North California Gold Map

Maps

NORTH CAROLINA Gold Map- 300 gold sites - A 17 pound gold nugget was found by a 12 year old boy, Conrad Reed, in 1799 in a creek. It was used as a doorstop for three years. You will enjoy visiting the Reed Gold Mine, the nation’s first, at Stanfield. It has gold displays, equipment, a film, gold panning and tours of the gold mine (704-786-8337). Also, see the NC Minerals Museum at Spruce Pine and the Colburn Gem and Mineral Museum at Asheville. National forests. Beautiful streams. Other North Carolina gold nuggets: 28 pounds, 25 pounds and 15 pounds.

ALABAMA Gold Map- 140 gold mines and prospects - Montgomery, Birmingham, Anniston, Auburn. A geological report states: “The Hilton Brothers reopened the pit. They succeeded in obtaining 65 ounces of gold from a hole 3 feet by 2 feet by 20 inches; the result of half a day’s work.”

SOUTH CAROLINA Gold Map- 130 gold sites - There are several operating gold mines in South Carolina. The Ridgeway Gold Mine has been predicted to become one of the largest primary gold mines in North America. Gold mines and prospects near Greenville, Spartanburg, Clemson, McCormick, Newberry, Greenwood, Camden, York, Rock Hill, Lancaster and Pageland.

GEORGIA Gold Map- 500 gold sites - 500 gold mines and prospects in 37 counties extend from south of Atlanta to Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina & Alabama. Georgia is a wonderful state for gold prospecting, gold panning, treasure hunting and rockhounding. There was a major gold rush in 1828 at Dahlonega. Vice President John C. Calhoun mined at Auraria. Villa Rica, west of Atlanta, is known as “The Golden City”. Visit Dahlonega’s gold museum with displays, film & lectures (706-864-2257). The Crisson Gold Mine and the Consolidated Gold Mine at Dahlonega are open to visitors and gold panning may be done at these mines.


VIRGINIA Gold Map - Virginia has a long history of placer gold and lode gold production. There are 200 gold mines and prospects in 15 counties shown on the Virginia Gold Map. Panners from other states go to the Virginia gold sites and pan for the yellow metal.

Gold in California

Gold in California became highly concentrated there as the result of global forces operating over hundreds of millions of years. Volcanoes, tectonic plates and erosion all combined to concentrate billions of dollars worth of gold in the mountains of California. During the California Gold Rush, gold-seekers known as "Forty-Niners" retrieved this gold, at first using simple techniques, and then developed more sophisticated techniques which spread around the world.

The California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in Coloma. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 people coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.

These early gold-seekers, called "forty-niners," traveled to California by sailing ship and in covered wagons across the continent, often facing substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly-arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush also attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia. At first, the prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning, and later developed more sophisticated methods of gold recovery that were adopted around the world. Gold, worth billions of today's dollars, was recovered leading to great wealth for a few; many, however, returned home with little more than they started with.

The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet of tents to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built. A system of laws and a government were created, leading to the admission of California as a state in 1850. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service and railroads were built. The business of agriculture, California's next major growth field, was started on a wide scale throughout the state. However, the Gold Rush also had negative effects: Native Americans were attacked and pushed off traditional lands, and gold mining caused environmental harm.

The Ancient Rivers

ANCIENT MAGALIA CHANNEL

Magalia Channel is just north of Paradise, Butte County and gold sites are on both sides of the channel. A 54 pound nugget was found at Magalia. The West Branch of Feather River runs near and crosses this ancient channel south of Last Chance Creek.

ANCIENT JURA RIVER

The Ancient Jura River is from the Jurassic Period, which makes it much older than the ancient rivers of the Tertiary Period. The course of this ancient river traces from Sierra County past Blairsden and Cromberg in Plumas County and Mount Ingalls. There are very few gold sites along the Jura River.

MOKELUMNE ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

Tertiary Mokelumne River starts in Eldorado National Forest and runs westward. It terminates about 8 miles west of California State Highway 49 not far from the town of Plymouth in Amador County. Two branches of the river originate near the North Fork of the Cosumnes River. Quite a few gold sites occur along the westernmost branch and along the main course of the ancient river near the towns of Volcano and Plymouth.

