Results and pics from my first year prospecting

[dagaro17]

Happy New Year everyone!

I've been on this site for a little over a year now and I have learned a lot from everyone's posts. Thank you for all the great info. I wanted to share my experience as 2019 was my first year prospecting. A year and a half ago I had never even touched a gold pan and now I have full on gold fever!
I live a couple of hours from the Klamath Mountains in far northern California which is where I did all of my prospecting. I found 95% of my gold in a medium sized creek where there are signs of old workings (ground sluicing, etc..). I even found a couple of relics. A broken pickaxe and a hand forged rock pick hammer. Anyone know how old these are?


The first couple of times out I found virtually nothing but a couple of tiny flecks. The 3rd time out by random chance I saw a flash of gold a couple of inches underwater stuck in a thin crack in the bedrock. That lead me to a couple more and although I've searched probably a mile of the creek, only in that section of creek (10 x 20') has there been any accumulation of gold. Here's a pic of the gold on my 3rd day out.

I wouldn't have even searched there as it a straight section of creek and most of the the bedrock is smooth and buried under a lot of overburden. After that I spent a lot of time there with hand tools and a five gallon bucket over the last year when I had the time and pulled out about 11.5 grams with largest piece at .47 grams. I probably made about $3/hr and loved every minute! This post is getting long so I'll just post a few more pics and call it good. Good luck out there everyone!

 

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[1637]

thats some nice gold,good job
brad

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Being familiar with the general area..your lucky to have found a mile long stretch of unclaimed creek that's producing gold like that.
Unless you already have..you might consider filing a claim on it if you think you want to keep it to yourself next year.

That's pretty good gold regardless. You appear to have figured it out and know what gold looks like.

Per the pick head..there MAY be a company name stamped into the side which could be used to date it.

You might just start with a wire brush to get the rust scale off.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Awesome!

 

[dagaro17]

Thank you guys!

IMAUDIGGER: Thanks for your suggestions and yes, finding an unclaimed place to prospect is tough. This area is withdrawn from mineral entry or I definitely would claim it.

 

[beekbuster]

In this area you found, are there seams that cross the creek, is the bedrock shallow in some of the producing areas? I only find course gold like that on bedrock, or if not on bedrock it is very close to the source. If you are finding this stuff and it is not in the bedrock cracks, you are very close to the source. I believe a detector may be a benefit to you. that is pretty impressive results for a newbie. keep gleaning every piece.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Well good on you for figuring that out!
Let us know if there is a blacksmith stamp on that pick.

 

[dave wiseman]

The pick head is called a drifting pick...

 

[Bodfish Mike]

Thanks for sharing very nice gold and cool find on the relics -- the stuff I find is now yard art.
Cheers

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Unless you are coming from the east..there is good gold 2 hours in every direction of the Klamath Mtns.

I would second the suggestion of picking up a detector.

 

[dagaro17]

thanks again everyone.

beekbuster: The bedrock is shallow in some places but it is really smooth with very few crevices/cracks. No real seams anywhere. Where the gold occurs seems random so I just dug up and panned as much gravel as possible. Multiple pans with nothing, then maybe a pan with a small coarse piece. Last few times out I got pretty much nothing so that area may be cleaned out.

IMAUDIGGER: When I have the time I'll check to see if there's a stamp on that pick head.

Dave: thanks for identifying the drifting pick head. Just looked it up. Cool!

A detector would be great. I actually sold 10 grams of the gold (saved larger pieces) to put towards a detector. Going to be awhile..

 

[firebird]

Get a Fisher Gold Bug 2, those pieces are large enough to be detected by it if it's on top of bedrock. If the ground is that rich you'll get more gold per hour.

 

[dave wiseman]

https://www.shutterstock.com/image...-photo/old-mining-pick-683131258.....and this would be a Pol pick,introduced by the Welsh miners or cousin Jacks.

 

[BLK HOLE]

Very cool!! Congrats!

 

[Rookster]

Good job. Lots of luck in 2020

 

[dave wiseman]

The older mining picks were much heavier and had a bigger eyelet.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Living the dream!

 

[beekbuster]

with smooth bedrock i look at a broader stretch of the creek when determining where it is hanging up. usually the very bottom of the pathway, but i look for where the bedrock rises as you go downstream. it produces well for me.

 

[dagaro17]

Well I took everyone's suggestions and purchased a metal detector (White's Goldmaster 24k (hasn't arrived yet). The problem is I'll have to wait until late spring to get back on the creek as the water is way too high this time of year. In the meantime I found an old hydraulic site that is tough to get to and in three trips I found 0.75 grams after many, many hours of crevicing the bedrock. Biggest piece was .22 grams. My hope is that the 24k will help save my back!


many
I also found a hand hammered nail. That must be pretty old?


beekbuster: thanks again. I will definitely keep that in mind when I'm able to get back on that creek.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Check out your PM..you may have a new place to try it out on..