Golden Legends Tales of Buried Treasure

6 step sluicing instructions. Goes into how to brace the sluice with rocks, how fast to feed gravel, looking for gold to verify your location, making sure the concentrate is flowing at the right speed, cleaning and getting the gold. This is an excellent set of instructions. http://minerswarehouse.com/gold-sluicing-instructions/

Here is one of the best prices for snake gaiters I have found.  http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/View_Catalog_Page.asp?mi=82301&gclid=CMbJnNDEtLQCFYs7MgodOnwA0Q $39.99  I have on a couple occasions seen rattlers moving along the high bank of an arroyo; I think they wanted to come down into the sand but I was there and kept them from slithering down. These were times when I was prospecting and each time I was going back to my truck from my prospecting site to pan some samples - walking along the arroyo bottom and coming up the side. I had plenty of distance and the snake had no interest except to go on his way. As a boy, I loved to go out in the desert in Arizona and explore. On occasion I lost track of time and started home in the early evening just at or after sundown - my dad always told me to get out of the desert and be home before the sun set. Each time I encountered one I got surprised because I wasn't paying attention to my su...

The salient point of this point is that if you want words to describe how the machine works and photos along with a youtube video on the use, this might help. Here is an article I wrote: http://john000.hubpages.com/hub/Making-Placer-Gold-Mining-Easier-A-Piece-of-Desert-Equipment-the-Dry-Washer Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=XsNzbbaTSos

This is a rather low-priced book of plans that include a conveyor belt, bellows dry washer, aluminum concentrator, wooden concentrator, a small rocker, a traditional rocker box, and a port a sluice. I thought I would refer you to this because I have seen one set of plans for the price of this book. Building one of these projects would probably pay for the book and more! http://www.blackcatmining.com/book-map/equipment-plans-1.cfm?SSAID=235296 It runs $14.95 (Dec. 18, 2012)

The following is a quote from www.blackhillsbadlands.com. This site has a very interesting home page. “Nuggets” are bigger than one-half inch. “Pea gold is the size of a pea. “Fish” are flat elongated flakes. “Flakes” are thin, flat wafers that vary from pinhead size and up. “Gold dust” is just that – pure gold sparkles; about the size of household dust. All of them are called “colors".  http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/home/thingstodo/outdoorrecreation/summerfun/goldpanning

I have found an article produced by   Chris Ralph  Copyright 2003 All Rights Reserved. It talks about the geology of the formation of gold. It also points out why gold and quartz are so frequently together along with other elements. Nugget shooters (and panners) should find this interesting - it's written for the average person like me - you don't have to be a chemist or geologist to understand his language. http://www.nuggetshooter.com/articles/CRGeologyofcoarsegoldformation.html

I just found a really interesting video about a fellow who is testing a homemade trommel . I think it is worthwhile especially if you have never seen a trommel. These people were working a lot of material! http://www.donniebagwell.com/ Look for the December 14, 2012 post or go to  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l7dkNJv5B-4

You can get a free ebook from Google at  in which a plan for an arrastra and a lot of other stuff are available. pp63 and 82. You may have to view it online. https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=X5Q5AQAAIAAJ&rdid=book-X5Q5AQAAIAAJ&rdot=1

This site from Chico,  California goes into what an arrastra was, or is, and has wonderful photos of old ones. Click a link and you can see examples of stamp mills. Arrastras were brought from Spain to the new world. The Mexicans made some changes, but basically it was a device with stone wheels that turned inside a flat stone surface for grinding quartz. As you know, gold is found inside quartz veins and the arrastras were made to crush the quartz so the gold could be separated. They were usually powered by horses or burros. I have seen one model that men used to push. Wow! http://www.csuchico.edu/~rcooke/rastra.html

Here is a video of a rock crusher. Ever wondered if there was gold in some of that quartz you found? Every got a mysterious hit on quartz when you used your metal detector? Here is an idea for making an ore crusher for taking samples. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KoTdoNEXq68

This is an article describing the parts and advantages of a dry washer. I wrote the article based on my experience. The photos are of a dry washer that is really too heavy to use in rough areas. But if you have a claim not far from a road, or the terrain is fairly flat, you could wheel it. Otherwise, you probably will want to leave it at your camp or bring a lighter one. I take concentrate home and use it, and use it at the claims that I have access to that are easy to get into. My light dry washer and medium sized one are the ones I take good distances from my parking area. You learn what the best way is to process as far as time management. One claim I have access to requires me to go down a big gorge - needless to say, the big lumber job I have isn't going to make it. So, I either bring buckets of material up to the big one (not often), or dry wash with my smaller unit at the bottom and bring the concentrate up. Hope this helps. http://john000.hubpages.com/hub/Making-Placer-Gol...

