Appalachian Prospectors Gold Prospecting Adventures

Sluice Box Set Up (Keene A52)

prospectorjack — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:03:19 +0000

This is how I set up my sluice box, a Keene A 52. This will work for any sluice box.The recomended drop for the sluice box is 1 inch per foot, the Keene A52 is about 3 feet long so a 3 inch drop is good. Meaning that the feed end is 3 inches higher than the discharge end. I find that this varies to some degree depending on water flow. I don’t exceed 3 inches.

The first thing I do is locate a good flow of water as near as possible to the location I am going to be working. You don’t want to be lugging buckets of material long distances this will cost you time and reduce production. There are times when you may have to channel water to your sluice box. You accomplish this using river rocks building a small dam fanning out in a Y shape from the feed end of your sluice box. This will channel water flow down through the sluice box.
Place the sluice box in the flow of water. I try to get about half to three-quarters of an inch of water flowing through the sluice.
Level the sluice box from side to side and I set my desired drop. I don’t get a ruler out but roughly 3 inches. I bought a stand for mine with adjustable legs this makes it easier but rocks work just fine.
I check the flow by throwing a handful of rocks between a half-inch and an inch or so into the feed end of the sluice box. If the rocks blow right through then reduce the water flow. If the rocks stop in the sluice box then increase the water flow. The rocks should tumble smoothly through. Once I have this I place a large flat rock on top of the sluice box to hold it firmly in place.
Next I shovel a scoop (garden trowel) of material into the sluice. I first classify the material I am working through a half-inch mesh screen (a classifier) into a bucket. I shovel this right into the flare and I am looking for it to move out of there in 5 to 10 seconds.
I start processing a bucket watching that the material is flowing evenly through the sluice. I watch for material building up more one side than the other if this is so I level it from side to side until I have even flow. I make sure the riffles are not clogging up if this happens then increase water flow. The opposite is the riffles are washing clean then decrease water flow. You will see gold collecting in the rubber matting and it will stay there while all the lighter material washes away.
Clean up is easy just pick the sluice box straight up out of the water being careful not to tip your discharge end to low causing water to gush through this could wash some of your gold out. Put the discharge end into a 5 gallon bucket. disconnect the riffles, take your gold pan with water in it and pour down through the sluice into the bucket. Remove the riffles, remove the expanded metal grating after rinsing it. Slide or roll the carpet or miners moss wich ever you have into the bucket, rinse sluice box thoroughly clean. Check the ribbed matting for gold and remove then set aside. Rinse out you carpet or miners moss then you are ready to process your concentrates.

Notice the flow of water in this picture. Also notice the rock on top holding the sluice box in place. I had recovered some very fine gold.

Notice the water flow here on the feed end this worked very well for us we had recovered some nice pickers and some very fine gold as well.

Cleaning up the sluice box.

You may have to tweak this process, experiment and have fun with it.

Prospector’s Forum

prospectorjack — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:52:25 +0000

We have added more discussion topics at www.appalachianprospectors.com so stop by click on the forum tab and join in on the discussion. Together we can create an informative prospecting forum. Weather its gold prospecting, rock, gem or mineral collecting, metal detecting or treasure hunting your input would br greatly valued. If you don’t find a discussion topic you would like to join in on start a new one.

Gold Bugs First Bite

prospectorjack — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:33:44 +0000

