IS THERE GOLD IN COLVERT PIPES

[MRDUKE]

HI IM NEW HEAR, I DON,T GET OUT MUCH BECOUSE OF WORK . BUT I LIVE UP IN THE MOTHERLODE AND DRIVE LOGGING TRUCK UP IN THE MOUNTAINS AND I CAN GET PRITTY FAR BACK IN THE WOODS . AND IM ALWAYS DRIVING OVER OLD COLVERT PIPES SET IN THE LOGGING ROADS FOR SEASONAL CREEKS .MOST OF THE TIME THESE PIPES ARE ABOUT 20 FT LONG AND I WAS THANKING THAT GOLD WOULD COLLECT IN THE RIPPELS .HAS ANY ONE EVER PANNED OUT THE RIPPELS AND HAD ANY LUCK.

 

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[djui5]

That's a great place to look if you ask me!

 

[buscadero]

Mr. Duke: First off, Welcome to TN! Secondly, You may have a heck of an opportunity there! I say, Go for it!
You may hit the Mother Lode!

HH Joe

 

[slowreaper]

Hi MrDuke,

Colverts are a good place to look for gold. I have not done it much but did fairly well when I did. Have a friend that does colverts, and swears by them. So definately go for it.

Brad

 

[MRDUKE]

THANKS GUYS FOR THE ADVICE .

 

[Willy]

Some guys I know of, down in Arizona, vac. pac. and drywash material from culverts.. and do damned well. ..Willy.

 

[MRDUKE]

THANKS WILLY I WAS WONDERING HOW I WAS GOING TO DO IT ,VACUME IT OUT THEN PAN IT .SOUNDS GOOD TO ME .

 

[Functional]

MRDUKE;

I've also found the area within a hundred feet of a culvert can be a good place to look later in the season when water levels drop. As with streams and rivers, look for a wider area where the water slows down. Often this is just before the culvert where other materials get drawn into the culvert but the heavy stuff settles to the bottom.

My first nugget, find after a summer of learning to pan, came as I was walking over along a logging road that passed over a tiny "ditch". Wasn't really a ditch, but too small to call a stream. I looked down into the water which was only about 6 inches deep and there were 2 nice little nuggets of about 1/3 ounce total. This was up in central British Columbia, but I'm fairly certain its a common place for nuggets to be found.

F.

 

[goldinmypan]

I've seen the guy on 'Gold Fever' show on tv. do culverts. Seems that he got some color from them. One was in the city of Los Angeles and he had to squeeze past a fence to get in. Had gang grafitti all over the walls. I heard that after the filming the cops came and chased him out, but I'm not sure of that. They do constitute natural riffles. Look for ones with out to much slope as gold would just blow thru.

 

[TreasureTales]

MRDUKE, welcome to TNet. And as one Californian to another, it's good to have you join us. There is a whole branch of gold hunting that involves culverts. Some people will put down a strip of that sluice box type carpeting in the culvert and let mother nature do the work. After a couple months, they go back and carefully remove the carpeting, to check for gold in the nap. They usually use a couple of big rocks to hold the carpeting in place. This can create real problems, however, if there is a large surge of water - like from a downpour - and the culvert can no longer handle the volume of water because of the rocks obstructing the mouth of the pipe. Some type of sturdy low profile clips might be better.

I met a fellow in a neighboring county one time, quite by accident, who was inventorying all culverts in that county. We got to talking and he told me they were getting ready for changes due to passage of Proposition 84 (so-called Clean Water Act Update). Anyway, the older culverts will eventually be replaced and the newer ones may become harder to access. Better get to it before those potential gold producers today are also off limits to us tomorrow.

 

[Urban Prospector]

Yes they hold gold, Thats how I got my handle.a table spoon works good in the riffles too.A vacuum makes noise that draws attention here under the streets of LA.I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[daydreamer]

I talked to some "water folks" in the ---- city area and they admitted to finding up to three ounces of gold nuggets when they had a shut down and had to walk the pipes. Unfortunately for me the trip is more than three miles long under water most of the time - I guess its a fringe benefit to working the mother lode area for a water and power district.

