Lost Canyon

The name makes you wonder, “Just how remote is this place?” It’s in the Tahoe National Forest and the Canada Hill Mining District, an area of steeply cut canyons that averages about 5,000 feet in elevation.

The Red Point Mine

This article is about the Red Point Mine, which was a buried intervolcanic channel and a very rich one.

Steven's Trail and the North Fork of the American

What were we doing going down a 4.5 mile trail to a cold river where there was no guarantee of anything except some ice and maybe cold hands and feet? First it seemed our winter was going to be a drought, and then all that reversed. Rain and snow pounded the area, and gold fever set in...

Miner's Cabin—Red Shack Territory

As we approached the river the view was outstanding and the sight was encouraging. A ravine coming down on the right side had been worked heavily, with rock piled back on each side. That surely meant there was gold somewhere close.

The Last Chance Mining District

With all of the erosion patterns wearing away the channels down into the North Fork of the Middle Fork, we assumed placer gold was still available in the river. The question became: How do we get down the 1,600-foot elevation drop to reach the river?

South Yuba River Recreational Area

Within 30 minutes, a nice, coarse nugget popped up right in the gold pan, and the rush was on! We worked hard for the entire day. Though some pans were not as good as others, the gold was good enough to keep us there, and the nice nugget told us surely there was more around.

Exploring La Trinidad Mine

This was a trail for a mountain goat. It was wide enough for a person to travel, clear enough except for lots of broken shale, but steep, really steep. I was beginning to question my sanity as the eight of us dropped almost 1,200 feet down the mountainside in order to locate La Trinidad Mine. Just as it seemed we might have missed it, there it was in all its glory.

Gold at Ponderosa

The winter cold and snow bring with it an entirely different approach to prospecting and mining. Northern California was buried with a ferocious storm in late December and early January that knocked out power for many small towns and buried the Sierras with as much as ten feet of snow.

Relocating A Historic Vein

Opportunities exist in both hardrock and placer. Production costs to operate a small placer mining project are a lot less than for a hardrock mine. Underground placers are a different story, but generally, recovering placer gold takes much less of an investment than recovering hardrock gold.

Slug Gulch

Slug Gulch. What a name. It originates back into the 1860s or so. The question is whether it was referring to the snail-like creature or to large pieces of gold. The name alone is enough for any prospector to consider checking the area out.

The Vore Mine

The price of gold has certainly raised some eyebrows and has prompted some new prospectors onto the scene. They are faced with the same problem that we old timers have—where to find the gold.

Pickering Bar Revisited

Pickering Bar on the North Fork of the American River is a fascinating place. It’s remote, taking almost two hours to get there from the small mining town of Iowa Hill, which is in Placer County, California.

Hidden Treasure Mine—Foresthill Divide, California

One of the greatest and richest underground placer mines of California was the Hidden Treasure Mine of Placer County.

California State Open and US National Gold Panning Championships

One hundred eighty-six panners went through a wild and woolly two days (August 30 & 31 in Foresthill, Calif.) to determine who had the bragging rights of being the best—at least for one year!

Barnes Store and Yankee Jims

...there was much speculation about what happened to Yankee Jim after he sold his claims and moved away. Rumors had it that he was involved in many underhanded activities, including arson at several different town sites.

The Mountain Gate Mine

The Foresthill Divide in Placer County, California, has underneath its present surface a multitude of buried river channels, most of which paid enormously well in the Gold Rush years of 1850 to 1890.

Prospecting For Gold—The Osborne/Herman Hardrock Mine

We’re always out there looking, checking, researching and trying to locate a new prospect or deposit. It’s always a question as to where to start. Some days we head down to the river to do some panning, sluicing or dredging.

The American Hill Mine

In the high country of the Tahoe National Forest is 160 acres of a patented mining claim dating back to its origin around 1853. This is well above the historic mining town of Michigan Bluff and past Deadwood—an old mining town that has nothing left except a cemetery.

Dawson City and the World Gold Panning Championships

Each year the World Gold Panning Association (WGPA) holds a world championship in one of the twenty countries that are members.  The decision as to where to hold each championship involves many factors, and Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada, was a perfect choice.

Searching for a Paying Hardrock Deposit

Quartz float rock is always intriguing. Where is the vein it came from if it’s still in existence, and is it carrying some gold? Because of the possibility of the quartz carrying some color, we are always looking, checking, detecting, crushing, assaying and sampling in every way possible.