Zabooka's first day out

[Sockeye1730]

Finally made it out on Sunday to try out my aluminum BGT sniper clone. I have a thread on the prospector's journal page about the build. I hiked out to a little creek behind my place that I've found some color in previously, but have not worked much.




Tough digging, all chunky big rocks. Found some gold, but not much. Tried digging out around those big boulders. Mostly -50. Need to sample around more and look for some better spots.



At any rate, lil' zabooka does catch gold! Took some fiddling around to figure out how to get it set right. Lots of annoying shale that liked to hang up on the grizzly, but overall it seemed to work pretty darn good. Moved material a whole lot faster than my old traditional riffle & mat sluice.

 

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[SunshineMiner]

That looks like a pretty steep drainage? Might try checking at the "pools" where the water slows down a bit more? Looks like a super awesome area though! Looks like a lot of old growth.

Also, if you look at the picture you took, you can kind of see the line that those boulders make in the creek. I would try digging straight down that line where the boulders are deposited. Might find the bigger/chunkier stuff there.

Awesome job! Gotta love that feeling when something home made works the way its supposed to

 

[juneaupanner]

That's not Douglas I assume maybe near Montana creek?

 

[brianc053]

With that kind of drop I wonder if you could gravity dredge there... it'd be an easier way to clean out around those rocks.
- Brian

 

[Sockeye1730]

That looks like a pretty steep drainage? Might try checking at the "pools" where the water slows down a bit more? Looks like a super awesome area though! Looks like a lot of old growth.

Also, if you look at the picture you took, you can kind of see the line that those boulders make in the creek. I would try digging straight down that line where the boulders are deposited. Might find the bigger/chunkier stuff there.

Awesome job! Gotta love that feeling when something home made works the way its supposed to

Yeah, that creek is about the same gradient straight down to saltwater, maybe 1/2 mile downstream. Not much of anything for pools etc. I wanted to try behind that line of boulders upstream to the right, as the creek flows over exposed bedrock, but the bank was still frozen solid. Maybe next week. There are some flatter stretches with more accumulated fine sediments that I want to try as well.

 

[Sockeye1730]

That's not Douglas I assume maybe near Montana creek?

I'm on Douglas Island, in the vicinity of the Treadwell mines

 

[Sockeye1730]

With that kind of drop I wonder if you could gravity dredge there... it'd be an easier way to clean out around those rocks.
- Brian

I've experimented a bit with trying to fashion a gravity dredge, but our set up didn't work very well...seems like it would be a giant PITA to keep primed. Do you have any links to a design that works? Thanks

 

[Jeff95531]

Sockeye1730...how did you keep it in place? It looks like it's floating

 

[Sockeye1730]

Haha, i was wondering if anyone would ask that!

It was jammed into a notch in the rocks on the flare side, trap was sitting on a pile of rocks I stacked up. Water was just not deep enough to set in that pool correctly and it's bedrock so i couldn't dig it out

 

[brianc053]

I've experimented a bit with trying to fashion a gravity dredge, but our set up didn't work very well...seems like it would be a giant PITA to keep primed. Do you have any links to a design that works? Thanks

Sorry I don't have any designs that are sure to work. I actually have never even gravity dredged - it's just something I've read about with hopes of trying it one day. I'm out on the East Coast though, and there aren't a lot of locations where it would apply.
Sorry I can't help more. Your instinct about the PITA priming issue is probably correct.
- Brian

 

[Jeff95531]

I remember this thread was pretty good. I may try it myself this fall but more like 2 inch.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/gold-prospecting/433395-8-inch-gravity-sluicing.html

 

[Sockeye1730]

Interesting, thanks for the link

 

[juneaupanner]

I'm on Douglas Island, in the vicinity of the Treadwell mines

Oh ok I've screwed around down there only a little bit in actually on 5th street.

 

[63bkpkr]

That is quite an angle to be working on but gold is where one finds it. A few boulders in a circle, add a cloth tarp, a few more rocks to keep the tarp down/in place and one has a pool for the sluice. Be careful about moving boulders that are "in place", like have the bottom end 1.5' into the ground. I moved one of those in a stream once and the entire pool drained right out, guess the bottom was full of voids and I pulled the plug out......................63bkpkr

 

[Sockeye1730]

Made it out for a second run today at a better creek. Some chunkier gold on a beautiful spring day. Still a lot of frozen ground yet, but spring is finally in the air.





Lil zabooka seems to be working pretty good. I guess I should run a catch pan sometime to check

 

[Reed Lukens]

That Creek looks a lot better then the first because even though the rocks are bigger in the first pics, the flow is minimal. You may find bigger gold there but not near as much over all as at the second hole