Prospecting & Detecting
Fall Drywashing—Just the Right Time of Year
November 2018 by Chris Ralph
I could see lots of quartz, both loose on the hillsides and in the numerous small prospect diggings. There was a small gold rush here more than a century ago.
Gold in The Midwest--Part I
Gold can potentially be found in all the glaciated areas of the Midwest, but to find it in any appreciable amount one needs to look to areas where the gold gets concentrated by more recent water flows.
Preparing For The 2021 Mining Season
On my final prospecting day of 2020, I went up to a spot where I had found gold years before and had my best day of the year—four nuggets for nearly one-quarter-ounce of gold.
Moving The Big Rocks
The anticipation of finding out if the system of snatch blocks, shackles, chokers, anchor points, and the strap binding the massive slab of rock in the bottom of the river would even budge an inch was weighing on me.
Backwards Find
I furiously started pulling material out of the side wall and putting it in my scoop. It didn't take long to discover that the source of the scream was from a one-ounce chunk...
The Black Diamond of the Forest
Hearty trees, shrubs and plants are a product of the soil conditions in which they grow, so it makes sense that roots near an ore deposit will take on nutrients containing metals if they are present.
Twenty-Five Gold Indicators You Should Know
I frequently get asked, "What should I look for when I am out prospecting that will tell me there are good amounts of gold present in the ground?"
Attention to Detail - Part II
Ditches almost always started in the high country and contoured the mountainsides, making a long drop, usually many miles away, to the goldfields. There are ditches in Trinity County that originate at seven and eight thousand feet in the Trinity Alps that carried water almost thirty miles.
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