Gold in them there hills....

[Robhuntandfish]

Anyone heard of or have done any panning for gold in the Adirondacks?  Always thought it would be a cool day trip to try something new. 

[greybeard]

Never heard of anyone doing it, but It does sound pretty cool. The only gold that I heard of up there was found by a guy who researched some historical facts and with a metal detector found lots of gold coins. It was near Lake George as I recall..

[Fletch]

I'm pretty sure there is no indication of any decent gold mining in the Dacks. I read somewhere someone panned 2 flakes somewhere and donated them to a museum. I also believe any gold found on state land is property of the state. So if you do find any the state thanks you!!

[grampy]

I've done a bit of panning in various places in NY.  And have found some flakes of placer gold. Though any gold you find, belongs to the State, by law. During the receding of glaciers in the last ice age, small pockets of placer gold were deposited throughout NY. The Green Mtns. of Vermont, also have some nice streams to do a little prospecting. And who knows ya might even get lucky, and find a small piece of color, to rattle in the bottom of your pan!

It is a lot of fun. And can be as inexpensive as $50 or so for a couple pans, a classifier, and hand tools. Oh, and knee pads!

[Larry]

A guy I know pans in Livingston and Allegany counties and says there is gold in almost every stream that’s in the hills. But he also says you’re not going to get rich doing it he does it for fun.

[grampy]

3 minutes ago, Larry said:

A guy I know pans in Livingston and Allegany counties and says there is gold in almost every stream that’s in the hills. But he also says you’re not going to get rich doing it he does it for fun.

Very true.

[Steuben Jerry]

30 minutes ago, grampy said:

I've done a bit of panning in various places in NY.  And have found some flakes of placer gold. Though any gold you find, belongs to the State, by law. During the receding of glaciers in the last ice age, small pockets of placer gold were deposited throughout NY. The Green Mtns. of Vermont, also have some nice streams to do a little prospecting. And who knows ya might even get lucky, and find a small piece of color, to rattle in the bottom of your pan!

It is a lot of fun. And can be as inexpensive as $50 or so for a couple pans, a classifier, and hand tools. Oh, and knee pads!

I was looking into this last year and learned all this. And I think NY is the only state in the US that does this. It never ends in NY, does it?

[Culvercreek hunt club]

47 minutes ago, grampy said:

I've done a bit of panning in various places in NY.  And have found some flakes of placer gold. Though any gold you find, belongs to the State, by law. During the receding of glaciers in the last ice age, small pockets of placer gold were deposited throughout NY. The Green Mtns. of Vermont, also have some nice streams to do a little prospecting. And who knows ya might even get lucky, and find a small piece of color, to rattle in the bottom of your pan!

It is a lot of fun. And can be as inexpensive as $50 or so for a couple pans, a classifier, and hand tools. Oh, and knee pads!

Same in all the Finger lake streams becasue of the glaciers. i have heard of guys picking up a bit of color in deep bedrock fishers in the shale gorge type creeks entering the finger lakes. 

[G-Man]

Go to Missouri and look for diamonds at the national park..when you find them you keep them..

[Robhuntandfish]

Yeah was just looking for a day trip. Not to strike the mother load.  Thought it would be fun......

Take a fishpole and a pan and see what I find.  

[2012_taco]

20 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Yeah was just looking for a day trip. Not to strike the mother load.  Thought it would be fun......

Take a fishpole and a pan and see what I find.  

You can always use the pan to cook the fish!

[grampy]

59 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

Same in all the Finger lake streams becasue of the glaciers. i have heard of guys picking up a bit of color in deep bedrock fishers in the shale gorge type creeks entering the finger lakes. 

This is what I do. Just look for exposed bedrock along the edge of the stream. Then just clean out all the cracks, nooks and crany's as they act like a natural sluce box. As the heavier gold, will find the bottom of these cracks. I'll dump the material in a five gallon bucket, with a classifier on top, then 'slowly' pan the material from the bucket. Sometimes you get nothing. Sometimes a few flakes of color, to show for your work. 

You won't ever get rich. But it's another fun thing to do outdoors!

Some day, I'd like to go to Alaska, for a hunt, do some fishing, and pan for a little gold! 

"It ain't about having the gold, it's finding the gold!".......Steve Massey.

[greg54]

Took this pic of sign they posted at Golden Hill State Park few weeks ago to show friend of mine. New York State takes the fun out of a lot of things, even a harmless and fun hobby.

[Robhuntandfish]

8 minutes ago, grampy said:

This is what I do. Just look for exposed bedrock along the edge of the stream. Then just clean out all the cracks, nooks and crany's as they act like a natural sluce box. As the heavier gold, will find the bottom of these cracks. I'll dump the material in a five gallon bucket, with a classifier on top, then 'slowly' pan the material from the bucket. Sometimes you get nothing. Sometimes a few flakes of color, to show for your work. 

You won't ever get rich. But it's another fun thing to do outdoors!

Some day, I'd like to go to Alaska, for a hunt, do some fishing, and pan for a little gold! 

"It ain't about having the gold, it's finding the gold!".......Steve Massey.

That sounds like a lot of fun. Gonna give it a try.  I actually thought of it from watching that show. Lol. Thanks for the info.