ANY GOLD IN LOWER MICHIGAN!!!!!!!

49erjohn

Full Member
Mar 21, 2007
122
16
MARINE09666, i have been prospecting in michigan for 20 years now and have not found my first speck of real gold here in michigan. i have panned, sluiced, and metal detected with my mxt and found nothing. save up and head to california---thats the place you want to be. the best of luck! ! ! JOHN
 

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Sky_Warrior

Sky_Warrior

Sr. Member
Apr 23, 2008
345
9
Auburn Hills MI
Detector(s) used
MY ACE 250 JUST GOT HERE 5/07/08, also used a fisher 1220-x
49erjohn said:
MARINE09666, i have been prospecting in michigan for 20 years now and have not found my first speck of real gold here in michigan. i have panned, sluiced, and metal detected with my mxt and found nothing. save up and head to california---thats the place you want to be. the best of luck! ! ! JOHN

Yah thats what i heard...Just thought id see if anyone found anything. Thanks

Semper Fi :sunny:
 

Steve in Michigan

Full Member
Apr 9, 2005
222
41
Mid Michigan
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Garrett GTP 1350, Garrett Freedon Ace
Well I don't think John knows what he is talking about because I have found gold in Michigan. No we don't have nuggets, just flakes, but there there if you go to the right areas. I have panned for gold up near Glennie near the dams and been successful. There is also gold on the western side of the state. Athens, Traverse City, etc. I am not sure how good you are at panning, but you just need to take your time. If you can get yourself a little sluice box, that may help. There is a Michigan Gold Prospectors Association and to become a member is relatively cheap. I believe its $70.00 a year and they have outings all the time. I think one of the outings is in Gladwin at some campsite. I have been tempted on becoming a member myself. Check out the library and there are books on gold in michigan. You can also google michigan gold. I wish you much success and don't stop trying. Its there!

Your Friend,

Steve in Michigan :thumbsup:
 

49erjohn

Full Member
Mar 21, 2007
122
16
well come on mister know it all steve from michigan---lets see some pictures of your gold from michigan.
 

Lookin

Hero Member
Feb 15, 2008
573
14
Kentucky
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White's MXT; backup - BH Pioneer 505
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This info is from a Google search on "gold in Michigan."

From Charlebois Kenneth
Placer Gold found in Ogantz River.

Near Ralph, MI placer gold in Ford River and some of it's tributary creeks.


Most of the creeks flowing into the Yellow Dog and Salmon Trout have some gold.


From David Payant AKA MadDog
There are gold deposits in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Marquette County has one closed mine, Roper's, located north of the City of Ishpeming. Allegedly, there are gold bearing formations near Rocking Chair Lakes, near the Mulligan Plains. The Longyear Corporation tried to block making a wilderness area there because they claim it has potential for a big gold strike. I have heard of placer gold in Bushy Creek, a tributary of the the Yellow Dog River. Placer gold has been found in the Yellow Dog Plains, south of the AAA road. The Marquette County Planning Department has a map of the sites. Two failed mines are locate off Gold Mine Road. The road starts at the ghost town of Birch which is on County Road 550. I have located one of the these mines and a test pit. Allegedly, the gold is found in a association with silver and copper. There is a legend about two lost silver deposits. One was found by an old prospector who showed the nuggets to several people and then died in a fire in a L'anse boarding house. He claimed the find was from the Huron Mountains. Another deposit was found near the Holyoke Mine (silver), north of the Dead River. That depost was simply lost and the prospector forgot how to go back to the site.

From Johnny Banjo
I'm in southeast lower Michigan and I've found nearly all the streams in Washtenaw, Livingston, Lenawee, Jackson, and Oakland Counties show color in minor amounts.

I usually get a couple dozen specs and flakes per sluice load. I also found one nice "soup-bean" size copper and gold nugget in the Huron river in Wasthenaw County ten minutes west of Ann Arbor.

