Guaranteed gold!

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.