MA/VT/NH Panning

D

dvdtharaldson

Full Member
Sep 19, 2012
246
178
Massachusetts
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hi ,

This is the first time I have posted on this website. I live in Western MA and am planning a trip during the last few days of September to Vermont to try my luck panning. I was going to try Buffalo Brook and Five Corners in the Bridgewater area. Does anybody know how far down you ordinarily have to dig to hit black sands in those areas? Any comments on whether you have to dig deep or just stay on the surface? I was thinking Irene probably deposited alot of flood gold on the surface. Does anybody know if some of the small brooks high up in the mts. north of Bridgewater contain gold? All I ever hear is Buffalo Brook and Five Corners. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As you probably could tell I am new to panning for gold.

Thanks,

David
 

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Took a trip up to VT today. Tough conditions still (deep snow, fast, cold and turbid water) but plenty of shiny New England gold waiting to be found. image.jpg
 

WOW! Very impressive results considering where you are. Would you say you:
- worked hard and long
- hit a honey hole
- have amazing gear
- all the above
.??
 

Nice work.... How high is the water right now. I looked at a couple local brooks in CT and they are real high after Friday night 3-4 inch rain fall. Good news all the snow is gone... How deep is the snow in VT?
 

Thanks Kevin!
just a dash of luck, a sprinkle of learning/experience and a splash of hypothermia inducing stubborn effort. Lol
Ps- next trip out to Colorado (hopefully this summer) I'll be picking your brain!
 

Thanks Kevin!
just a dash of luck, a sprinkle of learning/experience and a splash of hypothermia inducing stubborn effort. Lol
Ps- next trip out to Colorado (hopefully this summer) I'll be picking your brain!
 

The water level wasn't that bad however there is a LOT of deep snow still right up to and even over the outer banks (very dangerous & soft overhangs). Guessing it's still going to rise w/ temp increases and any rain.
 

Ct98023 said:
Thanks Kevin! just a dash of luck, a sprinkle of learning/experience and a splash of hypothermia inducing stubborn effort. Lol Ps- next trip out to Colorado (hopefully this summer) I'll be picking your brain!
Click to expand...

Sounds good/fun, love to!
 

This past Sunday I took a trip to the Black Brook area of Savoy. The snow was still about a foot and a half deep and the brook was running fast. I decided to prospect a trib. I saw some stone that looked the same color as greenstone but was foliated, I am thinking it could have been green schist. I also saw some quartz around. There was a little black sands in the cons but not much. No colors were found.

I eventually headed downstream and ended up in a swamp. As soon as I got to the edge of the swamp the rocks changed from a greenstone/granite/quartz appearance to mostly sand and a lot of very dark colored rocks. I found a lot of black sands but no colors. I wanted to head farther into the swamp to where it discharged into the larger brook, but I came across so many large tracks that I decided to back out of the swamp. When the snow disappears I plan to go back and hike to the confluence of the streams to try my luck. I hope to find a more direct route that keeps me out of the center of the swamp.

What I'm really doing is killing time until I can plan and then execute a trip to Vermont. My June 6th vacation seems so far away.
 

Anyone want to meet up on Sunday the weather is sounding good...
 

LostinBolton,

I am going to be up on Rte. 2 on Saturday morning for a pancake breakfast and after that I will be prospecting for awhile. If your available we can get together then. I will pm you with my cell number. If not, others want to reschedule the Couch Brook trip for the following weekend or patriots day. Sorry for the short notice for tomorrow.
 

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Does anyone know of areas to pan/sluice near Marlborough NH? I know there is a store there that sells metal detectors and gold prospecting supplies (Streeters), so I assume there is gold in the area. Anybody know exact locations I might be able to try? Thanks!
 

roadtrip said:
Does anyone know of areas to pan/sluice near Marlborough NH? I know there is a store there that sells metal detectors and gold prospecting supplies (Streeters), so I assume there is gold in the area. Anybody know exact locations I might be able to try? Thanks!
Click to expand...
ask at the store, they are sure to know.
 

Was able to swing through VT Saturday and do some digging on way to visit family for the holiday. Hope everyone's enjoying the long awaited arrival of spring!

image.jpg
 

I found my first color of the season, really small but visible in the pan. Of course, in Vermont. Green river drainage. I wanted to give a shout out to Lost in Bolton and EMassAuMan for joining me on my last two forays.
 

This morning I was going over my -50 cons. I noticed that half of the cons were floating. I was staring at the silvery-grey particles floating by, and caught a glimpse of color. I took out my 15x loupe and confirmed it. I put in some jet dry and panned it out. Even though it is almost microscopic it was still under the black sands and in the grove of the pan. Smallest color I have ever seen. Anybody have any ideas what the shiny silver-grey particles are? They were the most numerous of the floaters.
 

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David, once you added the jet dry, the silver/gray pieces sank right? Were they then more or less dense than gold? Possibilities:
- Gold with something partially coating it- mercury or an oxide/sulphide of some sort
- platinum/platinum group metals

Less likely: lead (never ever seen it float but maybe...
 

Kevin, once the jet dry was added everything sank. It is really hard to say what was denser because the color was so much smaller than the mystery metal, which was very flat. If I had to guess I would say the gold was denser. Its so hard to say because of the drastic differences in proportions.

I don't think it was coated gold because I see it almost everywhere in the East. It looked to hard and to shiny to be lead. I think Platinum doesn't exist in any real quantities here. I don't know enough about the platinum group metals, I will have to refer back to the periodic chart. I was wondering if it could be tin or zinc? Maybe someday when I become independently wealthy I will have it assayed. But, as for now, I am still saving my pennies for a BGT.
Thanks for your suggestions.
 

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