CALAVERAS ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

A considerable number of gold sites parallel the Tertiary Calaveras River. Tertiary Calaveras itself parallels the South Fork of the Stanislaus River just north of Columbia Historical State Park. The ancient river continues westward to California State Highway 49 and parallels the gold camps north to San Andreas. It terminates near Valley Springs in Calaveras County.

Rich gold deposits occur near the branches of ancient Calaveras. Hundreds of gold sites appear on Gold Map 5 along and between the two northern branches that originate near the towns of Sutter Creek and West Point.

TUOLUMNE ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

Tertiary Tuolumne River parallels the present-day Tuolumne River from Oakland Recreation Camp in the Stanislaus National Forest to Chinese Camp by Highway 49. There are many gold sites both north and south of this ancient river and near the towns of Coulterville, Jacksonville, Jamestown and Tuolumne.

ANCIENT INTERVOLCANIC CATARACT CHANNEL

The ancient Intervolcanic Cataract Channel originates in Calaveras Big Trees National Forest in Tuolumne County. It crosses the North Fork of the Stanislaus River into Calaveras County. It then crosses the Stanislaus River near Carson Hill, Columbia State Park and Squabbletown. The channel continues in a southwesterly direction a few miles west of Sonora and Jamestown and terminates at the Tuolumne/Stanislaus County line. A considerable number of gold deposit sites exist at each of the aforementioned towns.

The Ancient Rivers

YUBA ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

This ancient river of gold is by far the largest of the Tertiary rivers of the Sierra Nevada of California. It will be seen on Big Ten’s California Gold Map 5 that the Tertiary Yubu runs through or into the counties of Plumas, Sierra, Yuba, Nevada, Placer and El Dorado.

Ancient Yuba has numerous branches wandering throughout the area between Marysville and Lake Tahoe. The general drainage is from east to west; but in some of the branches the flow was from south to north and in other branches it was from north to south.

The Ancient Yuba River has been a rich source of gold. The famous gold towns of Grass Valley and Nevada City are along the course of the Ancient Yuba, as are the numerous gold deposit sites south of Downieville in Tahoe National Forest.

The deepest trough-shaped depressions in the drainage basin of the Tertiary Yuba River are usually filled to a depth of 50 to 200 feet by coarse gravels which ordinarily have been cemented so that they cannot be washed without crushing. Bench gravels

cover the deep gravels and in some places the bench gravels spread out to a width of one to two miles. The bench gravels contain much quartz. The pebbles are smaller than the deep gravels and always, except close to the headwaters, well rounded and polished. Fossil leaves have been found in the bench gravels.

The courses of the present-day Yuba River, including it’s North Fork, Middle Fork, South Fork and the smaller tributaries that feed them are also shown on Gold Map 5.

AMERICAN ANCIENT RIVER OF GOLD

The Tertiary American River follows a more or less east to west course from south of Lake Tahoe to the town of Roseville northeast of Sacramento and Carmichael. It crosses California State Highway 49 a couple of miles south of gold-rich Placerville.

ANCIENT INTERVOLCANIC AMERICAN RIVER

The Ancient Intervolcanic American River has many gold deposit sites along it’s course. It starts in Tahoe National Forest near the North fork of the present-day American river, then winds it’s way southwesterly to Auburn, Placer County. Many gold sites are near Auburn. One branch of the Ancient Intervolcanic American River circles around Volcanoville, which is noted for it’s gold.

Hunting for gold in virginia

Prospecting and panning for gold in Virginia is of increasing interest to people living in the eastern part of the United States. Panning is easy to do and there is a long streak of gold deposits in Virginia. Treasure hunting with a metal detector is also very popular. Revolutionary War and Civil War battles were fought here and many caches of valuables, including gold coins and jewelry, were hidden from opposing forces. Relics from Civil War battles are frequently found by treasure hunters using metal detectors.

