new jersey

i heard stories that there was gold in north jersey does anyone know if its true?

Only if some gangster hid it!

i heard stories that there was gold in north jersey does anyone know if its true?

Don't know for sure, but the history of my town (Montville 07045) tells of a Gold mine in town that sold shares, but never was developed.  It has always been assumed that it was a "salted" mine and that the whole thing was a scam, but I remember seeing printed info on the old story.  Also once heard from an old timer, now dead, that he once found some native silver in one of the town's streams when he was a kid, he had a lot of stories, so I always took that one with a few grains of salt as it were.  Lots of mining up here in Northern NJ, but most of it was for iron, I have a lot of chunks of Magnetite that I have picked up around old mine sites when Hiking and keep my eye out for mineralization, but so far I have only seen Iron.  There is also a story of an old Copper mine in Bergen county which I know to be true.  If copper has been found in Northern NJ, I suspect that Gold is a possibility, but as law happy as this state seems to be, if you found any, what would be the chance that you would be allowed to get it out of the ground 

   Whitesid:   There has been Gold found in Northern NJ.  The Glacial Drift brought some Fines, & even some Nuggets to NJ.

                       The line runs roughly North of Newark across the State. Panning any Streams in that area might produce.



        Littleneck:   The stories you heard just may have some truth to them.  Monville is right in that area.

                             Hope it helps!

                                                    Joe

New Jersey boy........
Look in the Creeks,in the Belvedire aria,the part of the State has lots of Black Sand in the Creeks.....
Also,plenty of Sand & Gravel Plants in the aria.All the Plants are working on the Glacial Deposits,the ice left behind.......Some are as deep as 50-60 Feet.Also, look around the Plants on Rt 519......I had a chance to sample 5 Buckets of Sediment,but I only found Black Sand,and no visible gold...But if you get in the right place,you can find Gold....I know some people that did find Gold in NJ.Very fine,but still Gold.All they would tell me is,they were near Route 519.....
I spent 4-5 hrs in a creek along Rt 46,Yesterday....All I found was tons of Black Sand,and in every pan.
Hope this helps.....
N

Hoping to get down to NC for some M'D-ing but I'm willing to give north jerseys creeks and streams a chance. The wisconsin glacier left some incredible striations in the northern part of the state. Sussex co. has produced very fine flour if you know where and when to look. 

Whitesid
I grew up in a town called Walpack in Sussex county. There are old copper mines along "Old Mine" rd. I think it is now on Federal property. You can find green stained gray rock there.
Remember the zinc deposits in Franklin/Ogdensburg was discovered by the Dutch, only they thought the ruby red zincite was cuprite and could not get copper out of it, unknown to them it was zincite.
There is also a silver mine located just above "buttermilk falls" near walpack. There is a gold mine located along the Appalachian Trail in the same area. I have a have a 4" x 2" double terminated quartz crystal I found there in 1979. The silver mine and gold mine locations came from a local family that were some of the first to settled in the valley near Walpack. Another silver mine is located near kettle field in Stokes State forest. You can get information from the office at the park entrance. My Dad actually found this "lost" mine from information given from the family I mentioned. I was little them and we found the mine and then all the mine tools that are now on display at the park office with a heath kit detector. One last  location I can think of for gold is in Tillmans Ravine in stokes state forest. I use to live less than a mile from there as a kid and I heard of people panning and finding gold, I never had any luck.
I hope this give you some help as I know information on these little known locations are hard to find.
Jim     

I have a have a 4" x 2" double terminated quartz crystal I found there in 1979.

Any chance you'd post a picture of that? I found my way to prospecting via  'chasing down shiny rocks' (as my girl friends little daughter calls it). Sounds like an incredible piece

-Lance

Lance
I found the crystal, its not 4" but still just over 3" and 2" wide. Anyway here is a picture its still the largest quartz crystal I've seen from Jersey but then again I left there about 20 years ago.

Man that is a beautiful piece. Thank you for putting that pic up. I have tons of quartz laying around here, but its mostly all mixed up with what I believe is albite.

-Lance

Thanks AZ, You sure are in the right state to find the yellow stuff now!! Is Buttermilk Falls on a map? I used to camp out at a place called Buttermilk Falls but that was in Honesdale PA.

Lance
I found the crystal, its not 4" but still just over 3" and 2" wide. Anyway here is a picture its still the largest quartz crystal I've seen from Jersey but then again I left there about 20 years ago.

That would be regarded as a triple terminated specimen  

Hey Newbie
Just Google Buttermilk falls NJ and you'll come up with maps and pictures.
Good luck