The Bradshaws are Northwest of the Phoenix Valley not far from Black Canyon City, Arizona. This mountain range is located in Yavapai County, Arizona, the county that has produced the greatest amount of gold in Arizona. The Bradshaws are full of mining claims and is a popular hangout for prospectors from Phoenix metro area and club members. My club has 3 claims in the Bradshaws and they all produce placer gold. If you would like history and a very good article on the Bradshaws, go to this link,  http://minefindergold.com/bradshaw.html

I ran across and website that has a lot of good information about what you should have if you want to start prospecting. It's "getting started" information. Among the things recommended (worth reading) was a whisk broom. Now I have carried a whisk broom in my backpack since the beginning. If you don't have a vacuum hook up yet, that's ok. Crack rock along fissures and whisk out the material that has accumulated inside. Gold is heavy and sinks - rock that forms natural riffles is a great place to start, too. I have found placer gold by separating rock on its top surface and its low side surface. I use a dustpan to collect the material. It is harder to do than using a DC vacuum setup, but it works - you also get rid of a lot of dust that way. Oh, wear a mask. http://minefindergold.com/getting-started.html

This is an article that is very professorial in nature. It thoroughly covers the building and results of a shaker table used in the Philippines. This link is to a PDF written by the British Geological Survey. As stated in the material, their "main purpose was to provide plans for an acceptable table for small scale gold miners so that they might mitigate mining related mercury pollution hazards". How? "By providing improved methods for gold recovery for small scale miners to replace mercury amalgamation." http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/international/DFID-KAR/WC97061_COL.pdf

I have spoke about Oatman, Arizona before. It's an old gold mining hard rock town and the burros are a great attraction. People come from all over the world to witness the free roaming burros in the street. The miners of the 19th century (maybe even the 20th) would occasionally lose a burro. Well, they met up as a herd in the desert and propogated. The BLM has an adopt a burro program, and the people who live in Oatman take care of all the burros who come into town. You can buy a bag of compressed alfalfa for $1 and hand it out. It doesn't take long for the burros to notice you. They are very friendly and love that alfalfa! I am told that when the burros are about to give birth, they stay out in the desert until the youngin is born and then bring it in to town at which time the townsfolk give it a name. One store keeper told me that if it weren't for the burros their livelihood would be badly affected. So, they take good care of them. Here is a photo from m...

This is a photo of two classifying screens that I built to fit inside a rocker box. I used both, one above the other. The photo is self-explanatory.

Taking care of your equipment is important. Using the equipment properly saves time and energy, both of which means more time on task retrieving gold. I think this site has an excellent article in 8 steps on how to use the sluice the best way. http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Sluice-for-Gold

These are old workings in  Southern Arizona.  You can find many areas in remote places like this with the fingerprint of the pioneer miner. In fact, I think I know where this site is, although it is said that when in the desert everything starts to look the same. This photo was donated by the Gold Guru for Wikipedia. into the public domain.

I am including this link to a post because I have found a great Wordpress blog called Appalachian Gold Prospectors Prospecting Adventures. In particular there is a post about why dredging has been banned in the great state of Tennessee. It is an interesting read - you probably won't believe your eyes. http://prospectorjack.wordpress.com/

Most placer miners use classifiers to separate rocks and other overburden so they don't have to pan so much (or process so much). I have made my own screens and like 3/8" and 1/4" mesh. You can  make them rectangular and shake side to side, you could make them circular and also shake these by rotation, and if you were a really big time gold prospector, you might have a motorized classifier. Many folks have come up with good ideas for these creations. I think this is a really well-made step by step account of making a classifier. http://www.blackhillsprospectingclub.com/files/how_to/classifier/class-00.html

This is interesting. I haven't tried building one, and don't know if you could use it to pump into a bucket for hand dredging, but the instructions are good. The author claims he can do it for less than $20 by using a bicycle pump. http://www.instructables.com/id/make-a-manual-vacuum-pump-for-under-$20-by-convert/

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/suctiondredge/

FYI http://john000.hubpages.com/hub/Buying-Gold-Today-How-Could-the-1933-Gold-Seizure-Affect-Your-Purchasing-of-Gold

Oracle is an old mining town just north of Tucson. Copper there was king, as it was in many a mining town in   southern Arizona. If you have a chance to visit the old mining towns in Arizona, do it. You will find out things that you never knew, and marvel at how 19th century people bore huge holes in the earth!

This website has 32 links to various sites with instructions on how to build. It includes a gold mining vacuum a mini highbanker, bucket classifiers, and a puffer dry washer among many other things. Good site. http://www.arizonagoldprospectors.com/diy.html

Highbanker and Gold N Sand  Pump http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPm90WxrZS4&list=UL

FYI- If you are looking for non-motorized equipment like hand dredges and more, this is a great place to go http://www.gold-n-sand.com/

Here is an idea for a portable rock crusher if you are in the mood to crush rock and pan the contents for gold. As the author states, " Be sure you don’t crush any quartz with visible gold, its worth about twice as much like that!" This is a heck of an idea and I intend to build one myself. http://www.bertaut.com/rockcrusher.html

A banjo looks like a dry washer but you ladle water into it. It is good for processing material in a creek or river bed where there are puddles and no flowing water. This is the first time I have heard of the device and it looks like it makes sense. An interesting feature of this is the use of pipe wrapped around the device with holes drilled to spray water down onto the gravels and sand. http://www.gold-net.com.au/archivemagazines/may02/59329034.html#3

Chris Ralph is an engineer and he also prospects. He has an exceptionally good explanation of how the dry washer works and what is needed to build one. His information about the origins of the dry washer and the way the old Spaniards dry washed is something you should know. http://ezinearticles.com/?Build-Your-Own-Dry-Washer-And-Dig-For-Desert-Gold&id=657367

An old iron rock crusher from Oatman, Arizona