Excellent video on how to locate gold.
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Excellent video on how to locate gold.
Posted at 07:27 AM in Gold Prospecting | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: early gold discovery, earth gold, gold nugget, gold pan, looking for gold, miners, prospecting, river gold
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Excellent video with great tips for finding fine gold. Enjoy.
Posted at 07:17 AM in Gold Prospecting | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Au, gold panning, gold prospecting, gold prospector, looking for gold
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Although we experienced an intense snowstorm in the high country and an accumulation of slush in the valleys, the spring days are delightful. The osprey are back, buttercups are blooming, and the air is crisp, clear and heavy with the scent of cedar.
Handsome Fish Hunters - Osprey In Montana
By: Marlene Affeld
Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), when hunting on the wing, seem to glide effortlessly over the water. Smaller than an eagle, an osprey is still an impressive raptor. With wingspans of up to 72 inches and up to 24 inches in length and a weight of almost 5 pounds, the osprey is a wonderful addition to Montana’s rich abundance of bird life.
Handsome fish hunters, the osprey has a distinctive white head and belly with rich, dark brown feathers gracing its back. The under side of the wings are also snow-white except for dark patches and barred-brown flight feathers. Ospreys vocalize with a series of piercing whistles and chirps that become more intense if the nest is approached. Osprey nest just about anywhere in close proximity to water that provides safety and an abundance of food.
Posted at 12:58 AM in Beauty Of Nature, My Montana | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: birds of prey, fish eating birds, montana birds, osprey
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Ask any seasoned prospector, "You will never find gold without black sand" - however, you may find black sand with no gold.
HOW BLACK SAND AFFECTS GOLD MOVEMENT IN A WATERWAY |
Besides being an exciting title, knowing how gold behaves in a waterway will help you recover more.
What prompted me to write this article was the almost complete misunderstanding of “why some miners get more gold while others don’t”. The easy answer is because some miners understand gold better. To that I say, well, sort of. Others call those placer miners lucky or that they have better claims or bigger sluice boxes. Well, no, no and maybe.
Being “on the gold” or in a pay channel can help a lot but there are two primary ways that gold accumulates.
What’s common about all these spots is Black Sand.
This heavy sand puts the brakes on gold movement, something like trying to run underwater. Only time and prolonged water movement will cause gold to settle right on bedrock otherwise you find heavily mineralized bands of magnetite mixed with gold. Typically what happens is erosion over thousands of years takes place wearing away gold, iron ore and other less common minerals. Due to iron pyrites being so common in the earth’s crust it accumulates in greater quantities in streams and waterways forming magnetite. Depending on the age of the washed iron deposit, pieces of lesser oxidized material can accumulate in suspended payers in almost any waterway. If this happens it typically forms “conglomerate” or “hardpan” trapping slowly descending gold in its matrix, however even black sand can slowly cement together given the time and pressure.
The results of compacted, black, mineralized sand in descending layer excites most miners. That is where your pay is. Gold would drop right to the center of the earth if it had its choice. These mineralized bands mark a stopping point for gold as it’s headed to bedrock.
Every gold deposit is different. I’m talking about how it is formed in placer deposits. In other words, which happened first? The black sand or the gold? Possibly both at the same time!
If the black sand is there first, gold will wash over top of it and settle between the rocks based on flow rate and heaviness of each gold particle or nugget. Then depending on the amount of agitation and weight of the gold pieces one of two things will happen.
Also gold trapped between rocks on the bottom of a water way that is still stick in the surface black sand is a sitting duck for flow surges. The way rocks get moved around when the current increases is by rapidly eroding the surrounding sand and gravel surrounding them first and then the water flow can push them down stream. The effective flow is actually magnified between the rocks as this whole process starts, just like the wind between buildings in any city.
