Gold Is Where You Find It

Gold Is Where You Find It was Originally Posted on July 13, 2012 by lavarock

I was mentioning gold prospecting to some readers here on Tblog and felt the urge to post an entry. Not that I don’t have tons of work to do today, but what the heck.

I used to have a big satellite dish and would watch the Gold Prospectors Show (before the group became the Outdoor Channel). It looked somewhat interestingt and after many episodes, I realized this was not a infomercial but a real organization. They had a number of sites I could visit within an hour or two of my home in the Atlanta suburbs. I joined for $62.50 and received a gold pan, snuffer bottle, video, a monthly magazine and a manual of where I could go prospect.

I signed up for a weekend at the Loud Mine in North Georgia and upon check in, saw many of the people I had been watching on TV. They were also filming our excursion there for later TV viewing.

This was a wonderful time and I saw lots of families and grandparents with their groups there. There were campsites and even a bathroom and hot shower. I think the first time there I just slept in the car, but later I bought a tent and sleeping bag. I was camping again after decades of my last time.

They got a big frontend loader and dug dirt from near the stream. We then used a bucket brigade to move the dirt from the hole to the sluice which we ran water from the stream though. As we slowly let the dirt wash through, we began to see nuggets appear. We also would see gold flakes hidden in some of the black sand. The main idea of the sluice was to wash away things that were not gold and we ended up with lots of black sand and hopefully gold therein. The black deposit is heavy and gold is heavier.

Afer we reduced the diggings down t othe sand, we passed it on the expert panners who would pan down to the gold. Then they would divide the nuggets up and we had drawing to see who would get what. Everyone got some nuggets although some were very small. Still, the knowledge and hands-on experience you got from this common operation was sufficient for you to start being productive yourself.

Almost 2 decades later, I still receive the magazines and prospecting guides, having paid for a lifetime membership. I still pay maintenance dues, even though I am not in an area with gold. I should really sell my membership, but have not gotten around to it.

Before I sign off, I should explain the title of the blog. Gold IS easy to find. Well, fairly easy to find. When people ask me about that I tell them, “to find gold, look for it where it is, not where it isn’t”. They think I’m kidding, but it is a bit more complicated than that simple saying. For example, is there gold in you freezer? No, so why would you look there for some?

Gold is often found in specific places like streams and enbankments (I was going t osay it is found in banks, but you might think I was talking about financial institutions :-). because gold is heavy, it sinks, Thus you would not find it floating on top of the water. It will sink down in the mud over time and eventually end up on the bedrock below the moving water. Also, as gold is carried down with water, you will notice places where the water flows faster and slower. As water winds around a curve, the water speed is slowest on the outside of the curve. Thus, outside curve of a stream and down to bedrock would be a good place to look. Also look at the top end of a dam where water just sits before getting high enough to tip over the edge. Water will just circulate there and any gold that makes it that far will eventually, you guessed it, drop down to the bedrock.

If you wanted to find coins dropped in a casino, a logical place to look is by the slot machines where perhaps the lighting is subdued.

Knowing where to look and what to look for can make any task easier. We just don’t always think that way.

Note that the above discussion does not cover looking for car keys by the street light because it is brighter over there than where you lost them.

As always, your mileage may differ.