WHERE TO DIG IN AN INSIDE TURN IN THE RIVER?

TV GOLD · Apr 26, 2011

I am wondering where to dig an inside turn of a considerable bend, after the water subsides on a large gravel/stone bar that resides on the inside only as it slopes down towards the middle. There is exposed bedrock mixed with rocks in places where the water flows strongest in the middle and towards the outside of the bend, but is impossible to get to. There is more of the bank on the inside that is exposed than is under water; and where the water has gone down, you can see the gravel and stone bar is piled high as it slopes down towards the water. Should I dig next to the water line and go for the bedrock, or should I try for the bottom of the dry area where it is piled up from when the water dropped? Should I try the front, middle, or downriver area of the bend? Any ideas where to find color on this type of large stone and gravel bank on an inside bend now that the water has dropped?

TheHarleyMan2 · Apr 27, 2011

Here is a link about reading rivers and creeks for prospecting. You have to think about where the water line would be during a flood stage as water is going through the river/creek at full force. Any areas that would be promising would be in the gravel bars and parts of the banks on the inside turns. Also you can look for boulders, or bedrock outcrops in the rivers/creeks and dig in front and behind them to find gold.

Also if you have bedrock, or rock slabs sticking out of the river that has whirlpool holes that are exposed at normal water level, check those out, especially if they are big ones. A couple of weekends ago I found a 3ft diameter whirlpool hole about 4ft deep that had 5gal bucket full of dirt and 2 good size pans that yielded me some nice flakes, specs and some garnets. Of course the river bed is nothing but a granite slab so there is no bedrock in the river I go to here in Texas.

This link will help you determine where to look for gold. There are other links on the internet if you search "How to read a river for gold prospecting"

http://www.southernprospectors.com/id1.html

http://www.treasurebarrel.com/191/how-to-find-gold-in-a-river-a-gold-panning-guide/

Also the area you are talking about is not accessible on the inside bend, I would try and find some way to get there even if it meant taking an inflatable boat to get across unless the water is too strong to cross it, but that is where you should find gold, you might have to dig, pan, and sluice it to find it.

Good luck!

Frank1960 · Apr 27, 2011

Thank you for those links I also was curious about reading the river.

Hoser John · Apr 27, 2011

If the river is damed you can look till the cows come home. If the old guys damed it, the coarse has been altered also and natural flows rarely,if ever, reconstitute in a any given manner. History is ALWAYS RULE #1 in where to dig. A road built above or alongside increase the erosion rates by over a factor of 10 sooooooooo extreme erosion also alters paystreaks considerably. Look back to find your answer and THEN you just might stand a better chance---John :read2:

Sackett · Apr 30, 2011

That was some good "re-reading", there Harleyman!! And John is right about the dams...all bets are off then...and I just sit sometimes and look at a lake and wonder just how much $$$$ is covered in water!!!

goldcur · Jul 22, 2011

I understand why gold settles out on the upstream section of an inside bend but why does gold also get deposited on the downstream section? Does any pressure difference up or down cause it to settle out? :coffee2:

B H Prospector · Jul 26, 2011

Hi Goldcur,
To answer your question why gold will be on the downstream side of a gravel bar is simple. It is the way a gravel bar is formed. As the upstream side fills in the water continues to fill in with sand and gravel and gold, building the sandbar longer and longer until the water level drops and leaves the sandbar high and dry.

B H Prospector

Klondikeike · Jul 26, 2011

Klondike here...

USUALLY... the larger and largest gold particles/nuggets.. will be at the beginning of the inside curve and the smaller pieces will be at the down stream side of the curve..... and suppose you had a nice set of S curves one after another....

Due to water pressure changes in low and high water times... the gold will migrate, in a kind of straight line from the bottom of the inside ..diagonally across the river to the beginning of the next curve... and so on.. this is what is called a "Pay Streak"....

And remember.. a 1 ounce nugget will move approximate 1 foot along the bottom of a river bed rock in a hundred years...whereas... a boulder the size of a pickup truck will move about 1/4 to 1/2 mile in that same 100 years.....

And a sand bar .. in between the curves are made from a dramatic change in bed rock, either up or down.. and usually the larger the sand bar... in a typical alpine river.. the greater the bedrock change... and if there is a major change in bedrock.. that is where you'll find some really...really good gold in large amounts....

Good luck to you...

Klondike...

goldcur · Jul 27, 2011

Thanks Prospector, of course, like you said, the downriver end of the sandbar would be the tail end of the paystreak. Nice discription of sandbar formation too.
Klondike, so would that mean that the heavier gold that is below those big moving boulders would not follow those boulders downstream but stay in place, possibly locked below in the compact gravels? Should there be a big gold "paystreak" trail behind every large moving rock?
Just trying to learn all I can. Thanks.

Klondikeike · Jul 27, 2011

Goldcur...

Gold does tend to hang around the larger rocks....

I've been on a river with pick up sized boulder during a major storm run off... and you can feel the boulder bouncing on bedrock and also hear all the deep grinding and bumping into one another..... and yes.... the larger gold will not move much even if the boulders do...

I once work a dry channel that was 125 feet deep in gravel... at the bottom was boulder bigger than a full sized pick up.. and we moved them from the river bed discovered they were totally and completely smooth and rounded on ALL side.. even the side that was facing the bedrock when we found it...and under and around the boulders were nice sized nuggets up to 1 1/4 ounce sized nuggets...

How you learn... is to do as I did... get out and make your own mistakes and learn from each outing... find books, videos (these were not available back in my day) and talk with others... join a prospecting club.. go to the meetings and outings as often as you can and learn from each outing.. it will come to you rather quickly...Always be open to new ideas... Live..breath.. eat ...prospecting and it will come to you ... that's what I did 40 years ago or so...and I made lots of mistakes I do not make today... that's how you learn...

Good luck to you... wish you the best...

Klondike...

Good luck to you