Wednesday, January 18th


A GREAT day!


So today I took a solo trip down to Great Falls.  It was turning out to be a bad day until one pan turned it all around.  I found 2 pickers in one pan!  My jaw dropped, I just wish someone was there to see it.  I cleaned out the whole area around it but it was not nearly as good as the first pan.  Both are probably the biggest pieces I've found so far.  

I was a little disappointed that they only weighed that much but oh well it's not about money its about having fun.

47 pieces


Total Pieces: 250


Jason

UPDATE

Here is a picture of the progress on my sluice.  I have decided to make it into a high banker instead and just run material at home instead of carrying it with me.  I have done everything, I am just waiting for my miners moss and rubber matting to arrive in the mail.  Total cost of the whole project was $90.... So maybe I could've bought a sluice box with that money but it was really fun to make it.  I will post the picture of it when it's finished and maybe a video of it running material.  

Monday, January 16th


An off day...


Well I guess everyday can't be a success.  I only panned for about an hour, I just couldn't handle the cold weather.  I experimented with a new location and it did not seem to pay off.  I found 41 flakes, none of them were big at all.

Oh well better luck next time!


Total pieces: 203


Jason

Just a suggestion....


Hey everyone, the old man who gave me the glass vials also suggested that I get a glass eye dropper to get my gold into the vial.  Most people just dump the gold into the vial from their snuffer bottle but I have found that a lot of gold sticks to the bottom of the bottle since it's plastic and never fully comes out.  What I do is when I get home, dump all my gold out of the snuffer bottle into my small pan.  Then I do the best I can to separate the gold from black sand because I don't want a bunch of black sand in my vial.  Then I suck up the gold with the eye dropper, put the end in the vial, and squeeze everything back out of the eye dropper.  Since it is glass, no gold sticks to the inside of it.  This is the easiest way I can come up with but if anyone has a better idea feel free to share.  I got the eye dropper at walgreens for $2.99 and it came with 2.  Make sure it's glass not plastic :P

Jason

Thursday, January 12th 2012


Last night it poured down rain for hours which caused the creek level to rise a few feet.  This morning I went back down to the creek and saw the the area I worked on Tuesday was under water.  So my only option was to pan material towards the top of the bank if I wanted to stay dry.  Surprisingly I found gold even that high up (about 6 feet about the normal water height).  In my 2nd pan of the day I found my biggest piece so far.  I'm not sure if it's considered a picker but it makes a nice sound when I drop it into the pan :).  I panned from about 10:30-3:00.  The days are so short in the winter time so I can't wait to get out there in the summer when I can pan all day long.  Here is a picture of today's take.

I was so happy when I saw that big chunk in my pan, it made the whole day worth it.  I've noticed that every time I go panning, I seem to find a little bit more and the pieces keep getting bigger.  So lets hope I keep going up!  65 pieces today.


I met this very nice old man while I was walking down the creek and he ended up panning next to me for a few hours so it was nice to have some company.  He generously gave me 2 very nice glass vials to keep my gold in.  I told him that I didn't like my plastic vial because the gold sticks to the sides and without hesitation he gave me 2 of his.

Total Pieces: 162


Jason

Today I started building a homemade sluice box.  I went to Home Depot and bought a 2x4 for the walls and a piece of sheet metal for the base.  I also got some L-Shaped aluminum that I am gonna use to make riffles.  Under the riffles will be metal mesh and a section of carpet just like a store bought sluice box.  Also at the top of the sluice will be a few inches of rubber matting to catch most of the gold.  So far I have only made the box, and have yet to start making riffles which will be the hardest part.  Here is a picture of my progress so far. 

And here is a shot of the back.  I wanted to make sure that the middle of the sheet metal had enough bracing to hold a lot of material at once.  Not the best craftsmanship but not bad for using all hand tools.

I didn't make it too big because I want to be able to carry it on my back easily without weighing too much.  I am thinking about ways to add some straps to be able to carry it like a backpack.  I may also add a detachable hopper and water supply to be able to also use it as a high banker at home.  


Total cost: $30
Miniature sluice cost: $99


Jason

Tuesday, January 10th 2012


On Tuesday I went back to the Potomac to do some panning and enjoy the unbelievable weather.  It's the middle of January and I was out panning for gold in a short sleeve shirt.  I met up with a guy named Richard who I met down at Contrary the week before and we spent about 6 hours on the creek.  Everything was going at a normal pace for a while (2 or 3 small flakes a pan).  Then around noon I hear Richard getting excited, so I waked over to him and saw this picker in his pan.

You can't tell how big it is in this picture but I would say about the size of my finger nail.  You can tell how big it was compared to the other flakes in the pan.  It turned out to be a pretty good day for me too.  Here is a picture of my take for the day.

You can tell that the gold is starting to get bigger for me.  There are 55 pieces there, including a couple nice big flakes and a couple chunky pieces.  I also found 7 more fine pieces in the bottom of my snuffer bottle after I took this picture.


Total Pieces: 97


Jason