I was 5 years old when I was first bitten by the gold bug, although the gold fever was dormant for many years this is how it started for me. My grandmother Alice Canon was an avid rockhound and gold prospector, I had always taken an interest in her rock collection and her gold that she found. One year about 1970 my grandparents took us,my family dad, mom, sis and me to Byron Maine for a gold prospecting get away. We stayed in a pretty rustic camp, which I thought was awesome. Now my memory of this trip is sketchy but one thing I do remember for sure is that I was in the back of my grandfather’s ford bronco riding down this dirt road, it was really more like a trail, I can remember trying to drink a can of soda and when I tried to take a drink we would hit a bump and I would spill the soda all over my face and down the front of me, to be honest with you I think my grandfather was doing this on purpose he got a big kick out of it hahaha. We drove to the end of this road and parked, we got out and we forded a river, the East Branch of the Swift River, on the other side was an old rail road bed which the tracks had long been gone. We followed this rail trail down river, I couldn’t tell you how far I couldn’t judge distance very well at that age, but it seemed like a long way to me. We finally reached our destination, my grandfather said this is it and down over the bank sat this curious little camp in the middle of nowhere with a meticulous garden alongside the river. My Grandfather announced this is Carl’s’ place and we walked on into his humble camp. My grandparents introduced us to Carl Shilling The gold miner as they called him they also refered to him as the old prospector or the old hermit. Carl was and still is a bit of a local legend when it comes to prospecting. Carl had been living in that location roughly forty years when we met him that day, he had migrated to the United States from Germany. Carl was in his 80′s at this time.We were not the only ones there that day, there were a few others there as well, but they were out in the middle of the river panning for gold, they were green horns. I remember Carl shouting out to them asking ” Did you find anything” they just shook their heads and replied “no.” I could see them panning and not having very good luck, so the next thing you know Carl is heading out to their location and he gives them a demonstration, he takes their pan and shovels some material into it and he starts to pan and he works it down and he is pointing in the pan saying see there it is there’s the gold.He did a few more pans and came up with gold every time. Then he brought them back to the shore and he told them you really want to find some nice gold come over here, he brought them to a location on the bank and he told them here dig here, dig down about four feet and that’s where you are going to find the best gold. He came back over to visit with us. My parents, grandparents and he spoke for a while, I don’t recall what they spoke of but I am sure it had something to do with gold, and if my grandfather had anything to do with it I am sure they talked about fishing. I do remember one story that he told it was about a certain bear that had crashed through his house and I believe that he said the roof, to get to his stores, it was bacon or something. He invited us into his cabin. Upon entering the first thing you noticed was a large American flag hanging on his wall and I remember him saying that this American flag was his most prized possession and he loved the United States and that this was his country and he said it with such feeling and conviction that you know he ment it. We had left Carl’s camp,and I had left with a lasting impression, one that forty some odd years later I still remember. I had often thought of the old miner living on the East Branch of the Swift River. How he lived out in the wilderness, no electricity, no television growing his own vegetables, hunting for wild game, I thought he must have been one rugged individual living out there through those hard Maine winters all those years. I also thought he must have found a great deal of gold. The rest of our stay in Byron was a good one I enjoyed the rustic cabin we stayed in, it was very comfortable we had fun, it was a great family experience. The years had passed and I would visit my grandparents, I would spend time going over my grandmothers rock collection and admiring her gold from various places and talking about the old miner up in Byron Maine. If you care to read more about Carl Shilling you can find more of his story in a book by C. J. Stevens called The Next Bend In The River, Gold Mining In Maine, This is a very informative book with a lot of information about prospecting in Maine, you can find this book at www.appalachianprospectors.com in our on-line general store.

These photos were taken by my Grandparents George and Alice Cannon between the years 1967 and 1970, they had frequented the area much.

Intersection of Dingle Hill RD and Buckfield Hill RD

View of Carl Shillins camp from the rail road bed

A view of Carl Shillings camp from the rail road bed

Carl Shilling's camp along side of the East Branch of the Swift River

Side view of Carl Shillings cabin

The front of Carl Shillings cabin

The camp we stayed in, located on Weld Road

School house Byron Maine

Byron Maine

My grandmother panning for gold

My grandmother & friends panning for gold in the East Branch of the Swift River

Coos Canyon, Byron Maine

Swift River,Byron Maine

Coos Canyon in Byron Maine

My Grandmother Alice Cannon

My Grandfather George Cannon, he did more fishing than prospecting.

New Web Site

prospectorjack — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:18:56 +0000

Check out Appalachian Prospectors new web site at www.appalachianprospectors.com it’s not quite finished yet but it will be a continual work of progress.

