Where to find gold - signs of old time hard rock prospecting for gold pocket mining

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  • Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
  • Old gold mine sites can yield a lot of gold to prospectors if you know what you are doing when it comes to hard rock prospecting. This video talks about signs of old timer activity that can help you find gold at old hard rock mining sites. I have found some great gold at these old mining locations using these tips and no doubt that you can too.
    For those who want to learn more about prospecting and finding gold check out my book, Fists full of Gold. It’s an encyclopedia of everything on the topic of prospecting. It’s available on Amazon. You can find it at (affiliate):
    www.amazon.com...
    For even more information on prospecting, minerals, gems and other related information you can also check out my website at:
    nevada-outback-...

КОМЕНТАРІ • 71

  • @michaelpack7591
    @michaelpack7591 11 місяців тому +5

    Chris, it's so good to see you back in the field. I wish I could be be there, but my body is just to broken.
    Much love to you, my friend.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      I understand, I hope things get better for you.

    • @coltons2788
      @coltons2788 9 місяців тому

      @michaelpack7591 sorry to hear brother , want to recommend DR Berg's channel as its helped me through my physical battle.

  • @coltons2788
    @coltons2788 9 місяців тому +1

    It took me much of this past summer (rookie moves of all sort) but eventually found an old pit and then a slightly rotten chunk of quartz sounding off that sharp mid number "bbzZ"
    Yes. It was gold. Visible gold after cracking the rock open, like a caveman. Might only be a couple grams, but it marks a begining for me. Thanks Chris, your videos do help make the difference.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  9 місяців тому

      Congratulations. Sounds like a good place for more searching.

  • @hosgs14
    @hosgs14 11 місяців тому +1

    Chris, got the book a few weeks ago and I cant put it down! Learning alot from it. I recommend it to anyone- beginner to advance. Awesome video as always.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Awesome, thank you for the kind words and recommendation!

  • @user-ve5cc2ur6u
    @user-ve5cc2ur6u 5 місяців тому

    Fascinating presentation! Good to know what to look for! Tbsnks!

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  5 місяців тому

      Glad you enjoyed it!

  • @SandhillCrane42
    @SandhillCrane42 11 місяців тому

    Thanks so much for expounding these old time methods- it's hard to figure out.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому +1

      Happy to help! Glad you enjoyed it.

  • @weshawkins7165
    @weshawkins7165 11 місяців тому

    Great video my friend. We still need to hook up and get out detecting. I’m stop putting the stops on the shop but I’m telling people if the opportunity come along to go detecting your car will have to wait.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      I agree, but we are getting again to the cold weather season, with a forecast for a wet winter. Lets stay in touch and figure a time to go out.

  • @joemckernan1060
    @joemckernan1060 11 місяців тому

    Thanks Chris, good information.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Glad it was helpful!

  • @francesray6465
    @francesray6465 11 місяців тому

    I forget the name of the old book I found in the Kern County Library in Rosamond 25 years ago. Along the lines of being broke, not being able to haul in a mill, and supplies, about early 1900s the Pauly Bros. were told of a lead out on the north edge of Muroc dry lake east of town. They rode on out there on Harley Davidson motorcycles and located the pocket, broke it out, sacked it and hauled to Isabella to a mill to be processed. After all the toll fees , horses, and gas they split $12,000. Well over 600 ounces. They had a number of local businesses around these parts that came from the proceeds of that lead.
    Today gold is 97 times more per ounce in dollars so that 12grand was equal to over one million dollars back then. by the way A Harley is between 100 , and 256 times the 1915 price.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Sounds really great, good luck in your search.

