Any info on these places?

 Hey all I just returned from a major skunked trip from cali. I know these places have gold but where do you think the best places are to search? I went all over the place and found nails and tin and iron chunks from machinery..... but NO gold!!!  I tried to imagine how and why these piles were made and it just doesn't make sense to me. I know long toms were used here with the monitors but how these piles were made doesn't seem to lend itself to a long tom??  Any info and insight would be greatly appreciated. The hole is a drain tunnel that got rid of the long tom tailing I think, no gold there either. I found bed rock in quite a few places and still nothing FOR PITTY SAKE!@!@!  NVRADAR

Believe the oversize was pitchforked out.You can also get the  county mining reports or info from the local historical society,libraries etc and you should find your answer.

     I guess using a pitchfork would explain why fellas have found quartz rocks with gold in them. MAN!! what a job!!

Those very piles are where you want to detect.Early methods were inefficient,and if you look at the Punch Plate(Classifying Plates)they used,the holes were usually 1"+so that means everything bigger went into those piles,and when that rock was coming out of the ground it wasnt clean....usually covered in red clay or dirt so it was easy to miss big gold

Radar, Dave and Kuger are both well-versed in the gold prospecting biz! I will just add that the size of those tailing piles speaks VOLUMES of the amount of work and energy those old prospectors went through to collect the color! Your detector will very likely find that color, as Kuger mentioned. Also, ANY creek or stream in the Motherlode district of CA will get you some gold... only, if you want lots of gold you will have to move lots of dirt and rock.  TTC

     I wondered over every type of ground out there and still have that skunk with me! I just came back from another place with the same results.. found lots of .22 bullets so I know my machines are  good. It just seems there is no pattern to how they went about it. The rock piles are going in all directions. I hit the bedrock,hill sides,moved boulders and searched underneath,boulder piles of all sizes,plain dirt,gravel piles etc..... If anybody knows the gist of how they worked these places I sure would like to understand it Thanks NVRADAR

Thanks Terry!How is the road treating ya??Hope your finding lots of yeller!!

Nv.There is no real set pattern,they were following the ancient river channels which appeared and disappeared,they "drifted".Also there is often different "generations",of material,and various periods they mined through.The Chinese were usually last,and didnt leave a whole lot.They were very patient and efficient.One can usually tell where they have been,there mining was more tidy and organized.Keep at it,it is not easy,and gold isnt just laying every where

What machine are you using?Perhaps it would be best to just concentrate on the quartz boulders.

Hey Davo!!I miss ya buddy!!

Radar, I ALWAYS find color in Coyote Creek near here. Park at Natural Bridges Day Use Area. Walk down to the creek then (I like) up-stream. If you go there on a weekday, AVERT your eyes from the naked ladies that may be lounging at the creek! The two books pictured are GOOD! I bought both at the propecting store on Main St. in Jamestown, CA. Good people, there! The green one includes 5 detailed maps of the county. It was published in 1962, I think, but still very relative to the current activity. As the line from Indiana Jones goes, (if you are not finding gold) "They're digging in the wrong place!" C'mon back and try again.  TTC

one word of caution at Natural Bridges....unsavory group that frequent that spot and a rash of vandalism and broken into vehicles,but do as you wish!!

The Woods Creek bridge at Hwy.108 near Jamestown is safe

one word of caution at Natural Bridges....unsavory group that frequent that spot and a rash of vandalism and broken into vehicles,but do as you wish!!

The Woods Creek bridge at Hwy.108 near Jamestown is safe

Hey Kuger, Tnx for the reply! I met Dave at "Rodz" last year (two years ago?). He said he doesn't go out much anymore but I think he may have been just trying to "throw me off the scent". (Tisk tisk). Anyway, I always park up on the road at Natural Bridges. Haven't had a problem in 2 dozen visits. Not allot of color down there but ALWAYS some in the pan. BTW Radar, pan and sluice only at the Bridges. No motorized equipment. TTC

No Davo,wasnt B.S in ya,he cant get out much,he is a wealth of valuable knowledge though....dont tell him that,dont want him getting a big head!!j/k!!

Thats good you never had any prob,glad to hear that.I stay away from there,but always like people to know what they may be getting into.People these days...you never know what your going to encounter,especially with gold prices the way they are....be armed!!!

Be armed!  Good advice, Kuger. 2 days ago I got my campfire permit at the Sonora office (Stan NF). I will go up to the sporting goods store in Arnold to get a fishing license and then I will walk 7 miles of the North Fork Stan, to the middle fork. The upper third, from 4N80Y, is wide open bedrock. Some is more than a 100 yards wide. I will take the GB2 with me, just for funnsies. And I WILL be armed! I just bought a high gloss, nickle finish 1911 A1.Maybe even find some gold! TTC   UPDATE: For those following this post and scratching your head, 4N80Y is listed in Street Atlas  USA as 4N03, Candy Rock Rd.   TTC

 
Spent my childhood running that canyon Terry,great fishing but no gold....watch for bears

Spent my childhood running that canyon Terry,great fishing but no gold....watch for bears

Yes! Here at Judy's 80 acres, above the Stan, we are more likely to see a bear coming down the drive than the neighbors. Very large turkey population too. Buster is getting very good at ferreting out those little goblers. Sad. I think the fishing will not start till I get to the Middle Fork. I believe the North Fork is closed. I'll check it out. Tnx.  TTC

Kuger, just checked with Hathaway Pines. North Fork is open to fishing. Also, the area is open to detecting. Great day in the morning! TTC

   Hey guys thanks for all the replies and info

Kruger : I NEVER leave home without my lapdog Glock.  I am confused about how the boulder piles were just piled in all different directions,kinda hard to tell where the sluice box went at times. Tell me if my thinking here is wrong ok... I figured they must have had a shovel to pile those massive boulders as high as they did, that said it would go that they shoveled some gravel with each boulder they piled. I know they couldn't handle those big rocks in the sluice box. The bigger boulders they piled probly picked up less gravel because of their size alone, smaller boulders probly picked up more gravel. Maybe the best to look under?

