Over the years I have had the chance to do some great hiking and see beautiful forests while prospecting for gold. The nugget I'm sharing today wasn't a desert find, but a find in southern California. A friend of mine lived in Ventura county California for many years and had several places he would go out searching out some gold. On this occasion I joined him in a place called rattlesnake canyon. And no I didn't see any rattlesnakes which is absolutely fine by me!
Getting there was a pretty rough drive on some rather bad dirt roads. When we arrived at his "secret" spot we began panning for gold. He told me his father used to bring a floating dredge to the site which would suck the gravel off the bottom of some deeper pools and run it through a sluice box to separate the gold from the rocks and sand. He used to find a lot of gold, but California banned the practice because it might release mercury that old time miners had used a hundred years ago... Goofy California laws.... I'll include a picture of a dredge setup below if you're interested.
It didn't take too long before I panned out this nice sized nugget that weighs abut 1.5 grams. It's not the prettiest one I've ever found, but it's a decent sized nugget to find when you're panning for gold! I also found some smaller ones as well, it was a good day outing in the mountains and we even found some gold!
Here's a dredge setup for prospecting. I've used them before in Arizona and New Mexico but never owned one myself! It pays to have friends with fun toys... The motor is used to suck up the gravel on the river bottom and dump it down the sluice (blue are with the ridges) that catches the heavier gold and allows the lighter gravel and sand to flow back into the water.
prolinemining.com
When it comes to prospecting panning can be a fair amount of work. First off you have to be in a spot where there actually is gold and then pan by pan you try to find it. Dredging is much easier if it's allowed where you live and more fun! If it's an area with a lot of gold you can recover a nice pay day. In New Mexico one time we found two ounces of fine gold in a day's outing! But keep in mind that's not common... Plus you get to jump in and get wet in the process!
Like I have mentioned before, if you want to get started prospecting for gold the best way is to find a local prospecting group. They can help a lot and probably even take you out with them in some promising areas. Another bonus is they can tell you what equipment you'll want to bring along to make it a lot easier.
There is gold out there just laying around waiting for you to find it! Not to mention lost treasures that are long forgotten a just waiting to be found. The only way you're going to locate them is by going out on an adventure of your own to find them!
I hoped you enjoyed my treasure/ prospecting post today. If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments feel free to leave them below. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
And my disclaimer:
Gold prospecting is a very fun hobby, but it can be expensive. It's very possible that if you invest too much into equipment it may take a long to to get a return on your investment, and some people never do. Also please remember that not all detectors and dredges are the same, always research carefully before buying them.
All photos are mine unless otherwise noted.
Re-blog lottery
Now for the winner of the re-blog lottery! Today we had 37 people who re-blogged my post, thank you so much! The people who re-blogged were:
@bhetea01
@bitandi
@blitzzzz
@bntcamelo
@caleb-marvel
@daddydog
@ericburgoyne
@esbat
@ferod23
@flaxz.alive
@florakese
@henruc
@hjrrodriguez
@irvet
@jenam
@jorgebgt
@kerrislravenhill
@kungfukid
@kunschj
@ladymisa
@maurojd
@miriammarga
@monsterbuster
@necho41
@olaf.gui
@pepetoken
@rebe.torres12
@screamheart
@servelle
@silverd510
@stekene
@thisismylife
@trautenberk
@trumpman
@vrezion
@vrezyy
@yova
Voluntary daily reminder list for those who request to be on it: @ganjafarmer and @sayury
If you want to be added to the list as well just feel free to ask!
Thank you everyone! I have been working to improve my engagement and all of you have really helped out! If you have any recommendations or suggestions please feel free to let me know. I'm always looking to improve my posts.
Good luck to everyone!
And the Wheel of Names results:
Winner #1:
Winner #2
Congratulations @kerrislravenhill you have won 3 HSBI units!
Congratulations @trumpman you have won 2 HSBI units!
Now for today's re-blog lottery! You just need to re-blog my post you will be placed on the Wheel of Names for a spin to possibly win up to 5 HSBI units! New twist, one winner on the first spin wins 3 HSBI, and a second spin for a chance for 2 HSBI, so two possible winners or one really lucky one could win both spins! An upvote is not required but is always greatly appreciated. Bots aren't allowed to win the prize. Contest ends at 14:00 (2 PM) California Pacific time tomorrow. If I somehow missed your re-blog please let me know and I'll add you to the next draw.
What are HSBI units? They are units that you can purchase to sponsor someone and you in turn receive a unit as well. This way we both benefit! They give you occasional upvotes on your posts for a lifetime, and the more you accumulate the more often you receive upvotes and the bigger they can be. You can read some more here:
https://hive.blog/hive-189312/@steembasicincome/hive-sbi
If you have more questions feel free to ask.