Another tip that may help you is when there is a real down pour. I’m talking about Apocalypse buckets of rain. You can see evidence of this by washed out hill sides and newly exposed sections of gravel. If you’re in gold country some of the ancient stream beds will temporarily reactivate, washing down a fresh shot of gold. When gold enters an existing stream or river it will quickly start to settle and will stop in the surface layers of black sand. Look for sleepy almost non-existent little streams that have way too much open gravel on either side. Freshly downed trees is another way of spotting earth moving events. An abundance of elevated root balls sitting high and dry in a log jam tell the same story.
I look for these signs and then pick out a likely side stream feeding the main water way. Trace the side stream down until it opens onto the main water way channel. Now look just slightly downstream of that point. What you’re looking for is a mound of sand and gravel. This mound is a cumulative build-up of the small side stream’s discharge at or near maximum discharge. Remember this build-up will be well above the current water levels position.
If you find a good one there will be graded (sized) sand, gravel and black sand in a comet like tail tapering away from the small side stream. Nuggets will be in the front part of the compacted gravel section. Flake gold will be interspersed throughout the black sand.
One more thing I need to mention. If you find nuggets, even small nuggets in the side streams mound, back track up the center of the side stream water course. I learned that lesson while gold panning North West of Cassier, B.C. The great thing about this type of find is that most of the freshly washed down gold will be in the top inch or so of the stream bed gravels.
Republished Courtesy of: MyGoldPanning.com
Posted at 06:28 PM in Gold Prospecting | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: black sands, gold, gold claims, gold in gravel, gold panning, gold prospecting, gravel, Montana gold claims, sand
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Quartz is abundant on all of the claims listed for lease or sale. I try to always examine every hunk that comes through the sluice box. There have been some nice gold/quartz nuggets found on the Barber Gulch Claim.
Courtesy of: PlacerGoldDesign,com
Nobody seems to care about the white quartz they find in rivers UNTIL they find thin veins of gold in them and then the questions start.
Quartz in our waterways has misled and wasted more of the miner’s time than almost any other distraction. Usually someone will find quartz with gold in it and then the search for more begins.
WHEN YOU FIND QUARTZ WITH GOLD
1) How sharp are the corners of the broken piece you are now holding?
2) Is this piece worn round as is river run gravel?
3) Is the vein of gold absolutely clean or is it slightly oxidized?
4) How far back is the gold in the quartz?
5) Are there more pieces of similar colored quartz nearby?
6) Is one side of the quartz somewhat smooth while the other side is sharp? Quartz can travel for miles down a river and I am talking about quartz that contains gold and it sure is exciting to find these rocks. I like to admire Mother Nature’s work and see how she injected the thin gold vein into your sample. I think it looks cool but the trick is to find the source of this gold and that is not an easy task. The quartz gold combo in streams gets me a little more excited than in rivers but the method of back tracking doesn’t change. I will just come out and say it; “you need to go up river and find the outcropping of quartz where the gold vein comes from”. However, if this quartz is in the rivers bedrock you will probably never find it. If your quartz sample is rounded, even a little bit, don’t bother trying to find the source. It has travelled too far! I show a lot more interest when you find an accumulation of sharp, broken, white pieces strewn in the river’s bottom as there is obviously a source nearby. It is ironic that most of the gold we pan and sluice from in or rivers came from quartz deposits and yet locating the origin of the quartz / gold combination is quite hard to find.
As with all things there are exceptions. When you start to find consistent gold laced quartz in a given area, the odds of finding the original deposit is much higher. One experience I had was finding a jumble of green moss covered quartz coming out of a small side stream into the river.
These rocks looked like they had been there for quite a while. I started filtering through them looking for a sign of gold. The front of the run was just off white quartz – no gold, but, as I worked my way further up the almost dry streambed I found a hair thickness trace of gold in one of the pieces. Interesting, but I didn’t start to make retirement plans just yet. I worked my way further upstream about half a mile finding off white quartz and the odd piece that had a trace line of gold running through it. It must have been a long process for the quartz to work its way down to the river because some of the rock piles had a lot of moss on them. I finally came up to a stark-white quartz outcropping about five feet by 3 feet wide and… a big sign reading “No Trespassing”. At the base of the quartz face there was a lot of recently chipped quartz lying around. I was about 28 feet from this recent activity standing in the small creek’s bottom staring in disbelief at how close I had come to making a potential gold discovery. I estimate I had missed being the first to discover this find by about a year. I could have traced the claim date but I had found this one too late.