Shawangunk Lead Mine

prospectorjack — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:59:32 +0000

Click to view slideshow.It was early spring and I had the itch to do some prospecting. I had been surfing the web all winter and I came across this mine, the Shawangunk lead mine also known as the Mamakating lead mine, this place is not far from home near Wurtsboro NY. I had asked my wife Doris if she would be interested in going to check it out with me. I told her that it would be a somewhat strenuous hike up a mountain and that I was not quite sure the exact location and that we had to find it, she said yes. We put our son on the school bus, packed a lunch and we were off. We parked at the VFW which is an old rail road depot and we hiked down the old rail bed this is all state land, the tracks are long since gone. We hiked down this for almost a mile until we came to a road to the right that goes up the mountain. It was the second road which we should have taken the first road we came to. We followed this road and it split, I chose the wrong way so we back tracked to the split and took the other road. It was a beautiful day, the sun shone brightly it was a great day for a hike and we were glad to be out of the house. It took us about two hours to reach the mine adit. When we arrived we sat down on a large rock with a spectacular view of the valley below overlooking the Wurtsboro air port. After we finished our lunch we explored the site, the adit had been filled in so that people can not enter the shaft. On the side of safety it is a good idea to stay out of old mines for they tend to be unstable. This particular shaft has probably not been worked for over 100 years. Stay out, stay alive, keep that in mind while visiting old mines. There was a huge tailing pile, so I pulled out my rock hammer and went to work while Doris gave the metal detector a try. This is what you can find at this site: Galena; Sphalerite ;Quartz; Pyrite; Chalcopyrite; Muscovite. We easily found all of these specimens. I had read in a geological report that this mine also contained small amounts of silver and minute amounts of gold. I have some specimens that may contain gold, I don’t know yet I have to crush the rock and then pan it, I am saving that for a winter project to help stave off the gold fever.

For more information on this mine go to www.nyow.org/mamakating.html

The Bare Essentials

prospectorjack — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 05:57:54 +0000

These are the bare essentials for gold prospecting, this is all you need to get started. A gold pan, shovel, tweezers and a vile to put your gold in.

There are numerous types of gold pans, notice this one has two sets of rifles. The rifles are there to catch the gold, the larger ones are for working your material down and the smaller ones are for finishing. This pan is black, this is my personal preference because it is easier for me to see and retrieve the gold from. Gold pans come in different colors and various sizes made of plastic, it is good to choose one that has a little flexibility not one that is brittle that way if you should step on it don’t break.

Here are two different colors and three different sizes. A 14, 12, 10 inch pan. The 10 inch is for finishing also great for children to use. The 12 inch is lighter than the 14 inch when panning material. I have a harder time seeing the gold in the blue pan, my wife on the other hand has no problem.

Here is a green pan, the rifles in this one are a little larger. The magnetite or black sands show up very well in this pan. This is my second choice.

Here is a metal pan, notice that there are no rifles in this pan. There is more of a chance of losing gold with this one. This pan was my grandmothers pan and I usually bring it on every gold prospecting trip and I do use it and I do find gold with it. It also works good as a wash basin, I can heat water up in it on the camp stove and wash my face. The type of gold pan you use is really a matter of preference. I would suggest starting with either the 14 inch black pan with the two sets of rifles or the 14 inch green one.

You want to have a good set of tweezers to retrieve your gold with. I prefer the ones that are curved at the business end and come down to a nice point. You will also need a vile or small bottle to put your gold in, you don’t want to try to put it in you pocket, you will lose it for sure, unless it’s a nice big nugget.

Here is an alternative to the tweezers and vile, this is a snuffer bottle you use it to suck the gold from the bottom of your pan. This works great for the small stuff and the flour gold, gold dust. I use this as well as tweezers, if I can’t get the gold with the tweezers I use this. The gold dust adds up so don’t throw it away.

Here is Hillbilly John using his tweezers to put the gold he retrieved from his pan into his vile.

Here are some tools you may want to add but not necessary to get started with. These tools I use for crevising. crevising is when you dig in the cracks of the ledge rock I have various sizes for different applications. the small ones are nothing more than scribing tools I bought a Lowes, an awl the long one I made and they all work great. You may even want a magnifying glass.

It Only Takes One To Ruin It For All

prospectorjack — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:37:02 +0000

Demonstrating the proper place to dig and that is in the stream bed.

