Sorry about reviving this old thread. Reading Lanny’s posts over the past few years has inspired me to dream about a Canadian nugget shooting trip before it would be physically imprudent for me to try to do such a thing any longer. Some of the links in this thread no longer work, and I’d like to ask for some guidance to know what I need to do on the legal/permitting end of things. More importantly, I’d appreciate suggestions on where to make contacts to get permission to go on claimed land…as I know I wouldn’t be able to locate decent ground on my own within a relatively short period of time. In order to give me enough time to sort all this out, I guess I’m looking at the summer of 2019.
I’m an experienced miner and outdoorsman, but have had the misfortune my whole life of living far away from the Western goldfields. Over the past 30 years I’ve mined in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the beaches of Nome, and the Klamath/Indian Creek area of northern California. I plan on buying a Garrett ATX primarily because of it using conventional alkaline batteries instead of the proprietary rechargeables Minelab uses. I’m experienced with detectors and currently have a Gold Bug Pro, but found that it just doesn’t handle mineralized ground well enough to depend on it as one’s sole machine — discovered that when trying to use it around serpentine bedrock in California. (Had to switch it to discriminate mode…hated to do it, but there was no other way.)
I’ve narrowed down my areas of interest to two, and maybe three areas:
• The Atlin Lake area of British Columbia
• The Cariboo region of British Columbia, specifically, Cunningham Creek, Antler Creek, Williams Creek, or Lightning Creek
In another thread from 2012, a TNet member posted some info indicating that the Hunker Creek area in the Klondike was pretty rich. His last post was in 2013, so, it doesn’t appear as if he’s around here any longer. He did say that there are “many areas open for staking,” hence, open ground, but again, I would have no way of determining which spots would be good for nugget shooting, or, would be more appropriate for dredges or dozers. I know a lot of the gold in the Yukon tends to be smaller, and maybe not a good bet for detectors.
I’m guessing that most of these areas are going to have lots of overburden (at least those spots I’d have access to), so, maybe my best bet would be old hydraulic pits or scrapes. Probably not many areas with exposed old channel or bedrock! I don’t mind hiking, but, given the limits/realities of tenting in bear country, I should probably stay within, say, five miles of a decent road. Should I be concerned about leaving a vehicle parked on the side of a remote road during the day? Locals giving Yankees a hard time?
On my list of things to try are Chambers of Commerce and perhaps local diners/hangouts, and maybe even placing an ad in local newspapers. If I know people, though, I’m guessing that I wouldn’t get many solid responses from these types of inquiries. They don’t know me from Adam, and would have little incentive to offer a stranger access to their ground. I expect to allow a claim owner the pick of the best nuggets, and wouldn’t mind sweetening the deal with a six-pack or two.
I’d be grateful for any ideas you all might have!