Bear River Gold

[Sean Au.]

Aloha Yall,
Just got back from another Nor Cal adventure. This time Bear River, and this time heavy pans! Spent the day panning and running the sluice box. I tried some sniping but I didn't find any Nuggies. There is a ton of algae like material covering everything which made for more crap to move out of the way when sniping. There is also a ton of blue clay in the area as well as some pretty lazy prospectors > Looks like a war zone in some areas with holes everywhere. PLEASE FILLL YOUR HOLES PEOPLE...! Other than that the burn scar is healing nicely and the blackberry bushes do their best to make you bleed. Pretty much gold in every pan , and if you hunt for the right spots you can get some good flakes. Campground is closed, but you can still go for the day. I met a local who owns a claim up river and he said he has found some pickers etc. but most of the public area ha been hit pretty hard, so you have to really hunt for the good stuff. He gave me some pointers , and I continued on. Also Reed Lukens , thanks for the insight and leading me to the Bear. ( He's got a great Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb4bCLQTUDFJkYXeCW1c6_Q )

Here is a video I made of my adventure, I hope you enjoy!

 

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[crashbandicoot]

Aloha Yall,
Just got back from another Nor Cal adventure. This time Bear River, and this time heavy pans! Spent the day panning and running the sluice box. I tried some sniping but I didn't find any Nuggies. There is a ton of algae like material covering everything which made for more crap to move out of the way when sniping. There is also a ton of blue clay in the area as well as some pretty lazy prospectors > Looks like a war zone in some areas with holes everywhere. PLEASE FILLL YOUR HOLES PEOPLE...! Other than that the burn scar is healing nicely and the blackberry bushes do their best to make you bleed. Pretty much gold in every pan , and if you hunt for the right spots you can get some good flakes. Campground is closed, but you can still go for the day. I met a local who owns a claim up river and he said he has found some pickers etc. but most of the public area ha been hit pretty hard, so you have to really hunt for the good stuff. He gave me some pointers , and I continued on. Also Reed Lukens , thanks for the insight and leading me to the Bear. ( He's got a great Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb4bCLQTUDFJkYXeCW1c6_Q )

Here is a video I made of my adventure, I hope you enjoy!

Nice! Thanks! Good adventuring there!

 

[southfork]

Nice gold was the water warm? I spent many days face down on the Bear. It always looked like craters on the moon the river will fill the holes in time.

 

[Sean Au.]

Nice gold was the water warm? I spent many days face down on the Bear. It always looked like craters on the moon the river will fill the holes in time.

The water was cold but not freezing , I had my wetsuit on but in the heat of the day you could prob. get away with just trunks. I really wanna find a spot that has bigger gold, so I'm gonna keep checking potential areas. The problem is if you can find info on a good gold bearing spot, chances are a million people have beaten you to it. I am planning another bigger trip in a month or two that will take me to Bannf National park in Canada so I will be traveling through the mother lode all the way. Im sure there's some Canadian gold too.

 

[Sean Au.]

Here is my Bear River Gold. The small flake next to the nickel has Mercury all on it. Does that mean its from an old timer pan? or do people still use Mercury on the river today?

 

[southfork]

Nice finds the mercury is most likely from the old days.

 

[Sean Au.]

Nice finds the mercury is most likely from the old days.

crazy to think I'm panning something someone panned and lost from way back when.... they prob didn't even care about flakes when there was so much chunky chunks laying around.

 

[N-Lionberger]

The Mercury was most likely lost from sluices than an individuals pan. Some hydraulic miners would put it in their sluices.

 

[Sean Au.]

The Mercury was most likely lost from sluices than an individuals pan. Some hydraulic miners would put it in their sluices.

When I find pieces of "silver" metal that is bent and flat , is that mercury covered gold or just free solid mercury? ( not fishing weights but flat pieces )

 

[arizau]

When I find pieces of "silver" metal that is bent and flat , is that mercury covered gold or just free solid mercury? ( not fishing weights but flat pieces )

Mercury alone does not solidify. What you are finding may be amalgam/mercury coated gold. Keep those pieces separate from clean gold pieces since they can become contaminated by contact. Google the properties of mercury. There is a simple method to clean amalgam but be safe.

Heavy pans.

 

[Reed Lukens]

This series will teach you all about the gold on the Bear and how it was mined and lost -
There's 9 videos in this list.

 

[Sean Au.]

This series will teach you all about the gold on the Bear and how it was mined and lost -
There's 9 videos in this list.

Right on Reed ! can't wait to check it out.

 

[delnorter]

Thanks for the video series and your YouTube site Reed. Amazing tools to get the job done.

Mike