Persistence

NuggetN8

NuggetN8

Hero Member
Mar 13, 2012
618
416
Northern California
Detector(s) used
SDC 2300
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Here's a little story.. Last year my dad and I went prospecting together at our favorite spot. He picked an area that neither of us had worked and planned on working a 5 yard stretch up from that point. I carried on and went upstream to a spot I was working the day before. I walked back down to visit him every hour or so to see how he was doing. Every time I checked on him he had a nice picker in his pan. The next time we went back to the creek for a day of prospecting he continued at his spot and I continued at mine. This time every time I came to visit him he only had specks and I was showing him big pickers I was finding upstream. He abandoned the spot thinking it wasn't worth the time. He had only worked one yard into his 5 yard stretch when he gave up so today I went back and almost finished the stretch sluicing/sniping. I posted this story for any beginners on here who may learn from it. If you go with a partner and they're doing better don't let it discourage you. Occasional bad days are just a part of prospecting. Can't do good every day. Now here's what I got today. Got a pretty late start and didn't finish the stretch.. I'll finish it some time this week and post the results. :) image-2667778894.jpg 3.2 grams.
 

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N8 thanks for sharing the great story and the pic of the beautiful gold. I never get discouraged about my finds. Its just a measurement and if small it just verifies that there is some part of my strategy that needs more work. Reading these kinds of stories helps with the strategy. Take care and Much Gold to you.

GM
 

:occasion14: I RAISED 4 KIDS ON SPOTS THAT WERE WORKED, NOT PRODUCING,NO GOOD ETC ETC ETC :laughing7: never say never as that next foot of ground could be a bonanza. My bud Bob worked a spot on a local creek for days,gave up. I came in with a dredge the next spring,pried out a slab a bedrock and poundage as usual and a thank you very much. To this day,22 years later he hates to see that pic of him working and finding zip in my honeyhole. It ain't over till the ol'miners drops dead-John
 

I spent ten years chasing this stuff, mainly on the remote sections of SF Yuba in ca. Not a day goes by that I don't think of all the spots I DID NOT check out.
 

Learned this one when I was a kid, and I've kept it in mind my whole life.
Never would have made anything out of myself if I had given up when
it got tough. Hell, these days it takes me an hour to to do what most
guys can get done in 15 min., but I sure as hell ain't givin' in!

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more
common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost
a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination
alone are omnipotent." Calvin Coolidge

Back in my hardcore coin-shooting days I would be detecting [somewhere]
just after sunrise, and if there was silver in the ground I wouldn't quit until
it got too dark to see anymore. Club gave me the nickname of "Diehard"..lol

John: Can WE see the picture? 8-)
 

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Another nice haul of chunky gold and a good story to go with it. So pops dropped right into the pickers and abandoned his dig before he should have.

So I'm curious here, did you mine out your spot before going to mine his? I'm going to assume you did, mostly because when Dizzy Digger says
Hell, these days it takes me an hour to to do what most guys can get done in 15 min.
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It's not so much an anecdotal footnote as it is, eventually, a guaranteed certainty.

Newbie or not I think more of us have been there than are probably willing to admit it. They say the old timers didn't get it all. Neither will we I'd imagine.


We can be funny creatures of habit, scurrying around this little blue sphere, scratching around here and there with all manner of machines, motivation, matriculation and meticulation. The irony being with all the fore mentioned variance we can still exhibit these similar behaviors, probably stemming from the same curiosity that led us on these endeavors to begin with.

-The following is a brief -or not- account of my first day mining.-

Little more than a handful of years ago, I appeared there next to the creek, greener than the LeTrap sluice and Garret pan I carried. Sure I had done a couple months of armchair prospecting, but not until this day had my boots touched gold bearing gravel.

Hearing a small gas engine purring away just down the creek, I curiously headed that direction. Upon reaching the source of the sound I witnessed a middle aged man shoveling methodically into a high banker of his own design. As I got closer I could see where he had been digging away and processing the shallow overburden that once covered the now spotless bedrock not more than a foot below. He had been working his way down stream several yards for some days I figured, as was evidenced by the numerous tailing piles dotting along the freshly cleaned bedrock.