On our last trip to Byron Maine, it had been brought to our attention that a very selfish individual, one who knows the regulations of the state of Maine, chose to disregard the regulations and dig in the bank while prospecting for gold. It was said that this individual had dug approximately 20 feet into the bank in a nearby stream, he was not on the swift river. Along comes hurricane Irene dumps all her water on the region and swells all the rivers and streams in the area. In this particular stream where this individual had dug in the bank, all this flood water had undermined trees and fell into the stream and causing it to dam thus creating a huge mess. The land owner was not pleased at all. The land in mention is owned by one of the large paper companies who graciously allows recreational prospectors to prospect for gold. Needless to say the land owner was so angry they closed down the property for public use. May I also add that the state of Maine was none to pleased either. This kind of activity could cause the state to make more stringent laws concerning gold prospecting or shut it down entirely thanks to the actions of one selfish, carless individual.

GENERAL REGULATIONS ( Taken from the Department Of conservation State Of Maine Geological Survey Web site)

With the exception of areas administered by the Maine Land use Regulation Commission, gold panning activities in Maine do not require a permit as long as the following restrictions are adhered to:

The activity is confined to sandy/gravely/cobbly unvegetated stream beds, with no disturbance of stream banks.

The activity is limited to the use of gold pans, sluices of less than 10 square feet, or suction dredges with a hose diameter of 4 inches or less.

Permission from the land owner must be obtained. Why? First, it’s a matter of common courtesy to the land owner. But also,trespassing on posted land in Maine can be a matter of civil law. The water in a stream is under the jurisdiction of the state; but the stream bottom and streambank- as well as the access across land to the stream is most likely private property (exceptions include public lots, state parks, etc.). If you cause any damage to that property, even if it is not posted, you may be subject to civil action brought by the land owner. You can avoid these problems by talking to the landowner ahead of time.

You can find this at: www.maine.gov. type in ” gold in maine” in the search maine.gov.

If we all just follow these simple rules we can ensure that we have a place to prospect tomorrow. These regulations change from state to state so always check with the state conservation department you wish to prospect in before you engage in such activity.

Hurricane Irene Brings Golden Opportunity

prospectorjack — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:17:07 +0000

Hillbilly John and I had planned for a couple of weeks another dredging trip to Maine again, probably the last one of the season, then Hurricane Irene hit. After seeing the news and seeing the devastation that Irene had brought to the Northeastern part of the United States we thought we may have to cancel our plans. We weren’t even sure if we could make it to Byron Maine but we left anyway, a day later than we had planned. We made good time it only took us 7 hours to get there and that was with towing a trailer with 2 quads. We arrived and went straight to the East Branch of the Swift River, the river level had gone down to a good level to work with a dredge. We set up camp right along the river, only to get kicked out of that spot the following day by a game officer, it was not an approved camp site, fortunately we didn’t get a fine and we were able to get an available site at Coos Canyon campground and cabins wich was about 5 miles away from our work site. Anyway when we arrived we had gone down to the river and located the site we wanted to work and then found a way in to it. We had gone back to our site and got our equipment, the dredge was dismantled so that we could pack it in to the work site on quads, it took us several trips to get all our equipment and tools in to the work site. We put the dredge together which is a Keene 4 inch, 3 stage. We made preparations so that we could start dredging the following morning, everything was good in the universe. We went back to our camp site had dinner then sat around the campfire and made our plan of attack for the following day.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and raced down to the river to get started. We put the dredge in the water and went to work and found that the flood waters had washed away much of the overburden we had experienced on a previous trip we had made back in May. We had dredged all day and moved a lot of rock, we did our clean up on our dredge and brought our concentrates back to the camp site, and that is when we discovered the ticket on the windshield of the truck. We figured we better move to the campground. It was late in the day and almost time for the campground office to close so I jumped on the quad and headed down to the campground.Hillbilly John stayed behind and started breaking our camp site down. I had made the office just in time and they only had 2 sites left being labor day weekend, we were very fortunate. I went back up to the spot we had by the river and helped Hillbilly John pack up the rest of our gear. We got to the campground and we still had a little bit of daylight left, we made some quick work of setting up camp again. I started cooking dinner and Hillbilly John started running the concentrates through the Desert Fox. Dinner is now served Hillbilly John took a break from running the material and we both at, I was famished as I usually am after a hard day of prospecting. After dinner Hillbilly John was back to his task of cleaning up our find, and I washed the dishes. Hillbilly John had finished running the concentrates and he said hey Jack you got to see this we got a small nugget I was like WHAT? Sure enough he had dumped the cup upside down in a gold pan and sure enough we had a small nugget and a lot of small flakes as well. That turned out to be a good hole.

