Scott CrumGreenhorn Posts:
01 Nov 2016 10:11 AM |
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I was travelling across country during my gap year before heading to college. I rockhounded a little bit and was stopping into a shop to buy a rock hammer and saw a pan sitting there. At that moment I was hooked, the idea of pulling gold out of the ground with my own hands and work is something i will never tire of. I went to the Libby Creek Recreational Gold panning area and spent the next 2.5 weeks on and off working and meeting new people, everyone had something to teach and I loved every minute of it.
The real problem was once I got home back to New York, I live in upstate NY, near Rochester and there is only completely random alluvial gold deposited when the glaciers receded. I have made a couple of trips south to the finger lakes region, but was unsuccessful. So far I have found about 5 specs on a creek just east of Rochester and it has kept my passion alive, but isn't very satisfying. because of the Kings Law still in place in New York I have found it nearly imposible to come up with any good information reguarding gold bearing creeks or areas. Does anyone know of better places in New York to Prospect that they would be willing to share? are there any tricks to finding these sparse and seemingly random deposits? I'd love to go on an outing with someone before the winter comes in and freezes things up.
-Scott
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ADAM ANDREWSGreenhorn Posts:
01 Nov 2016 06:51 PM |
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I looked in the mining guide, there's not much about New York in the guide, bummer. Try a Northern California motherlode vacation in the spring.
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Scott CrumGreenhorn Posts:
02 Nov 2016 11:12 AM |
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My mining guide should be arriving tomorrow, so I'm excited to see what may be nearby in Ohio or Pennsylvania. I'd love to make another trip out to California, but I'm not sure when I could get out that way again.
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Joseph LoydBuzzard Posts:553
02 Nov 2016 08:56 PM |
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They do have gold in Ohio .But no claims for gpaa .As far as anything else I am not sure.
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WALTER EASONBuzzard Posts:581
09 Nov 2016 08:55 AM |
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Here is a lot of information some of which I had in archives. Check on all of it before using.
Hope this helps
Walter Eason Claims Administrator, GPAA
Information a few years old now but Green Mountain National Forest in VT allowed Gold Panning. The same was true of Smugglers Notch and Camp Plymouth State Parks. White Mountain National Forest, NH also allowed gold panning and sluicing less than 3 foot long. no power or mechanized equipment allowed. New Hampshire also has a dredge permit on file at http://www2.des.state.nh....its_Query.aspx and it was last updated on 11/9/2016, not sure where it would be used maybe on private or National Forest land.
Main: 38 M.R.S. §§ 480-Q(5)
5-A. Motorized recreational gold prospecting. Notwithstanding section 480-C, a permit is not required for motorized recreational gold prospecting as long as the provisions of this subsection are met.
A. A person may perform motorized recreational gold prospecting only from June 15th to September 15th and only with written permission of the relevant landowner. [2013, c. 260, §1 (NEW).]
B. A person may not perform motorized recreational gold prospecting that causes an undue adverse effect on natural resources. The area in which the motorized recreational gold prospecting is performed must be kept free of litter, trash and any other materials that may constitute a hazardous or nuisance condition. [2013, c. 260, §1 (NEW).]
C. The following provisions limit the use of equipment in motorized recreational gold prospecting.
D. A person may not use mercury, nitric acid or other chemicals for extraction in motorized recreational gold prospecting. [2013, c. 260, §1 (NEW).]
E. A person may not perform motorized recreational gold prospecting in a manner that:
F. Upon completion of one or more consecutive days of motorized recreational gold prospecting, a person who performed the motorized recreational gold prospecting shall smooth out dredge spoils and refill dredge holes below the normal high-water mark of the stream in order to restore the approximate original contours of the stream bottom and not deflect the current. [2013, c. 260, §1 (NEW).]
G. Motorized recreational gold prospecting is prohibited within the following areas:
(4) The following areas of critical or high-value brook trout or Atlantic salmon habitat:
(a) Bemis Stream and tributaries in Township D and Rangeley Plantation;
(b) Bond Brook in the City of Augusta and the Town of Manchester;
(c) Bull Branch of Sunday River and tributaries in Grafton Township and Riley Township;
(d) Carrabassett River and tributaries in the Town of Carrabassett Valley, Freeman Township, the Town of Kingfield, Mount Abram Township and Salem Township;
(e) Cold Stream tributaries, including Tomhegan Stream, in Chase Stream Township, Johnson Mountain Township and West Forks Plantation;
(f) Enchanted Stream in Upper Enchanted Township and Lower Enchanted Township;
(g) Magalloway River and tributaries, including Little Magalloway River, in Bowmantown Township, Lincoln Plantation, Lynchtown Township, Magalloway Plantation, Oxbow Township, Parkertown Township and Parmachenee Township;
(h) Rapid River in the Town of Upton and Township C;
(i) Sheepscot River and tributaries, including the West Branch, in the Town of Alna, the Town of China, the Town of Freedom, the Town of Liberty, the Town of Montville, the Town of Palermo, the Town of Somerville, the Town of Whitefield and the Town of Windsor;
(j) South Bog Stream in Rangeley Plantation;
(k) Spencer Stream and Little Spencer Stream tributaries, including Kibby Stream in Kibby Township, Skinner Township, T.3, R.5 B.K.P. W.K.R., T.4, R.5 B.K.P. W.K.R., King and Bartlett Township and T.5, R.6 B.K.P. W.K.R.; and
(l) Togus Stream in the Town of Chelsea and the Town of Randolph.
