Oregon gold prospecting

[Gubani]

Hi all! After lots of reading and research, I finally decided to sign up here. I've been really into hiking/backpacking lately and it finally struck me that I could have been prospecting for treasure in the midst of camping. My father bought my a decent MD a while back, and I only ever uncovered random junk from blobs of lead to pull-tabs, and the occasional common coin. Regardless of any empirical values attached to my finds, the process was exhilerating and it kept me hoping. I actually recall the days before I even had a metal detector and I would simply go out in the fields and start digging in hopes of finding something crazy.

I am curious if someone is generous and knowledgeable enough to aid me on my quest for something shiny? I live in the NW region, about 15 minutes from Portland, OR. I am looking for a good secluded area where I can go on an adventure up a gold bearing stream, and am willing to hike many miles for a good spot. All I want is something to reassure me there is gold to be found. I've never even seen fresh, native gold.

 

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[imafishingnutt]

I have a few good spots email me and we will go hunting.
Rickrader@centurytel.net
Oregon NW

 

[imafishingnutt]

look for jeffro he helps people all the time.
the only gold around my town is panning for it wich i havent done as of yet but first time for everything.
jeffro posts on here under general discussion all the time

 

[hard rider]

look in TOO MANY LEADS in this section,gives you some good places.............

 

[Gubani]

imafishingnutt -- thanks for the reply! I will def. contact you later, my schedule is very flexible although the following week will be hectic. Weekends are generally pretty open, and I'm willing to drive anywhere in Oregon

hard rider -- definately!! Actually, it is that section alone that initiated mild syndroms of the highly contagious gold fever!

I was also checking out http://miningold.com/bpslu.html -- the back pack sluice -- is this too good to be true? It's design like these that spark completely irrational urges to go into the wild for weeks at a time, negotiating deadly terrain in bear country...

 

[tvic25]

Hey Gubani!

I live in Tualatin...Rick (Imafishingnut) and I hunt together as well. I am always looking for a hunting partner, and where you live is a really good spot if we can get into some of the areas. I have some treasure hunting journals for gold, ghost towns etc.....
Drop me a line, if you want to head over to meet up with Rick let me know, I am familiar with the area as he and I have had some hunting parties...

Tvic25
Tesor Cortes
Ace250
Lesche Digger

 

[Gubani]

hi Tvic25 thanks for posting! It's amazing how helpful people are on this forum, I can't wait to learn the ropes of treasure hunting!

As I posted earlier, the following week I will be somewhat preoccupied with work. I have requested Friday the 16th off, as the following night of 17/18 will be the peak of the Leonids meteor shower and I would like to get a head start. If all goes well, I will be free from Thursday after 5:00 P.M., 'til Saturday before 9:00 P.M. I would love to meet you and Rick sometime!

For contact information, my email is kokoracci@yahoo.com let me know what works best for you guys!

 

[mil-hunter]

I too live in the Tualatin, Sherwood, Beaverton area, and would love for someone to show me the ropes. I still haven't been able to purchase my MD (financial constraints), but hoping within the next couple of weeks. I have done a little panning out hwy 26 towards the coast, but haven't done so well. I also found out about some old homesteads in the same area (the best part is it is on BLM, or public lands). I would love to tag along if no one has a problem with it. I am currently a full time college student, and an Army Reservist, so things ae a little busy right now, but I will have a month off in December. Mabey we all should organize a hunt around X-mas time. My contact info is: andrew.becker2@us.army.mil
It sure would be nice to get to know a few other t-hunters in the area.

Andy

 

[tvic25]

Hey Andy...
Have an extra machine (Ace250) if you want to get in some practice before you buy. Also have a Tesoro Cortes, so anytime you want to do a little digging, drop me a line.
Tvic25

 

[mil-hunter]

I'm gonna be busy until December. It is the busy season for my reserve unit, but I will drop you a line then.

 

[Gubani]

Hi Andy! Thanks for joining the thread! Sorry I haven't gotten back to you guys until just now -- during that wind storm a few days ago I lost power and my fence blew over. The neighbors next door notified me equally as fast as the posts snapped and the fence gave... they have cats and I have a dog, so a new fence has been prioritized over anything else at the moment.