There is definitely a point I want to make here. “Discoveries happen when you least expect it” and when you make a find it will seem almost random. Maybe you are going fishing with some friends and you stop along the road to gather some firewood when you notice a dead tree up on s slight rise. This tree has some good dry branches that would work well for starting your campfire. Maybe you break off one of the lower branches and end up slipping on the rock you were standing on. Then you notice it was a quartz rock that had crumbled free from the rise that the tree was on. This is how gold finds happen, except most people don’t know what to look for.
Knowledge and awareness make a big difference in discovering / finding gold deposits in rivers, up on banks or pretty much anywhere. So keep your eyes open and bring a small knife with you to test samples you find. With this knowledge you are already ahead of 98% of other people who are exploring the outdoors.
Republished Courtesy of: My Gold Panning
Posted at 11:41 AM in Gold Prospecting | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: gold in quartz, gold panning, gold prospecting, Montana gold claims
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Bunchberry plants are appearing through the snow, the flowers will soon follow. Spring is here and mining season can begin in earnest.
By: Marlene Affeld
Bunchberry (Cornus canadenis) also regionally known as dwarf cornel, scarlet stoneberry, dwarf dogwood, cracker berry, pudding berry, pigeon berry or squirrel berry is a low growing, creeping forest plant native to North America. In northeastern Canada, native people use bunchberry as a food staple and call the brilliant red fruit "matagon." The Chipewyan tribe named the useful medicinal plant "jikonaze" and the Cree people called the plant "pihew mina" or grouse berry. The Cree also reference the plant as "kawiskowimin" or itchy chin berry. When the ripe berries are crushed and rubbed against the skin, the juice of the berry provokes a skin irritation or itchy skin sensation.
People of Ojibwa tribe enjoy a tea made from the finely ground plant root to calm digestive problems in children and adults and to relieve colic in infants. Historical "wood's wisdom" advises making a tea made from the roots of the bunchberry plant to treat "fits" or seizures. Combined in a tea with wintergreen and mint, the herbaceous plant was used to medicate menstrual cramps and to prevent bed-wetting in young children. In the Pacific Northwest, Native American tribes found a diverse array of uses for the plant and berries including a tea made from blueberries and bunchberry to relieve the symptoms of kidney stones.
The Hoh and Quileute tribes reverently used the berries in scared religious ceremonies, brewing an invigorating and vision inspiring tonic from the tender bunchberry bark. The Makah tribe used the berries as a staple energy food and called them "bubkawak-tibupt" or “sweet fruit with stones”. When ripe, the berries present a pulpy pale yellow flesh with a hard seed. Many Native American tribal medicine men and healers relied upon bunchberry tonic to treat allergies, infections, colds and flu.
A Sweet Smoke
One thing all the different tribes had in common, they all happily gathered and dried bunchberry leaves and smoked them. Bunchberry was is a substitute for smoking tobacco that provides a mellow “high” or euphoria and acts as a reliable pain reliever. The smoke from the bunchberry plant leaves was believed to have healing properties and provided relief for those individuals suffering from nasal congestion and upper mucus membrane or lung infections.
Other devotees of the amazing bunchberry plant burned the leaves and applied the powered ash to topical skin infections, ulcerated sores, scrapes, burns and insect bites. Fresh bunchberry leaves were applied to cuts and open wounds to stop bleeding. Because the bunchberry plant has such strong antiseptic, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties, tinctures made from the leaves and berries were used to treat coughs, fevers, stomach infections and kidney problems. Too many berries can give you a tummy ache; bunchberries berries produce a laxative affect and can cause stomach cramps. A few ripe berries, steeped in water are an excellent appetite stimulant.
