Old river bed exposed in road cut on Dillard road near Cosumnes river, SloughHouse

[68Shelby]

Anyone had any luck with the exposed old river bed gravels in the road cut after the bridge over the Cosumnes river on Dillard road? There's a lot of visible black sand layers that ping like hell & sound identical to gold nuggets on my old Gold Bug but I haven't found any gold in the samples I took home. They are loaded with garnets though.

No luck on Michigan Bar either. The sand down there is loaded with pyrite. So are the sheer exposed clay walls on the banks. Didn't get a chance to crevice the few bedrock spots on the far bank that I found though.

Had a blast though!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[68Shelby]

Here's some handy geological info on the area that I googled.

Type Region of the Ione Formation (Eocene), Central California: Stratigraphy, Paleogeography, and Relation to Auriferous Gravels

 

[sidvail]

68Shelby - first off, great name.

Did I see you down at the Dillard bridge the other day? I was out looking at the water level and saw a gentleman coming down the south bank with his MD. He said it was his first visit there but lived close by.

I haven't checked the road cuts, but I have sluiced and panned that whole section of the river east from the bridge up beyond the school. From what I've read and researched, that whole area was dredged as late as the 50's. I've found pretty good flour gold in the top 24 inches throughout the gravel bars. Nothing any deeper. Am thinking it's all run-off deposits during flood season. I've tested further up the north banks and all along the old river path (30-60 feet north of present path) and have had no luck. Might not have gone deep enough though. Google earth's timeline show the river running different all along that stretch.

Personally, I love that spot. I go there cuz it's close and I know I can at least get color when I need that fix. ALOT of black sand which I love. I use an Angus Mackirk classified to 1/4" and take the sand home to run on my miller table. Not enough for a paycheck, but definitely makes you feel good.

Gonna read your link now. Thanks.

 

[68Shelby]

Yup that was me ;-)
Small world huh?

I crushed and blue bowled the small bucket of material I got from the road cut and all I found were a lot of tiny garnets. No gold....yet.

Sure was pretty out there though

 

[sidvail]

That pyrite further up Cosumnes is some strange stuff huh? Have you tried further up than Michigan bar?

I did a 4 day trip up to Pi-Pi campground about a month ago on the middle fork Cosumnes (off Omo Ranch road) but had no luck at all. Ran into some other prospectors who were frustrated also. Shame as there was some great looking bedrock. I may have to go back for another look though after watching Mad Marshall's crevicing videos - I'd like to try busting those things open and see what I find.

Maybe I need to try my hand at detecting. I hear the tailing piles around Sac give up some nuggets occasionally.