Is this "the blue lead"?

[OwenT]

Sorry no pics but I found an area in a nearby gold district that has tons of ancient river material up in the hills. Big masses of cemented gravels mostly to the point of being conglomerate. I took some small samples ( not blue) and drove to a creek to test them as these are over 200 ft uphill of the creek and got nothing. While I was tromping around uphill from the road I found a layer with a few feet sticking out above the soil and it was blue, pretty darn blue. I didn't have any tools on me and when I got back down to the car I was feeling too lazy to go 100 ft back uphill to grab a sample of the blue for which I am now cursing myslef . So is this even worth going back for? Was the blue lead just good for one ancient river in CA and are they workable on a small scale or only for hydraulicing?

 

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[Tuberale]

Worth checking out. The big blue in CA was an ancient riverbed, now sometimes in the upper areas of the Sierras, from a time when the Columbia River flowed North-South. Had many gold-bearing districts near the flow at the time, and it carved them down, distributing them downstream. One of these areas of deposit is Susanville, CA where the river ran out of the Black Rock Desert and started carving its way south through the Sierras. Many huge nuggets found here.

 

[Oakview2]

Here are some underwater pics of a blue lead deposit, courtsey of Cougar.

 

[Clay Diggins]

No it's not.

The Blue Lead is in California. The Blue Lead has been traced from Little Grizzly, about latitude thirty-nine degrees and forty-five minutes, in Sierra County to Foresthill about latitude thirty-eight degrees, fifty-five minutes, in Placer county, a distance of sixty-five miles. The course is south-south-east, the position about thirty miles west of, and parallel with, the main divide of the Sierra Nevada. The elevation is five thousand feet above the sea at Little Grizzly, and two thousand eight hundred at Forest Hill, showing an average fall of thirty-three feet per mile.

Blue clay can be an indicator of several minerals - the most commercially valuable of which is silver. The Blue Lead was a single channel in California. The color blue was an indicator in that tertiary deposit. There may be other blue minerals associated with gold deposits but they are not the Blue Lead.

Here in the desert southwest we have huge amounts of heavy black sand deposits. Although black sands are often found in association with placer gold the black sand is not an indicator mineral. The vast majority of black sand deposits have no gold at all.

In all mineralized areas quartz is common. Although quartz is often found in association with placer gold quartz is not an indicator mineral. The vast majority of quartz deposits have no gold at all.

In some gravel deposits you may find blue clay. Although blue clay is sometimes found in association with placer gold blue clay is not an indicator mineral. The vast majority of blue clay deposits have no gold at all.

The best indicator of gold for the placer miner is the presence of recoverable gold. It's the simplest metal to check for the presence of and luckily the test procedures are identical to the recovery procedure. Gold is the indicator mineral for placer deposits.

Once you get an intimate knowledge of the mineral associations found with any specific gold placer you may be able to make some assumptions about the relationships of those minerals to gold deposition in that one deposit. The Blue Lead was a clay association found in one specific deposit in California.

Gold is where you find it.

Heavy Pans

 

[OwenT]

Thank you, as always, that helps a lot.

 

[Tuberale]

No it's not.

The Blue Lead is in California. The Blue Lead has been traced from Little Grizzly, about latitude thirty-nine degrees and forty-five minutes, in Sierra County to Foresthill about latitude thirty-eight degrees, fifty-five minutes, in Placer county, a distance of sixty-five miles. The course is south-south-east, the position about thirty miles west of, and parallel with, the main divide of the Sierra Nevada. The elevation is five thousand feet above the sea at Little Grizzly, and two thousand eight hundred at Forest Hill, showing an average fall of thirty-three feet per mile.

Blue clay can be an indicator of several minerals - the most commercially valuable of which is silver. The Blue Lead was a single channel in California. The color blue was an indicator in that tertiary deposit. There may be other blue minerals associated with gold deposits but they are not the Blue Lead.

Here in the desert southwest we have huge amounts of heavy black sand deposits. Although black sands are often found in association with placer gold the black sand is not an indicator mineral. The vast majority of black sand deposits have no gold at all.

In all mineralized areas quartz is common. Although quartz is often found in association with placer gold quartz is not an indicator mineral. The vast majority of quartz deposits have no gold at all.

In some gravel deposits you may find blue clay. Although blue clay is sometimes found in association with placer gold blue clay is not an indicator mineral. The vast majority of blue clay deposits have no gold at all.

The best indicator of gold for the placer miner is the presence of recoverable gold. It's the simplest metal to check for the presence of and luckily the test procedures are identical to the recovery procedure. Gold is the indicator mineral for placer deposits.

Once you get an intimate knowledge of the mineral associations found with any specific gold placer you may be able to make some assumptions about the relationships of those minerals to gold deposition in that one deposit. The Blue Lead was a clay association found in one specific deposit in California.

Gold is where you find it.

Heavy Pans

You wrote: "The vast majority of black sand deposits have no gold at all." In Oregon, you would be missing gold, platinum, osmium, iridium, palladium ... you get the idea.

 

[Clay Diggins]

You wrote: "The vast majority of black sand deposits have no gold at all." In Oregon, you would be missing gold, platinum, osmium, iridium, palladium ... you get the idea.

You are right that all those minerals have been found in association with black sand in Oregon at some point in time and place.

Oregon is a very large State with many thousands (millions?) of black sand concentrations. The vast majority of those black sand concentrations contain none of your listed minerals. That was my point. Black sands do not equal precious metals. Black sand = black sand.

Heavy Pans

 

[rockbar]

Great point there Barry. Too many people ooh and awe over the presence of black sand or quartz float and start making predictions for gold occurrences.
I probably am guilty at times myself!

 

[russau]

Some years back I bought the book "Lost River of Gold" through Keene Eng. from the back of their catalog. its out of print now and NOT advertised in their catalog but I REALLY enjoyed reading it and they had some maps in it as well. I think I sent my copy to the late Wally /Linda Koz a long time ago . Wally and another guy ( I cant remember his name and I should! Must be a F.O.G. monment!) Had a claim that the Blue Lead passed through it Or so I thought.