Despite its host of different odd sounding and off-putting names, the humble bunchberry is an attractive low-growing ground cover useful in urban and rural landscaping. The low-growing plant resembles a dwarf dogwood. In fact, bunchberry is a member of the dogwood (Cornaceae) family of plants. The vigorous perennial grows from thin creeping rhizomes that if allowed to spread naturally, quickly carpet the forest floor with a lush deep green mat. Bunchberry displaces erect flowering stems with tiny "button-like" lemon yellow flowers, completely surrounded by delicate white bracts. The bunchberry plant grows to a mature height of 4- to- 6 inches.
In late summer the edible fruit turns a brilliant red. The tart, flavorful red berries provide food for wildlife. The berries are a favorite food of songbirds, pheasants, grouse, quail, wild turkeys, squirrels, gophers, marmots, chipmunks, elk and deer. The charming little bunchberry plant thrives from Alaska to California, being especially abundant throughout western Canada. In the northeastern portion of North America, the hardy herbaceous ground cover can be found from Ontario to Maine. The berry is also found along the northeastern coast of the United States.
The Canada bunchberry (Cornus unalaschkensis Ledeb), is slightly larger with a purplish tinge to the tips of the leaves, thrives in high acidic woodland soil, rapidly filling in barren spots of soil where other plants cannot grow. Bunchberry is hardy in United States Department of Agriculture climate zones 2- through 7.
Bunchberry grows best in cool, damp and shady locations, typically thriving on the moist floor of coniferous forests. In mild coastal climates, the leaves are vivid green and evergreen all year long. The tough little plant can be seen growing from rotting logs and decomposing stumps. The delicate flowers appear in late May or June, often later at locations of high elevation. When the white bracts fall during the warm days of early summer, the berries start to form.
Bunchberry frequently flowers a second time in early autumn. When established in home landscapes and country gardens, bunchberry is a visually inviting and easy to grow ground cover around the base of shrubs and trees. Bunchberry thrives in compacted heavy clay soils. Bunchberry spreads quickly and requires little care. Provide a thick layer of organic mulch and plenty of water. Bunchberry establishes readily in partial sunlight or shaded areas.
Bunchberry berries are rather bland. The fruit can be eaten raw or stewed as a tasty pudding. Bunchberries are typically blended with other wild berries and used in syrups, pies, cobblers, jellies, juices, sauces and jams. Bunchberries are high in pectin and are often used to thicken stewed dishes of other types of berries or fruit.
Posted at 11:03 AM in Beauty Of Nature | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: bunchberry, gold prospecting, Montana native plants, spring flowers, wild berries of Montana
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Whistle
A whistle is an easy, inexpensive way to attract attention. The whistle should be attached to the zipper on your PFD. The whistle should be a ball-less type that works when it gets wet with water. Make 3 loud whistles in a row, wait and then 3 loud whistles.
Air horn
The air horn is small, fits in a PFD and is inexpensive. Make sure it will work when wet. Blast the air horn 3 times in a row, wait and then 3 other blasts. Test out the air horn each year.
Flares
There are two types of flares – rocket and smoke. Make sure that the expiration date of the flare hasn’t expired. Flares are sometimes not 100% reliable, so be prepared for some duds. The rocket flares will only be successful if you can see the people you want to contact. The rocket flares only last for a little while, so if no one sees you during the time that they are lit, you are out of luck. Smoke flares are usually used when someone has already located you and not usually the flare of choice for kayakers.
VHF radio
VHF radios are one the best solutions during an emergency as long as there are people within a 5 mile radius that also have a VHF radio turned on. Always be familiar with the mayday steps, channels, etc. using a VHF radio (you might forget when you haven’t paddled in a while). VHF radios are now waterproof, small and can fit into a PFD pocket. Always make sure to keep your VHF in your PFD with a short cord attached to the PFD as the radio will not float.
Signal mirror
A signal mirror is inexpensive and can fit into your PFD pocket. Obviously, if it is not sunny, the signal mirror will not attract anyone.
