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Goldpan Site
Gold was in the watershed areas for these river systems, and millions of dollars of gold was removed during and after the California Gold Rush. A more southern watershed is the Consumes River and it also had its gold dredge field in the Northern San Joaquin Valley but its deposit was not even close to the amount of gold left in the valley by the Yuba and American Rivers .
Independents with pans, rockers and long toms worked the placer deposits in the hills or mountains. Those with money operated the hydraulic diggings and floating bucket operations. Those with cash and an opportunity developed the hardrock mines. Sometimes a commoner pursued an exposed gold bearing vein and found gold along its course, but almost all the time such ventures lead to nothing more than enough gold to pay day to day expenses and live longer doing daily hard labor.
Few people made more than survival wages. For the independents, it was not that they found no gold but that everything cost too much and they used all their gold just to buy day to day necessary items, such as food, equipment, clothing, a too infrequent brew, and occasionally something better. The company workers, whether mine or placer, worked for minimal wages, and had to pay the same high costs for day to day living as independents. Company workers may have supplemented their wages with highgrading activity.
Highgrading involves activity such as moving a dead mule from a lower mine level to the surface for burial and thereafter retrieving the gold from its belly while the mine operators were sleeping. This is one technique for transporting gold to your pocket to supplement your wages. The mules were moved to the lower working levels when young as they then could be lowered via the access shafts. Upon reaching adulthood, the mules were thereafter trapped underground, and they lived and worked underground until death since as alive adults they were too large to be moved to the surface through the access shafts. When dead the mules could be hauled back to the surface since as they then could be crammed into a access shaft lift for moving back to the surface. The mule manure had to be regularly moved to the surface and this was another way to get highgrade from the working levels to your pocket. It just required a little dirty work at the surface manure piles.
Pockets, pant cuffs, lunch pails or any pouch all worked well for transporting highgrade from the work area to your pocket whether from the mine or the placer deposit. However, in the mines, these carry it yourself techniques didn't last long as the owners soon required showers, clothing changes and inspections at shift changes.
If you got your highgrade away from the source, whether mine or placer, the next problem was how to sell it. One solution involved mixing your stolen highgrade with gold from a 'legal' source ( any 'established' gold producing mine or placer) and hoping that no one noticed the difference in the delivered gold. Experienced inspectors, buyers, and managers could look at the gold and identify the mine, placer and even specific veins as the source. Of course, there soon developed a group of people that would arrange the mixing of highgrade with a 'legal' source for sale to the treasury or other buyer; although being the curse and target of every owner, these intermediators did well without doing any physical work.
Thanks to F. Calhoon for the highgrading information and some other information herein. His book cover will be shown later. I don't think the book is still available. He worked many of the mines and locations along Highway 49 near Grass Valley and I don't expect another book to be written by him since his writing days may be over as his ship may have docked..
Prospecting stories abound. Usually more gold was reported as found than actually was found, but some did get rich. However, in addition to covering the day to day cost of living, there were other things to deal with. Some of those are noted later. Here follows another.
Bear Alert: Marvin, from Buffalo, New York, and I, from Sacramento, CA, go prospecting when he comes to California to visit his daughter and son-in-law. His son-in-law and I went to Sac State together but his son-in-law only rides motorcycles and will not even hike or think of prospecting. So Marvin and I just enjoy ourselves and seek the glowing yellow at the bottom of the pan.
Years ago, as prospecting newbies, Marvin and I were at the South Fork of the Yuba River, here in California, at the Highway 49 crossing, wanting to go upstream, and of course we picked the south side of the river to travel upstream.
Later we learned that there was an unofficial trail on the north side of the Yuba that connected the Highway 49 crossing to established trails in the South Fork Yuba Recreational Area and passed by the areas we prospected that day, but, as we were unaware of any trails, we choose the south side of the Yuba for upstream progress. We traversed the rocks, climbs, descents, and, eventually, reached an area where there was no way to proceed upstream on the south side; out of necessity, we forged the very cold stream to the north side. We selected a crossing where the river appeared to be only a few feet deep but the very cold water was deep enough to wet our backpacks, use all of our walking sticks, and cool our arm pits.
