Going to be in Nevada for a day

[OwenT]

I just got a month-long job in Hayward, CA so I'll be driving there next week. On my way over from Utah I'd like to take a day to do some detecting. I have a gold bug 2 that I have yet to put over any gold and I just can't wait to find a piece of gold with it. I have done a little reading on gold districts a while ago but otherwise, I am unfamiliar with Nevada. Some districts I was considering visiting are Tuscarora, Battle Mountain, Dutch Flat, Winnemucca, Sawtooth, Placeritas, Spring Valley, Silver City, and of course, there's always Rye Patch.

Any thoughts for or against trying one of those?

Maybe someone would even like to meet up for the day?

I'll also have a few Saturdays in CA to go prospecting. I'll probably try around the Merced river but I'd also like to go to the American River at least once, and a friend suggested Silver Creek. Maybe I could meet some more T-neters in CA too!? You can take me to your secret spot because I don't live in CA!

 

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[Seabees]

https://howtofindgoldnuggets.com/gold-prospecting-nevada/

Post your finds & Good luck Owen.
seabees.....

 

[oneguy]

I did a very little bit of research on Rye Patch and PM'ed a few folks familiar with the area and got a few leads is all but nobody really giving up much (can't blame them one bit). Only sure fire thing I got was apparently there's a guy that's always there at either the resevoir or the campground that sells pizza. I guess the pizza guy has a claim there and charges $20 for access Nothing worse than going in "blind" and not too many guys willing to put you on THEIR areas. I'd love to take a trip down there someday but don't have the time to waste trying to find a location where you're not stepping on someone's toes....

good luck!

 

[OwenT]

Well I’m here. I’ve been detecting at sawtooth knob for 6 hours. Surprisingly, the cell reception is great. The weather is perfect and I haven’t even seen any snakes. I am a little disappointed however, not just that I have only found a few bits of iron trash, but that i don’t feel like I have a handle on the detector at all. I think the ground might be too hot. In a lot of places my only option to quiet it down is to go to high mineralization mode and turn down the sensitivity. Some places I can get away with normal but conditions change so quickly and there are still lots of sounds coming at me all the time. Basically just resorted to ground balancing the best I can and then listening to the signals trying to differentiate between a target and ground noise which isn’t usually repeatable in both directions.

I’m not sure what I’ll do in the morning. I don’t really have a plan B and I only will have a few hours but maybe I could stop to do some panning in the mother lode on my way down into CA if there’s an easy spot to stop at. Or maybe I’ll keep at it and get lucky?? Finding out I have no clue what I’m doing is a good adventure all by itself.

 

[galenrog]

From experience several years ago, Sawtooth Knob is not especially productive, at least the area on the NE side where I spent several days. On the west side, near the old ranch house, there will be the normal ditrius of the early 1900s onward due to the easier access.

On several occasions in the past century, a few attempts were made to determine the viability of mining as evidenced by trenching, pushes, a few short tunnels, and the like. These are most evident on the SW side.

Did I find gold? No. I did find hundreds of bullet fragments, however. That is normal in this part of the West.

Nuggets have been found on Sawtooth Knob, but they have been few and widely scattered. Placer gold has also been found deep in some of the washes. Hence the trenching and pushes mentioned earlier. I do not know which, if any, met with economic success. When I was there 10 years ago, a single party of three was drywashing an old push. I do not know if they were successful to any degree. A stroke a few months later put an end to my solo adventures.

Were I to return to the area, I would probably take a look at Sugarloaf Knob, somewhat to the north. Native copper has been found there, according to some reports. Might be fun.

Time for more coffee.

 

[OwenT]

Nice tip, thanks. What inspired me to come out was a report of a trip Ray Mills and some others made here in 2014. It apparently yielded a few nuggets including one around 7g I think. Others got skunked still. The report can be found on one of the other detector prospecting forums.

 

[oneguy]

I've yet to hunt down there but do know there's a lot of salt in that country and that could be messing with your detector? I have no experience dealing with salty ground....

 

[Goldwasher]

I just got a month-long job in Hayward, CA so I'll be driving there next week. On my way over from Utah I'd like to take a day to do some detecting. I have a gold bug 2 that I have yet to put over any gold and I just can't wait to find a piece of gold with it. I have done a little reading on gold districts a while ago but otherwise, I am unfamiliar with Nevada. Some districts I was considering visiting are Tuscarora, Battle Mountain, Dutch Flat, Winnemucca, Sawtooth, Placeritas, Spring Valley, Silver City, and of course, there's always Rye Patch.

Any thoughts for or against trying one of those?

Maybe someone would even like to meet up for the day?

I'll also have a few Saturdays in CA to go prospecting. I'll probably try around the Merced river but I'd also like to go to the American River at least once, and a friend suggested Silver Creek. Maybe I could meet some more T-neters in CA too!? You can take me to your secret spot because I don't live in CA!

I'd totally meet up with you for a day on the S. Fork American. its only like ten minutes from my house.

 

[OwenT]

Goldwasher, I sent you a pm

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Nice tip, thanks. What inspired me to come out was a report of a trip Ray Mills and some others made here in 2014. It apparently yielded a few nuggets including one around 7g I think. Others got skunked still. The report can be found on one of the other detector prospecting forums.

I have to wonder how Ray is doing.

 

[OwenT]

Same. It would be awesome to meet him one day and get a detecting lesson. Hopefully he can get back at it.