Any prospectors out there?

[2fishon]

Do any of you prospect or use a metal detector for gold? I've always wanted to but I don't think it's something you can learn very well from a book.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I have done a lot of gold prospecting. I lived in Sacramento for quite a few years and did a lot of panning, sluicing and metal detecting. Even got some gold. Mostly a lot of exercise and fresh air, but still possible to find a bit of color.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Where are you planning to prospect? Metal detectors are best wherever there is the possibility of finding large flakes and small nuggets either in cracks in the rocks (dry streambeds) or close to the surface on bare ground. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There was a place called "Rich Hill" down in Arizona that was popular with the metal detector fans because it has produced lots of nuggets over the years and still continues to do so. It was first discovered by some guys hunting for their horses and they discovered loose nuggets right on top of the ground over a large area. Of course you have to work a lot harder for the rare leftovers these days.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]While Utah has had a few areas that produced a bit of placer gold in the past, there are no areas I know of that have enough potential to make it worthwhile to use a metal detector. About the best you can hope for is a few fine flecks of color in the bottom of a gold pan...far too small to activate a metal detector.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, don't let that stop you from getting one. Utah is rich in old town sites where you can use the detector to find antiquities and coins. I once heard of a guy who drove up and down old rural roads and ran the detector around where mail boxes are...or used to be. People used to put unstamped letters in their mailboxes, with a few pennies to cover postage, and the mailman would sometimes accidently dump them into the snow or mud. Years later, a metal detector will find them and there are some valuable old dates on them...including indian head pennies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you can find old dump sites, you can also find some great old bottles. Some glass items are worth more than gold but you find the sites with your metal detector first. Just be sure you have permission to search or dig...or you might be digging some metal (buckshot) out of your anatomy.[/#0000ff]
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[2fishon]

Thanks for the info. I live about 1/2 hour south of Yuba. There are quite a few old gold mines in the area. Whenever I stumble on one I mark it on my gps in hopes of returning. My wife, who isn't at all interested in fishing, has shown interest in prospecting. I'm hoping to find a club or a clinic to learn the basics.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The thing about most Utah gold mines is that the gold is mostly very fine particles mixed in with other rock and minerals. The mining was "hard rock" mining, where ore was removed, crushed into fine powder and then processed with chemicals to extract the gold. It is not likely that you would be able to look through old tailings piles and discover large nuggets overlooked by the original miners...or the hundreds of other amateur prospectors who have looked through the same tailings since. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, once you catch the fever, logic goes out the window. We all like to believe that we will make a great find or a new strike. Kinda like fishin'. If you don't have some optimism you might as well stay in bed.[/#0000ff]
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[drpepper]

I did belong to a club a few years ago and did some prospecting. We would go to Arizona for a week during the winter, it was a lot of fun, chech out GPAA. Gold Prospectors of America, They have a club and a Book of all the states and places to go. The gold rush is still on.
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[Coldfooter]

Gold, Gold, Gold! Fe, Fe, Fe, Fever!
I've spent a few years panning and dredging steam beds while poking around for the yellow metal. Never found a lot but I never planned on making the big strike, I let fish to that. But I have enjoyed the hobby. Its been a few years since I've fired up my dredge but one never knows when the fever will slap me again.
In Utah we have certain areas open to power equipment such as a dredge, certain areas are not, as well as certain area that are open to dredging only during "dredging season" while others areas are open year-round. (you can get that info from the Forst dept, as well as your app for your permit to prospect).. Also, there area restrictions on the type of prospecting a person can do, and type of machinery that can be used on given streams, rivers, etc... Be sure you know and understand those regs and
restrictions before turning a stone if you plan to use power machinery such as a High Banker or Dredge. There arent a lot of restriction as far as the use of metal detectors that I know of. But be sure to respect mine claims. Prospecting is a great hobby.
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[2fishon]

Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't be using any machinery, at least not yet.
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[toyguy]

TD -

Ever hear bout Carre-Shinob?

Do you believe it?

Are ya surprised I knew that?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I have travelled and prospected a great deal of the western states and there are few places that do not have their "true legends" of caved in mines or hidden treasures just waiting for the lucky finder. Folks have spent their fortunes and their health looking for such legends as the "Lost Dutchman", etc.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Do I believe in the Carre-Shinob cave? Nope. What I call ANN...another nice notion.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]For the benefit of BFTers who are unfamiliar with it, here is a quote from another source:[/#0000ff]
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Here is something found in one of Boren's more popular books, "The Gold of Carre-Shinob": This is from Chapter 21 - The secret of Carre-Shinob.

