night but rather to see how US gold fields compare to the European ones i visited and do general touristing aswell.

People are very friendly whereever I go. Nature very diverse. Could imagine myself living here I think.

 

[mike(swWash)]

If you have the time be sure to check out some of the old semi ghost towns. Places like Idaho City, Silver City, etc. They're kind of for tourists but still very old and cool to visit to get a feel for the old days and old ways. There's many cabins, homesteads, abandoned mines and such scattered through the hills. Be careful and enjoy Idaho. It's my favorite place to go cruising on the back roads. So much history still standing from the gold rush days and small town museums are always full of the past to see as well.

 

[Clay Diggins]

If you have the time be sure to check out some of the old semi ghost towns. Places like Idaho City, Silver City, etc. They're kind of for tourists but still very old and cool to visit to get a feel for the old days and old ways. There's many cabins, homesteads, abandoned mines and such scattered through the hills. Be careful and enjoy Idaho. It's my favorite place to go cruising on the back roads. So much history still standing from the gold rush days and small town museums are always full of the past to see as well.

Mike, old here is just slightly used where Swede is coming from. Our history is their last week. Stuff is really old in Europe. I have a friend in Amsterdam that lives in a house built when Columbus was still alive.

That being said I know a lot of Germans who are fascinated with our western history. That's more about the freedom of the wild west than age but it is interesting to see how people lived in the wild places.

Heavy Pans

 

[HappySwede]

Yup, my local church is 900 years old and still standing strong. We got (visible) graveyards all around us that are 2000-7000 years old.

However, we dont have this ”colonizing new land” history, where people had no idea what was behind the next ridge while it often held resources so rich people would kill eachother for it. Sure we had our share of lawlessness with all the wars and such, but the rush westwards developed into a whole new culture that still is present, not only throughout movies and TV.

So yes, its exotic for me as an European indeed. It is more than ”just another war”.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

For those following this thread.
I finished up 4 days visiting/prospecting with the Swede.
It was very interesting learning about his country and the mining opportunities they have there.

We lucked out and got some great weather.
Some empty pans and empty holes, but at the last minute our luck changed.

The Swede is a persistent miner and that is what pays off in the end.

We have rain predicted here Thursday through Sunday, so I really can be of no more help.
Hopefully he will be able to meet up with someone else before leaving for home on the 25th.

Last I heard he was in Idaho.

Overall it was a very interesting weekend for both of us I think.

 

[HappySwede]

Couldnt have had a better host than Audigger, I got to learn alot about mining, the gold rush and life in America. Actually had so much fun I stayed longer than planned.

Slept over in Boise and gosh, what a nice prosperous town! Can I live there?

Worked my way through Idaho City and spent lot of hours prospecting. Stumbled into someone elses mining camp, but it wasnt posted as a claim so I borrowed their tools and left a little gift as a thanks.

Little gold found however. Spending the night in Ketchum and preparing for trips further south.

 

[HappySwede]

Utah Mason, I sent you a PM few days ago...if you dont have time prospecting, could you recommend an area that gives few colors? probably spending night in SLC tomorrow. otherwise i might try the mountains to the east and find a random creek

 

[utah mason]

Utah Mason, I sent you a PM few days ago...if you dont have time prospecting, could you recommend an area that gives few colors? probably spending night in SLC tomorrow. otherwise i might try the mountains to the east and find a random creek

I don't know what is going on with my notifications, usually I get a alert when I receive a message. I just sent you a reply. But I'll repeat it here as well. I can get out Friday, I've committed myself tomorrow to other things. if that works for you, let know, If not I can put you on a good spot. I'll p.m. you my phone number, just realized I didn't.

 

[HappySwede]

 

[utah mason]

View attachment 1506591

Looks like winter is about to set, in Idaho. Not much snow here. A chance of some afternoon rain Friday, but should be a great day. Looking forward to meeting you, and getting you some Utah gold!

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[HappySwede]

I just ordered a beer and handed over 20 USD to the bartender. He gave me my beer and 26 USD back. God bless America

 

[Mackaydon]

What is the name of that bar??
Yes, God bless America
Don.....

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Looks like winter is about to set, in Idaho. Not much snow here. A chance of some afternoon rain Friday, but should be a great day. Looking forward to meeting you, and getting you some Utah gold!

