Gold in lake Michigan shores ?

O

ohiochris

Full Member
May 6, 2009
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I did some searching here and found references to people trying to find gold on the shores of lake Michigan but they are a few years old. I have a chance to possibly visit southern lake Michigan this summer around Michigan City Indiana and New Buffalo Michigan and Im thinking of taking the gold pans and trying for some flour gold around the beaches. Im wondering if anyone has any new or updated information or success stories about finding any gold on this lake. I know its probably not as plentiful as it is on lake Superior but considering how the lakes were made and how much of the sand is quartz deposited by glaciation , the same glaciers responsible for bringing gold down into michigan , indiana , ohio, etc. , its reasonable that gold would show up in the black sand found on the lake shore. Ive done a lot of panning in ohio so I am used to the very tiny specks of gold that would likely be there. Anyone have some info they could share ?
 

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I might be wrong but I think Tom Massie did a gold fever episode and part of it was filmed there. I wanna say it was about urban gold but again I might be wrong.
 

Yes, Tom did a episode about gold in LM, Chicago was were he set up his sluice and ran. I plan on gathering some of the black sand off the beaches myself.
 

If I get over there this summer I will give it a shot. " Theoretically" , fine gold should show up even in black sand washed up on lake Erie beaches but likely more scarce than lake Michigan , though I havent tried it yet. Ive read a report or two of people trying at both lakes but they were "newbie" panners and didnt find anything , but someone with a lot of experience panning the really small stuff would have a better shot at successfully panning it and know exactly what to look for. Thanks for the tips guys.
 

It takes a lot of that black stuff to find a tiny bit of that gold stuff.
Good luck and you never know unless you try!!!

Makton
 

makton said:
It takes a lot of that black stuff to find a tiny bit of that gold stuff.
Good luck and you never know unless you try!!!

Makton
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Yeah , I do a lot of panning here in ohio so I am used to doing a lot of work just to see a speck or two. But I usually dont go all the way to the gold with each pan , I put the concentrates in a bucket and run them on my makeshift water table later. I can go through a lot of material pretty quick that way.
 

ohiochris said:
If I get over there this summer I will give it a shot. " Theoretically" , fine gold should show up even in black sand washed up on lake Erie beaches but likely more scarce than lake Michigan , though I havent tried it yet. Ive read a report or two of people trying at both lakes but they were "newbie" panners and didnt find anything , but someone with a lot of experience panning the really small stuff would have a better shot at successfully panning it and know exactly what to look for. Thanks for the tips guys.
Click to expand...

old thread but im curious if you made it over to the lake? I live 20 mins from new buffalo beach. Plan on takin my gold cube there this year!
 

The black sand lenses will have some gold in them. You might see 0-30 flakes per bucket on the west side of Lake Michigan. Try beaches where streams wash into the lake for the heaviest black sands.

So far I've found a 1g nugget and 0.3g in flour near Sheboygan.
 

I live two miles from Lake Erie in New York. I have a creek running through my farm with a lot of exposed bedrock in the bottom. We had a bad drought a few years back, so while some bedrock was exposed, I dug out all of the sand that I could in some cacks about 1/2" wide and a foot down. Once I got it panned down to black sand, there was a good amount of flour gold. Nothing to write home about, but I probably got a thimble full the only time that I tried.
I'm just now getting into metal detecting, so in the Spring I intend to hit the creek banks pretty hard. I'm hoping to find some small nuggets being at the bottom of glacial travel. Who knows, but I hope it's worth my time. Anyone else do any detecting on creek banks in the great lakes area?
 

Thank You! I'm brand new. I've been wandering around the forum trying to answer my own questions, and Thanks for steering me in the right direction.
 

Wally Taylor:

I suggest you take a look at:

DNR - Recreational Gold Panning and Sluicing on State Land

More prospectors should utilize the state resources that are readily available. The information is generally either free or low-cost. It can certainly help you avoid trouble and stay on the right side of the law, as well.

I've read gold has been found in every state in the Union.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo, CM
 

I'm a southwest prospector but that sounds good for glacier gold!
 

I might be quite a bit late in responding to this thread, but here goes:

I have panned in Lake Michigan up and down the coast of Michigan from as far north as Ludington to South Haven and down around to Chicago. Like most Michigan gold it is very, very fine. I usually take a 5 gallon bucket of concentrates home and run over my Miller table. This might get me a few grams of gold a year from Lake Michigan.

Not sure if you are new to panning our not, but you definitely want to make sure your gold pan is seasoned, if it is plastic. The gold is easily fine enough to float if your pan isn't seasoned.

Not trying to spam the forum, but I wrote an article on this on my blog. If interested you can read it at: Gold Panning Zone - Seasoning Your New Gold Pan
Terry
 

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