 

[shadowwalker]

I have got gold out them. I use a plastic kitchen broom with the handle cut off, a big square plastic tub (like to mix concrete in) from the lowe's store. I use the broom to whisk out the ripples. If it is dry works well. If it is wet works too. I put the tub where the water would come out. Sometimes you need to put a big rock in it to keep it below the lip of the culvert.If water is running through it. Also don't for get to dig around where the culvert water comes out. I got gold there too. Oh! I almost forgot. Dig under the end of the culvert that the water comes into. I have found alot of gold there. I settles there best. Remember Fill in the holes, I use rocks then fill with dirt.
When your all swept out of the culvert. Just pour out the water, put the black sands and such into a five gallon bucket. And on to the next culvert. You can also make a broom with a 180 degree angle on it for the culverts that you can't fit into. Just use a piece of 1 1/2 conduit. I keep the 10 foot long piece. You just sweep from you on the side of the culvert the water comes in, and sweep toward you on the end where the water would come out. Now from experience. A forest ranger will probably not like what your doing and maybe make you quit. The digging part anyway.

 

[MRDUKE]

thanks guys for the great advice , Ive been wanting to get out and try it . as i know some really good spot to look . but with the price of gas right now . and me being layed off from work ( I'm a seasonal truck driver ,logging trucks) Ive got to Waite until i get back to work ,i guess it,s the same old story ,it always comes down to time or money , it seems the trick is to have both as the same time . anyway the good news is it should,NT be to much longer.

 

[sourdough]

one word of advice though Watch Out for Snakes!!! thats two legged as well as the ones crawling on their bellies

 

[Desertdigger]

Yes, it is common but not talked about. Main thing is that no one can claim a culvert! i swept them out all the way to Artic Circle,AK. The city of LA is a hotbed of unseen culvert miners and they get more than gold. I use my homemade Leafblower powered vac out in the country when stealth is not required.

 

[aarthrj3811]

Hey Desertdigger.....If you find a good one go back every year...Does your street gutter collect sand every winter? Do you have to sweep it to clear it every summer? I had a home years ago that produced a 1/4 oz of gold every spring....Art

 

[wpareig]

I've been cleaning culverts for over 20 years & have used many things to clean them from wisk brooms to my home-made leaf blower vac pac until now.

A couple years back (year before last, or the beginning of last year I think) I was in Home Depot and seen a neat gadget...... AN 18v. Battery operated vac by RYOBI..... Since I use RYOBI equipment and have almost every peice of 18v. equip. they make I had to have one. I didn't hold much promice for it, but figured I would give it a try....

While out west last few times I hit about 20 - 35 culverts each time and did a lot of crevasing when ever we would stop. To my supprise, the thing had as much power (or close to it) as my gas leaf blower vac, was relitavely quiet AND NO FUMES when I was more than 80' back inside a culvert that was a few hundred feet long..... This is important when it's a small culvert or a long one where carbon monoxide may build up from a gas model AND KILL YOU.

The draw back is that the batteries only last about 20 min. of continuous running, or if ran for 5 minutes at a time (giveing the batteries a cool down period of 15min. or so between runs) last about 1 1/2 hours. For me this wasn't a big problem since I have SO MANY peices of the equipment and have 2 batteries for each peice I took about a dozen batteries and 2 duel chargers with me. Never used up all the batteries, found LOTS of gold.....

The big advantages are that the unit only costs $49.00 (I've seen them for as low as $29.00 on sale) and it is designed for both wet and dry use.... It actually has a drain plug on the top / back of the unit so you can use it in a running culvert and just open the plug, drain off the water without loosing the material or taking it apart and continue through the culvert....

The other people who responded have given you some very useful info and know what they are talking about, they have pretty much covered things, I'm giving you an idea of another peice of (cheep) equipment that works extreamly well for culverts.

Good luck and hope you find LOTS of gold,

Coyote.

 

[Desertdigger]

Hey Desertdigger.....If you find a good one go back every year...Does your street gutter collect sand every winter? Do you have to sweep it to clear it every summer? I had a home years ago that produced a 1/4 oz of gold every spring....Art

Yes when I am able! I have not been out or on the forum lateey due to an illness but culvert mining is making a big comeback due to gold Prices and all the open ground is being claimed up. I know one older than me genteleman who has swept the small concrete dith that runs along side of a state hiway that has gold claims on both side of it, he does very well in the monsoon season with the rains. Another group has a PU truck with a big unit mounted in the bed that can pick up wet or dry and has a very long hose, they wear safety vests ,hard hats, have a white truck with yellow warning lights and have never been questioned in the years they have operated.