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No winter here! Supposed to be a slight chance of showers Saturday night. Other than that, temps in the 60's. It was almost too hot for Goran and me today....over 70. That's warm at this elevation. Hardly a breeze, either. Never had an empty pan today. Gold in every one. Goran's good company, you'll like him. That mat he's got works really well, too. We didn't have a sluice, so just bent it into a 'U' shape, and fed it with my sump pump, and hand fed the material.....mostly #8 minus. The first run, I'm sure we got 90% recovery on the flour, which is really good, not withstanding the poor setup. The mat was only 24" long, so suffered when feeding it dirty material. Dirty water has a huge impact on the sink rate of flour gold, so a lot of it went out to the tails on that run. I think a 48" sluice would have helped a bunch. It was a good test of that mat, in any case.
Jim

 

[utah mason]

No winter here! Supposed to be a slight chance of showers Saturday night. Other than that, temps in the 60's. It was almost too hot for Goran and me today....over 70. That's warm at this elevation. Hardly a breeze, either. Never had an empty pan today. Gold in every one. Goran's good company, you'll like him. That mat he's got works really well, too. We didn't have a sluice, so just bent it into a 'U' shape, and fed it with my sump pump, and hand fed the material.....mostly #8 minus. The first run, I'm sure we got 90% recovery on the flour, which is really good, not withstanding the poor setup. The mat was only 24" long, so suffered when feeding it dirty material. Dirty water has a huge impact on the sink rate of flour gold, so a lot of it went out to the tails on that run. I think a 48" sluice would have helped a bunch. It was a good test of that mat, in any case.
Jim

Sounds like a great day! What area did you mine at?

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[Jim in Idaho]

We were at the upstream end of Bonanza Bar. Just upstream of the tailing piles. Same location where I recovered about 4,000 flakes 6 weeks ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't take my new gizmo to use because of potential patent issues. So, we were stuck doing things the hard way, but still had a great afternoon. Goran had a really good idea, and dug really close to the original overburden, which is mostly topsoil. That area produced some good pans. Next year I'm going to dig further under that layer....might find some of the original gravel, which would be really interesting. What I've mainly been recovering at BB is flour that the original miners lost to tails. It would be really fun to recover some of the actual original flour. Maybe it will be larger in size? Who knows? Here's an old pic taken very close to where we were working today. Of course, the edge of the river, back then, was 300 yards from where we worked today, because of the reservoir. The whole area in the foreground of the pic is now under water. We were working a little to the right of the pic, and right along the base of the lower bench in the pic.


jim

 

[utah mason]

We were at the upstream end of Bonanza Bar. Just upstream of the tailing piles. Same location where I recovered about 4,000 flakes 6 weeks ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't take my new gizmo to use because of potential patent issues. So, we were stuck doing things the hard way, but still had a great afternoon. Goran had a really good idea, and dug really close to the original overburden, which is mostly topsoil. That area produced some good pans. Next year I'm going to dig further under that layer....might find some of the original gravel, which would be really interesting. What I've mainly been recovering at BB is flour that the original miners lost to tails. It would be really fun to recover some of the actual original flour. Maybe it will be larger in size? Who knows? Here's an old pic taken very close to where we were working today. Of course, the edge of the river, back then, was 300 yards from where we worked today, because of the reservoir.
View attachment 1506882

jim

Nice! That's not too far from me. Going to have to check it out next summer. Is there gold most of the snake river? I'm up in Rexburg area a few times a year. It would be fun to have something else to do while I'm there. The excavator I work around told me his dad had a place on the snake that was mined in the 80's he got a cut of the gold, he made six figures off of it. I need to ask him where and if I could do some digging and camping on it.

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[HappySwede]

Yup, sure had a good day with Jim in the sun. Gold was always present and I think a larger setup could produce some decent amounts indeed. Jim is very knowledgeable about local history so I have a bunch of stuff to google once I have the time.

Im in Utah already but Idaho sure left me a good memory. Just little sad I didnt get time to visit the northern parts too, but the Stanley area gave me a taste of its wilderness. I like it pretty much everywhere I go in the US and the sun does me good too. Warmer around here now than we had this summer in Sweden.

 

[Jim in Idaho]

Nice! That's not too far from me. Going to have to check it out next summer. Is there gold most of the snake river? I'm up in Rexburg area a few times a year. It would be fun to have something else to do while I'm there. The excavator I work around told me his dad had a place on the snake that was mined in the 80's he got a cut of the gold, he made six figures off of it. I need to ask him where and if I could do some digging and camping on it.

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Yup, the entire Snake has gold, but BB is recognized as the best place on the entire river. but, it isn't hard to find flour anywhere on the river. I have no idea where somebody could find six figures worth, however. They did mine thousands of ounces back in the day. The take on the entire river exceeds 99,000 ounces, and there were many more that were never reported. My county (Bingham) reached from the Wyoming border, back then, to Bannock county, produced 24,000 ounces. That's about 100 miles of river, so 240 ounces/mile. It took 100,000 flakes to make an ounce. And, when you realize the lousy recovery efficiency they had, you start to get an idea of just how much gold there was/is in the Snake. As far as the river at Rexburg...that's the north fork, and doesn't have much gold. The bulk of the gold comes from above Jackson Hole, according to geologists. That's the south fork. The two forks join a few miles above Idaho Falls.
Jim