On the north bank of the south fork Yuba, we found gold flakes and flecks along the bank and in the moss. The moss was impressive as it held plenty of gold from high flood levels.
Later, while we were working the north side of the south fork Yuba further upstream, Marvin said, quietly, 'Did you see that bear upstream on the bank next to the river?'
My attention had been devoted to the river course and not further upstream or the banks above the river. In this area it is easily 90-120+ feet from the summer river course to the top of adjacent banks. The unofficial trail was at the top of the adjacent bank with limited access down to the river.
Where highway 49 crosses the south fork of the Yuba, the area above and below is great for swimming in deep pools and sun bathing on the smooth granite boulders afterward. Nice swimming holes, but there are many dangerous areas.
But when he said 'bear', we were upstream of the bathing / swimming area, in a place where rattlesnakes (area dwellers) are expected, black bears (rare) are not anticipated, and mountain lions (area dwellers) may be there.
As I glanced quickly up to see what he was talking about, fearing anything could be there, I realized that Marvin was talking about 'bare' not 'bear'. And yes the long hair and shapely female bodies confirmed that 'bares' were in the area. And. these 'bares' were not hunting salmon!
Scoundrels, while they survived, probably did nearly as well as the suppliers, haulers, shopkeepers, bar owners, and brothel operators. Women were scarcer than teeth in a chicken coop. Women were few and far apart, but the soiled doves did well, especially at satisfying some basic life needs.
... ways to bed and fleece a miner - later
...ways to salt a claim - later (from a shotgun shell, remove the shot and replace with gold. 1 shot later your claim is ready to show any buyer.)
How to make money without having but beans and coffee on the good days, sleeping without shelter in the damp early morning air, and shivering all day in the cold streams!
One surefire method that was used immediately after the discovery at Marchall's site was utilized by Sam Brannan. He simply went throughout Sacramento and bought all the cooking pans and tools that could possibly be used for prospecting. Then, when people heard about the gold discovery, which he later excitedly announced while riding his horse up and down the streets of San Francisco, he just waited in his sacramento catbird seat. Having all the prospecting tools in the area allowed him to ask and get whatever price he wanted. Nobody else had tools for those headed to find riches in the Sierras. Sam, who started a general store at Sutters Fort in 1847, realized when it was time to buy goods and forget searching for nuggets. Thanks to William Holden and his book "Sacramento" for this bit of information. This little story and many others are summarized in his book about the growth of the Sacramento area.
Another method involved preparing a necessity of life. Although few in number, what women there were in the Gold camps brought with them from the east or from where ever they came valuable skills that were extremely desired here in California. The men couldn't sell or make anything comparable. Then if it sold for 5-10 dollars that would be like 1-2 hundred dollars today. In a very short time a woman could collect and save a fortune for starting another business or just head back east to tell mom about the gold that could be had simply by baking fruit pies for the desperate California miners.
Actually, those supplying the gold rush miners with food, day to day necessities and entertainment made more profit than the miners.
But around the mines, the hydraulic diggins, and the floating bucket operations, the ones to become rich didn't do the physical work handling a shovel and sluice. Most of those that became rich had a broader perspective.
Yuba and American River Systems:
The Yuba River system, consisting of the North Fork Yuba River, Middle Fork Yuba River, and South Fork Yuba River, drained the western slope of the Sierra Nevada range, generally the area east and north east of Grass Valley and Nevada City, California, down to the northern San Joaquin Valley where the Yuba flows through the area of Marysville and Yuba City, California. Before reaching Marysville and Yuba City, the Yuba River system created the Yuba Gold Field which is world known for gold recovery by floating bucket dredges working many square miles of river deposited gold.