  • @terrienhumain6723
    @terrienhumain6723 11 місяців тому

    Pleasant motivating video.
    I love the historic learning about it too.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching

  • @mikeh6814
    @mikeh6814 11 місяців тому

    Everything you are explaining is here on a Hill in Pennsylvania and I have been trying to save money for a metal detector but I hope to get one soon! I have a collected a lot of quartz but haven’t processed anything yet! Thanks for the video it just makes me more confident to keep searching

    • @mikeh6814
      @mikeh6814 11 місяців тому

      The pipe was terracotta type material I found around broken up on the way down to the creek towards the big v trench that goes from the top of the hill to 3/4 the way down the hill and the creek is at the bottom

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      of course a trench with a pipe in it was likely dug to bury the pipe, not to search for veins.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Good luck in your search!

  • @kevinb7551
    @kevinb7551 11 місяців тому

    my 6 year old found a nice specimen of pyrite in rock, i heated a small piece and crushed it to find it seems to have some silver and gold flakes and a few small pickers. maybe some other base metals, hopefully i can use it for a first attempt at assaying and see it done in person. at least i have some good material for panning practice for now lol.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      sounds interesting.

  • @Smithsgold
    @Smithsgold 10 місяців тому +1

    good info

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  10 місяців тому +1

      Glad you think so! Hope you are well.

  • @RKranch
    @RKranch 11 місяців тому

    Hi I wish I’d known you were in my area I have a huge pit and a cemented shaft, finding lots of surface quartz with gold . There’s tons of big chunks of rock piled up.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому +1

      Interesting, but the mother lode country of the Sierra covers a large area.

    • @RKranch
      @RKranch 11 місяців тому

      Is there a way to send pictures?

    • @RKranch
      @RKranch 11 місяців тому

      I’m in Calaveras

  • @waltertodd4479
    @waltertodd4479 11 місяців тому

    It's hard to tell from the video, but my guess is that the area was ditched and ground sluiced. Then, after ground sluicing, they prospected riicher areas they found by loaming, panning, and trenching the topsoil for highgrade.

  • @jbowerman50
    @jbowerman50 11 місяців тому

    Wish I lived closer to an area like that

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      The open forest has many advantages.

  • @shanelocke237
    @shanelocke237 10 місяців тому

    "ONYA CHRIS" very interesting with great info.well done mate. I was wondering if the old timers would sluice the material around the quartze veins,if so what would be a average distance coz the depression from the shift is huge.cheers Chris.shane from Bathurst Australia

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  10 місяців тому +1

      Where the bedrock is weathered and soft, then yes it was common to sluice the whole area around the vein. The amount depends on how deeply the rock is weathered. Hard and solid rock cannot just be washed away with water.

  • @bhs8732
    @bhs8732 11 місяців тому

    Thanks, Will search a hill in the area...named the mininghill ⛏🤠

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому +1

      Good luck! Hope your hunt is successful.

    • @bhs8732
      @bhs8732 11 місяців тому

      Thanks and hope so, cause was an viking King who was rich but noone find his treasure... Hopefully it can be some hints in the hill :)@@ChrisRalph

  • @watertiteman
    @watertiteman 11 місяців тому +1

    Hey Chris! I was recently out looking for abandoned mines in a known area for pinch and swell veins, and dumped next to the dirt road I was traveling along was a huge pile of milky quartz or possibly marble. No sounds from the metal detector, but just curious why that would have been dumped next to the road. My best guess at the time was that the truck (or wagon) broke down, and they needed to offload it to facilitate repairing the truck or something like that. Do you have any idea?

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Not seeing it myself, its super hard to guess what it might be.

  • @IBRAKEFORBEDROCK
    @IBRAKEFORBEDROCK 11 місяців тому

    I live in the pines right next to a large gold area, however its hard for me to prospect there with all the organic debris in the way.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Very true. I have raked off Pine needles and detectected gold underneath.

  • @curly__3
    @curly__3 11 місяців тому

    These are awesome vids, thanks! What are the chances of finding gold in quartz veins in areas that have not been mined? Say, in the rocky mountains of colorado in an area that is volcanic?

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому +1

      Its possible and I know folks who have done that in Nevada and AZ. However there are loads of barren quartz veins because quartz is extremely common, while gold is very rare. So lots of quartz veins out there with nothing in them.

