Colorado Prospecting. South Platte, Clear Creek and Denver.

[shofs]

Have you tried using a rake? Saw a post by Grizzly Gremlin last year and I tried it out. If your on a nice flat spot with smaller cobble. The rake does an amazing job of getting you to the skim layer.

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Hey I saw the same post! It's a good idea, I plan on being armed and ready next time I go.

 

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[mytimetoshine]

I used it a couple weekends ago at place here Known for huge cobble bars of smaller cobble and only fine flour gold. I used the rake and took the top layer off so easily I was impressed. Put it into a pan and had decent color so I set up my bazooka near a small tree. Buy I've had good luck in the past on tree roots here so I abandoned my whole game plan and gambled on the roots... I lost that bet. I was so mad at myself for not skimming that whole bar. It would have been easier work and better results. The rake works like a champ

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[KevinInColorado]

Hey I saw the same post! It's a good idea, I plan on being armed and ready next time I go.

Ive dug with GG and watched him do this. He works really hard (and smart like this) and it pays off for him!
...it also inspired me to go get a rake!

 

[Goldfleks]

Fun pics and videos of the inside of the bazooka. You guys should bring some food coloring next time you video and show different applications of the coloring. Might be cool to see the colored liquid venting up through the gravels. Get a better idea of the low-pressure zone it creates inside the trap.

 

[shofs]

Fun pics and videos of the inside of the bazooka. You guys should bring some food coloring next time you video and show different applications of the coloring. Might be cool to see the colored liquid venting up through the gravels. Get a better idea of the low-pressure zone it creates inside the trap.

That's a really good idea! I will have to do that next time, wish I brought some today.

 

[shofs]

Hunt4gold and I met up today to trade some notes, plan some future digs and get some gold at the creek. I dug a new bend and found some soft clay on the bottom. The first cleanout was descent, but I saw some harder clay sloping down in on the other side of the creek which I wanted to try digging despite being essentially on the outside of a bend. Boy did that pay off, I ended up with two pickers woohoo! Also a really decent amount of larger gold. Cleanout was .37g

Hunt4gold digging downstream


I was running my sluice sideways in the creek today. You can see my first hole on the right of the first pic and the clay I was scraping for the pickers on the left side. The second picture also shows the clay which was on the left and it's orange color.


.37g and two very nice pickers, nice!

 

[shofs]

I also shot some better fluid bed video today. I was using my phone and tried to take it horizontally but the phone wouldn't focus right, so I apologise for the vertical video but it was the only way I could manage it. The video starts out showing the fluid bed after the bazooka has been running for a minute without adding material and it appears to be quite settled. Around the 26 second mark I added a small amount of dirt and afterwards you can see the new material moving around and stratifying nicely. Also interesting to see how the light sand doesn't even hit the fluid bed and seems to be suspended in the water flowing out. Probably some of the factors letting the bazooka be fed so quickly.

 

[crusty]

Gotta love that spot!

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[Hunt4gold]

Great day David - thanks! nice gold for just a few hours of digging. Really like the detail in the close-up shot of pickers. Its amazing the texture of the gold flakes.

 

[shofs]

Great day David - thanks! nice gold for just a few hours of digging. Really like the detail in the close-up shot of pickers. Its amazing the texture of the gold flakes.

Back at ya! Always a good time. It was pretty neat seeing that gold hog sluice running today.
Surprisingly that picture is just my stock cell phone camera no lenses or anything. The snap on macro lens I have doesn't seem to play nice with it but it does well on its own so I'm happy. Also helps when the flake is big too

 

[Goldfleks]

So who got more gold

 

[shofs]

So who got more gold

Hard to say I might have gotten a bigger flake but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Hunt4gold pulled in more!

 

[GoldpannerDave]

At today's price of gold, that is almost $98; a lot than gas money. Way to go!

 

[russau]

Could you just imagine what your cleanup pan would look like if you had a dredge to work that stream...... I don't know the status of the area your in BUT ....... nice gold!!