Another, though smaller, San Joaquin Valley gold deposit large enough for floating bucket dredges was created by the American River system. The American River system has north, middle and south forks and also drains the Sierra Nevada western slope but drains an area on the Sierra Nevada western slope south of the Yuba system. The American River system valley gold deposit is downstream from Folsom, California, particularly starting at Negro Bar, and extends along the river course to almost south of Sacramento, California.
In these San Joaquin Valley gold deposits, the Yuba and American River watersheds when losing the down hill momentum of the Sierra Nevada slope left hundreds of millions of dollars of gold for floating bucket dredge recovery. Gold recovery from these valley deposits was not possible without a floating bucket dredge as the gold was mixed in the watershed deposits and the dredges worked up to and beyond 120 feet of depth digging up everything and running the mix through the on board recovery systems. It was not necessary for the floating bucket dredge to be in or any where near the river flow; it dug its own pond for floating, operation and moving ahead.
If that much gold was deposited down stream in the valley by these watersheds, where did the gold come from and is there any more gold at the source? It came from the predecessor to the Sierra Nevada range when the streams ran north/south. It came from a time when even the continents where in a different alignment. But there is still gold there for recreational and serious gold prospecting. Remember, the blue lead is still there. There are gold bearing minerals still being eroded by weather in this area and releasing more gold into the river flows. Also, gold bearing sources, such as the blue lead, still release gold into the rivers. And, many of these surface areas have not been seriously worked within 60 - 120 years! The underground gold locations are a different situation as they have been worked and ownership continues.
Refer to the links page for locations to prospect while you vacation. Please do not disturb the rattle snakes and mountain lions! Don't pick the poison oak. Just look for that gold in the bottom of your pan.
During the California Gold Rush there were placer operations, hard rock mining, hydraulic mining and the floating bucket dredges to collect the then available gold. Whites, mostly Europeans, had the priority for obtaining and developing claims, mines and diggings. Others were left to being workers, and at the bottom of the list were the Chinese who usually did the final cleanup (hard work with low pay) or worked claims with little value and difficult to recover gold. The Chinese had few choices, but when they worked an area it was cleaned thoroughly; much better than the Irish or Scottish would do. In the placer operations, Chinese sites are easily identified as there the rocks and overburden are nicely stacked and squared; the work of others is just pile. So if you find yourself at a Chinese site, consider it thoroughly worked before 1862 or shortly thereafter.
If you are ever in Sacramento, California, then visit the Sacramento County Public Library Sacramento Room to view archived, history about dredging, mining, placer and prospecting operations during and after the California Gold Rush and since then. Days and hours when open are limited. No pens are allowed; just pencils. No items are available for removal to anywhere. (at 10-03, use 1-916-264-2920 or 1-800-209-4627 for elsewhere)
This web page has information concerning prospecting locations in Northern California along Highway 49 and the Yuba and American Rivers, California, USA.
On the Goldpan Site web links page, you will find prospecting links for sites that have personal, recreational, club, public and business information pertaining to northern California and sites beyond the state line.
You also will find links to sites for wheel horse garden tractors and equipment, antique gas, diesel, and steam power and other antique equipment at the bottom of page links table.
Gold is where you find it!
You can always enjoy the time together, mountains, outdoors, fresh air, trout, and the crashing of the water down the river course no matter what. But to find gold you have to look in the right places, and the better places usually are already owned by a person or club. You can pan or sluice almost anywhere and seldom will the owner be concerned. Put a dredge on their claim and you will encounter quite a direct response; consider yourself lucky if it is merely a 'get off'. Placer claim owners usually are mellow but some of them are just as fierce and protective as a mountain lioness for her young litter of kittens. Walk near, around or even enter a mine on a mining claim and you are likely to meet the attitude of 'trespassers will be shot and survivors shot again'. I was walking up a mountain stream to a claim at a higher elevation and passed a prominently posted and weathered sign that read 'Avoid lead poisoning; stay off my claim'; I did not enter but looked a long time at the gravity dredge that had been extensively used in this area where carrying anything more than back pack, water, food, tools, and pans would require a herculean effort.
