Ok, so I have been slacking the last year or so. The 2010 season is here and it’s time to get digging!  I have moved to Park County Colorado, and am now working 2 active claims on a small scale.  One is placer only which has never been worked on a large scale. This location provides some new challenges for dredging.   The placer gold in Southpark is mostly a glacial deposit, so it is well scattered all over the place.  The material in the river is very loose and has no compaction so its like dredging in a big sand box.  After a week in the fall, I was only able to get down 16′ or so. I think we have that problem solved and will talk more about that in the next few weeks.  Our other claim is a hard rock claim located from placer. The Orphan Boy was the first claim filed in the district in 1859.  As you may or may not know, once the load was found placer operations were shut down. We will be doing a fair amount of high-banking and use of a small tromel. I have found some very nice silver samples on the Orphan boy this spring and expect to find many more.

We are busy setting things up for a busy summer with both customers and digging.  If you are planning a visit with us, I am looking forward to meeting you all this year. If you cannot make it up, then good luck on your own digs and adventures.  In the coming weeks, I will discuss dredging in a bit more detail – not only how we are working this location but how we did on the last claims.  I am also doing some research on the claims and hope to have some stories and history of both soon.

Lastly, I want to share a quick reminder.  We all have days and even weeks when we are out digging like madmen and find little or nothing. It is easy to get frustrated and mad – I have even know a few who have (gasp) given up.  Remember, most of the easy stuff has been picked over. Take a good look around and see the mountains and streams for the gift they truly are. We are so lucky to be out in nature, able bodied and doing what we love.  The gold will come, usually when we don’t expect it but it will almost always make you work for it.  Just a hint this week if you are down in the stream and not finding the color there, start working your way up the banks a bit – the river cuts were much higher once. Look for the old deposits 10 to 20 feet up the banks. In worked over areas, these spots can yield some missed color – either  missed, overlooked, or even lost by the old timers.     Good luck and lets all have a great season!  Our new motto up on the claims is ‘Shut up and dig’.   Time enough for the stories and lies around the camp fire.

I was reminded this past week about something we often overlook before we head out for a day of digging. How many times have we all headed out without checking our equipment before-hand?   I know after the start of the season, I rarely do!  When it’s time to head for the hills, I load the gear in the truck and off I go.

This past weekend, I had a couple of prospectors down from Wyoming. Over this past year, they had purchased a used dredge from someone who had only run it a few times.  Once he bought it, it was never started and checked out to make sure all was running properly.  They arrived at the digs early Saturday morning, unloaded, set up the dredge and got it in the creek.  Ready to start running (or so they thought) they tried in vain to start the engine.  Long story very short, 2 hours later and draining a fuel line which was clogged with gunk from sitting for 3 years, we got it running.  Even after we got it running they couldn’t open it up full throttle without the motor cutting out. They did manage to get a few good hours of digging in at half speed, but still not running correctly.

With that in mind, I now remember to check all my gear before I head out. Pans not cracked, and all the parts on the sluice.  Check the oil in the pump and make sure I have plenty of gas, a few tools, and spare parts to keep me running if I do break down in the hills.  A few minutes spent while getting ready could save you hours in the field.

Good luck and have a great digging season!

A lot has happened since the start of the ’08 season. My son was born on Mother’s day – heathy, happy, a beautiful baby. Business at Vic’s has been brisk and seems to be picking up as the price of gold continues to climb. I have also had several great outings with really great people. There’s nothing I love more than to be in the creek digging and sharing my love of prospecting with new people. With all the rivers and creeks running high, dredging is getting a bit hard out in the creeks, but the high banking is still good. Tomorrow, I hope to be in the river before it gets too swift to dive and too muddy to see. The weather here in Colorado has been hit or miss – rain, snow and some sunny days. I have put together a fair amount of gold so far this season, even had a personal best day dredging. I’m still looking for that first real nugget of the season, but lots of nice flake and even a little bit still in quartz. I would like to thank everyone who has come out so far this season and I’m looking forward to meeting those who are still making plans. Have a great week, hope to see you out in the hills.

Keep safe and be well.

Chad

The ’08 digging season is now well underway here in Colorado. There have been the few stray spring storms that have slowed things down a day or two, but aside from that, the spring dredging has been great! This time of year before the run-off starts, the rivers and creeks are low enough to work the deep channels either by hand or dredge. This makes it easy to work parts of the streams that you usually can’t touch during the rest of the year. I am not working too deep – only about five feet below the surface at the deepest point, but the gold has been nice. I have about 10 gallons of cons to work through as well as some nice pickers off the top of the box. If you are ready to get in the water, get in touch with me and let’s get that gold while the getting is good!