The following day we worked the hole and moved a lot of boulders it was a productive day. We were going to continue when the sky turned dark and then the heavens opened up, poured,hail, thunder and lightning from every direction the sky looked as if a tornado was about to touch down the way the clouds were churning. We had taken cover on the bank and all we could do was watch the river rise and it rose quick. after about 40 minutes the rain subsided and we pulled the dredge out of the water and secured it on the bank. We cleaned the concentrates from the dredge and went back to camp, it was a wet ride back for the rain was now slow and steady, by the time we got back to the campsite it had stopped for a little while. We cleaned up the concentrates and we had some nice gold again. We had dinner, had a camp fire and called it a day.

The spot we had to move to.

The next day we discovered that the river had risen and the hole we had been working was now to swift to dredge so we had moved the dredge to a spot about 70 feet above where we were working still the same line we had intended to work. We had to push the dredge through some rapids to a pretty calm eddy. We tied the dredge off to a boulder and everything was good. We were ready to start again upon starting the dredge we discovered the air compressor was full of water, I couldn’t get any air to breath. We drained off the water and we were back in business. It was raining again and the air compressor continued to take on water so every so often we had to stop to drain the air out of it. To remedy this we zip tied an umbrella to the snorkel on the air compressor to keep the water out. Never the less with all the issues with the rain, and rain it did for the rest of the time we were there we had gotten gold every day that we were there and that was a good thing thanks to hurricane Irene for cleaning up the river.

See you next time.

Swift River Byron Maine

prospectorjack — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:32:24 +0000

