MA/VT/NH Panning

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dvdtharaldson

Full Member
Sep 19, 2012
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Massachusetts
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All Treasure Hunting
Hi ,

This is the first time I have posted on this website. I live in Western MA and am planning a trip during the last few days of September to Vermont to try my luck panning. I was going to try Buffalo Brook and Five Corners in the Bridgewater area. Does anybody know how far down you ordinarily have to dig to hit black sands in those areas? Any comments on whether you have to dig deep or just stay on the surface? I was thinking Irene probably deposited alot of flood gold on the surface. Does anybody know if some of the small brooks high up in the mts. north of Bridgewater contain gold? All I ever hear is Buffalo Brook and Five Corners. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As you probably could tell I am new to panning for gold.

Thanks,

David
 

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A3TresHunter-NJ,

To find specific places in your area try Googling "locations for placer gold in Vermont". There is a long list that delineates what streams have had gold found in them, they are arranged by counties. The two best known places are broad brook at five corners near Plymouth and buffalo brook just south of there. I am sure there are a lot more that are closer to Barre. Just read the list and start panning!

Good Luck,
David
 

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Hey goldooza, good time on the river yesterday. I like the bazooka. There is better gold elsewhere but you gota find it. You now know how to get that yellah!! Go get it!
 

Finally the long drought is over. I found a small flake in the Rutland area. I also found around a hundred chanterelles! I haven't gone through the cons from the Rock River area yet, but I will post the results when I do.

David
 

Rock River Thoughts

Recently I took a trip to the Rock River area in Vermont. When I arrived at my destination I was met with intense disdain by the locals. Finally one of the residents informed me that a bunch of miners had broken various rules that govern the mining activities in Vermont.

It really is a sad story when people are so motivated by greed that they choose to destroy an environment. Especially an environment that is geologically/enviromentally rare. Whenever I decide to prospect in a place I always seek owner permission, and if in a state or federal park I always leave the property in a condition that approximates the way it was when I arrived.

If you are an ecologically responsible prospector I salute you, if you are not, stay the **** off my thread.

David
 

Hey david good to hear you are finding that yella. I went up 2 days ago. Did ok. Got 5. Flakes over 20 mesh. Also got a coarse piece. A small round gold BB. Anyway i found a bunch of golden chanterelles as well! They bloom after the heavy rains. The black trumpets are next to bloom and are my all time favorite. The golden chanterelles are sooo beautiful tho.
 

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Grizz,
I should have known that you know your shrooms. Where I was prospecting outside of Rutland there was a mountainside that was full of them. I literally could have picked 4 or 5 hundred of them. Black trumpets are one of my favorites as well, but first place would have to go to honey morels.

Sounds like you are having a very good year finding the pot of gold under the rainbow. I learned a lot from the last trip I went on. Vermont is a great place to go, but it is unfortunate that they see fit to charge so much to operate a sluice in their waters. I think if I had a sluice I could have done much better. I found a stream that has good potential. I also found a couple of streams/rivers that have good potential for brookies. My best find of the week was the solitude that comes with such a remote setting. My only regrets are that I couldn't stay longer and I was too busy prospecting to do any fishing.
 

Rock River Results

I just finished panning out my cons from the Rock River. I found one very small chunky piece in one of the tribs but nothing from the main stem. The piece that I did find was a bit darker than what I normally find. Access can be tricky and the natives hostile.
 

Lets see some New England pics! Went up 2 days ago. Ended up with about 100 fly poops, a few 50 mesh, and one very coarse completely round 20 mesh. Ill tell u, it is completely aggravating prospecting around here after having experienced the insane gold in colorado. Ugh all i want to do is go back. For the rest of this season im just looking for big gold. Well i guess i always look for big gold but anyway... We dug a glacial cannon ball hole. Packed with concrete like gravel and 2 cannonball rocks. The sample was good. As we dug deeper the gold was getting better. We thought we were going to hit the jackpot on this hole. The last foot of gravel before the bedrock bottom had 0 gold... Im going to maine next week or the week after to try a well known river. This is all sampling for september 4-7 when 5 of my boys will be really moving dirt. Need a honey hole quick! Heres the take...
 