Good luck to you and yours during the ’08 season.

I have had it and it’s time to head out and start digging some gold for the ’08 season. I am heading up to do some highbanking and crevassing on some nice chunks of bed rock that aren’t so easy to work in the summer. If anyone is interested in getting a jump on the season let me know. You can get my contact info from the Tin Pan website or email me directly at treasurehunter31@aol.com

A lot of people ask me what do I do in winter. The answer is prospect for gold, of course! Here in Colorado once the snow flies usually sees the end to the digging season, but prospecting still goes on. There are many keys to finding the good spots to dig. There is always dumb luck – I have found many nice spots to dig just by stopping and getting at it. After all, gold is where you find it right? Whenever possible I always try and hedge my bets when it comes to finding gold and research is the key.

We are so lucky to live in the day and age where information is right at your finger tips. A lot of research can be done right online as most of you know. The public library is also a great source of information. I look back at the old newspaper articles for information of finds back in the day. Many of the large mines would also publish stories of how well their mines were doing often in an attempt to lure investors. If you want to know about a specific spot you can go to the Bureau of Land Management and get information as well as many of the government agencies who all have records of the mines and how much and what they took out of the ground.

Local museums also can be a good source of information. They often have old journals and maps which can be useful in locating a good spot. The smaller museums often have ties to many of the locals who also can be a great source of information. I have found several good spots that have gone on untouched by most prospectors just by getting to know some of the locals in the areas. The old timers usually are native to an area, and families go back generations and can often give account of the activities in the past. More importantly, a lot of these folks own many of the old claims and with a bit of sweet talk you can gain access to the old claims which have gone untouched for a very long time. As most of you know, the old timers didn’t get all of the gold and often lost a good portion out of their boxes back into the streams and creeks. Getting onto an old claim can often yield great gold especially if you can find evidence of their old sluice box and dumps. A book I highly recommend is called “The Mining Camps Speak.” By Beth and Bill Sagstetter. The book is an valuable source of information on what you are looking at and for. Often times what most consider trash in these areas are clues as to what actually went on in a given location.

The last thing I would like to talk about today is getting up in the hills in the winter and doing some prospecting. I tend to go out and look at the creeks and rivers as they are freezing to help me decide where I need to dredge in the springs. During the summer months it is hard to tell where the river channel and the truly lies. It is easy to assume that it runs down the middle but this is rarely the case. If you go look at a creek as it is freezing during the winter months you can often see how the channel moves back and forth by where the water is still slowing and has yet to freeze. By taking photos and notes and drawing a simple map, it becomes easy to see where the flow changes directions. These spots where the flows change directions and slows are often a good indicator where to look for gold deposits that are usually not seen during the summer months as they are under a few feet of water. In the spring I take the photos and maps i have made in the winter, look for the spots where the creek cut back and fourth and did not freeze and dig those banks and bars where it slows or turns away. People often ask why I am dredging in a given spot in the creek. I did my research over the off season and know likely that these invisible bars can often yield good gold.

I am not saying that I am always right but I do know what I find and these things do work for me. The only sure way to find of is to get out and dig, after all gold is where you find it.

Just a little about my self. My name is Chad. I have been digging gold out of the streams and hills of Colorado for about 20 years now. I have had good days and bad days digging. Usually when I go out to look for gold I find it. Not always a lot but can usually get a little flash in my pan. I do have my favorite spots for digging and now that gold is at over 900.00 per oz., don’t go asking me where I dig.

I do operate a small guide and outfitter service, offering my know how, to those wanting to learn how to dig for gold. I also rent dredges and highbankers for those who don’t have one of their own. I am now teamed of with Vic’s gold panning and operate from there as a base of operation. I do have a few other places I can guide people to some public land but as with other things my best digs are on private property. It does cost a bit more to get onto the private digs, but I know the gold is good, I have had some of my best days on some of these properties. I have had consistent 1/4 oz days with a 3″ dredge a bit less with a highbanker. The really great thing about those digs is you have the creek to yourself. If you’re interested, visit my website for information. You can click on the link under ‘Blogroll’ or go to my site here.

My wife and I are getting ready for the birth of our boy in early June just as the summer gets going. I know it is going to be a great year!