Just got back from a ten-day prospecting adventure in Byron Maine. It was a really great time and for me ten days was not enough time. We had started our adventure on July 17, this time I had brought my wife Doris my son Charlie who is 8 years old the little girl who my wife baby sits for Nora who is 7 and my parents Alice and Maynard. There were also other family and friends that were meeting us at the camp ground, all had never prospected before. I had brought my sluice high banker dredge combo that I had mentioned in a previous post with me and I was very eager to try it out. I brought enough pans for every one to use of various sizes and of course shovels, buckets and so on. My jeep was packed to the hilt. My parents met at my house in New York, they live in New Jersey, and their vehicle was also packed. We left my house at 6am and arrived in Byron Maine at 2 pm, it was an 8 hour trip. We camped at Coos Canyon Campground and Cabins.Doris the kids and I rented a lean-to. My parents rented a tent site with electricity. We unloaded the vehicles and set up camp as soon as I was done with that I was down over the bank to the river in Coos Canyon to do some panning. Doris went over to the cabins to meet up with her sister Kathy who was spending a couple of nights in the cabin with her husband and daughter. Meanwhile another group in our party had arrived, family of ours from Maine Russ, Sue and their two kids Mike and Katie. They had a tent site in between us and my parents. While I was panning I did find a little color that was a good sign. I went to check on how every one was coming along with setting up their tents. We also had some other friends from New Hampshire staying next to my parents wich they had gotten there the day before us. We were all settled in, we ate dinner and had a nice campfire. I made my plans for the next day. I don’t know about everyone else but I slept great. I fell asleep to the sound of the river’s waters cascading over the centuries worn ledge rock and awoke to the same with the sun’s golden rays beaming down through the evergreen canopy and the smell of the lush pines and hemlocks. I got up got a fresh pot of coffee going on the camp stove and made bacon and eggs for the adults. My wife Doris got up and made blueberry pancakes for the kids. Then I started making preparations for the day. For all those who were interested converged on our camp site by 10 am. A group of us headed for the river with the sluice box, pans, buckets and shovels. Doris and I gave some panning lessons, and then a demonstration on how a sluice box worked. Some people panned while others dug in the riverbed and ran the material through the sluice box. The younger kids got bored with it and spent their time with swimming and catching minnows. We spent a good portion of the day at it and then we did our clean up. Not much gold just a few salt and pepper size pieces. We gave the gold to Chuck my brother-in-law because he had to leave that evening and we will get more gold the next day. It was a good learning experience for those who had never panned or sluiced before. After the prospecting it was back up to our camp site for a bar-b-que. We all ate good and then it was relaxation and conversation by the campfire with some good coffee. The following day Doris took a group of people down to the lower end of Coos Canyon for some panning and crevicing and swimming for the kids. While Mike, my dad and I went up river to where the East branch of the swift river ran into the main branch for some dredging. We parked the jeep along the main branch and we had to carry everything across the main branch to the East branch, we each had to make a couple of trips. There were a few prospectors already there sluicing and panning of course I had to go see how they were making out, they were finding some color. One of them was from Michigan the others were from Maine. It took a little time to get set up I had to put the dredge together. It’s a two and a half-inch dredge/high banker conversion kit that bolts up to my sluice box. I had added some ribbed matting that I had bought at Coos Canyon Rock and Gift, Rosey the proprietor has a good selection of prospecting supplies. While we were in there Rosey had informed us that on that past sunday a prospector dredging on the East Branch had found a five eighths oz. nugget and a good number of nice sized flakes. She showed us pictures of it and I swear it was over an ounce of gold. Well any way we got the dredge together and up and running, My dad tended the box while Mike and I took turns at the nozzle and moving the big rocks. I was very happy with the performance of the dredge. At the end of the day we had color in our pan. Mike is 16 years old, he was leaving the following day so we gave him the gold to take home with him, He thought it was a cool experience.The following day my dad and I worked the same hole, we found a little gold not much I decided it was time to move. The hole was about as deep as I could reach with just a snorkel and mask.I had moved our operation further up the East Branch. For the next couple of days we had dredged in this spot and now it was me Doris, my son Charlie and Nora. It was fun The kids had a chance to work the dredge we found a little more gold. There were a good number of prospectors in this area, some dredging, some panning and some others sluicing. some were experienced well seasoned prospectors and some were first timers. I had a good time showing people how to set up their sluice box and how to pan, I enjoy the camaraderie, I also enjoy in sharing in the excitement of those that are new to prospecting when they find gold. The following day we had stayed down by the camp ground, we were expecting some more family to stop in to see us. I did some sluicing in coos canyon while the kids swam. Doris sat on the ledge while making her jewelry. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shinning and we were all content. Kathy and Chuck found us, I put their son Scott to work shoveling while their daughters Erica and Gina enjoyed the water. They had brought a picnic lunch and drinks and that was greatly appreciated. I cleaned up the sluice found a small bit of gold and we went back to the camp site. I wanted to try yet another area so the following day I went to a spot on the East Branch for some sluicing. This spot had some nice looking ledge outcropping. Found a hole that someone else had been working, dug a few inches more and hit bedrock. I started following the bed rock and this is where I found my best pieces of gold yet. Got a nice flake and several other small bits. We had one more day left I figured I should try the high banker out so that is what I did. I found some more nice pieces, I was very pleased with the operation of the high banker configuration. It figures though on the last two days I was starting to find the best gold. I should have started with this spot. Oh well next time. It was a great time and an experience I am sure the kids will not forget.

Versatility of The Keene A52 Sluicebox

prospectorjack — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:11:09 +0000

If you are considering some new prospecting equipment consider this. Last year my wife bought me a Keene A52 sluicebox for my birthday I was very happy with its performance, I retrieved some nice gold with it. As you are running your material through you can see the gold being caught in the ribbed matting at the top of the sluice. There are add ons that you can get for the A52 so that you can upgrade. Over the past year I have purchased these upgrades. First I bought the leg stand, then for Christmas my wife got me the highbanker- dredge conversion kit and then the pump. The dredge is a two and a half-inch. Everything bolts right on to the A52. This set up gives me the ability to use it three different ways. I can use it for sluicing, for highbanking or for dredging depending on the situation. I am getting ready to test it out in Maine.