Dry Bed Prospecting

starsplitter · Feb 1, 2007

To Old Hands:

I am curious. I have heard of people finding gold in old, dry streambeds. Are dry stream beds really worthwhile places to search? If so, how do you find them? Are there any books on the subject?

Thanks.

Mark

Dave45 · Feb 1, 2007

Try google earth

aarthrj3811 · Feb 3, 2007

Hey Mark....You need to check the history of the area...Is it in an area that has produced gold in the past? Then check the maps and see if it is dry because of some earthquake or if the river or stream changed its course. If the old stream bed has exposed bed rock check this first paying attension to the cracks. If there is gold in the cracks you can try other parts of the stream..Have fun...Art

dave wiseman · Feb 3, 2007

Starsplitter,In any gold bearing area find your bedrock,whether it be in the creek bed,or the rims of the creek or higher up on the banks where the creek may have run eons ago.Scratch out and break open the cracks and put your concentrates in a sack to pan out later.Books on placer gold by Jack Black are easily read and understood as Long as you know what bedrock is!An out of print book by the late Australian author and prospector Ion Idreiss has a great chapter on the subject...Dave

TreasureTales · Feb 12, 2007

Dry streambeds can be great places to nuggetshoot. But like these guys already said, it is best to get down to the bedrock and use a crevice tool to get out the nuggets. You might want to check before doing any hardrock splitting because the USFS frowns on destruction of streambeds, even dry ones, without the proper paperwork on file. Where are you planning on doing streambed work?

Jim Straight wrote several books about drywashing, streambed detecting, etc. You might find some of his books at www.abebooks.com or eBay. Also, a good magazine that often covers dry streambeds and gold is ICMJ's Prospecting and Mining Journal. You can go online at www.icmj.com and find out where to buy an issue of you don't want to subscribe. Good luck.