There's gold in them there hills.

[Dinner]

With the price of gold up over $1000 I was thinking about trying my hand at a little gold panning and I was wondering if anyone here had already tried it? I figure even if I don't find much gold it would still be a fun weekend to go camping in our local mountains but since Julian is well known for gold deposits (with Ramona and Escondido having minor deposits) I thought I'd give that a try. Does anyone here know anything about panning for gold or a decent place to start looking? I quick search on the internet revealed a couple of possibilities though I'm concerned about there being existing claims and I certainly don't want to be a claim jumper. Any advice would appreciated.

The best areas according to internet resources are Wynola Creek off Wynola Rd and Banner Creek by the old Banner Mine Rd. The mother load country this is not but there just might be some gold left. According to the California Department of Mines between 1870 and 1959 a total of 220,000 ounces of gold were mined in those areas.

Here's a neat little new clip (including two videos) of people panning for gold in the San Gabriel Mountains north of LA and near Jamestown, CA where the old 1849 gold rush was at.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/NEW-CALIFORNIA-GOLD-RUSH.html

[The Mad Monk]

I almost started a thread on this, it's a good idea.

The New California Gold Rush

Modern-day gold diggers party like it's 1849

By CHUCK HENRY and TARA WALLIS

Updated 1:17 AM PDT, Thu, Mar 26, 2009

Within an hour of downtown Los Angeles, people are seeking that one sure commodity.

"I'm here to find gold," said Kevin Brown. "I'm a studio lighting technician in Hollywood, between the writers strike that happened last year, and the Screen Actors Guild, whatever they want to call it. Lately I've had to turn to having to do it for extra cash."

Geologists estimate that during the gold rush of 1849 in California, about 80 percent of the gold was never found. Today, with the price of gold soaring and the economy falling, the idea of panning, digging or diving for precious metal has become serious business.

"There's definitely gold nuggets down in the bottom here," Brown said. "Just a matter of getting 30 feet down lower than any old timer or modern prospector has done."

And, for people willing to put in the effort, it's paying off.

"I just wanted a little California gold. That's all I initially started at," said David Perkins, an unemployed aerospace worker from the South Bay. "And, one thing led to another, and within my first year, I actually picked up close to two pounds of gold."

Where's the best place to find gold? In the Mother Lode country just east of Modesto, Calif., experts say.

But prospecting is not easy money. It takes time and a lot of hard work. John Gurney, who came out to California from the East Coast to find gold, was able to pull out about $35,000 worth of gold nuggets over a couple of months. Then there was a dry spell -- and now, John is at it again.

"Some days you sit here and make two cents. Some days you make a couple of hundred dollars. I had one good day and made about $10,000," Gurney said.

This was another one of those good days. Gurney was able to recover several hundred dollars in gold nuggets from the river. And, after running the dirt through a sluice, he took the rest down to the river and sifted out the gold.

"See these two pieces," said Gurney. "They're just sitting right there."

California's second gold rush has also created at least one recession-proof business.

Keene Engineering of Chatsworth, Calif., makes the equipment you need to find gold -- from plastic pans to large commercial rigs. The owners say their business has doubled.

"There are hundreds of people coming in here to buy gold pans and sluice boxes, and take their chances of finding gold in the local hills and mountains," said sales manager Patrick Keene. "There is a whole new flood of prospectors and miners."

Gold also is found in Southern California along riverbanks in the San Gabriel Mountains. One hot spot is a canyon above Azusa, where the road is often lined with campers.

"Back in my childhood, I use to come up quite a bit with my parents," said David Perkins. "But not until I was in my early 20s did I know that gold was in the river. There aren't many places like this. Once more people find out about it, it's going to get really crowded up here this year."

When asked if prospectors give out the location of a really good find, Perkins responded, "If we're sitting on a good spot with good gold, we're going to tell you to go about a mile down the river and that's where you're going to find the gold."

First Published: Mar 24, 2009 4:45 PM PDT

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/NEW-CALIFORNIA-GOLD-RUSH.html

[The Mad Monk]

Out here I suppose I could prospect for fossils, there are plenty around here.

Mostly brachiopods.

Lots and lots of brachiopods.

[Naked Gents Rut]

Is there any way to ignore thread titles? This one clearly needed a "thar" in it...

[Lefty Scaevola]

Panning for gold is a lot of work, personally, I use my philosophers stone and transmutate lead instead.

[Kidlicious]

Is there any way to ignore thread titles? This one clearly needed a "thar" in it...

You might try ignoring the entire website

[Japher]

Thar!

My grandpa had a cabin in Coloma with a little creek that ran through his property. As kids we would pan for gold all the time, never found anything. It was about 5 miles from Sutter's Mill.

We had to do a report on the gold rush in 4th grade and I got an argument with my teach who claimed that gold was discovered at his mill in Columbia near Sonora. I told her she was wrong, having spent a lot of time in Coloma with my grandpa by that age. Man was her face read when we took a class trip to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento...

[Dinner]

When I was living in Sactown (only stayed a year because I hated it) I took the tour of Sutter's Fort. It's was kind of cool and informative.

[Seeker]

Yukon is way better for gold panning. The Klondike gold rush was even more inefficient and short-lived, and the weather makes it unpopular for small time amateurs.

I f I was gonna do it, it would be in the Yukon.

[Dinner]

I'd rather hang out in California as the weather is better.

[Aeson]

I was thinking the other day... with so much of the earth's surface covered in ocean, there's gotta be some gold in them there thar waters... I wonder if there will ever be a gold rush to a motherload on the ocean floor... that'd be awesome...

(And no, gold on beaches and filtering gold right out of the water don't count...)

[Theben]

This one clearly needed a "thar" in it...

Crap, I agreed with NGR.

[Zkribbler]

Panning for gold is a lot of work, personally, I use my philosophers stone and transmutate lead instead.

You forgot a couple of critical points.
Where do you pan for gold?
>In a river or stream.
Where does the river or stream come from?
>Melting snow.
So, what's the temperature of the river or stream?
>About 33 degrees Fahrenheit.

[rtwinger]

The best way to find gold nowadays isn't in panning for gold, neither mining unless you have a well established business that's into that sort of thing. The best way to find hold is urban scavenging.

Here's how it works, and it does work because I've done it before.
The best place to do it is in a dilapidated urban area, plenty of which are in LA.
Drive out to abandoned urban district and keep an eye out for trouble, homeless people, and squatters.

Find a house, any house, and begin scavenging. The reason I say you can find gold this way is that strangely enough, a lot of the items left behind in abandoned homes is jewelry. Take all of the jewelry that you find, most of it's going to be junk - or jink as us in the urban scavenging community call it. However, occasionally you find real gold jewelry which you can sell for massive profits.

Not to mention I occasionally find items of some collectors value that dont necessary have any monetary value, like old WW2 memorabilia, weapons, and other cool stuff.

Risks:
-Most of these homes may house homeless people. Most of the time they are not dangerous and won't even care or stop you from scavenging, but there is of course a risk involved when dealing with these types of people. Usually I prefer to come during the day as it's less likely abandoned homes are used as shelter.
-The locations of the abandoned homes are sometimes in bad neighborhoods, but also keep in mind since these areas are abandoned they're not as bad as other gang controlled areas.

I'm actually starting a website and blog about this.

[The Mad Monk]

Anybody want to buy some brachiopods?