Arkansas river gold

T

Timmy Tom

Jr. Member
Aug 14, 2012
53
17
Well, I finally got bug bit. Thanks Mike for the quick delivery of the gold cube. I picked a spot Sunday afternoon and recovered 9 specs. Then went back yesterday and hit a jettie that a friend told me to hit and it was all sand. Ran 11 buckets and did two clean outs. Lots of tiny gold. Did some sampling and may have found a sweeter spot. So I will testify the gold cube is great for this small gold. Only problem is I only ran 5 buckets and hour. I will have to pick up the pace for 20 buckets an hour for sure. I am in Arkansas prospecting. The boat launch is a 35 minute drive for me and then a 10 minute boat ride.

TT
 

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Nothing like seeing gold in the pan. Congrats.
 

Hey Tim,
Your in Arkansas on the Arkansas River? If that is the case, that might be the closest place to find any color. Near Conway?
 

Just below Fort Smith. The Ark. Gpaa meet down below Toad Suck Park somewhere.

TT
 

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Gene, I would cross the river on hwy. 60 and pull into the park and park over by the boat launch and walk down to the first jettie and sample the sand where the jettie connects to the bank on the up river side. Then walk out on the jettie to the sand on the down river side. Just look for layers of black sand. The jettie I was on had 4 layers of black sand in about 4 inches of material. The sand next to the bank I found up here was deceiving with blonde sands with black sand spots. I dug down in it and the sand was a dark gray. I quick panned the top sands and came up with 4 easy specs per pan. I classified 4 gallons of this sand down to 8 mesh but will start panning it tomarrow night to see how good it is. If you can make it up this way sometime I'll take you out. Nicer weather of course.

TT
 

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Timmy Tom said:
Gene, I would cross the river on hwy. 60 and pull into the park and park over by the boat launch and walk down to the first jettie and sample the sand where the jettie connects to the bank on the up river side. Then walk out on the jettie to the sand on the down river side. Just look for layers of black sand. The jettie I was on had 4 layers of black sand in about 4 inches of material. The sand next to the bank I found up here was deceiving with blonde sands with black sand spots. I dug down in it and the sand was a dark gray. I quick panned the top sands and came up with 4 easy specs per pan. I classified 4 gallons of this sand down to 8 mesh but will start panning it tomarrow night to see how good it is. If you can make it up this way sometime I'll take you out. Nicer weather of course.

TT
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River level dropping over there yet? Im ready to head that way when it does!
 

Well. Where I have been going the water level is normal. I think that is the dam above and below this pool has generators. Last time I was out the dredger was below me in a bend. They usually stay on the upriver side of the dam that I am below. A lot of the lakes up river are getting back to normal stages. Which if we don't get to much rain this spring, this summer will be great for regular water levels. So I can drop my noodles and catch catfish and play in the sand. I will check and monitor water levels all the way down and past Conway. I found some areas that look promising down that way on google.
 

About to take some time off to pan and get the cabin ready up at greers. You ever checked out any of the creeks and streams near greers ferry?
 

very nice congrats Happy Hunting
 

No. I have not been up there. But I would try it. I have not seen any information about that area other then lead and a type of iron mines north and north east of there.

TT
 

Well the river is about 15 foot up and rolling. With all the flooding and so long of a period I think there should be some good pay streaks to be found. I would look at the jetties down below the dam and look for small rocks and black sands. The material will have a black look to it. Pan it out and see what you find. May have to move 5 foot each direction too. It may be August-September before the river is back to normal. You may have to sample below the water as well. I found a spot the last time I was up there that had gold below the water but none above. Need to figure out a better sampling device to go deeper.
 

Awesome. Thanks for the tips. I've found the black sand (magnetite/ hematite) approx. 20 ft up in the dunes, but none near the water. Tomarrow I will check on the downstream side of the jetties tomarrow. Thanks again friend. I will give you an update:)
 

I lived in Conway, my dad owned river front property at Toad Suck but mostly, I was a river rat for years, camping on the sand bars. Mind you, I was a party-r, as my GF was, but I can tell you that I remember seeing lines of what looked like gold in black sand back then in the 1970s. Gold wasn't a big priced item then. Looked like hard work to glean gold at $35 an ounce. Drinking beer made the most sense at the time.
 

That's awesome. I'm gonna go out tomarrow and see if I can get to any sand bars. Rivers high but maybe I'll get lucky lol
 

McKinney_5900 said:
I lived in Conway, my dad owned river front property at Toad Suck but mostly, I was a river rat for years, camping on the sand bars. Mind you, I was a party-r, as my GF was, but I can tell you that I remember seeing lines of what looked like gold in black sand back then in the 1970s. Gold wasn't a big priced item then. Looked like hard work to glean gold at $35 an ounce. Drinking beer made the most sense at the time.
Click to expand...

Drinking beer still makes more sense...but I do both and I bet you do too! LoL
 

KevinInColorado said:
Drinking beer still makes more sense...but I do both and I bet you do too! LoL
Click to expand...

Me and the GF was once in the river across from the Cadron park one day when camping on a sand bar right across from Cadron launch, we were in the marital activities in the water...a govt helicopter(maybe) hovered and watched. I'm talking about 50' hover. We never missed a stroke.

We weren't kids either. Both of us were 30-ish. WAAAAY too much govt intrusion over something as plain and simple as as the odd-couple on an Arkansas sandbar in the 70s.
 

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The bigger issue in survailence on the river back then was the pot which people were growing on the sand bars. That's some of the lea-way I gave the chopper that day, but it was a waste of resourses and money to hover over two frisky people "tied" together, neck deep in the water for that long just watching us. Call me a little kinky but it sorta added spice if you know what I mean ;-)

Those were fun times. My dad's boat, a hot GF who didn't need a Carribean beach, and an early retirement for 4 years before going back to work. A thin streak of gold in black sand found up and down that river was decoration to me.
 

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