 

[brianc053]

Could you just imagine what your cleanup pan would look like if you had a dredge to work that stream...... I don't know the status of the area your in BUT ....... nice gold!!

I've thought the same thing, looking at the gold the guys in Colorado get.
BUT - and at the risk of starting a debate - if dredging were allowed, I wonder if these guys would be able to go back over and over to the same areas and get some decent gold each time? My guess is that if dredging were allowed, those creeks would get cleaned out and KevinInColorado, Shofs, Hunt4Gold and others would be having to travel further and further each time they wanted to prospect.
I'm a dredger, and I'm certainly not in favor of bans like the one in CA, but... I do worry about the long term stability of what I consider a hobby in the places I go (New Hampshire and Virginia). I know that guys have been dredging those places for decades with basically the same types of equipment I'm using. I also know that places like Contrary Creek, VA are producing less and less gold each year. In NH they're still finding nuggets once in a while, but there are definitely places that are "hit hard" and don't produce much. I'd worry about the same in Colorado.
I'd be interested in others' thoughts. Sorry to hijack the original thread.

- Brian

 

[Hunt4gold]

Hey Brian, You are quite correct in you comments about dredging these small creeks. The amount of gold we are finding has been accumulating for many decades in not hundreds of years. Dredges are not allowed on these creeks and gullies (thankfully), and since they really don't produce enough to be economical (back in the 1800s and early 1900s) prospectors did not work them much. Over the next few years, the amount of gold we are finding will go down and we will have to travel further (and less often) to prospect. There also is just mot that many sections of these creeks and gullies that can be worked do to city and county laws. But in the mean time, we are having fun, sharing discoveries, and learning a lot.

 

[crusty]

I've thought the same thing, looking at the gold the guys in Colorado get.
BUT - and at the risk of starting a debate - if dredging were allowed, I wonder if these guys would be able to go back over and over to the same areas and get some decent gold each time? My guess is that if dredging were allowed, those creeks would get cleaned out and KevinInColorado, Shofs, Hunt4Gold and others would be having to travel further and further each time they wanted to prospect.
I'm a dredger, and I'm certainly not in favor of bans like the one in CA, but... I do worry about the long term stability of what I consider a hobby in the places I go (New Hampshire and Virginia). I know that guys have been dredging those places for decades with basically the same types of equipment I'm using. I also know that places like Contrary Creek, VA are producing less and less gold each year. In NH they're still finding nuggets once in a while, but there are definitely places that are "hit hard" and don't produce much. I'd worry about the same in Colorado.
I'd be interested in others' thoughts. Sorry to hijack the original thread.

- Brian

Not an unreasonable concern. Adams County just did a survey about the future of Clear Creek. I let them know that I was definitely interested in them continuing to allow prospecting, but not to change to allowing motorized equipment. Seeing how folks treat areas that allow dredging there is no doubt if it was allowed on this urban creek, those among us who have less respect for the creek and no regard for how we're scrutinized, would soon have Volkswagen sized holes up and around the jogging path and get us all banned in short time. I have no problem with keeping some areas at the manual recreational level so we can all enjoy a quick fix when we can't get out further, as well as an opportunity to share our hobby with the curious folks who stop by and want to chat.

 

[Hunt4gold]

Crusty - well said!

 

[agolddigger]

Awesome journal - just read it from the first post to here! Great to see how many good spots there are right in Denver if you look around enough. Loving all the chunky gold, good to see it really exists in CO!

I just moved to Denver and I'm planning to get into some urban prospecting of my own starting next week. Went on a few digs with Kevin back in October when I was living in Frisco and had a blast.

Shofs (or anyone else in the Denver area) - would love to meetup at some point for a dig after work or on the weekend. Still a newbie prospector but I'm in it for the long haul and will be happy to share some spots as I discover 'em.

 

[shofs]

Wow I have lots of things to post. Too much to fit in one post so I am going to try and categorize and slowly get them put up for everyone.