I introduced myself and immediately without hesitation, he pointed and said "You should dig right there and run that through your sluice, there's decent gold in it ". What he had done, after days of continuous, meticulous work was to stop right there and move his operation 30 yards downstream and a few feet further out on the gravel bar toward the creek.

I screened some material into my tub, set my sluice as best I knew how and started feeding material one small trowel at a time. Sure enough, one trowel after the next I could see little flakes of bright yellow gold reluctantly skidding their way down as they chased the black sand across the slick plate of my green LeTrap sluice. Somewhere between scoop 2 and 3 I decided to buy a dredge.

Some time later he walked over to have a look. Hoping more for knowledge and advice than confirmation, I asked what he thought. His reply, "looks about right". Come end of the day I go over to see how hes done. He had cleaned a good sized area again down to bedrock and had a couple larger flakes, some fines and overall more gold than I managed to sluice though he had processed much more material to get it. He now knew the material was better where he had mined previous and said as much without reservation.

"I knew what was up there and thought it might be better down here, but it wasn't." I ask him when hes going to mine the spot he abandoned. He says "I'm not, I'm done mining that"
That was my first day mining.
This never made sense to me until a couple years later when I found myself doing the same thing. The scenario might vary but the reason never does.
 

specksandflecks said:
Another nice haul of chunky gold and a good story to go with it. So pops dropped right into the pickers and abandoned his dig before he should have. So I'm curious here, did you mine out your spot before going to mine his?
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Yeah I worked a lot of different areas before resorting to that area. Kind of running out of spots to dig at this place.. I've been sluicing and gravity dredging all over then going through each little crack in the bedrock to be sure I don't leave any behind. Nice story. Sounds like a good first day of prospecting!
 

"The oldtimers didn't get it all and neither will we" That has to be one of the truest statements ever.....
 

Persistence is a great quality, however you are so much better off to be lucky !!LOL
 

rodoconnor said:
Persistence is a great quality, however you are so much better off to be lucky !!LOL
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That is so true. The day I find a gigantic nugget I am going to drive to Reno and drop it all on red......
 

NuggetN8 said:
Yeah I worked a lot of different areas before resorting to that area. Kind of running out of spots to dig at this place.. I've been sluicing and gravity dredging all over then going through each little crack in the bedrock to be sure I don't leave any behind. Nice story. Sounds like a good first day of prospecting!
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With chunky gold like that I don't blame you. They say the bigger the gold the less likely/often it is to replenish. We have fine, medium and course gold here albeit in much less quantity than you CA folks. The vast majority of the medium and coarse was mined long ago but there is still enough fine stuff floating around and re-depositing to keep one running circles for a couple more lifetimes.

Can you still use vac pacs in CA or did those get lumped in with the revised "emergency" regulations?
 

After 30+ years of marriage if I was to drop it on a Reno Redhead........
 

"Can you still use vac pacs in CA or did those get lumped in with the revised "emergency" regulations?"

No. Can't use vacs or even suction guns. Regs are vague enough you can get busted just being near water with any kind of equipment like that.
 

Jeff95531 said:
"Can you still use vac pacs in CA or did those get lumped in with the revised "emergency" regulations?" No. Can't use vacs or even suction guns. Regs are vague enough you can get busted just being near water with any kind of equipment like that.
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Now that's ridiculous. Not following those rules. I don't think I'll have to worry. I've never seen another person while prospecting.
 

Last time I checked Hangtown ace hardware sells and displays these 2 cycle jobe super vacs in the front window. I know ill be using one, everyone knows what some "rules" are made for lol... Out of sight, out of mind and will see what happens. As for the "suction guns", they are hand powered.. If anyone gives me a hard time while out with mine ill tell em to take a hike in the kindest way possible lol. Awesome looking gold by the way N8 great take for a late start and cool story! I'm a strong believer in persistence myself, always seems to pay, just sometimes better then others lolimage.jpg
 

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Upgraded my highbanker.

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