Should I move or keep on diggin

[Crashcrew]

I got this from three pan fulls. Should I move keep digging down? I took this from an inside bend near the down stream side of the bend about 1 ft down. I was pretty close to the river and my hole kept filling up. Tell me your thoughts and what you would do.

 

[dave wiseman]

Get down to bedrock and clean out the crevices and pan that stuff out.

 

[Oddjob]

That from 3 pans off the top, I would keep digging and not walk away.

 

[Crashcrew]

I haven't seen any exposed bedrock and the river is flowing pretty good. I'm at the headwaters and it won't be until late summer that I'll get my chance to dig around in the river bottom. Right now my one foot hole just keeps filling with muddy water since I was digging 3 ft from the river. I can't find any info on the bedrock depth here either.

 

[arizau]

I got this from three pan fulls. Should I move keep digging down? I took this from an inside bend near the down stream side of the bend about 1 ft down. I was pretty close to the river and my hole kept filling up. Tell me your thoughts and what you would do.
View attachment 1444465

One thought is to use a hand dredge where you are or just set up a sluice and dig the whole bar. You can always come back and finish off that spot after spring run off.
Other than that and unless your creek is in the center of one of those broad Colorado valleys, you will probably find a bedrock outcrop(s) along the creek near where that hole is. In those spots you can clean a few cracks and see if you are still on the gold eg. prospect a little bit!
Good luck.

 

[Crashcrew]

I just bought the Gold-N-Sand hand dredge but I can't seem to make it work right. I think a valve is upside down or sideways. Who knows? It's really hard to get the sniping attachment past the river rock and hit the sands. I'm not in a huge valley but this is the spot where the old timers left huge rows of river rock when they panned it. You can see at least three of the rows. I'm Digging just to the left of the bar next to the river. I'd love to tell ya where I am but then I'd have people trespassing all over the place.

 

[goldenmojo]

Maybe I am wrong but the river looks like you could dig just about anywhere in it at this time. That said you should dig down, dig right, dig left forwards and backwards. If your only down a foot now get down 2 or 3 feet. Take it down one level at a time and check how much you get in each pan. Move over and check the layers there. Move 50' away and check the layers. Its called sampling. As soon as you become a good sampler you can effectively check an area in a short time. I went to a place a couple of weeks ago and sampled down and around. There was gold in all the layers but the most and quickest gold was in the top 6-8 inches of material. Just keep sampling with every pan.

 

[Crashcrew]

Every Pan...Deep or not, close to the river or a quarter mile from it and 100 ft above it...GOLD. That's why I can't figure it out Now obviously if I find bedrock in the area I'm gonna be on it but it's incredibly difficult to dig in such tightly packed river rock. I'm a newbie in a gold rich area and need some help or a front end loader

 

[goldenmojo]

Get a large pick and a pair of safety googles.

 

[Skunked68w]

I wish I had that problem. Cobbles so packed tight it's hard to dig and showing gold everywhere. you sir have one of the best problems to have in the whole world. Enjoy all the gold

 

[Crashcrew]

I found this yesterday in a cleanout tub...I picked it right out. It was and has been just sitting there for at least two weeks. Oh and there is more in there but it was too cold yesterday to keep putting my hands in ice cold water.