Gold is where you find it! But, on the surface, you will find poison oak, snakes and mosquitoes more often.
Here in Northern California, USA, along Highway 49, poison oak is every where. One touch by the plant or leaf and you will have a location that swells greatly, oozes pus, requires much time to heal, and hurts all the time. I once had apparently ducked and walked by a poison oak and had a lot of open sores running from my right forehead, between my eyes, on my nose, and ending on the lower left cheek in long straight lines. I do a lot of work with the public and I can assure you that my appearance frightened many people for 2-4 weeks. Poison ivy is child's play compared to poison oak.
Rattlesnakes also may greet you while you are looking for gold. They are territorial and seldom a problem in well traveled areas. During 2001, I met several people on a claim on the North Yuba Fork River, downstream of Downieville, and three of those people had on several earlier days confirmed that there was a rattlesnake just downstream of the claim we were there to work. Whenever I prospect, I always explore upstream and downstream of the destination site to look over the area and seek more potential locations. But with the proven presence of a rattlesnake, I didn't even bother going downstream to evaluate the area or to see the rattlesnake. I had no interest in seeing another rattlesnake and didn't want anymore pets as I was already caring for enough pets. Here are two rules: rattlesnakes are not pet material (get a boa or tarantula), and never put your hands or feet any place that you have not already checked. A long walking stick is nice for support and checking areas ahead. Use the walking stick for thrashing in an area that is out of sight but on your course; if there is a rattlesnake there, might as well disturb it (find it), and move elsewhere, and avoid stepping on it or invading its location.
Mosquitoes are another problem. Always have mosquito repellant handy. I also use mosquito netting as well but have learned that any place where the netting is near your body and the clothing lies flat that the short legged, little buggers will drill through. At one claim there were two routes to the site. Route A was hot and had no mosquitoes; Route A went from the campground, along a road, and over the highway to the site with the end being a very steep descent that was best done using feet and both hands. Route B was a cool, mild grade that followed a ditch to the road and then the river; it involved going through a drainage tunnel that went under the road and drained into the river near the site. For route B, mosquito repellant and mosquito netting where not enough to avoid bites so numerous that I had to move as fast as possible along the route to the prospecting site.
Marvin, from New York, and I go prospecting whenever he comes to California to visit his daughter and son-in-law. We pan and sluice, find gold and have a good day. In 2001 he found a clinker (actually a very large picker) and was thrilled. That clinker would make noise easily heard when dropped into a pan full of water or on anything. Often the best finds were not as nice as that clinker (his term), but he always enjoyed his time. At the same river location, following a non-runoff winter, he spent about two hours doing two pans! I think he was just enjoying the visitor who intently watched him clean the 2 pans and listened to all his stories and information about how to pan. Maybe that the visitor was a nice looking woman had something to do with his two hours on 2 pans?
In any case, you meet a lot of good people when prospecting. Even E Clampus Vitus has good people, particularly if you want a beer and contribute money to projects such as supporting miners' widows and historical sites.
Gold is where you find it! Yes, but so many other things are found! You always find heat and worry about fire.
For the heat, when next to the river, I always wear a hat, use sun block, and place a towel over my shoulders. Just dampen the towel in the stream and sling it over your shoulders. The evaporating water will help you withstand the work and keep you cool. I like cold drinking water when prospecting, and I always use ice in my liter bottles. The night before, using a liter bottle, or several, I put the bottle about 2/3 full in the freezer. The next morning, I fill it, or them, with fresh water, and I have as much cold water as I want for prospecting.
Always keep in mind your location and the area's fire hazard. What are you going to do when miles up a canyon and a fire is coming over the crest or up the canyon? Sometimes it is better to pick another day.
Gold is where you find it! But where do I look?