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Leo LorenzBasic Member Posts:486
12 Nov 2016 10:01 AM |
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Still Looking for Gold in Pennsylvania. Where can it be in Western PA
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JON STEINERGreenhorn Posts:
12 Nov 2016 08:53 PM |
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I have heard of some gold in NY. Be careful, from what I read is that any gold found must be turned in to the state because they own all mineral rights. I know a guy who find gold in Western PA. Research glacial moraines for PA. The gold should follow the glacial deposits.
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Leo LorenzBasic Member Posts:486
13 Nov 2016 10:17 AM |
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We have a state park called Moraine State Park....But I am just not too sure how far south the glaciers traveled with the gold. I guess as long as there is rounded river rocks there is a great chance of finding gold.
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WALTER EASONBuzzard Posts:581
14 Nov 2016 09:20 AM |
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HI Leo
It is not just how far they traveled, there were Ice Dams that prevailed when temperatures warmed, cooled, and warmed. This in many cases caused large dames of water behind ice dams which at some point would break and cover as much as several states with a flood of water. This means that the deposits cover more than just where the physical glacial systems were.
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Scott CrumGreenhorn Posts:
14 Nov 2016 08:43 PM |
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Walter, that is a very interesting point and one I hadn't considered. It certainly makes sense that I would be finding flour gold so far north of the morraines, where I've been digging is maybe only a mile from Lake Ontario. Jon, If New York state wants the 10 specs of gold I have been able to recover within the state, they can have it, I can't think of any reason the kings law would actually be used to take a small time prospectors gold (unless I found a nugget the size of a basketball). What, if I may ask, did you hear about New York gold? I'll take any information I can get. I have found the names of one or two creeks reading online, but the one i was able to get to I was unable to find any color. I've heard gold has been found as a byproduct from some gravel pits that classify out the sand to sell, but I haven't heard any names that I could go off of. -Scott
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Benjamin CrainBasic Member Posts:351
15 Nov 2016 05:08 PM |
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Finding Alluvial Placer deposits is usually not that difficult. Go to the side of the mountain, one with pretty straight walls and look for conglomerates. Those layers of conglomerate rock were formed from washes and pressure. If you are lucky you can find a layer that leads down to an opening that is exposed to a near by water source and I would look there. to start my panning. You can also look for the convergence of multiple washes and sample there, if you find something then you know you have at least one wash that has a deposit. But the fastest way to find gold in New York is like how other people do it. Go buy a gun, stick it in peoples faces, and tell them to hand over their Jewelry, and then run like hell. Just kidding of course. I just think about the rock formations in New York and even though you have exposed Bedrock in some locations but the majority of the gold is much further North in Canada, or further South in the Carolinas or Georgia Mountains. There is an area here in Colorado where you can just walk down the river, find conglomerate boulders and break pieces off and see gold flakes. There are also a few exposed quartz veins but to get permission to dig on those is very costly. Hopefully one day I will find one worth working but for now we just work the rivers. Don't forget that all your gold you find is not the nice and bright shiny type, the majority is in your Black Sands most of the time, it's just hard work to separate those since they are so fine and covered in sulfites. I have been reading into methods of extracting and cleaning the fine gold from my black sands but these Tellurites are a bear and my experiments to date have produced more yield but not the amount of yields I would expect. Not to mention some of the ideas I have read only are extremely dangerous. There is a river near by that has very little gold in it itself, but the banks of the river are full of it, problem is we are banned from digging into the banks. I think people still sneak down there at night and dig into the banks to fill up a few buckets of dirt to later work at home, I hate to see good dirt go to waste.
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Leo LorenzBasic Member Posts:486
15 Nov 2016 06:24 PM |
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I see alot of bedrock in Central Park in New York City......and much has some really glittery mica I assume. i wonder if they would freak out if people started panning in the park.
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Leo LorenzBasic Member Posts:486
15 Nov 2016 06:26 PM |
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Walter....that must have been one crazy sight to see back then when all this was going on.
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Jeff LitteerGreenhorn Posts:
30 Apr 2017 06:40 PM |
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Have you tried along the lake Ontario shoreline? There is gold in the sands along the south shore of lake Michigan, maybe the other lakes as well. Plenty of isolated shoreline west of Rochester. Might be worth a shot when the lake levels go back down.
