How do you read the material your digging?

[TheNorseMontanan]

Just wondering how you guys read the ground when your digging an old river bed? Mostly what layers or types of dirt your looking for, dark gray clay? red dirt? compacted gravels? Not sure how far down I need to go to get to bedrock, and was curious to know if any of the layers above bedrock, closer to the surface, are worth running?? I ran about 5 buckets of dirt that was just below the rich black soil level. The material was medium to large river rock with small gravels mixed in. Got about 20 colors, pretty small pieces; guessing this is flood gold. Is this where I should focus to find the pay streak or should I continue digging down?

Thanks for any information or advice, it's greatly appreciated!

 

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[OwenT]

Based on my experience in reading the forum I would say that the best advice you're going to get is the three rules of prospecting: 1. test 2. test 3. test. No two rivers are the same so really you're probably going to just have to test and if it doesn't pan out then keep going. Sometimes gold is on bedrock, sometimes it's not. Sometimes there's lots in red dirt or compacted gravels, sometimes there's not. And sometimes it's on top of clay, but sometimes it's not.

 

[TheNorseMontanan]

So, your telling me the old cliche, "Gold is where you find it" is applicable?? hahaha, kinda figured I'd test around the site some more.

 

[motohed]

You may also find Gold on the hard layers of clay , is this a dry river bed or is there still running water . The more the river turns the better chance you have to find Gold . The strait strectes tend to was the Gold to a turn in the river . Inside bend are more predominent [IMHO] , but you can also find Gold on the outside .

 

[OwenT]

So, your telling me the old cliche, "Gold is where you find it" is applicable??

Yea, I went there haha.

 

[Jeff95531]

Yea, I went there haha.

And gave me my first LOL of the day. Thanks OwenT!

 

[Hamfist]

Where I'm digging, it's only 2-3 feet to a caliche layer that acts like bedrock and the gold is mostly in bands of black sand at different levels. There is more gold in the black sand than on bedrock...in the dirt I'm digging.

 

[TheNorseMontanan]

Thank you for the information, I'll look for similar bands and test those out as I'm digging.

 

[Hamfist]

No problem! I should also note that water only flows during storms, and for a short time after, in that spot so it's probably not ancient material. It's somewhat loose DG so I imagine each band may represent a different storm within the last few years. I did see part of a modern glass bottle below those bands at one point. Plus, this could have been dug out by someone else and refilled by storms. There are lots of factors to consider, and I'm still trying to unravel the mysteries of this particular site. It has been worked in the past.

 

[BrassEagle]

5 Gal buckets are what you do after you have tested the ground you are working. Start at the top dig 1 ft down test pan that materiel, dig another foot down and test that layer and so on until you hit bed rock. Check each pan if there is no gold in the first pan and 3 colors in the second,and no gold in 3rd pan, but when you hit 4th you have alot more colors, that when you fill up 5 gal buckets. Like Owen T said test,test,test. before you fill buckets

 

[goldenIrishman]

What you've got to look for is going to change from area to area. Here in the desert I look for the red iron layers/areas. Then again there's also the "desert pavement" areas where wind instead of water is the main force of erosion that causes gold to concentrate. Study up on your areas geology, hydrology and minerals. Look up old mines (both placer and lode) and try locating records from them. The more information you hit the field with, the better your chances of finding that yellow metal we all love. And once you've found an area you think meets the requirements for your local, test the ground in a logical way and make notes you can go back to. Soon you'll start to see a pattern for that area.

 

[shadowulf]

When I started, an older prospector said to look for "false bedrock" and "nature's riffles". Scouting a spot during high-water/flood-stage can tell you a lot about where color might end up.