Weighted ballon trick

[boone42305]

Was wondering if this truck really works. They say to tie a long piece of string to a ballon and tie a weight to it. Where it stops along the stream, try panning. I live in lebanon county pa and heard that some gold was found in the swatera river. I know they just did major digging along the swatty for construction of a new bridge. It may be a long shot but it will be a fun adventure to get out in the spring time. Has anyone ever tried this trick and/ or heard about gold in this river

 

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[NHBandit]

LOL..... if it works tell Todd Hoffman. He needs all the help he can get.

 

[golden sluice]

Give it a try and see if you can sample the newly dug up piles of dirt by the bridge. Im sure you will get some gold.

 

[Clay Diggins]

It works great if you are panning for lead weights that were tied to balloons. I've tried it here in the desert Southwest and I just end up with balloons tied to lead weights laying everywhere. I've got a theory that helium is the solution to my balloon's lack of inertia!

Seriously, if that "trick" were to work you would have to put the balloon/lead weight into the water at flood stage when there is at least some small probability that it would move somewhat like suspended gold. It could then give you some hints as to where hydrodynamic forces might deposit gold if it were to be moving in the current stream configuration.

If gold could be found with balloon tricks it wouldn't be so rare and valuable. Use floating objects in a flooded stream to get an idea of how water dynamics work but don't expect it to point you to the gold itself. Very often gold that is being moved by water will be stranded well above the current stream level - not at the bottom of the current stream course.

 

[goldenIrishman]

I know Clay! We just have to flood the wash with Helium and let all the gold float out and into our pans! I believe that was "Texas Mickys' method of mining at K.C. last fall. (yes... I'm STILL laughing about that guy)

Clay is 100% right in that a setup like that won't do much more than show you which way the stream is flowing. A weight with a string and balloon on it is NOT going to act like the same weight piece of gold. The balloon and string are going to throw everything out of wack. Even if it didn't, you can have two pieces that are an exact match on weight but even a slight difference in shape will cause them to react to the flow in different ways. A flake will travel easier than a nugget just due to the shape. Again, think large sail and small sail on a boat. There might not be that much of a weight difference but the large one is going to move that boat much faster.

 

[aarthrj3811]

The best way I have found is to go to the stream at high water and take photo’s then compare them with what the stream looks like at low water….Then it is easy to tell where the low pressure spots were…Art