Paddle waving with reflector tape
You can stick some reflector tape on the back of your kayak paddles and wave the paddles in the air during an emergency. Obviously, if you have colored paddles (not white), the paddle will be less likely to be seen and if you are in the water, this option might be available.
Cell phone
Cell phones will only be useful if there is a connection and if the cell phone is in a waterproof bag that allows you to dial the phone and control all the buttons. There are an assortment of waterproof bags available for cell phones.
GPS
If you have a GPS, it will be a benefit to give your location to someone when talking on the VHF radio.
Be prepared is the first step for signaling help during an emergency.
Posted at 10:56 AM in Gold Prospecting, Wilderness Survival | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: emergency signals, how to signal for help in an emergency, tips for wilderness safety, wilderness survival tips
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The snowpack is melting. This week, my mining friend Daniel L. and I ventured up Cedar Creek. When Daniel drove up ten days ago, he was stopped by snow drifts about eight miles up the creek. Then, the road was rough, full of deep potholes, stones and deadfall. On this trip, we made it up several miles further, beyond the location of the old goldfish town of Louisville. Cedar Creek Road has been graded to the snowmen, potholes filled and winter debris removed. Driving up the mountain we encountered deer, osprey, woodpeckers, and squirrels: no sign of beavers or bears - noticed lots of old elk and moose sign.
Cedar Creek is running strong and fast. At the Wildcat Claim the snow is gone where sunlight reaches; brilliant white drifts hide in the shadows of the cedars. Trilliums and Pussy Willows are in full bloom. The upcoming season will be one that I will focus my time working my claims in Montana. Spring melt off moves gold and I am anxious to find new pockets of color.
The remainder of the road will be open soon - I can't wait to get a pan in the creek. I am cleaning out my mining van, sorting out equipment, restocking supplies, batteries, etc. The following article from the BLM is worth a read. I have tried several home made sluice boxes and Long Toms and they work well with modern miners moss. . . . when starting out assembling mining equipment is a bit costly and if you are a do-it-yourself kind of individual, there are lots of helpful tools you can make yourself.
Dip-Box
The dip-box is useful where water is scarce and where an ordinary sluice cannot be used because of the terrain. It is portable and will handle about the same quantity of material as the rocker.
Construction is relatively simple. The box has a bottom of 1- by 12-inch lumber to which are nailed 1- by 6-inch sides and an end that serves as the back or head. At the other end is nailed a piece approximately 1 inch high. The bottom of the box is covered with burlap, canvas, or thin carpet to catch the gold, and over this, beginning 1 foot below the back end of the box, is laid a 1- by 3-foot strip of heavy wire screen of about 1/4-inch mesh. The fabric and screen are held in place by cleats along the sides of the box. Overall length may be 6 to 8 feet, although nearly all gold will probably collect in the first 3 feet. The box is placed so the back is about waist high; the other end is 1/2 to 1 foot lower. Material is simply dumped or shovelled into the upper end and washed by pouring water over it from a dipper, bucket, hose, or pipe until it passes through the box. The water should not be poured so hard that it washes the gold away. Larger stones (after being washed) are thrown out by hand, or a screen-box can be added to separate them. Riffles may be added to the lower section of the box if it is believed gold is being lost.
Rocker
At least double volume of gravel can be worked per day with the rocker as with a gold pan. The rocker or cradle, as it is sometimes called, must be manipulated carefully to prevent loss of fine gold. With the rocker, the manual labour of washing is less strenuous, but whether panning or rocking, the same method is used for excavating the gravel.
The rocker, like the pan, is used extensively in small-scale placer work, in sampling, and for washing sluice concentrates and material cleaned by hand from bedrock in other placer operations. One to three cubic yards, bank measure, can be dug and washed in a rocker per man-shift, depending upon the distance the gravel or water has to be carried, the character of the gravel, and the size of the rocker. Rockers are usually homemade and display a variety of designs. A favourite design consists essentially of a combination washing box and screen, a canvas or carpet apron under the screen, a short sluice with two or more riffles, and rockers under the sluice. The bottom of the washing box consists of sheet metal with holes about 1/2 inch in diameter punched in it, or a l/2-inch-mesh screen can be used. Dimensions shown are satisfactory but variations are possible. The bottom of the rocker should be made of a single wide, smooth board, which will greatly facilitate cleanups. The materials for building a rocker cost only a few dollars, depending mainly upon the source of lumber.
