Dangerous Water Conditions and Lost Equipment

[The_fishingfool]

BECAREFUL!!! While prospecting in the spring. The water rises fast on warm days with no rain.




This day had a couple casualties. My sluice box was washed away never to be found again and my Apple Watch’s screen broke. Luckily I decided not to cross the river that morning.

 

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[russau]

YEP this happens in the desert also from heavy rains miles away from you and it DONT give you any warning it's comeing untill it's right on you ! You were very fortunate that all you lost was your sluice full of gold. Your alive and the gold & sluice can be replaced easily ! That is a great looking spot to do your digging !!

 

[RTR]

The good news...that's what moves gold

 

[The_fishingfool]

YEP this happens in the desert also from heavy rains miles away from you and it DONT give you any warning it's comeing untill it's right on you ! You were very fortunate that all you lost was your sluice full of gold. Your alive and the gold & sluice can be replaced easily ! That is a great looking spot to do your digging !!

Not to mention this water was probably 5-10 degrees above Freezing but the air was in the mid 70s. You have to respect the river or she will try to kill you.

 

[The_fishingfool]

The good news...that's what moves gold

That made me go back and look at some of the pictures from that day. This is that crevice But after the water had risen . (not pictured)The water came up another 4ft up the bank from that before I hiked out.

 

[et1955]

The good news...that's what moves gold

Floods are variable , some will strip the gold from a gravel bar, others will cover the gold with many feet of silt but on a rare occasion the river will deposit new gold. Those type of floods are rare and
I have experienced such a flood and I am still mining the results of that flood. the 1995 flood here in Washington state lasted over a month, before the flood finding gold was hard, after the flood well I got over 2lbs. of gold and a lot of others did well too. When looking at floods you want see a high flood but a very slow gradual flow reduction taking weeks to recede to normal flow.

 

[RTR]

Floods are variable , some will strip the gold from a gravel bar, others will cover the gold with many feet of silt but on a rare occasion the river will deposit new gold. Those type of floods are rare and
I have experienced such a flood and I am still mining the results of that flood. the 1995 flood here in Washington state lasted over a month, before the flood finding gold was hard, after the flood well I got over 2lbs. of gold and a lot of others did well too. When looking at floods you want see a high flood but a very slow gradual flow reduction taking weeks to recede to normal flow.

Don't know where you go but where I go the gold is located above the creek on mountain sides.And the only way it gets to the creek is... Heavy Rains.

 

[N-Lionberger]

Where I'm at now I am not particularly concerned with high water adding more gold more that it usually just hinders my previous work. I used to be active in a club down south that had a claim below a power station and the water level would change randomly I lost a few things there, I almost lost a sluice there that I lent to some cheechakos.