MA/VT/NH Panning

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dvdtharaldson

Full Member
Sep 19, 2012
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Massachusetts
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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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Here is some Wild Ammonoosuc gold. Not bad but not great. Nice day and you can see the bright silver piece is gold coated in mercury. Kinda neat!
 

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Not bad at all. Did you hit a lot of hard pack? Big rocks?
 

No really hardpack in any large ammounts we couldnt see well because of the clay milkiness from other dredge holes. There was a channel cut from the bank out 10' with milk water. we dug a few large potatoes on the outside of their piles. They did cover up some gold but not what i thought. We found a picker in the bedrock but it was not easy bedrock to work. What hole was yours!??
 

That probably wasn't any of my holes. I usually roll big rocks back in my holes. The last time I was there I went 2ft from the bank and went parallel with the river for about 8ft. I like going a few hundred yards downriver from that big split rock. So far every place in that river I've dredged, the gold has been very evenly distributed. I get about the same amount every time I've been. I'm sure there has to be a pay streak somewhere. But trying to find it, is what makes it fun.
 

chef440rt said:
That probably wasn't any of my holes. I usually roll big rocks back in my holes. The last time I was there I went 2ft from the bank and went parallel with the river for about 8ft. I like going a few hundred yards downriver from that big split rock. So far every place in that river I've dredged, the gold has been very evenly distributed. I get about the same amount every time I've been. I'm sure there has to be a pay streak somewhere. But trying to find it, is what makes it fun.
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Exactly no matter where we dredged it was about the same. Decent gold everywhere next tuesday we will be up for another go around. Lets make a big big hole.
 

Ya, sounds good. I know were a really big hole was last year. I'll check it out Monday and see if it is still there, but it might have been filled in by now. If it is still there it was big enough for 2 to go in and we can continue off off it. It was in the middle of the river. I never had a chance to spend a lot of time on clay in the middle of the river because there is about 6-7 feet of gravel on top of the clay in the center. So I spent 98% of the time removing overburden just to get a few square feet of clay on the bottom. With both of us we can probably spend alot more time on the clay in the center.

On the other hand, I have no idea if gold would be better near the center of the river with 6 feet of overburden or near the banks with 2 feet of overburden. Maybe someone would know what would be better to dredge, the banks or middle? I was thinking the middle because a lot of people hit the banks with highbankers and small dredges. Here is a pick were I like to go, it's no secret. If you go to Google earth you can even see my truck parked on the side of the road ha,ha. I like to go just past the bend in the center of the photo. Keep in mind the owner of the land will only let people dredge from the middle of the river to the shore on the road side. Or we can go somewhere else if you know a good spot. wild am.jpgtruck.jpg
 

work from the center to the inside bend in the cobbles that's where your bigger gold is and where it gets sandy the finer the gold usually.... and a stretch just beyond the bend in cobbles also
 

Thanks for the reply, I'm not allowed on the inside bend so I have been dredging on the left (downstream) side of the outside bend, near the shore. I will try the spot like you said just beyond the bend. I will give it a try from the center to the shore.
 

Hey Kevin,
I thought that pay streaks in Colorado were like clusters of grapes hanging off the vine. I didn't even think they sold 50x50 screen in Denver.
 

I found my 1st nugget!!!:thumbsup: Laying right on the clay behind a big rock.



IMG_0179.JPG
 

dvdtharaldson said:
Hey Kevin, I thought that pay streaks in Colorado were like clusters of grapes hanging off the vine. I didn't even think they sold 50x50 screen in Denver.
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We wish! Real life here is about 1/2 my gold by weight is -50 mesh. And for comparison, here's my picker from last week, biggest yet here in metro Denver:


image-2515775070.jpg

Found bigger in the mountains of course but that's another story. The picker just posted in this thread kicks my butt entirely.
 

chef 440rft that's a awesome find, congrats!
 

KevinInColorado said:
We wish! Real life here is about 1/2 my gold by weight is -50 mesh. And for comparison, here's my picker from last week, biggest yet here in metro Denver:


View attachment 1020703

Found bigger in the mountains of course but that's another story. The picker just posted in this thread kicks my butt entirely.
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Kevin,
I was told that Vermont and New Hampshire have some of the purest gold in the world, but that picker has some real nice color.
 

chef440rt,

Are you a big block Mopar man? 440 as in 440cid, R/T as in Road and Track? Challenger, 'Cuda, Roadrunner?
 

dvdtharaldson said:
Kevin, I was told that Vermont and New Hampshire have some of the purest gold in the world, but that picker has some real nice color.
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good eye there...this is not your average gold, it's from a deposit here in metro Denver that was left behind by the mountains that existed before the current mountains were formed and before to dinosaurs...so this gold is almost 24K due to being out of the rock for so long. Over the several hundred million years, all the base metals have weathered out of it. That is also why the pieces tend to be soooo consistently small, lots of time and weather and river action to beat the gold up.
 

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