Where's the Gold? from the Mar/Apr 2025 issue of Gold Prospectors Magazine
By: Kevin Hoagland
This is going to be yet another tough one. No multiple-choice answers, this is all about visualizing the area and thinking about gold and gravity.
Some 30 years ago I met an assayer in Congress who when he wasn’t assaying, he was out with his Gold Bug looking for pocket gold deposits. We made a couple of trips out looking at spots and detecting the ones that made sense to both of us; this is one of those spots.
This area is known for stringer veins with gold ranging from 100mesh to the occasional nuggets up to 1/4 ozt., all found in small pockets, making it not commercially viable but a great spot to get on the gold if you could read the clues.
Remember that mining in the day was opportunistic — grab the best and move on in most of the areas around this location. The miners left a lot of gold that they never knew was there or they just didn’t care about small deposits.
Study the photo hard before making a choice, and once you do, stick with it. You got this as long as you don’t over-think the area. Remember that gold loves gravity— that is the most important thing to remember. Think of Occam’s razor, a principle that says that if you have two or more competing ideas to explain the same question, the simpler answer is usually the correct one.
Congrats to Walt Mcquatters. Your comment was randomly selected to win this Gold Rush Nugget Bucket!
Look for the answer in the March April issue of Gold Prospectors Magazine, hitting mailboxes beginning March 1, 2025.
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Lower Left!
I often find it difficult to decide based on two dimensional photographs. I see evidence to support several different answers. However, replaying your admonition to visualize the location during the high water event in my mind and remembering that gold loves gravity and thinking that Occam said to keep it simple “we” and the gold arrive at the Lower Left. ThankYou Kevin.
Lots of GREAT Answers! Think about water and gold distribution the concentration. Some areas may move gold to a lower area but will it concentrate or make its way into the wash?
This is all about the movement of gold. it gets stuck and then the concentration event happens.
I have seen a few answers that are spot on for flood gold movement but leave the concentration out of the equation. Think about pocket gold and then look at the photo again. !
Keep it up gang, you’re doing great.
Upper left, 2 different cracks intersect on the downhill slope
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