I hope to here about more locations you know of in my area. Also any spots where I can use my dredge without going through all the
red-tape ofthe Department of Enviromental Quality
 

Steve in Michigan

Full Member
Apr 9, 2005
222
41
Mid Michigan
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Garrett GTP 1350, Garrett Freedon Ace
49er John I see that I burnt your nose a little. Didn't mean to do that, but facts are facts. I can't figure out why you haven't found gold in Michigan. Especially if you've been doing it for over 20 years. What I can't figure out is if you were panning and not finding anything, why would you buy a sluice box and why would you keep trying for over 20 years? That doesn't make sense. Maybe you just weren't in the right area. I don't know and I am not hear to start an arguement, but here are some sites that I hope will help you find gold, because it is there! Will you get rich....no way, but its a lot of fun. Here are the websites:

http://michgpaa.homestead.com/
http://miningold.com/states/mi.html
http://www.dayooper.com/MichiganGold.htm
http://www.treasurefish.com/michigan metal detecting.htm
http://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/whtofigoinun.html
http://www.goldsheetlinks.com/prospect.htm

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Your Friend,

Steve in Michigan
 

Steve in Michigan

Full Member
Apr 9, 2005
222
41
Mid Michigan
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Hey Lookin,

Thanks for that additional info. I wish I could help you about the information on the dredge, but maybe if you call the DNR they maybe able to help you if you give them the location on where you want to dredge. I have not done any dredging, but it looks like a lot of fun and in the right areas, can be profitable. I wish you the best and may your pan find color!

Your Friend,

Steve in Michigan
 

49erjohn

Full Member
Mar 21, 2007
122
16
STEVE IN MICHIGAN----thanks for the sites but you have not answered my question. first of all we are talking about the lower. you said you found gold here. what did you do with it? lets see some pictures of your real michigan gold. JOHN
 

Steve in Michigan

Full Member
Apr 9, 2005
222
41
Mid Michigan
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49er John,

I think I did answer your question. Glennie is located just past Hale in lower Michigan. Gladwin is more in the center of lower Michigan. Down in the Southwest corner of Michigan there are numerous areas to pan. I remember being on a chat site one day and there was another guy from the Detroit area and he stated that he had found some flakes in the Rouge River. If your asking if I have vials of gold from Michigan the answer is no. I've only been panning for a few years. As for the pictures you are requesting, well that will have to wait until I fix my digital camera. If you don't want to believe me John that is fine cause I am not going to sit here and argue with you. Actually I've been trying to help you find some places to go panning and I hope you haven't given up on it. I heard that if you call the Michigan GPAA you can go to one of their sites for the day just to try it out to see if you like it. You may want to give them a try.

Your Friend,

Steve in Michigan
 

Lookin

Hero Member
Feb 15, 2008
573
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Kentucky
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Steve in MI- My post was all a quote from a website, except for the italics at the top. I dredge in IN and OH and that question about dredging was just part of the quote on the website. Sorry for the confusion!

At any rate, I've never looked for gold in MI, but have looked in other places where "there was no gold." All be darned if I didn't find some color in some of those areas!

Good luck all with finding some color. If you look in one spot and don't find any, move onto another and look there. Eventually, you'll find some!
 

Steve in Michigan

Full Member
Apr 9, 2005
222
41
Mid Michigan
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Thanks Lookin! The best part is, is being outdoors. The gold is just the bonus. Good luck to you!

Your Friend,

Steve in Michigan
 

idighistory

Jr. Member
Feb 19, 2008
45
0
Bellaire Michigan
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Bounty Hunter/ Pioneer 202
Hi Steve, thanks for the info, i'm thinking of giving gold panning a try. I was first curious about if there is gold in the northern lower part of Mi. untill I got the U.S Treasure Atlas Vol. 5; which pretty much answered my question. But I have one question though, what is placer gold?
 

Steve in Michigan

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Apr 9, 2005
222
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Mid Michigan
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Hey IDIG,

The gold I found was flour gold, but its there. Now....I have heard that SE Lower Michigan sometimes has what is called "pickers". Which are slightly larger then the flour gold. They probably have small nuggets up in the U.P. where the Ropes Mine was. Why else would a gold mining company setup shop if it wasn't profitable. I heard you can metal detect the tailing piles, but I have never made it up to that area in a long time. My Great Grandfather died in the Quincy mine up there near Copper Harbor. Anyways, getting back to your question, you should check out the Michigan GPAA. They are a good group with a lot of information and are willing to help newbies. Hope this helps. Take care!

Your Friend,

Steve in Michigan
 

idighistory

Jr. Member
Feb 19, 2008
45
0
Bellaire Michigan
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Bounty Hunter/ Pioneer 202
thank you steve I will check that out, flour is better than no gold at all, I have been curious about if there is gold in Mi. for years and im going to take a stab at this, I have some leads in Northern lower Mi.
 