Read 'How to Mine and Prospect for Placer Gold' By J.M. West. (missing)
The West article is provided by the USGS and covers many things you will need to consider before heading to your first prospecting site. It still leaves unanswered the question of where to prospect, but you will have to answer that yourself. The article does mention using prospecting sites provided on a fee basis. There are many of these here in Northern California. Look at the links page for some of the locations.
Actually for a beginner, these pay for prospecting locations are really a good option. Their sites are owned and proven and you will find gold, and someone will either tell you where to prospect or guide you there. The trips range from a few hours, or x number of pans, to several days. I emailed Joshua Vick for a brochure about his location and the forwarded mailing included two nice little pieces of gold in a plastic baggie; these two pieces were quite nicely sized and you could go on your own and find color but it would typically be smaller flakes.
An alternative to pay per use sites are the numerous clubs that own their own proven sites and provide daily trips through year around access with camping and trailer sites. The clubs typically require that you use your own equipment whether daily panning or running a dredge for several days or the summer.
The next alternative involves using public areas where day use without a dredge is no problem. These locations also allow dredging but you will have to comply with whatever dredging and camping permits are required. Here in Northern California, near Sacramento, California, there are two large public areas. The American River area is near Auburn, California and includes the North and Middle Forks of the American River; contact Pioneer Mining Supplies in Auburn, California for a map. Another is the South Yuba Recreational Area on the Yuba South Fork between Grass Valley/Nevada City and Washington, California; the forks of the Yuba drained into a huge area below the mountains that yielded many millions of dollars by floating dredges that operated in their own pond which the dredge created as it moved around the location. There are other numerous open to the public sites along the American and Yuba Rivers. For example, on the American River, below Folsom, Negro Bar produced a lot of gold during the rush and still has gold but it is generally not accessible by panning or sluicing, the floating dredges also worked this area, and there is a great bicycle (paved)/hiking trail from Folsom to Sacramento that ends at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers near Old Sacramento.
Gold is where you find it! Now I have a full pan but what do I do with it?
Yes that gold will stay in the bottom of your pan or collect in the riffles of your sluice if there is gold in the material.
For panning, you have to learn how to get rid of the leaveright and end up with black sand with gold. A good prospecting site will lead to a finished pan with tablespoons of black sand with color and nothing else. If your finished pan has any gold in it that can be picked up with your fingers (called pickers) consider becoming a full time prospector and living at and guarding the site. But note that many operations consider the location good if a portion of a troy once is recovered per ton of processed material, and there are many, many pans in a ton of material. At 25 pounds per bucket there are 80 buckets per ton. A 25 pound bucket will have at least 10 pans. Then remember that you have to dig and haul the material to the water. And once you have material in your pan at water you have to separate the leaveright from the gold concentrates (black sand and gold). We are talking about lots of work!
For a beginner, I recommend that you buy one of those kits that have your basic set up including a pan(s), classifier, sniffer bottle, and miscellaneous tools. Get one that has a sample of gold included (even better if the sample includes black sand). Get some material for panning, throw in the gold sample and practice panning until you can recover the entire gold sample every time. Use a safe pan for this training. A safe pan is a large tub into which you pan the leaveright; if you expel any gold from your pan, the safe pan will catch it and you can try again. Use the safe pan for refilling your pan with water and further panning. If your kit has no sample, then you can use bb's (for BB guns) which are used in competition panning; the copper is lighter but close enough for training. You could also use those small fishing weights that you squeeze onto your line as weights; the lead is closer than copper to the weight of black sand. You always have to find black sand to find gold, but if your pan has fishing weights and bullet fragments you are near where gold has moved down the stream.
Use a safe pan when reducing the concentrates. Use screens. Use a poop tube for final clean up after either panning or sluicing.
The RLJ234 site (missing) has directions on one of its pages on how to pan.
The Mining Gold site also has panning directions. Use the "How" link and look for the article entitled 'Introduction to Prospecting' by Mark R. Roberts. Then locate the section on panning technique. When using the pan, always move the materials toward the riffles in your pan and they will definitely reduce the chance that gold will leave your pan.