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Samuel DeSalvoGreenhorn Posts:1
06 May 2017 11:39 AM |
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I've been prospecting the finger lakes for many years. I find flower gold and often a nice picker. The gold is in almost any Creek or stream in this area. The only way I've had success is through a lot of hard work. The gold lies deep in bedrock cracks so getting it is a challenge but can be done with some simple crevice tools. Bexcuse of the state laws I always put what I find right back. Good luck. Try the Hightower area surrounding Naples.
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Jamin NeetGreenhorn Posts:24
06 May 2017 07:15 PM |
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Used to live in Poughkeepsie. NY does have some minor amounts of gold, but you're right - the king's law makes it all pointless. Way to go, NY!!! *mutter mutter* Anyway, you will probably find minor specks here and there pretty much anywhere you look. If you want something a bit more serious, closest thing is Vermont. There was at least one gold rush there, and still some decent diggings available. Most interesting thing you can mine in NY is the Herkimer diamonds.
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Darlene JacksonGreenhorn Posts:4
09 May 2017 11:49 AM |
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Hi all
I too, am stuck in NY but I've heard of gold up in the nearby states of CN, MN, and VT. Actually the swift river in Maine is quite famous for gold and assorted characters lol .
Of course you can buy books or check google.... btw warning ! I think it's still WINTER in Maine until june
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Todd FosterGreenhorn Posts:1
18 Apr 2021 02:08 PM |
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Howdy Scott, I realize this is possibly your graduate year ... if so congrats ! As for NY gold , it is here. The outflow of the finger lakes I am told fine , wire , even ribbon gold has been found. Hope you are still bugged by gold ! It is a great feeling to know you are the first human to see , touch , be aware of any Au that you discover !
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Steven SwiderskiGreenhorn Posts:2
27 Jun 2021 02:21 AM |
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Hi All, This is Steve from Dayton Ohio. I am headed to Horseheads and curious of the name of some gold streams nearby. I pan here locally in the Little Miami, Little Beavercreek and Beavercreek. I find at least one mouse turd in every pan. I am happy to show anyone coming this way where the gold is here. I have been panning for 12 years and never get tired of it. LMK text if necessary 937-620-3565.
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Leo LorenzBasic Member Posts:486
27 Jun 2021 12:41 PM |
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Hey Steve, Im from Western Pa, Little Beaver that runs along the Ohio and Pa state line?
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Steven SwiderskiGreenhorn Posts:2
27 Jun 2021 01:06 PM |
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Hi Leo, The beavercreeks I pan are just East of Dayton Ohio in and near the town Beavercreek and Xenia. I pan daily here and the ground is 250,000 years old glacial drift. From Cincinnati north to the middle of the state any where I pan I find gold. Like I said mouse poop, but once a day a size Greater than 30 less than 20. If you are ever going panning near here lmk. I am willing to show anyone the gold spots because it is everywhere. :-)
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Leo LorenzBasic Member Posts:486
27 Jun 2021 03:43 PM |
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Thanks for the reply! Gee....what type of ground is it mostly over there..sandy? gravel's ? Do you see evidence of quartz? Ohio is a lot flatter than western PA. Likely glaciers reached that far down into the states. Hard to imagine how that would have looked back then.
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ARTHUR WAUGHAdvanced Member Posts:967
30 Jun 2021 01:17 AM |
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Leo,. Was just following this thread and saw your comment on Walt's post on ice dams. Do some looking on the Missoula floods from the last ice age. Several formed and broke, coming down the Columbia River Gorge, flooding the Willamette Valley from Portland to Eugene. One even brought a huge house sized boulder locked in ice and dropped it in the McMinnville Oregon area. Willamette Valley owes it's topsoil to the sediment from Montana brought in on those waters.
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Leo LorenzBasic Member Posts:486
30 Jun 2021 01:38 AM |
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Thanks Arthur. One thing that amazes me is ...How the hell do they know this to be actually what happened thousands of years gone by.!! Im not doubting what you said, just always think how amazing these people say with so much confidence that these things actually happened. And there was no one to see this.
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ARTHUR WAUGHAdvanced Member Posts:967
30 Jun 2021 12:03 PM |
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They have had the ability to test rock and dirt and compare it for years. Can tell you what volcano a hunk of lava came from. Good book on Oregon geology spots by a lady professor, last name Bishop, think the first name was Ellen. They can even tell what part of the state gold is from by it's purity.
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ARTHUR WAUGHAdvanced Member Posts:967
30 Jun 2021 12:04 PM |
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They have had the ability to test rock and dirt and compare it for years. Can tell you what volcano a hunk of lava came from. Good book on Oregon geology spots by a lady professor, last name Bishop, think the first name was Ellen. They can even tell what part of the state gold is from by it's purity.
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