Gold panning kern river

the kern river has plenty gold and mining history, I used to dredge up in black gulch as a member of the oc49ers, rich was the man who tought me to use his dredge when I started panning many yrs ago, I mostly detect the rands area in the desertnow, but up at Keysville there are some free areas to public for mining, its well worth the drive and history to be in the old mining days. there are many pilings of rocks stacked by the Chinese workers. you can pretty much dig anywhere around there and pan some speck to small pickers.also a sluice box is idea for running material and getting some color.im from Bakersfield and my grandfather used to mine the kern and hart park area many yrs ago. ive seen a guy named butch from south Fairfax are dredge behind hart park where the swim rope is on the other side, ive seen him show me ounces of flour gold he has gotten there, the closer to the source the bigger the gold. I personally have dredged and panned out some nice pickers id call nuggets.ive seen some nice size pieces come from Keysville area dredged down to bedrock. as for panning, cant say you will easily get a gram, it takes a lot of fine gold to equal that. but with hard work, dedication and some gd digging, its definitely possible. I usually like to dig the dirt around the roots at the edge of the river banks, they tend to trap some decent stuff. gd luck and this will be a haoby to enjoy for a lifetime.

john stidman
 

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the pic above is probably an old cattle water troph, with one end busted out. there are a lot as cattle are still all over the greenhorn and kern river mountais. I may be wrong but that's my guess. ive see many in the cement form just like this.
 

Ahhh Kern River. Had a great camping trip there. gorgeous place, but also deadly. Lots of lives have been lost in that powerful river, & unless there have been drastic changes in it, please be careful. I hiked about 50 miles up river to a beautiful cave, stayed there for about a month. Many yrs ago, so it could be very different now. Good luck, stay safe & have fun!
 

gublube said:
the pic above is probably an old cattle water troph, with one end busted out. there are a lot as cattle are still all over the greenhorn and kern river mountais. I may be wrong but that's my guess. ive see many in the cement form just like this.
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Nah, it's rounded on one end by design. No need for a trough right next to the creek. Someone does have a forest lease here, though. Lots of cow pies.

mamabear said:
Ahhh Kern River. Had a great camping trip there. gorgeous place, but also deadly. Lots of lives have been lost in that powerful river, & unless there have been drastic changes in it, please be careful. I hiked about 50 miles up river to a beautiful cave, stayed there for about a month. Many yrs ago, so it could be very different now. Good luck, stay safe & have fun!
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Darwin at work!
 

augoldminer said:
if i remember right its about 2 miles back to the stage stop.
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Cool, thanks. I didn't make it that far up, but plan on checking out this canyon more. It's a neat place - a little off the beaten path of 178.
 

Hello, I just bought a book called " where to find GOLD in southern California" by Mr. James klein. For $9.95. Its worth every penny. There are tons of places to find here in southern california. The history behind some of these gold bearing areas, should be made into Indiana Jones movies! Maps and stories are all in this book. By the way, I'm not plugging this book for a profit, I dont know the author, but I love this little book. Its a must read for socal miners. :treasurechest:
 

ProspectorALEX said:
How's the water level at the kern. We are going tomorrow
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Kern Flows (COE) on Apr 03, 2014 @ 3:00 pm • Upper: 250 cfs • Lower Above Borel: 310 cfs • Lower Below Borel: 310 cfs
Looks quite low..have a great time!
 

Prospector Alex, the Kern Country is prospector Heaven! Up and Down the Kern River, both sides and up on the Benches are good as well as the Feeder Gulches...But ofcourse you have to do the Research to find the key Places. I think the GPAA has Claims around LiveOak Campground, er, around the Lower and Upper Richbar, which is just a couple of miles into the Canyon from the entrance of the Bakersfield side. I and my Family just got through visiting Our Cousins (they live in Onyx) back in this last Feb, WOW, Lake Isabella is now a Very Small Pond, just around the dam, My Cousin Lee calls Lake Isabella "The Puddle", he's been Fishing and Hunting that area for his lifetime (65 years), his Dad and all of his Uncles and My Dad as well either worked and lived there in the area before WWII. My Cousin Lee's Mom is a "Jordan" from that area North of Kernville, her Direct GG, maybe another Great, don't know for sure, Grandaddy was Captain John Jordan, First White Man to Drown in the Kern River, circa 1850's. My Family stayed at the Kernville Inn in Downtown Kernville, next to the Kern River and I swear the Entire River was only Ankle Deep all the way across, right next to the Bridge. My entire Family and the Miller's (my cousins) always stayed and Camped at "Camp 3" back in the early 50's. There used to be a great Big Rock in the middle of the river there and on the shore side in Camp was a Tree Swing with a Old Tire, when I was 2 or 3, I drowned there and My Uncle Tommy pulled me out, when I was 4 or 5, same thing happened except my Dad went in after me...boy it took me a long time to get to that rock!, when I was around 7, I reached the rock with my brothers..One of the Neighborhood Campers that would Camp there right next to us every year at that time (usually Opening Day Weekend) had his Own TV Show called the "Happy Wanderers", that was Slim Barnett and I think his Wife Lucy, he was a Kick! One of My Dad's WW II buddy's was Dick Paar and so he was Uncle Dick to us and his Wife and Girls camped there with us too, and a couple of times, Dick's brother Jack Paar (The Original Tonite Show on TV, Before Johnny Carson) would also camp there with us. One of the Old Time Rangers there My Dad Knew cause the Ranger was Old Friends with one of my Dad's Uncles, My Dad worked for his Uncle one summer in 1939 on his Ranch close to Whiskey Flats, er to the east, out going towards the South Fork. Boy those were the days! I personally have Sluiced and Panned Gold in various spots all thru-out that region, some of my Indian Buddies are from that area and ofcourse it's all adjacent to the Mohave Desert of where alot of my adventures in years past, took place. WHAT A NEAT AREA!!! ....LOVE THE KERN RIVER COUNTRY, REGION!!!!!!......Darrell
 

augoldminer said:
The best area on the lower Kern i have found is not on the river.

Go to hobo campground (miracle hot springs) and go above the canyon road you will see a small ranger station and overflow camp ground.

Hike back into that canyon there is good gold in that canyon.

There is even a stage station. I used to camp in the building when mining back in the late 1970s.

A little further back there are good rock sheets with some nice cracks that held good gold.

I can no longer hike back in that canyon so i might as well let others in on my secret spot..

You might want to go armed there are pot growers that have used that canyon.
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Hi. Thanks for the spot. Me and my dad went up there and I broke my arm! We didn't find but a speck and because I am stubborn i wanted to keep going instead of go home then we drove to the east fork. The next day we tried above the river that we heard about from another tnet member and got 5 pieces with our keene 140 we got. Then we went home and I went to the Emergency room. They did x rays and they said i have a broken arm. Having a broken arm sucks. Thanks for the spot, maybe we will check it out again soon.
( P.S I still have to do all of my chores )
 

Alex don't take having a broken arm lightly buddy. You get a wayward blood clot and it can kill you.Take the time to heal up ! Been there /done that a few too many times. Good luck
 

Yup! It was man down indeed... But not for long! He took 800mg of motren and continued mission...for 2 days until I took him to the ER! He might only be 11 but he's stronger then some of the men I serve with.
I am proud of you Alex!
 

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