Where and why???

[justinfisch01]

I live in Maryland and have been lucky to find not only gold here but very close to my house. I found my first bit of color in the early fall and have progressively found more and more each time I have gone. The creek it self is roughly 5 or 6 feet across and maybe 2-3 feet deep. (although could be shallower in the summer). So far I have only prospected a couple of spots within a 30 foot area and have found gold each time. The creek bottom and left hand side are exposed bedrock while the right side is a lower bank which transitions into the woods.

Now I have found gold on both sides of the creek. I have dug the material that has filled the gaps in the bedrock and have dug around boulders (on the right side) and found gold. All of it has been very small.

My questions are for the upcoming season when the weather warms and I am able to stay out longer and get wet without freezing my arse off. Since I have located fine gold on both banks does that mean there should be larger gold in the creek? Like I said before the creek bottom is exposed bedrock which naturally causes small riffles, chutes, and waterfalls. I have noticed that there is a good deal of material in these cracks and gaps in the bedrock. Am I wrong to believe there is larger gold there? Naturally these are deeper areas creek where material has collected but due to the temps I have been unable to go after it. The area that I have been prospecting is pretty much a straight shot so there is no inside/outside bend in the relative area to where I have sampled. So that leads me to believe larger or more concentrated gold must be in the creek

Am I thinking correctly?


Also, about 100 yards further downstream is a larger gravel bar which is inside of a 90+ degree bend in the creek. Also further inside of the bend is what appears to be older stream bed from where the creek used to run and has since migrated further out. This is also one of the spots I cannot wait to work in the spring. Just the higher water and cold water temps have kept me from trying to cross.

Can I expect the bar to hold more concentrated pockets than the section of creek I am currently working? Or is it likely that the gold has fallen out before reaching the bar? Although that thought process could be asked about any portion of the creek. Just looking for a little insight if you are able to paint the picture I have described....

 

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[Prospector70]

Gravel is good, that's where I'd check first especially in a bendy place like that. Gold will drop out with the heavier items, if your creek can leave a big gravel drop out like that you're in luck.
Also spend the 50 bucks and get some dang waders, you can also get arm length rubber gloves from Harbor Freight stores or online for like 6 bucks... If you aren't wet, you aren't cold. Woolen socks will more than keep your feet warm in the waders.
Are you sluicing or panning? If you want to gather up as much as possible per outing (IE move the most material), get a bazooka gold trap sluice. Zero classifying, just shovel all day and dump the cons into your bucket for panning at home later.

Hope this helps, let me know how that gravel bar works out. And take some pics!
P70

 

[justinfisch01]

Gravel is good, that's where I'd check first especially in a bendy place like that. Gold will drop out with the heavier items, if your creek can leave a big gravel drop out like that you're in luck.
Also spend the 50 bucks and get some dang waders, you can also get arm length rubber gloves from Harbor Freight stores or online for like 6 bucks... If you aren't wet, you aren't cold. Woolen socks will more than keep your feet warm in the waders.
Are you sluicing or panning? If you want to gather up as much as possible per outing (IE move the most material), get a bazooka gold trap sluice. Zero classifying, just shovel all day and dump the cons into your bucket for panning at home later.

Hope this helps, let me know how that gravel bar works out. And take some pics!
P70

I have a bazooka, waders, and all....I personally cannot tolerate the cold I need days at least 45-50 degrees to be out there digging.

This was from a very brief dig, about and 1.5 hours.

 

[Prospector70]

Very nice!
I'd definitely hit that gravel bar!
Have you seen this creek in flood stage? I always look for hints as to the water level wherever I go, with the right kind of eye you can see where gold might end up in flood stage. More often that not no where near where the creek is now.
Try looking for those clues. Also, gold is lazy. it will generally follow a line down the river (the path of least resistance), look upstream and downstream and ask yourself are you in that lazy line?

 

[GoldpannerDave]

I have a bazooka, waders, and all....I personally cannot tolerate the cold I need days at least 45-50 degrees to be out there digging. View attachment 1114585

This was from a very brief dig, about and 1.5 hours.

Nice for only 1.5 hours in Maryland, where I did not think there was gold until just recently. Prospector70 gave some good tips. I would also think many of those uncleaned cracks have gold--larger or not is hard to say. Sometimes everything is small everywhere, perhaps just a bit more in the cracks and crevices. Since I know nothing about the gold, where it came from, how far it has traveled to get to your creek, it is really hard to say.

Maybe Land Matters here from TN has some help on geology, etc....

 

[sproatz]

What part of Maryland are you in?

 

[KevinInColorado]

I am very excited for you. Finding this gold in a straight section of your creek is a great indicator of more gold in hot spots like bedrock cracks and inside bends...especially a nice cobble bar!

You may not find bigger gold (or you may...depends on what the source was like) but I'm sure you will find MORE gold!

PS despite what my CO neighbor says, I agree that 45 degrees is the minimum for a longer outing

 

[justinfisch01]

Thank you all for the advise so far! I am really chomping at the bit to get back out there but I have a feeling that its going to be a while before I will make it back due to the weather. I am really interested in checking out the inside bend of the hard turn. There is an "active" (for lack of a better term) gravel/cobble deposit on the inside which has softball and dinner plate sized rounded washed cobble but up from that, still on the inside of the bend is another area that look to me that is an old gravel bar since the creek has moved outward over time.
Here is another pic from earlier in the fall still within the same 30 foot section of straight creek. about a 2 hour dig

 

[arizau]

See below post. I modified the original post that was here.

 

[arizau]

I just checked and it seems that there is no BLM or USFS land in your state. You may end up having to have permission for private lands if you are not on your own or follow some specific rules for other public lands to do what you are doing to avoid potential problems. Other than that, I would be excited too.
Good Luck.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congratulations on the gold! I hope you find the big piece possible lurking around the bend.

 

[justinfisch01]

Here is a pic of just a small area that I was cleaning out a gap in the bedrock. I forgot out this pic on my phone as this was the first time I really dug in this spot. I go some gold out of here but I expected more given that it was the perfect looking trap for gold. I used my sucker once I had gotten down deep in there to get as much material as I could but the water became really cloudy the more I dug. But the entire creek looks like this

 

[Bejay]

As stated earlier, there may not be "Bigger Gold" but lots of fine gold is good, and I have a friend in Canada who extracts a lot of fine gold on his claim. But he likes big gold as well so he goes somewhere else for the nuggets.

But if there is any big gold it may lie in those areas that have fast moving water; but in some good catches/crack/r/crevices/big boulders/etc. I have claims and on the upper most sections of the drainage the gold is only big.........as all the fines have washed away. (due to gulching/downcutting) Further down the drainage one finds mostly fine gold....as it got washed down the system where deposition is predominate.

If you are only digging I hope you have a suction gun, as they are tremendous gold getters. Good Luck...nothing wrong with lots of fine gold!

Bejay