After being dampened, the gravel is placed in the box, one or two shovelfuls at a time. Water is then poured on the gravel while the rocker is swayed back and forth. The water usually is dipped up in a simple long-handled dipper made by nailing a tin can to the end of a stick. A small stream from a pipe or hose may be used if available. The gravel is washed clean in the box, and the oversize material is inspected for nuggets, then dumped out. The undersize material goes over the apron, where most of the gold is caught. Care should be taken that not too much water is poured on at one time, as some of the gold may be flushed out. The riffles stop any gold that gets over the apron. In regular mining work, the rocker is cleaned up after every 2 to 3 hours, or oftener when rich ground is worked and gold begins to show on the apron or in the riffles. In cleaning up after a run, water is poured through while the washer is gently rocked, and the top surface sand and dirt are washed away.
Then the apron is dumped into a pan. The material back of the riffles in the sluice is taken up by a flat scoop, placed at the head of the sluice, and washed down gently once or twice with clear water. The gold remains behind on the boards, from which it is scraped up and put into the pan with the concentrate from the apron. The few colors left in the sluice will be caught with the next run. The concentrate is cleaned in the pan.
Skilful manipulation of the rocker and a careful cleanup permit recovery of nearly all the gold. Violent rocking should be avoided, so that gold will not splash out of the apron or over the riffles. The sand behind the riffles should be stirred occasionally, if it shows a tendency to pack hard, to prevent loss of gold. If the gravel is very clayey it may be necessary to soak it for some hours in a tub of water before rocking it.
Where water is scarce, two small reservoirs are constructed, one in front and the other to the rear of the rocker. The reservoir at the front serves as a settling basin. The overflow drains back to the one at the rear, and the water is used over again.
The capacity of rockers may be increased by using power drives. Such a device might be rocked by an eccentric arm at the rate of approximately forty 6-inch strokes per minute. The capacity of the typical machine with two men working is 1 cubic yard per hour. Where gravel is free from clay, the capacity may be as great as 3 cubic yards per hour.
A long tom usually has a greater capacity than a rocker and does not require the labour of rocking. It consists essentially of a short receiving launder, an open washing box 6 to 12 feet long with the lower end a perforated plate or a screen set at an angle, and a short sluice with riffles. The component boxes are set on slopes ranging from 1 to 1-1/2 inches per foot. The drop between boxes aids in breaking up lumps of clay and freeing the contained gold.
A good supply of running water is required to operate a long tom successfully. The water is introduced into the receiving box with the gravel, and both pass into the washing box.
The sand and water pass through the screen's 1/2-inch openings and into the sluice. The oversize material is forked out. The gold is caught by the riffles. The riffle concentrates are removed and cleaned in a pan. Quicksilver may be used to amalgam gold from the concentrate if the gravel contains very fine gold. Please note, quicksilver (mercury) is a hazardous substance and should only be used under controlled conditions and not released into the environment.
The quantity of gravel that can be treated per day will vary with the nature of the gravel, the water supply, and the number of men employed to shovel stones into the tom and then fork them out. For example, two men, one shovelling into the tom and one working on it, might wash 6 cubic yards of ordinary gravel, or 3 to 4 cubic yards of cemented gravel, in 10 hours.
A tom may be operated by four men; two shovelling in, one forking out stones, and one shovelling fine tailings away. Where running water and a grade are available, a simple sluice is generally as effective as the long tom and requires less labour.
From: Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8517 by J.M. West, released in 1971.
Posted at 06:37 AM in Gold Prospecting | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: gold, gold panning, gold prospecing, gold rocker box, making a rocker box for gold, placer gold claims for sale
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