Working Dredging Piles

[geodesic9]

We have large dredging piles in California from river dredgers. Some of these piles are 80 feet across and 15 - 20 feet tall.

Anyone developed a technique for working these piles and keeping track of which ones you have worked?

Both Folsom and Snelling, CA have large areas of tailings.

Working my GB 2.

 

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[Lanny in AB]

Hey Kiwi, I go along with everything you have said except the part about only big pieces and quartzlocked gold. I had a uncle that ran a doodlebug in Weaverville, Ca. We had the remains of one in our backyard on Weaver Creek. He use to show me different things that would go wrong with them and cause a massive amount of gold loss, any size, all sizes. If you are lucky enough to run across one of these piles you can highbank or drywash them and make very good wages. He said many times the unit would continue operating for several hours, sometimes days before having the problem found and fixed. I have run across a few of these piles and done very well.

Calisdad, Do you mean the edges of the dredge field ? If so that is where the doodlebugs came in. When the big dredges could not get close enough to tough shallow ground then the doodlebugs were used. What you are looking for is the direction the dredged channel was flowing and then go opposite direction and work those hillsides that look barren. These alluvials were moved and pushed over these hills to get where they are today. This is where I have had some heydays. Most times there are no round rock or bedrock exposed on these hills, long since been washed down by nature. However, the gold is still there on many of them. There are many of these hills that are right in sight of many of our highways and freeways and guess what the gold is too. These are findings that took me years. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Great tips and facts Ray! Thanks so much for your thoughtful and unselfish input. What you say really makes a lot of sense, but you bring up things I hadn't considered before, and you provide information I've never heard before as well--it makes for great gold-finding knowledge to pack in the brain's box for use the next time I'm near some dredge piles!

All the best, and thanks again,

Lanny

 

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[Hoser John]

Doodlebug was a dragline system to drag gravels up or clamshell to chomp up a yard or two of gravels and a lot of the times both. I used to sell detectors and found my biggest nugget demoing a golden sabre(Coin/relic machine) on a tailing pile below the French Gulch mobile home park--Ray knows of the place I believe. Had the biggest coil-18"- and in "accept only gold mode" to eliminate the ungodly trash and came up with a nice 1 1/4 ozr back in about 92-3 and won the find of the month silver coin too. Anything from a musket to a ford axle off a model t and everything in between found in piles of tailings as everything was just chucked overboard--Lots of work but good exercise. tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[calisdad]

Thanks for the doodlebug definition John. So a rock out cropping, as Jog pointed out, could be productive because the doodlebug couldn't work around it very closely and also because it would be a natural place for gold to drop out of a water flow. I'm going to have to look again with a different set of eyes.

John you've mentioned Moccasin before. I suppose you've even detected it. Do you think they worked draglines very far up the canyon?

 

[Lanny in AB]

John,

It would be great some time to sit by a campfire with you and just listen to some of your stories. You've certainly packed a world of golden adventure into your life's experiences! I admire and appreciate all you add to the online's community's store of knowledge about chasing the gold.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[trinityau]

Hey All, sorry I did not get back sooner, I got caught up in that having to work thing. I think John already answered the question about what a doodlebug is. I can expand a little more on doodlebugs. Pretty well what John said but it seems not many were the same build. There seems to be many variations to the idea but still just a simple dragline. Some used a single bucket and some were more elaborate. Some were as big as a small bucket dredge and many were the size of a large pickup truck. They were able to float on shallower water where the larger bucket lines encountered shallow bedrock. Most could be put in one position and pull gravel from 360 degrees at which point they would move and do it again. Recovery systems were pretty basic but because the rocks always win there was much repair needed most of the time. The one we had down in the creek behind the old house had a round housing like a big can. The gravel was pulled to the can and dumped. Along the sides of the can were water nozzles washing the gravel. The can had a screen over the top. Everything four inches and larger was rattled off and down the metal plates around the can. The four inch minus went through the screen and was washed through a series of classifiers with each size going out to its own sluice box. The sluices were set up so they could be directed to a common point for the tailings to accumulate. These were pretty crude machines but they worked to a point. If the water pressure was down then the clay picked up a lot of the gold and went out the nearest classifier and down the box and out to the tailings. My uncle said a lot of the time the water would stop and the material would build up. When water pressure was returned much material was washed right out of the boxes. I hope this helps a bit.

I will offer some tips in working tailings that have been helpful to me. Some have been mentioned already. I would not use a PI unit as you will be digging forever because there is a lot of trash in tailings. A very good VLF is what is needed with an exceptional discrimination. Clay and shards of bedrock is very helpful indicating pay. The biggest one thing I watch for is flat rocks. I call these specific gravity rocks as it takes more water to move flat rocks than it does round rocks. If you watch while you are sluicing, dredging, even detecting you will see more gold in the areas where the flat rocks accumulate than others. I watch for the piles with all the flat rocks as the returns may be better. There are also indicator rocks. These will be different in each locale. Here in the Redding, Ca area my indicator rocks are purple hematite primarily. In North Carolina I would get garnets, both crystal and massive along with chunks of heavy green epidote. The gold would be right there with it. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[Lanny in AB]

Ray--amazing post! Well done. You've provided some missing pieces to the puzzle of working dredge piles for me. I'd heard about the clay and the bedrock before, but your post brings it all together so that it makes sense. I particularly liked how you referred to the indicator rocks--where I work we always look for big chunks of hematite/magnetite/galena--that lets us know we're in the right spot. As well, the flat rocks--excellent description of the force required to move them vs. round, and how the gold congregates in those areas.

