Beating a $1300 expenditure via DIY

I figure he would. Facts usually do that. It bugs me when urban people crap on rural folks. They think that all we want to do is scare the environment we live in. They don't realize the we live in that environment. And will do anything to make it better like you are. Maybe they should get off their soapbox and look around and see how many natural habitats were destroyed making the city they live in. Or the pollution caused by storm drains because pavement and concrete can't absorb the rainfall. Washing more lawn chemicals and oil into our watershed than farming and the oil industry do. Progress has a whole different meaning to city folks. Same with the people who cry about hunting and animal control. But complain when little fluffy becomes dinner for one by a bear, wolf or coyote. I just have no patience for people like that.

I wish I had and could use one of them. Sure would beat shoveling. Let me guess the gov. said that they were destroying fish habitat. Thats the excuse that used here. I bet you pulled more than just artifacts from the river. Like garbage and other pollutants. radio how much lead and mercury did you pull from the creeks?

The sand in Florida is often laying on a hard pan. In a large lake the hard pan may be visible from a boat. Lots of points are hard rock/clay/limestone.
Such points were often strategic locations for native man. The violent weather often washes the shoreline at 5 feet per year. So native camps may be 500 feet and further out in the shallow lake.
Varying wind directions moves the sand east/north/south/west. As the sand is washed in all directions the solids keep sinking further in the sand till they stop at the hard pan.
My camp is on Lake George and on a point. The lake is 6 X 14 miles. The point in front of my place is a shallow ridge running like 3000-4000 feet out into the lake.
At low water the ridge may only have 2-3 feet of water on it. It is covered by sand 1-2 feet deep on average. It has 'slow to rot' stumps at sand level telling that the shore washed away.

My lake frontage has about 2 feet of thin snail shells mixed solid in the ground where the natives dumped them. The acidic lake water dissolves them when exposed.
Dumped to rot and smell on the south facing slope of the ridge so the prevailing north winds would push the smell and the flies away.
The shell mounds cause a high lime content and soapberry trees grow in it, serving as an aerial indicator from a boat that shell dumps are likely present.

Back 10-15 years ago I could walk that dredge out in the lake on that ridge and draw sand through the dredge and pull up chert flakes, artifacts and broken glass laying on the hard pan.
Lake bottom disturbance was outlawed due to pollutants having settled in the lake bottom. The same pollutants that every storm brings up when the wave action picks up and displaces the sand.
It does not make sense to limit my activity making little divots made from the dredge. The first storm fills them right back up.

The other method of finding artifacts is a sand fork. Looks like a pitch fork with straight 18 inch tines of 3/32" music wire welded to all 3/4 inch thin wall metal conduit.
The locals would 'fork' the sand and when glass or chert was hit you would hear a tinging sound. Leave the fork in the sand and dig down to the source of the sand.
The sand fork could purge large areas of all treasures. Sensing solids in a large volume of sand quickly. The closest source of chert is 50 miles away. No natural silica rocks in this area.

The local commercial fisherman and crabbers still do this during the off season for income. It is illegal due to soil disturbance and collecting artifacts from state water.
Most of them do it by hiking in to the lake and hauling ass when they see the DNR heading toward them in their boat out in the giant lake miles away LOL.
They have collector clients that buy the artifacts. Often selling rare points for thousands of dollars each.

Yes, big handle and a swivel nozzle.  No way to manhandle such a beast under full suction.

We used an air pump and had a hose with heated water stuffed down the wetsuit.  The Merced river is mostly snow melt up until late summer, so is darned chilly!

did you see the pics of the matching wedding bands I did for the wife and I using small nuggets I found?

Yep, VERY cold water!  Most dredgers that worked the Merced had special water heaters on the dredges that operated off the heat from the muffler and pumped warm water via a garden hose stuffed into the wet suits.  Crude, but effective   It didn't circulate very well to the extremities, but at least it kept your core warm.

I sold most of the gold I found in Ca, but kept a bit for the memories. 

Here are a few I used for the rings

 

I find mercury, lead and nails to. Our rules up here are ridiculously tuff. The only way I can work in a creek is with a shovel and pan. We can dredge if we apply for a permit. Chances are next to zero of getting one. If the creek is a Salmon spawning habitat its a no go. My creek is to a point. The lower 5 miles is, but there is a 60' water fall that stops them from that point. No fish above the falls. But that doesn't matter to the DFO. One energetic fish with superman powers might climb the falls. I can see them banning large dredges as they move a lot of gravel. But I think there should be a size limit. Two years ago, a couple guys were caught dredging a creek next to mine. They are still going to court, All of their equipment including their pickups were seized and $10,000 fines given to each miner.

That is thinking with ur noggin.

Like a real jeweler and everything!



Nice work amigo. Gorgeous.

I had to resort to small creeks on private property. Most of them flowing naturally into a lake not far downstream.
Had to put the suction well upstream.

I bet they do keep an eye on salmon and trout water ways. Georgia has clay and mostly muddy rivers.
Large diesel dredges are allowed to pull sand near Atlanta. I think the heavy silt buildup from so much construction run off is the main reason for allowance.
But Florida has the white sand bottomed clear water creeks and rivers. Great place to dredge in swimming trunks.
You will get a quick felon in Florida too. No more dredging.

A size limit sounds great. even a 1 HP dredge can suck out cracks and crevices where gold gets trapped, do no damage at all.