As far as hunting through the upcoming holidays, I anticipate being bombarded with over a dozen wishlists from my 8 million neices and nephews. Perhaps earlier in the season the four of us could work something out?

Also, Tvic25 & imafishingnutt -- how important is it to have an ultra expensive MD like your guys'? Mine has very few options, but it detects metal nonetheless. I've never experienced a good MD before, so I have nothing to compare mine to.

 

[tvic25]

Hey Gubani....

In answer to your question about expensive machines.....The Garrett Ace250 is less than 200.00...It's a great machine that would last a very long time as long as wet ocean sand is not your target search area.
It has a really good warranty, so as long as you don't play field hockey with it, you should be okay..LOL!!

I bought the Tesoro Cortes because I wanted a machine I could manually ground balance, and I could hunt in all terrains. Also, Tesoro has a lifetime guarantee...

I just suggest you buy a name brand, White's, Fisher, Minelab, Tesoro as they have proved to be the most reliable.

Bounty Hunter is a great beginner machine, and you can find them at Radio Shack and on Ebay. I would suggest shopping Ebay for a great deal.....

Imafishingnut (Rick) has a couple of the off brand machines that seem to do pretty well...You'll have to ask him what he thinks as he has about 10 of them...(he might be willing to sell you one..LOL!)

Tvic25

 

[rudolph411]

About 15 years back I use to live in Gaston , OR back up Cherry Grove way. I was living and working for the owner of the old
Clarke homestead. At that time we use to draw our irrigation water off a small creek that fed into the Tualitin River about 2-3 miles down from the head waters.What I did still has me wondering as content. I laid down a 20 ft. section of black corrugated drain pipe in order to increase the pressure of the irrigation feed. I would periodical have to pull the whole line up and flush out what had collected in the corrugations of the pipe. What this amounted to were usually mud and some plant matter. But in the corrugation of the pipe it was BLACK sand . Big dummy me I never thought back then to check for gold content. The creek is still there , still feeding into the Tualitin River.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever done any sampling around CherryGrove /Gaston area of the Tualitin river?

 

[OregonGoldHunters]

I have a few oregon gold locations on my site, they are separated by county with directions, google map and some have pics of findings from there.

http://www.oregongoldhunters.com

 

[Cynangyl]

Sounds like you folks are going to have a blast! I am excited to hear what all you guys find. If you get over to the Central Oregon area in any of your hunting let me know.

 

[greydigger]

I have a few oregon gold locations on my site, they are separated by county with directions, google map and some have pics of findings from there.

http://www.oregongoldhunters.com

Just joined there.
Hope to see new places when the ice melts.
Grey

 

[SilverSalmon]

I'm gettn' antsy to go diggin' for GOLD!!!

 

[Jyn]

About 15 years back I use to live in Gaston , OR back up Cherry Grove way. I was living and working for the owner of the old
Clarke homestead. At that time we use to draw our irrigation water off a small creek that fed into the Tualitin River about 2-3 miles down from the head waters.What I did still has me wondering as content. I laid down a 20 ft. section of black corrugated drain pipe in order to increase the pressure of the irrigation feed. I would periodical have to pull the whole line up and flush out what had collected in the corrugations of the pipe. What this amounted to were usually mud and some plant matter. But in the corrugation of the pipe it was BLACK sand . Big dummy me I never thought back then to check for gold content. The creek is still there , still feeding into the Tualitin River.
I was just wondering if anyone has ever done any sampling around CherryGrove /Gaston area of the Tualitin river?

Hey Rudolph- I know you wrote your post quite a while ago, but I just moved to Gaston off of Laurelwood Road on Bald Peak and we have a few creeks running through our acerage. I found a bunch of black sand in ours today but I only had a shovel since we literally moved here a week ago. Im super excited to start panning when the weather gets nicer! Ill let you know what I find.

 

[Jboogie91]

I'm new to this and just bought a good amount of equipment and am looking to get out. I live in SE Portland but I am willing to travel. Let me know who is going out?

I'm heading to Sweet Home this Sunday, who will be there?