Surprise

[cactusjumper]

Thats what I have always wondered. How could prospectors walk around and just say, ( I think I will dig here, and then they come up with Gold, Silver, ect.)
No MDs, or test kits, ect.
Unless they found a vein.

RR,

One thing they would look for is sudden changes in the color/shade of plants, like on the side of a hill. Minerals in the ground have an effect on plants.

When panning a river or creek and finding gold, there is a method of following the placer back to the lode. It's like a pyramid, once you get to the top.......you dig.

Take care,

Joe

 

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[Oroblanco]

Thats what I have always wondered. How could prospectors walk around and just say, ( I think I will dig here, and then they come up with Gold, Silver, ect.)
No MDs, or test kits, ect.
Unless they found a vein.

I see that our mutual amigo Joe has already answered (correctly I will add) and as one example of the plants, in California the prospectors noticed that the California Poppy would only grow where gold was, so they would look for the poppies. CA poppies doesn't have to have gold in the ground to grow, but that was a common belief.

The things that real prospectors would look for are the same things you should look for today; - namely, black sands, which will form stringers of itself in stream beds, this is almost always a good clue for finding gold (and sometimes, silver) or the ruby sands which is also heavy and forms stringers, which is not "rubies" but actually tiny garnets. Spanish prospectors would look for reddish earth, which was believed to always indicate the presence of gold or silver, though it is not really true.

Your question deserves a much more detailed answer than I have time for at the moment, but basically they looked for certain types of rocks - quartz, chalcedony and the like which are clear signs of hydrothermal activity because this is the type of rock in which most common gold and silver mines are made of. They also looked for a "gossan" or "stain" on the rock, usually ruskty or darkish, indicating that minerals other than worthless country rock was intruded into the rock. Heaving and faulting of the bedrock were and are also considered good signs, which helps bring to the surface the veins of gold/silver bearing minerals which otherwise might remain deeply buried in the earth, and also formed cracks in the country rock which would allow the hydrothermal activity to fill the cracks with quartz and gold/silver/copper etc. They would also avoid areas with the wrong kinds of rock - usually sedimentary rocks like sandstones and volcanic rocks, which are normally barren of metallic minerals though rarely they too could have veins of intruded quartz. Keeping an eye open for "float" pieces of quartz is the easiest and most basic method used by early prospectors, for while most quartz has no gold, it indicates the right kind of geological activity for gold to occur; nature erodes away this rock and carries it down hill, down stream (the pyramid form mentioned by Joe) and it was then possible to follow this float, or dig and pan the soils for specks of gold. If panning for a lode in this way, it has to be done very carefully for you would then be looking for ANY color at all, not for a paying amount, just to be able to follow it up.

Of course based on the history of the guld rush era (which many people would say has indeed returned to us) the big majority of the people out prospecting had little or NO idea of what they were looking for, mainly depending on luck, clues, following experienced prospectors etc but luck being their biggest hope and tool. This is why we have so many un-touched areas of gold left today, even where literally thousands of gold-rushers in the old days went over the ground. One newspaper article (tongue in cheek) from Deadwood dating to 1876 sticks in my mind concerning this class of "prospectors" - the author wrote that a fresh batch of new prospectors had arrived in Deadwood that day, and having searched the whole of the town sidewalks by walking over them, found no gold, and concluded that the whole report of gold in the Black Hills was nothing but bunkum so were busily buying tickets for the next stage out.

I am convinced that many treasure hunters would benefit and have greater success if they would spend some time to learn at least the basics of prospecting, which is a science and an art in itself. You will never be sorry for having learned it. The GPAA often has free classes, some universities have classes (our state school of mines has anyway, in past years) and there are many excellent books on it. Two books I would highly recommend are the Gold Hunters Field Guide, now out of print :

THE GOLD HUNTER'S FIELD GUIDE: JAY ELLIS RANSOM: 9780060907754: Amazon.com: Books

and the Alaskan Prospectors Handbook, which covers other minerals besides gold:
Handbook for the Alaskan prospector/mineral Industry Research Laboratory: Ernest Wolff: Amazon.com: Books

Oops I think I got the title slightly wrong but it brought up the correct book, but anyway that book includes info on even such arcane arts as making your own rock drilling outfit with the simplest of equipment, something useful for anyone considering operating a Mom-n-Pop size hard rock mine, the basics of blasting etc.
There are also a number of good to excellent publications done by various state Geology depts or bureau of mines, Idaho has several which are well worth downloading and are FREE. Unfortunately I am not aware of any good book on how to prospect for silver, which can occur in sedimentary rock and limestones, where gold would not normally be found.

Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.
Oroblanco

 

[sgtfda]

I believe Hal was asking why the rocks around a mine looked the way some do. Shape wise

 

[Oroblanco]

I believe Hal was asking why the rocks around a mine looked the way some do. Shape wise

I was answering Roadrunner's question, not Hal's. As far as the shape of rocks around a mine, they are angular because they have not been subjected to as much erosion as a boulder rolling down a creek; the fact that they often seem to have voids (or "vugs") is that this is the type of feature you should look for, along with the quartz, chalcedony and other hydrothermic rocks that fill in those voids/cracks etc. So it should not be a surprise to see similar features like that around many mines, hard rock mines that is.

I did not see any mineral staining of the rock on those photos, but could you see any with the naked eye? Sometimes the discoloration is very slight, but still noticeable. Not every mine has that feature either, just curious about the one you went to as I have never been to it.

Oroblanco

 

[sgtfda]

Yes

 

[Cubfan64]

Paul has passed 1/2 of the test. What's the real name or in this case names of the mine? Oh! I would not describe this location as along the way.

I have no idea why I add "Lost" to title of the mine - guess I just have the Lost DM on my mind . The references I've seen to it just have people calling it appropriately the Ore Cart Mine.

I'll have to do some digging to see if I can figure out what mine it might have actually been. And you're right Frank, once I checked my notes, it's not exactly "along the way" to the pit mine.

 

[Oroblanco]

PS for any interested

Here is a link to a publication put out by the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, circa 1961 as an attached file. The title is Prospecting and Developing a Small Mine.

http://www.idahogeology.org/PDF/Bulletins_(B)/B-20.pdf

Several other excellent publications on the Idaho site:
http://www.idahogeology.org/Products/reverselook.asp?switch=pubsalph&value=B

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

GEO Chem, Geo Chem, Geo Chem kit for prospecting, far more sensitive than a pan.

Don Jose de La Mancha