"Carre-Shinob is composed of a series of caverns with connecting tunnels. I suspect, from what knowledge I have been able to gain on the subject since, that the entire system was formed anciently as a result of lava tubes, for beneath the Uintah Mountains are a series of active volcanoes. The entire range is being thrust upward at the rate of about an inch a year, but erosion wears it down at an equal rate, and so the elevation remains primarily static. Nevertheless, anyone familiar with the mountains has experienced the occasional rumbling that periodically occurs as the pressure builds beneath the surface.

"The fabulous lode of the Uintah Mountains, which makes it indisputably the richest source of gold in the world (Caleb Rhoades claimed there was gold enough in the Sacred Mine alone to pave the streets of New York City, with enough left over to pay off the national debt!), apparently derives from these chambers and lava tubes having been filled wall-to-wall with molten gold! This then was what the Old Ones-the Aztecs of their predecessors-mined from the caverns. As they mined out each room, they left the walls plated with the molten gold, and in its soft precious surface carved their strange hieroglyphics and made it a sacred temple."
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[toyguy]

Aaahhh, I knew you wouldn't let me down. Speaking of down, I couldn't put Boren's book down. Still gives me goose bumps. Then again, that's what makes it such a romantic-notion tome.

When I first came West, I spent an inordinate amount of time in the Uintas for several years. I knew many of the places described in the book(s). Had been within hundreds of yards of several of the places. I gave up the idea of chasing down any of this after he wrote that "you could walk within several feet of a mine entrance, and never know it's there."

That's a book-selling hook if there ever was one.

Geez, I'm impressed that you were so quickly able to dump into your post some text of the book. That means you've got a copy of it and a scanner.

I always thought if it were true, the Ute Nation would not be as it is. After all, Wandin, Whiterocks and Uintah are not exactly Palm Springs.

Nonetheless, if it is true, the secret will die with the Elders. Then again, if it was true, it wouldn't be a secret. No way the Nation could be that tight-lipped about it.

tg
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I don't have a copy of the book, but have read it. And, I agree, Boren knows his craft.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I AM a good web scrounger. I was able to scare up lots of interesting sites and references. However, I have not found one source that claimed to believe the legend.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I also agree about our native brothers in the Uinta Basin. They are some of the poorest in the country. Maybe someday the black gold in their lands will find its way to the surface and put some green in those nations.[/#0000ff]
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[2fishon]

I would appreciate any good websites I can go to or books that I can buy.
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[toyguy]

SLC Pub Library's got 'em all
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[Lundman]

I am friends that are a couple of professional metal detector dudes if you need any advice or guidance or if you're thinking of investing in one.
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[waljustia]

Ah...
Pat, I am surprised that I am surprised that you knew about carrie shinob (sp). I have the book, which one did you read? Boren wrote 3 of them on the same subject. I have read a couple books that talk about some of the secret mines in Utah. Always fascinating. Amazing to think that guys lose their lives pursuing that metal and they have for ages.

I am very interested in testing just a couple of Borens theories. Not interested in finding a cavern full of aztec treasure.. But it would be neat to find an artifact along the way that he claims are accessible.

Boren also claims that he didn't kill his wife, jury thought otherwise. If any of you are ever looking to talk to Boren, you'll find him at the point of the mountain[blush].

He is an amazing historian though, and a great writer. Anyone ever read his book about the arc of the covenant?
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[TubeDude]

[url "http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1555174116/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-7828343-0852950#reader-link"][/url]
The Gold of Carre-Shinob

ISBN-13 9781555174118 ISBN-10 1555174116 [/url]Amazon.com editorial descriptions of this work:
Book Description: Utah historian, Kerry Boren, claims to have found the grandest of all Mother Lodes--a hidden cavern inside a monster gold nugget, where Montezuma hid the bigger part of his treasure from Hernando Cortez. The pieces to this fantastic puzzle came together while Boren was studying ancient maps and unpublished journals.
Boren's incredible search led him to a remote Uintah Mountain treasure cavern, cursed by the Aztecs and guarded by the Ute Indians--where Brigham Young got the gold to mint coins and decorate temples.
Kerry Boren has solved the mystery of the lost Rhoades Mine, and now published for the first time the details of his search for all to read. Boren believes this remarkable, true story will change the way Utah history is perceived and taught for the next thousand years.
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[waljustia]

yep.. That's the one I've got. It's a good read!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Too bad all the weight in that box you took home was lead and not gold. Of course, the price would have been a bit different too.[/#0000ff]
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[waljustia]

Very true!
You sure you aren't hiding there in your house a gold mine?

Oh wait, it's your tackletorium. Nevermind. Just as good as a gold mine, but easier to find!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Yeah, but the spot price on my tackle doesn't go up quite as fast as gold...even though the hard dollar costs are there.[/#0000ff]
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