Pyrite is often mistaken for gold. But, pyrite is lighter, often floats and easily moves in the pan water while gold will stay at the bottom of the swirling flow. Pyrite will fracture if pressed by your nail; gold will not. Angular, square cornered flakes or cubes are pyrite and do not indicate the nearby presence of gold.
I have referenced two rather long articles on where to find gold and how to pan it. The articles require time to absorb the information. I again recommend doing your panning training with a sample of gold (and hopefully some black sand) in your pan and using a safe pan.
12-24-97:--- > Now available - plans for the Wild Irishman's Gold Sucker and Crevice Device (WIGS). For little to nothing you can capture the flakes left in the holes and cracks of the river. PCV, hardware, muscle, tennis balls, water and gold are all that is required. 4-98, Use the link in the below table for instructions to build your own gold sucker or gold crevice device. There are also links to other crevice devices on the internet.
Gold and Trout Found Together:
While hiking in the sierra hills east of Sacramento, California, I found a place where gold and trout were in the same place - South Fork, Yuba River, California (71k). Although I did find small flakes and flour gold in numerous cracks, there was an amazing amount in the moss well above the summertime water level.
The difference in elevation from the bank to the river ranges from 90-130 feet. That rock with the missing circular area is much larger than a couple of railroad cars.
I could have said I was there to prospect but until you know the area your in, you will surely get a lot of hiking rather than gold - another location, South Fork, Yuba River, California (80k).
This hike started where Highway 49 crosses the sourh fork of the South
Fork, Yuba River, California (56k). This is a picture of the old bridge.
There is a trail along the north side of the river that will take you upstream
towards Edward's and Hoyt's Crossings which are downstream of the South
Yuba Recreational Area which is open to the public.
Other Prospecting Locations:
Below are pictures that show the terrain on Northern California prospecting sites near Downieville (Oak Flat Spring Extension - a GPAA location) and Washington (South Fork of Yuba River - upstream from the Yuba Recreational Area).
The Washington, California, site has two public areas on the north side of the river, upstream from the town of Washington. Around Washington you can find huge piles of river rock that were created as rocks were removed from the river. Near where the highway crosses the South Fork, Yuba River, at Washington, California, the rocks had to be hauled up nearly vertical banks, 30 - 60 feet up, and then hauled a further distance to find room to pile the rock. This river channel was thoroughly worked by the Chinese. The Washington River, between Highway 20 and Washington, has some black sand and using only a pan I have found very small silvers of gold; a dredge may be much more successful for recovering more color.
The following pictures are from the first, public area immediately upstream
from the Washington Bridge. The south end of the bridge was washed out
during the heavy rains during December of 1997; a temporary bridge was in
place early 1998. There is an extensive information and photo history of Washington, Ca, on the links page
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Washington, California, about 20 miles east of Nevada City and Grass Valley - facing upstream with north on the left. |
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Washington, California, about 20 miles east of Nevada City and Grass Valley. That is an extremely interesting exposed formation on the right side of this picture (the south side of the river). Rocks have piled above and below where the river flow encounters the formation. |
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Washington, California, about 20 miles east of Nevada City and Grass Valley. |
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Washington, California, about 20 miles east of Nevada City and Grass Valley. Although barely visible, that rock formation appears in this picture on the north side of the river running at about a forty-five degree angle. The rocks visible in this picture at center and right of center have been captured by the exposed formation. |
Oak Flat Springs Extension:
The Oak Flat Springs Extension is a GPAA site near Downieville for which you start at about 3,000 feet and rise to about 4,200 when you reach the claim site; it is a short (slightly over a mile) but difficult hike from Highway 49 to the claim site.
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Oak Flat Spring Extension. Picture taken at the claim area. Even during
dry summers the stream runs as shown despite the elevation or drought.