6.5winmag

Tenderfoot
Nov 9, 2008
5
1
theres gold in almost every county in mi.a great place in lower mi is the grand river near the maple river.i have found gold in quartz in the big huron river at big eric`s
bridge area north of l`ance,east of skanee,huron mtns,barga co.
theres gold in the big iron river,upstream from silver city,porcupine mtns.
theres been 19 gold mines in the up,and 2 in the lower.
one near the ghost town of hallock,and one near harrisville.
in the up near the greenstone belt,marquette co.
buy the book-michigan gold,it has the gps markings.
theres float copper also near mass city to copper harbor,use a metal detector.
 

MinerGirl

Sr. Member
Nov 17, 2011
298
148
meicigama
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AT Pro
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All Treasure Hunting
I made a couple very interesting finds here in S.E. Michigan. After researching my local area and wondering if I was just wasting time looking for Gold, I decided to check all the rocks in my own back yard. A neighboring business decided to build an addition to their building and had dug down almost 20 ft to dig a basement/addition. I allowed them to put all their dirt/rocks in my back yard as my yard was like a sinkhole from water runoff from everyone else's property. I have found several artifacts and a few rocks with Gold streaks. Also, my house is a Victorian built in 1888. It has a Stone foundation and I decided to check out all the rocks in the basement. One rock, about the size of a baked potato, was under a basement window sill and was easily picked out of the wall. (No, my house won't fall down now..:) but it has Alot of Gold flakes concentrated on the surface in a vein type pattern with a 2 inch square size of concentrated Gold flakes. Its the only rock like it that I've found so far but I'm thinking these foundation rocks are from the area locally since the house is so old that when they built it, they wouldn't have carted foundation rocks from very far away.

Does anyone have an explanation or knowledge of how foundations were built so long ago? Did the builders mostly use the rocks from the basements they dug to build the foundations? Since it was Horse and Buggy days, I don't think they dragged rocks from very far to build these homes. Thanks for any input, I'm very curious about my recent finds...
 

ohiochris

Full Member
May 6, 2009
182
48
MinerGirl said:
I made a couple very interesting finds here in S.E. Michigan. After researching my local area and wondering if I was just wasting time looking for Gold, I decided to check all the rocks in my own back yard. A neighboring business decided to build an addition to their building and had dug down almost 20 ft to dig a basement/addition. I allowed them to put all their dirt/rocks in my back yard as my yard was like a sinkhole from water runoff from everyone else's property. I have found several artifacts and a few rocks with Gold streaks. Also, my house is a Victorian built in 1888. It has a Stone foundation and I decided to check out all the rocks in the basement. One rock, about the size of a baked potato, was under a basement window sill and was easily picked out of the wall. (No, my house won't fall down now..:) but it has Alot of Gold flakes concentrated on the surface in a vein type pattern with a 2 inch square size of concentrated Gold flakes. Its the only rock like it that I've found so far but I'm thinking these foundation rocks are from the area locally since the house is so old that when they built it, they wouldn't have carted foundation rocks from very far away.

Does anyone have an explanation or knowledge of how foundations were built so long ago? Did the builders mostly use the rocks from the basements they dug to build the foundations? Since it was Horse and Buggy days, I don't think they dragged rocks from very far to build these homes. Thanks for any input, I'm very curious about my recent finds...

As far as I know , they "usually" used rocks from their own digging as well as what turned when they plowed fields. Any nearby stream or river probably produced a few rocks too. You are right they probably didnt move them very far but they could have , it was an aweful lot more work in those days than it is now though.

As for there being gold in southern Michigan ,.........its in northern Ohio , so why would it not be in southern michigan ? If anybody is having trouble finding it......you probably did find it but didnt look close enough to see it and threw it out with the black sand. Most of it will be very small. You should be able to find the occasional "picker" too if you are lucky.
 

Feb 2, 2012
1
0
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I worked for a couple of years at a gravel pit in Kent county. The pay was poor but a bonus was the gold nuggets we would find often. with the ones I pulled out I cant help but wonder how many got by.
 

mydogisscout

Jr. Member
Feb 25, 2010
34
25
Grand Blanc, Mi
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Gold
I would like to refer you to our group here in Michigan. we have a UP outing planned for the weekend of june 15th 2012.
I have found gold in michigan, most recently in the flint river north of Montrose, however I have a friend that owned a prospecting/metal detecting store who claimed you could pull quite a few colors from the dowagiac river. feel free to join our group and the outing is free to anyone that wants to go, all you have to do is pay your own camping and food.
http://www.goldprospectorsspace.com/group/michiganprospectors
michigan gold
IMAG0209.jpg

DSCF4023.jpg
 

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