 Dave: I use a minelab 2200d and a whites gm4b. Like I said I do find .22 bullets often.

  TerryC : Those books look great so I'll see if I can locate them at the library or local book shop. I think your a good bit south of where I go... plumas,yuba,nevada,lassen counties to name a few. Wouldn't mind the nude ladies though!!

 Just for kicks I wanted to see the critter that made this hole. I was going to hit him good when he came out for the cheese! Thanks guys!

You're gonna need a bigger stick nvradar!

TimC

  Ya know the thought did cross my mind!

You're gonna need a bigger stick nvradar!

TimC

Ha ha! Good. UPS made a delivery today.  TTC

Thats a good question as to how that was done.I have several places as well,they were post "Long Tom era".Usually late 1800's to early 1900's.
That hole is a drift,it went through the hard rock and into the ancient channel,they were usually very profitable,but the very most dangerous of all mines

   I used to work underground in N. Cal. where we chased the ancient river channel and yes it was rich! I was one that helped clean up the sluice. Man was it beautiful!!!! Any way at this place they blasted I believe I seen 6 tunnels and countless channels. These tunnels were deeper than most and I thought they were for draining the gravel that was run out over the canyon because thats where they all went to. I have been in a couple of shallow ones to md at the entrance and nothing there. These holes ran into each other, the hole was just to the right of the cut. It's about a 30 ft. drop here. No I didn't hang over the edge folks, just extended my arm over and guessed.

NV, making sense of a spot like that, is almost impossible. Chinese were not able to own claims at all, and that looks like it got reworked by them long after the white man left. If that is where i think it is, there was over 2k people in and out of there around 1858. Its really cool getting gold out of there, and the 2200 will do it just fine. Problem is its right off the road! The port wine channel has about a dozen of these pits. Its hard to believe how hard they worked!

Look under some of them rock piles as the old miners usually didn't mine where they stacked the rocks., I've done good moving the old chinese rock piles and digging the dirt under them..

  Hey there minerjoe I'm sure the chinese swept up dang near everything for sure, but there is always something left hiding out. This spot is a good distance out there so prbly not the same ones. Kinda strange how they all do look very similar though. I've been to a few of the prot wine pits before I became interested in the MDing. I know of a couple I'm definitely going to hit this next trip or two.


 Nitro I have tried a few times in moving boulders with no luck, I think it may be the best way though. I'm going to look and study some things about this next time I get out. I have some ideas as to where and why a spot should be hiding some nuggets.

              Thanks guys     NVRADAR

Nvradar--I know this reply is overdue--please forgive the lateness of this post.

Yes, it's tough figuring out the why and when of all those sluice stacks and hand stacks. But, one thing remains true--the old-timers, including the Chinese couldn't see what was in the bedrock. Because of that, they were always covering up gold. True, many of them were efficient, but others were in a hurry to get to the next rush. People get tired too, and they're not always as motivated as their boss is.

I've definitely cleaned crevices in spots worked by the Chinese and got nice gold for my troubles. I've detected bedrock they covered with neat hand-stacked rock walls and got nuggets that were down in the bedrock under those stacks, left there because they had no way of telling the gold was there!

I've worked bedrock (covered with rock piles) left by the regular sourdoughs and the Chinese and got nuggets from both types of workings. You have the modern advantage with your detector. Now for the hard part--get a manure fork, bend the tines (heat before with a torch and then cool quickly after bending) at a 90 degree angle about a third of the way down the length of the tines, then cut off the sharp tips. You'll have a great rock rakin' fork that will be springy enough that you won't jar your arms out of the sockets, and flexible enough to move most of those rocks, but still allow the gold to fall through the spaces between the tines back to the ground you're rolling the rocks away from.

Rake off the rocks and detect the ground under those rock piles very carefully. Eventually you'll find some nuggets and flake gold. It's a tough way to get the gold, but it's there.

Oh, I worked with a guy that uncovered a strip of rich pay once (up in the Yukon) that was under the first stack of rocks in a worked area (that's where the first guys in threw the first rocks to start the original placer mining). It was a narrow strip, but very rich. That happens rarely, but often enough to keep it in mind. I've found little pockets of pay that way as well--little spots that were missed--the material will look very different from the sluff that's falling down through the rock stacks--keep that in mind too, and even if your detector doesn't sound off, pan it out.

All the best,

Lanny

  Lanny
  I'm sure you are and always will be very busy giving your sound advice and knowledge to all on these forums and it's GREATLY appreciated. That last paragraph really spoke to me and I will be keeping that in mind forever. Makes absolute perfect sense. 

  I do think I will try to concentrate on the bedrock. "THE MYSTERIES OF BEDROCK" is some great reading. I'll keep you posted. Many thanks. NVRADAR

NVRADAR,

Thanks for your kind words on my thread about the mysteries of bedrock--it's much appreciated. Keep researching, and keep storing up tips that you gather from people that are finding gold, and you'll find some nice gold yourself as you stay with it.

All the best, and thanks again,

Lanny