A dredge is necessary to reach the stream course where the nuggets are
hiding. The banks were in the past extensively worked.
Downstream from the GPAA site there are several other claims that I observed to having been worked during 1994, but in 1996 there was no indication of further activity at those locations. However, the 'Avoid Lead Poisoning - Stay Off Our Claims' sign remained in place. Beautiful, cold stream. Hot, moderate hike. Carry whatever size dredge you want.!. |
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Oak Flat Spring Extension. Coolest spot when hiking either direction but best late in the afternoon as in this photo. This is not an area to be in when the possibility of forest fire is present; it is too far either direction to safety. |
Goodyear's Bar:
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Goodyear's Bar - North Fork, Yuba River, California, USA. A lot of gold was recovered near this location. We tried a few pans under the bridge, found some color and lots of fishing tackle, shotgun pellets and bullet fragments. The blue lead is in this area and extends south to possibly as far as Placerville. |
North Fork Yuba River near Downieville:
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Nice collection dredged from the North Fork Yuba River near Downieville during the summer of 1998. Unfortunately, I am not the owner. Hayes traveled from Texas to try the Yuba again this year. Last year the Yuba was also very good to him due to the heavy floods during January of 1997. |
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Little Nuggets from near Downieville after the 97-98 flood. Note the quartz embedded in the gold in the first nugget and note the quartz trapped in the threads of the moose gold. The moose gold piece had very sharp edges and had traveled very little before captured in my pan. I no longer have quest access to this location since a small furry animal from Southern California captured the prior owner's claim on a technical point. |
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Nice looking gold bearing quartz from the North Fork of the Yuba River near Downieville during July of 2000. Click the image for more views. |
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Nice looking gold nuggets from the North Fork of the Yuba River near Downieville during July of 2001. Also, another gold bearing quartz piece from the same area. Click the image for more views. |
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Flakes from near Downieville after the 97-98 flood. Note the quartz embedded in and covered by the gold in the very right image and note the other flakes, except one, are gold. The size is minimal but in the picker category. |
Near Downieville - Public Prospecting Areas Closed:
Near Downieville, California, there used to be several sites that were open to anyone for prospecting - Convict Flat, Ramshorm, Indian River, China Flat and several others. However, the sites where no longer public areas as of 1996.
According to local residents, someone disputed the validity of the claims to the mineral rights as being reserved for public use. Due to changes in mining laws from 1872 through 1910, 1912, etc., ownership of the mineral rights was disputed.
There has been a ruling and a concurring appellant ruling that established that there was not an existing, valid mineral rights claim to these formerly public areas.
Then, pursuant to the court decision, currently valid claims were filed. So even though the remain public recreational areas, the mineral rights are privately owned.
At Convict Flat, during 1996, there was representive for the current claim owner living on location to prevent anyone from prospecting.
American River Recreation Area:
At and above the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the American River, near Auburn, California, there are many areas open to the public for prospecting. There are numerous camping areas. The Western United States Trail passes through the area. For information, contact the California State Parks at Auburn or Folsom (916- 885-4527 / 988-0205). A very good map of the area is distributed by Pioneer Mining, Auburn, California (916-885-1801).
Many people like to work the area near the confluence of the North and Middle Forks. That is fine. But for those that seriously work the North Fork, I suspect that many do not realize that Lake Clementine is about 1 1/2 miles upstream, on the North Fork, and is held in place by about a forty foot dam, and that dam has held Clementine for about a hundred years!!! Actually, on the North Fork, below Clementine, there is a lot of flower gold and a couple of locations where small flakes are located just waiting for those that pan or sluice.
The South Fork Yuba Recreational Area:
Northeast of Nevada City, California, is South Fork Yuba Recreational Area, and there are many prospecting and recreational areas. Contact the BLM at Folsom, California for further information (916-985-4474).
Northern California Web Sites:
On the web links page you will find information specific to Northern California prospecting areas as well as locations beyond California.
bravenet.com
