General Mariposa County Question

[Salinas_Smiles]

So I have just finished rebuilding my sluice, Added some Gold Hog Matting and made a few structural changes. I am headed up to Mariposa County this weekend to work it. I was wondering what you guys thought. I was going to work a smaller tributary that feeds in to the Merced river, Still plenty of water flow to keep my Sluice working properly. Do you think I might have better results actually working the sluice in the Merced river itself or in the Creeks around it. I was told about a creek that looks pretty accessable. Let me know your thoughts please. This will be my second time out sluicing so my goal is not to spin my wheels as much as possible.

Mark

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hi Mark, I'm not into gold hunting (gold in it's natural state, that is), so I can't help you in that regard. But there is no shortage of hunters up in the foothills/gold region of CA that go for the gold, either in sluicing/dredging form, or nuggets (detector) form. Maybe one of them will chime in. If not, another way to see-what works (and where, etc...) is to see who the dealers are up there, for dredges and detectors. Through them, you can sometimes find out who's the proficient hobbyists in the area (those coming back in with the goodies), and ...... perhaps meet them, etc...

Are you in "Salinas" CA? (as your handle suggests). If so, that's where I live. I'm strictly a coin/relic guy though. Never got into gold, as it's too far from this part of CA. Welcome aboard.

 

[Salinas_Smiles]

Hi Mark, I'm not into gold hunting (gold in it's natural state, that is), so I can't help you in that regard. But there is no shortage of hunters up in the foothills/gold region of CA that go for the gold, either in sluicing/dredging form, or nuggets (detector) form. Maybe one of them will chime in. If not, another way to see-what works (and where, etc...) is to see who the dealers are up there, for dredges and detectors. Through them, you can sometimes find out who's the proficient hobbyists in the area (those coming back in with the goodies), and ...... perhaps meet them, etc...

Are you in "Salinas" CA? (as your handle suggests). If so, that's where I live. I'm strictly a coin/relic guy though. Never got into gold, as it's too far from this part of CA. Welcome aboard.

Tom. Thanks for all the great device, I was up in that area over the weekend. Had a great time, struck out though but my sluice worked great, real cold though, think I might be hanging it up for the winter. If I had a detector I wold join you down here . I'm guessing there is a ton of great places to hunt down here with all of the great history down here

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

Tom. Thanks for all the great device, I was up in that area over the weekend. Had a great time, struck out though but my sluice worked great, real cold though, think I might be hanging it up for the winter. If I had a detector I wold join you down here . I'm guessing there is a ton of great places to hunt down here with all of the great history down here

So you are in Salinas then, eh?

I only know a few fellows in our area that got into nugget hunting with detectors. But it's hard to be *really* into it, at our distance (2.5+ hrs. from the nearest sierra foothills?). There was supposedly some gold found in our mountains too (S. Cruz Mountains, south of big sur, etc...). But it was never in sufficient enough quantities to merit anything worth going after commercially, or even as a hobby. Any commercial ventures (like Manchester) folded for just that reason, that in-the-end, just wasn't enough here. It has something to do with the geologic formation/evolution, as to whether gold will be present or not.

But if you simply find out who deals in dredges and hobbyist gold equipment in sac, auburn, mariposa, modesto, etc.... I bet they know who's the proficient and succesfull hobbyists in those areas.