  • @scottk1525
    @scottk1525 11 місяців тому

    Thanks, Chris. Excellent stuff here! Are there are any hallmarks one can look for to distinguish caved in shafts vs surface pits & trenches? Or should one just err on the safe side and avoid any and all large depressions in the ground?

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому +1

      The dumps for pits are small - the same size as the pit. The dumps for shafts are much larger than the pit because the excavation is larger.

    • @scottk1525
      @scottk1525 11 місяців тому

      @@ChrisRalph Thank you, sir!

  • @TEAMJESUS-JOHN316
    @TEAMJESUS-JOHN316 11 місяців тому

    Your videos never disappoint, just like your book. 😊👍✝️☝️👑🙏

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому +1

      Wow, thank you. Glad you liked the video.

  • @OGRocker1
    @OGRocker1 11 місяців тому

    Awesome Video Teach, .... lots of great info!
    Let me ask you about a mine I know of; According to the research I have done so far, it has a 400' shaft and quite extensive workings off of it. There was a stamp mill hauled up to it in the 1900's. But it is recorded as not producing anything. It as well has a sister mine within 50' of it. One was a gold mine and the other a silver etc. mine.
    My question is; does it make any sense that they never produced anything ? I think not! I am in the northern mother load country just to the east a couple of miles, between two of the largest gold finds in the state just north of Cali. Your opinion would be valued for entertainment purposes only.Thinking of filing a claim on it, ...

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому +1

      There are many mines with a small production, but no recorded production for government records.

  • @GoldPanDan
    @GoldPanDan 11 місяців тому +1

    I've always said, follow the ditches! They didnt dig ditches for nothing.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Very true and a good idea.

  • @blakiniknorguild142
    @blakiniknorguild142 11 місяців тому

    How do you protect your claims? I assume you cannot be there 24/7/365 so what do you do to ensure someone else isn't claim jumping? Furthermore, how do you even handle it if someone is claim jumping?
    I assume this is a complex answer but would love to hear your thoughts.

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      I keep quiet about the claims. take a look at my videos on staking a claim for more info.

    • @kevinb7551
      @kevinb7551 11 місяців тому

      I watched another prospector and saw him have issues with his claim before he even bought it.
      there's not much you can do but catch them yourself, and report it... but the response is rarely quick and they are usually gone and leave a big mess by the time authorities arrive.

  • @dustinjohnson3463
    @dustinjohnson3463 11 місяців тому

    After a few rains will show more material as it cleans the dirt off so you can see quartz

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Yes, rain will clean things off.

  • @donalda7181
    @donalda7181 11 місяців тому

    If you dig a hole in the trenches do you need to fill in the trench?

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  11 місяців тому

      Just the hole you dig, not the ones dug by the old time miners.

    • @Anatoliys_Adventure
      @Anatoliys_Adventure 10 місяців тому

      Some places have environmental protections but most of the time you don't have to. But it's much appreciated if you do. It's better for the environment and makes prospectors as a whole look better. We should always strive to leave places we disturb in as close to the original state as possible

  • @aliabdihaj001
    @aliabdihaj001 8 місяців тому

    hi Chris. regardless of it's price what is best metal detector with accurate target id .please mention it's name

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  8 місяців тому

      There are many opinions. Are you also trying to find gold?

    • @aliabdihaj001
      @aliabdihaj001 8 місяців тому

      @@ChrisRalph yeah for both gold and treasure

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  8 місяців тому

      Probably an equinox would be the best for seeking both.

  • @portroyal6886
    @portroyal6886 11 місяців тому

    ❤❤❤

  • @universalinternational3883
    @universalinternational3883 4 місяці тому +1

    🧈Chris, you should tape more video like it in the river to explain how you read the natural Sluice that trap Gold! 🏆ua-cam.com/video/yf0uCqUdsFQ/v-deo.html

    • @ChrisRalph
      @ChrisRalph  4 місяці тому +1

      I have done this - See: ua-cam.com/video/FW5Mf6cKk4w/v-deo.html