Trip Report - Prospecting in the CA desert LOTSO PICS!

Jan 6, 2018 11:21:34 GMT -5 Jugglerguy said:

Great report Jean. I love to live vicariously through other people’s trips.

How do you look for gold in the desert? I’ve heard of dry panning, although I know nothing about it. I’ve panned black sand on Lake Superior and found some flour gold, so I do know how to pan with water. Do you have other equipment to search for gold?

Thanks, Rob. Looking for gold in the desert is a hit and miss proposition.  Some will tell you to dig where others before you have dug.  This assumes, however, that they found something there, lol.

We joined two prospecting associations locally.  As long as we are members in good standing, we are entitled to prospect on their claims.  Some produce, some don't.  It's like playing the lottery.  Sometimes you MAY win (find the gold), other times, you don't.  They keep telling us it is not about finding gold, it is about the camaraderie with other club members. 

Once you have consulted your Ouija Board and selected a likely spot, you dig dirt, and classify it.  Using water - sluice box or high banker - is the preferred method to process it, get the gold out.  In the desert, water a rare commodity.  So you process it with a dry washer.  You put the DRY dirt in at the top, it drops by gravity into a sluice box that vibrates. (I am simplifying here.  There is cloth underneath riffles, and a blower motor that turns a fan.)

Once you have your concentrates, you pan those out - with water!

I can go into more detail if you wish, when I have a little more time.  Jean

PS - I missed captbob 's ornery penguins, too! 

Jan 9, 2018 14:06:57 GMT -5 jamesp said:

That one photo had an ghost image of Jim Morrison - not really.
You must have been out there a good while, you disappeared. Did you say 6 days ?

Those quartz exposures are one thing we have out east.
If they are fine glassy milk quartz you may find it to have high speed chips scattered.
Native man liked using the glassy milk quartz because of it's workability.

When you say prospecting does that mean for gold ? A lot of Dahlonega Georgia gold occurs in quartz. Ditches to carry water are routed all around Dahlonega, still visible. Under the trees.
Did you know there was once a federal mint in Dahlonega for a few years ? 1838 to 1861. 1-2.5-3 and 5 dollar gold pieces. 3 dollar gold pieces for the pride march lol.
Due to low production they are valuable. Mint mark was 'D' before Denver stole the 'D'. People still pan and mini-dredge the creeks up there.

Digging them holes looks like work. Rock ground for sure. One day you and Bob will score a giant nugget !

Looks like a heavenly trip Jean. Thanks for sharing. Guess you will sift collected soil for gold when time comes or maybe you did that on site.

There may be some ghosts out there, but I don't think Jim Morrison is one of them, lol.

We left home the afternoon of Friday December 22, arriving before dark.  We drove back home on January 1, sooooo (counting on fingers now) 11 days inclusive of travel days.  (Did you really think it was only 6???)  We always dump the trailer tank at a Chevron station on the south side of I-8.  It is at the Sidewinder Road exit, about the last exit before you head into AZ.  Since we were up, packed, and out of there by 8:30am or so, we were done dumping by nine.  We spent the next three hours or so wandering around the expanses of polished rock to the south of the Chevron before we hit the road.  The area is just covered with agates and fossils, we half filled another three gallon bucket there. 

James, the quartz is not real glassy, not like the palm bog is.  I know that native man used to work it for tools.  Brought home quite a bit of colorful (not cooked) shards of it, they chime like glass.  Already in tumbler sized chunks, will chop up a couple of the larger pieces for cabs.  In the process of getting photos of the spoils, raining today, so probably won't take any more until tomorrow.

Yes, prospecting for gold.  Did not know about a federal mint in Dahlonega.  They used locally mined gold to mint coins? (Not $3 coins, lol.)  Be nice to score a big nugget.  A better chance of that if we learn to use a metal detector.  And yes, we did run the dirt through the drywasher, and pan it out there.  A pittance. 

If you are happy being a prospector, and not a miner, you'll do okay.  I know of no one that has made a fortune prospecting for gold.  Sure, some people get lucky and find a good sized nugget, but that's few and far between.  The ones making the money off of gold fever are the ones "mining the miners," same as during the gold rush of 1849, selling them supplies.  We've had some folks come down from Alaska to talk at our meetings.  You can go there and pay to stay for one, two or three weeks and prospect.  They put you up and feed you three squares, but it costs you.  You'll work, find (some) gold, have the experience of a lifetime, but you won't be finding enough gold to pay for it all.  If I'm not going to find a lot of gold and strike it rich, I'll just stay closer to home, and pick up some cool rocks and fossils while I am at it!

One point I forgot to make before - When we left San Diego on 12/22, regular gas at a local Arco was $2.899.  We went into Yuma to the closest Arco for ice midweek, regular gas was ONLY $2.149.  We are being Californiacated by Jerry Brown, ya think?  (He illegally raised taxes on gas to supposedly pay for road repairs.  How much of the illegally collected funds will actually pay for roads? I will believe it when I see it!)  There is a movement on to repeal the gas tax.

Anyway, it was fun.