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I would consider that A Very Good Day, particularly in Massachusetts!!
And I take it you were not in the Bay State when you got this?

I went out this weekend for awhile, nothing yet going thru the cons, however I have spied some very odd spherical clear perfectly round "balls" with what look like a hollow center
or something in the middle under magnification. Found these at another stream recently as well.
They must be heavy as they stayed in the pan. Going to have the boys in the lab where I work analyze them.
Anyone else ever see these ?
 

E.MassAuMan,

Do you think that they could be clear quartz? A colleague at work brought in some Herkimer "diamonds" which are quartz crystals. They were totally clear. Maybe the ones that you have are round due to stream erosion.
 

Ive never seen round clear orb like materials that are mixed with heavies. Plenty of lead and nails tho. Herkimer diamonds are most prevalent in NY but i have seen them here in nh. I mistake them for glass sometimes. I just toss em. Actually i collect nothing other than gold. Too much to prospect and not enough time. Smash one with a hammer. Does it crumble? Shatter into shards? Not break? Diamonds are the only thing that would be heavy enough to be at the bottom of black sand.
 

I finally finished panning down my cons from my Vermont trip. I ended up with 1 medium sized flake and 3 small specs. I also bought a couple of pans. One Garret with 3 riffles and one Proline with six smaller riffles. I found the largest piece with the Garrett pan a day after I bought it. I just received my Proline pan and am anxious to give it a try.

Now all I have to do is wait until October to get back up to Vermont.
 

dvdtharaldson said:
I finally finished panning down my cons from my Vermont trip. I ended up with 1 medium sized flake and 3 small specs. I also bought a couple of pans. One Garret with 3 riffles and one Proline with six smaller riffles. I found the largest piece with the Garrett pan a day after I bought it. I just received my Proline pan and am anxious to give it a try.

Now all I have to do is wait until October to get back up to Vermont.
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Nice find david!! Do you know of any spots to pan in southern Vermont?
 

GFP,

Most of the spots I talk about are in southern Vermont, they are all within 1.5 hours of the Mass border. The only spot I have seen any gold taken out of extreme southern Vermont was from the West River in Jamaica. The truth is that I haven't prospected a lot down there, so don't formulate any opinions based on my experiences. I like going just a little bit farther north because it is a lot more remote, and in my opinion more scenic. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I think that there is more gold there as well.

Good Luck,

David
 

dvdtharaldson said:
GFP,

Most of the spots I talk about are in southern Vermont, they are all within 1.5 hours of the Mass border. The only spot I have seen any gold taken out of extreme southern Vermont was from the West River in Jamaica. The truth is that I haven't prospected a lot down there, so don't formulate any opinions based on my experiences. I like going just a little bit farther north because it is a lot more remote, and in my opinion more scenic. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I think that there is more gold there as well.

Good Luck,

David
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Thx david, yeah i heard that river had some gold in it. David have you heard anything about Maxwell brook? I heard it has some gold in it but i don't know if that is legit.
 

I have never prospected Maxwell brook personally but I know people who have. They have done quite well up there. If your up that way check out Pelham brook as well. I am told that the whole area catches a lot of heavies. Watch out for Mercury, I heard that it is present in the streams up that way. I don't know if it is a naturally occurring element there, or if prospectors used it in the past, or both.

I am going to be up that way in a couple of weeks, I will post how I did.
 

dvdtharaldson said:
I have never prospected Maxwell brook personally but I know people who have. They have done quite well up there. If your up that way check out Pelham brook as well. I am told that the whole area catches a lot of heavies. Watch out for Mercury, I heard that it is present in the streams up that way. I don't know if it is a naturally occurring element there, or if prospectors used it in the past, or both.

I am going to be up that way in a couple of weeks, I will post how I did.
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Do u know which part of maxwell brook they do well on. Is it the Mass side or the Vermont side?I never heard about Pelham Brook. I will have to check that out as well.
 

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