Hornitos,ca area

G

goldandbill

Jr. Member
Dec 2, 2013
47
23
Gold Beach,OR
Detector(s) used
Fisher CZ 7 and Mine Lab Eureka
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
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There is gold in the area- all those rock pile along the river tailings, some of those are still officially being actively reworked so I wouldn't mess with them. I don't know of much in the area as open for entry there. UPI has claims not far from there and there is always Bagaby Rec area

ratled
 

There is gold in the area- all those rock pile along the river tailings, some of those are still officially being actively reworked so I wouldn't mess with them. I don't know of much in the area as open for entry there. UPI has claims not far from there and there is always Bagaby Rec area

ratled
 

We have access to a 3500 acre ranch west of Hornitos.
 

goldandbill said:
We have access to a 3500 acre ranch west of Hornitos.
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Well, gold IS in the area! As far as your specific 3500 acres, you gotta research THAT area. Gold is a tricky metal. Just because it's in one drainage, doesn't mean it's in the next drainage over.
And I don't know how seasoned ya are at prospecting in general. Basically use the same old methods for sampling/finding gold. I LOVE bedrock, so that's what i'd first look for. Also, without a specific lead on a known gold deposit on THAT land, you might just have to use your prospecting skills and of course, some good Ole LUCK! :) MOST of that area is private or claimed, so the 3500 acres that you're allowed onto is a major first step (as long as said property has GOLD!;)) I'm alright at finding gold, but DAM if i'm not good at explaining where or why i dug there! ::))

Hornitos weather-
Sat July 4- 100 degrees
Sun July 5- 97 degrees
Stay cool!
 

Not much out there on it but search Hornitos the Snelling mining dist. You should be able to get at least some color if there is water. If there are any of the large tailings piles like you see driving long the Merced River I would hit those with a MD

ratled
 

I've been informed by friends down there that they closed the road at Bagby to the campground, the river and Maxwell creek at the end of the road. Look across from the Bagby parking lot and you'll see the steps from our home,across the river(creek now) after being burned and bulldozer. 50+ years later still brings a tear to my eye....Lotza luck as Hornitos is spotty but seen some nice fines from there--John
 

Damn John, with all of your experiences and historical and practical knowlege of mining gold in California you should write a book or two!
 

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goldandbill said:
We have access to a 3500 acre ranch west of Hornitos.
Click to expand...

It is unlikely that your friends ranch has mineral rights. You can check and see the status yourself by downloading the Master Title Plat (MTP) for those two townships from the Land Matters California Land Status Maps.

A quick look of the area west of Hornitos shows that with the exception of a few patented mineral claims most of the private land doesn't have mineral rights. If you know where you would like to prospect you can see if that's legal before you go by studying those MTPs.

There is good gold in some of the gravels around Snelling. I've seen a 25 ounce nugget dug there. The area between Snelling and Hornitos is mostly sandstone and greywacke - neither are a good candidate for gold formation.

You can find a few small areas of known gold gravels by downloading the Sonora Geologic Folio from the U.S. Geologic Index Map. Those appear to be mostly just west of Hornitos Creek and East of El Dorado Creek. It looks like those are now private mineral patents but they are close enough that they might be part of your friend's ranch.

There might be some minor greenstone exposures in the volcanics just west of Hornitos but I don't see any records of that. I never found any significant mineralization outside of the river area but you might have more luck. Gold is where you find it. :thumbsup:

Heavy Pans
 

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TOO much politics to write much anymore(see WMA newsletter posts here)-thanx for the nice comment BUT the dredging world is about to blownup by a single miners great work. Badgered ,belittled, stolen blind, shuffled to the back a the bus, lied to BUT a fantastic man who is gonna blow your socks off........good friend and a bloody fine person to GIVE AWAY many thousands of hours of work AND $1,000s with it for FREE. To assist has been a privledge....so that consumes all my time currently. John.
 

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