Edwards Crossing

[goldenmojo]

Thinking of going to Edwards Crossing, Anyone have any advice on the best way to work this place?

Goldenmojo

 

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[Hoser John]

Downstream from the road,between the high/low water lines,look for downed trees,massive landslides or larger boulders. The ancient Yuba channel flows right through the rec area down to Purdone crossing also. Huge area ,pulled many pounds dredging and many MANY nuggets detecting above the trail along the river. Lots a luck-John --pic is under Purdone crossing-see them tiny pebbles --that dredge is a Feldler 6" with a corner a my 6" showing too

 

[Armchair prospector]

Good weekend to do this as the temp will be reaching close to 80. I need to find good place to camp along the Yuba. Got a 17 1/2 foot travel trailer to camp with. Need to know a place somewhat close to the river that has hookups. Was in Washington last fall that has a nice place w/ hookups. River Rest resort is what I was planning on. Anyone used this camp site?

 

[Fullpan]

The River Rest is excellent for river access, but know it gets crowded on holiday weekends - and the area for gold panning has been hit pretty hard. Drive
to South Yuba trailhead, and hike downstream to get to less active spots on the river.

 

[goldenmojo]

Downstream from the road,between the high/low water lines,look for downed trees,massive landslides or larger boulders. The ancient Yuba channel flows right through the rec area down to Purdone crossing also. Huge area ,pulled many pounds dredging and many MANY nuggets detecting above the trail along the river. Lots a luck-John --pic is under Purdone crossing-see them tiny pebbles --that dredge is a Feldler 6" with a corner a my 6" showing too

Good looking setup on the dredge. Thanks for the info. I am going to hit it Monday or next week.

GM

 

[goldenmojo]

The River Rest is excellent for river access, but know it gets crowded on holiday weekends - and the area for gold panning has been hit pretty hard. Drive
to South Yuba trailhead, and hike downstream to get to less active spots on the river.

Fullpan Thanks, I will figure out where that is and give it a shot.

GM

 

[Fullpan]

The trailhead is on north side of river, immediately west of Poorman's creek bridge. The trail follows the river for 19 miles or so. If you hike about 4-4 miles, you'll see the "swimming hole" where I dredged/mined for nearly ten years. The trail is just out of sight to the left in this pic.

 

[Hoser John]

Beautiful looking place but never seen the sfy that low wow. Them funny old hex pontoons on a triple 4"/5" ? as in old school--sooo long ago it seems another much simplier world. So less complicated and litigated,your pic is indeed a much happier time fer sure-thanx-what size hoist for the winch platform??John

 

[2cmorau]

nice Fullpan I still favor the crashbox, and kick myself for selling the triple five, very portable
I forgot to add, at the end of the season when everythin was home i would turn the header box upside down and hit it with a rubber mallet,where the flap achor to the box were gaps, chunks would fall out, Happy Dance

 

[Fullpan]

me too, Frank - there was always beer money in the cracks and crevices of that old girl, at break-down time !

Hoser, that is an over-size diy rock basket, with a trap door. I would work the steep face on upstream end of swimming hole, and drag 2-3 hundred lbs of rocks out into 30 ft. of water, then just flip a lever, and whoosh.

 

[Fullpan]

here's a pic of set-up in position at the head of swimming hole.

 

[Armchair prospector]

Nice pics Full pan. Want to go during the week when it is slow. Nights are still a little brisk for my wife. Got to see how the heater works in the trailer. $45 a night is good.

 

[Fullpan]

A little history on that section of SF Yuba river. When I first started mining, the rumor was that SF had only small, flood gold. But over the years I found out differently. There was, in the town of Washington, three "steve"s - little steve, big steve, and "teepee steve". They all were professional miners w/claims on the Yuba, and all were very successful. If you go to the general store, just to the left is a house with bars and security door - that's big steves house - wonder why he has bars on the windows ? - you guessed it. These guys made money, and raised families on their gold operations (think Hoser John). As well as the general store was purchased at one time with gold from claims on Poorman's creek. Farther downstream, a Texas millionaire, ran a 10"inch dredge ops. that included daily helicopter flights to shuttle his dredge crew back at forth. He is now in Virginia City, Nv and owns the Marshall Mint there. He has nuggets on display from all over the world, including some beauties from SF Yuba. So, if you think only "recreational gold" is out there, you would be dead wrong !

 

[7seanc]

Thats pretty cool about the 10" on poorman. My buddies have claim up on poorman we go up there all the time. Fullpan, are you familiar with the area? was that operation where that old beat up cabin is at? would be cool to see pics of it back in the day.

 

[panningjack]

LOVE that area! Caught the fever at Edwards crossing 8 years ago. Good luck to you

 

[Fullpan]

7seanc - sorry for the misunderstanding - the 10"inch dredge ops. was on the South Fork Yuba about a mile downstream of Missouri Bar. The Texas millionaire was working a deep hole where I observed a 10 rock cobble wall that they built underwater, and directed the tailings behind that wall downstream. My guess was it was about 40 ft. to bedrock - quite an operation. As for Poorman's creek, my personal experience had only been panning/sluicing around the bridge on Relief Hill road. And some panning on the north fork? up near Graniteville. Always wanted to access poorman's near the Ancho Erie? hard rock mine, but it seems it was all private claims in that section. This was all back in the mid 1980's time period.

 

[bedrock bubba]

Any of you Washnigton folks remember Gypsy John Bryant, who owned a property up near the upper campground on the Yuba? John was the "man in black" a real character and loved gold. He found a giant nugget in the King Tut Diggins in N.Arizona, many years before with a MD. And he bought his property in Wash. with the proceeds from the nugget.

 

[Hoser John]

I understand completely Fullpan as soooooooooooooo many creeks,rivers,gullies,washes,deserts,forests and plains mined it's become a daunting task to remember them all. Such a great way to have lived,walking the walk and dredging,highbanking,drywashing,detecting,bulldozing and a blastn' all over many states. What a glorious way to have lived freely,missed much-tons a au 2 u 2 John

 

[Fullpan]

Any of you Washnigton folks remember Gypsy John Bryant, who owned a property up near the upper campground on the Yuba? John was the "man in black" a real character and loved gold. He found a giant nugget in the King Tut Diggins in N.Arizona, many years before with a MD. And he bought his property in Wash. with the proceeds from the nugget.

No bb, I never met John, but I used to be crazy with envy of those property owners upstream from the bridge in Washington. The ten or twenty parcels with
houses on the way to Golden Quartz day use campground, had literally pounds of gold in their backyards ! Then there was the large placer mine at the end of Maybert road. I've forgotten the name, but they worked a large pool below the waterfall for many, many years , using a large derrick to hoist huge boulders up from the bottom of the pool, and deposit them on the cliffside bank, to access the gold at the bottom. Also, a guy just upstream from that, had built a two-story treehouse in the trunks of an old giant oak tree, where he used it as headquarters on his placer claim at the confluence of Fall creek and the South Fork.