I often joke with new
prospectors, “Of course I found gold… I always find gold!”
So maybe I’m to blame, but
when we steer people the right direction on a good creek and they don’t find
gold, they come back to us with, “There’s no gold there.!”
Now with a few exceptions,
there’s gold on most of the creeks in the Black Hills. Common sense tells you that if it is a
gold-producing area there is probably gold in the creek.
There’s a lot of “if” in that
statement though… If you’re not digging old tailings (easy digging would be the
first clue); if someone (or maybe many) hasn’t/haven’t already beat you to it;
if it’s been worked and re-flooded (possibility of a little new flood gold)…
the list goes on and on.
We remember way back (the
good ole days some call them), when our expectations were high and our
knowledge low.
Since then we’ve learned a
lot. I posted a graphic photo a few
weeks ago about how to dig in old placer workings. It utilized a \___/ concept for old workings. Since then I’ve heard from several out there
digging it was helpful and they discovered a little gold.
So I’m going to reinforce
that with another thought. Yes, the
books and guidelines always preach to run everything. Personally, I look around and find a spot to “stockpile”
the topsoil and subsequent layers until I find what looks to be a gravel layer
or clay zone near creek or pit bottom level.
Those top layers may or may not contain small gold, but do you want to
see what is really there? Also it’s a
lot easier to fill that hole back in if you don’t find any indication of gold..
just toss it back in after an hour of work instead of laboring for a day
running material that doesn’t show any gold!
Several times I’ve been
really lucky. I toss aside the top
layers, dig down into gravels a foot or two and test pan out a piece or two of
gold! The average scenario, however, is that I find black sands or some
indication to “dig deeper!”
That’s what I would term a “guaranteed
gold” claim! It’s not quantities of
gold, it’s not nuggets of gold, but I’ll bet I could have started a gold rush
from the streets of Deadwood.
So a dose of reality to
greenhorns. If you as an inexperienced
prospector find gold, it’s probably a really good area and teaches you a great lesson on what to look for! I well remember days spent digging for a show
in a sluice box! These days I’m still
thrilled to find a show in a test pan! That would be when I would start testing
the upper layers!
Other than that, we're completing some MSHA red tape to get mining and also entertaining another prospecting venture that we'll fill you in on at a later date. We also have found several acres of very locatable creek in two different areas, one a most prominent gold producting area. Drop us an email if interested at hillshistory1876@gmail.com.