What VLF with excellent discrimination do you use, by the way? I'm never afraid to add another detector to the arsenal, and I'd appreciate your input. I'd never thought about the fact that a great discriminator would help weed out all of the junk--but it's an excellent idea. The piles I hunted were loaded with hot rocks and they drove my VLF nuts! I was only able to hunt with a PI, but then you're right, I was constantly digging trash, and a great discriminator would have been a huge help. That's my one beef with my GPX 5000--a very rudimentary iron discrimination only, and I know Minelab has excellent discrimination technology as I've got their little X-Terra 705!!

Well, thanks again Ray, and thanks for filling in so many blanks. Super post by you for sure!

All the best,

Lanny

 

[trinityau]

Hey Lanny, Over the years I have used the GBII, Whites Goldmaster series and Eureka Gold. I am now using the GB Pro which has a fantastic discrimination. I wont go into it here but if anyone wants more info on the GB Pro you can go to Arizona Outback Forum and check posts by "TRINITYAU". That little unit you have, the X-TERRA 705, should do fine. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[trinityau]

Hey All, Check this old video out. This is a doodlebug in action along with some shots of a hydraulic operation. El Dorado recently posted this on another forum. TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

 

[russau]

Thankyou for that video! that made my day!

 

[Hoser John]

Great post Ray and I wonder if folks gleaned out the most important factoid presented akin to a states minerals report ALL MATERIALS OVER 4" WENT BACK INTO THE CREEK and your golden So gold over that size is there,albeit rare, definately worth strapping on that monster coil and hitting them piles. There are sooo many mocassin,flat,rock,slate creeks named you'd really have to tell location to tell ya ifn' I been there?? We have 3 flat creeks here in shasta and cdfg used to throw a fit because in the regs it stated open all year and I used to dredge all 3 ALL YEAR whenever I couldn't get outback and they(cdfg cops) DEFINATELY had a fit on numerous occasions with their mouths a dangling with the open ticket book and I laughed in their insipid faces as NO DIFFERENTIATION IN REGS and I was golden. tons a au 2 u 2-John

 

[calisdad]

What a great video. In so many ways. thanks for posting.

 

[Lanny in AB]

Ray--loved the video! Now I know what a Doodlebug is, and the footage is priceless.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Jog--nice post and great picture!

Thanks and all the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Geodesic9--don't know if you're still out there, but this thread of yours is heating up with excellent answers to your questions. Hope you don't mind that we're using your thread--my sincere apologies if you do--it is a bit of a hijack job.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[delnorter]

Great thread guys. A lot of great information. Thank you John, Lanny, TrinityAU and others for sharing your knowledge and experiences.

Mike O

 

[Doug Watson]

Great video! Thanks for sharing it with us. Doug.

 

[Lanny in AB]

No problem Redwood--it's good to hear from you too!

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Lanny in AB]

Great post Ray and I wonder if folks gleaned out the most important factoid presented akin to a states minerals report ALL MATERIALS OVER 4" WENT BACK INTO THE CREEK and your golden So gold over that size is there,albeit rare, definately worth strapping on that monster coil and hitting them piles. There are sooo many mocassin,flat,rock,slate creeks named you'd really have to tell location to tell ya ifn' I been there?? We have 3 flat creeks here in shasta and cdfg used to throw a fit because in the regs it stated open all year and I used to dredge all 3 ALL YEAR whenever I couldn't get outback and they(cdfg cops) DEFINATELY had a fit on numerous occasions with their mouths a dangling with the open ticket book and I laughed in their insipid faces as NO DIFFERENTIATION IN REGS and I was golden. tons a au 2 u 2-John

John,

I like your reference to that important factoid!! Most important, indeed.

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Brivic1]

WELL, ITS ALMOST BEDTIME, 'BEEN READING ALL OF THE STORIES.
i HAVE 30 ACRES OF TAILINGS FROM A LAND DREDGE OP FROM THE OLD DAYS.
HERE IN NORTHERN CALIF,,, 5 MILE SOUTH A FRIEND IS DETECTING NUGETTS IN A STREWN FEILD OF TERTIARY RIVER, THO WHERE I AM THE GOLD IS SUPER FINE.
HAVE USED A TDI/SL AND VSAT TOO AND NOT FOUND A NUGGET, BUT , I AM GOING TO NOW PUT AN EXCAVATOR TO WORK, USING A GRIZZ AND SELLING THE RIVER ROCK AND THEN HIGHBANKING THE REMAINS OF THE TAILING PILES, ONE AT A TIME,PLACING MY TAILINGS BACK ON, AND LEVELLED OUT ,ON THE GROUND.
IT WILL BE AN INTERSTING MARCH MONTH.......................B

 

[Brivic1]

Well i's another week or so and I now have permission from another rancher to prospect on 103 acres SE of Orovile.
Workings and rockpiles from dragline derriks etc , when they cut into the hillside , making gulches while following a lead, decomposing vein etc
Too bad I will be laid up for 3 weeks..
But I can plan it out while recovering...... VLF in the gulleys. Then the slopes above and around the top ..where they stopped
Then rockrake and highbank... I may be there for a while.
It really pays to write to the owners and get them to call YOU on the phone to give their OK.. Happy Easter... B