Virginia gold nugget in the Smithsonian Institution

Excellent specimens of gold nuggets found in Virginia are in the U.S. Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution). Should you find a nugget, keep in mind that even small gold nuggets are worth far more than their weight in gold. Gem and mineral collectors, rockhounds, mineral museums and geology departments of universities seek them. Jewelers use them in making jewelry, such as pendants. Small nuggets are used to make gold earrings. Big Ten’s Virginia Gold Map shows 200 gold mines and prospecting locations from official geological records of the State of Virginia and the federal government. Gold sites are shown in these 15 counties:
Buckingham
Culpepper
Cumberland
Fairfax
Fauquier
Floyd
Fluvanna
Goochland
Halifax
Louisa
Orange
Patrick
Prince William
Spotsylvania
Stafford.

Gold Mines in Virginia

The streak of gold mines and prospecting areas in Virginia starts in Fairfax County near Washington, D.C. and trends southwest for about 140 miles. The gold mines and prospects parallel Interstate 95 just west of Dumfries and Fredericksburg and continue southwest into Buckingham County, about 25 miles east of Lynchburg. Some other gold mines and prospecting areas are further south near South Boston and in Floyd and Patrick counties.

Heavy concentrations of gold mines and prospecting sites are seen near Fredericksburg and Wilderness along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. Another large group of mines and prospects occurs along the Fluvanna / Goochland county line.

Virginia Gold Mining History

Historical information herein is from documents written by geologist Palmer C. Sweet of the Virginia Division of Mineral Resources.

Placer gold mining started in Virginia about 1804. Lode gold mining quickly followed. The only known reference to gold in the southern Appalachians published in the 18th century appears in Thomas Jefferson’s notes on Virginia wherein he described a piece of ore, found in 1782 on the bank of the Rappahannock River, that yielded 17 pennyweight of gold. Gold from Virginia and South Carolina was sent to the mint in 1829 and from Georgia in 1830.

A U.S. Geological Survey document, in referring to the southern Appalachian region, states that a real boom was under way and, press reports of the period contain such headlines as "Number of gold mines increasing daily," "Farmers find gold in every hill," "Moneyed men from every quarter of the Union purchasing land at extravagant prices," "Mills are building," "Mine produces 160 pounds of pure metal in one week," "Gold digging amounts to mania."

Gold mining

Gold mining consists of the processes and techniques employed in the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques by which gold may be extracted from earth and rock

Gold in goldpan, Alaska

Gold panning is the easiest technique for searching for gold, but is not commercially viable for extracting gold from large deposits, except where labor costs are very low and/or gold traces are very substantial. It is often marketed as a tourist attraction on former goldfields. Before production methods can be used, a new source must be identified and panning is a good way to identify placer gold deposits so that they may be evaluated for commercial viability.

Metal detecting

A new small scale technique using metal detectors for finding gold. Using a piece of electronic equipment, called a metal detector, a person may walk around area systematically scanning below the surface. If the meter gives a positive reading a quantity of gold may be present up to a meter below the surface being scanned at the time. This technique is very easy to operate, highly mobile, and very popular among gold diggers.

Sluicing

Using a sluice box to extract gold from placer deposits has been a common practice in prospecting and small-scale mining throughout history to the modern day. A sluice box is essentially a man-made channel with riffles set in the bottom. The riffles are designed to create dead zones in the current to allow gold to drop out of suspension. The box is placed in the stream to catch water-flow and gold bearing material is placed at the top of the box. The material is carried by water through the box where gold and other heavy material settles out behind the riffles. Lighter material flows out of the box as tailings.

Larger commercial placer mining operations employ screening plants or trommels to remove the larger alluvial materials such as boulders and gravel before concentrating in a sluice box or jig plant.

Panning

Gold panning is a mostly manual technique of sorting gold. Wide, shallow pans are filled with sand and gravel that may contain gold. Water is added and the pans are shaken, sorting the gold from the gravel and other material. Gold being much denser than rock, quickly settles to the bottom of the pan. The silt is usually removed from stream beds, often at a bend in the stream, or resting on the bedrock bed of the stream, where the weight of gold causes it to separate out of the water flow. This type of gold found in streams or dry streams are called placer deposits.

The simplest technique to extract gold from placer ore is panning. In panning, some mined ore is placed in a large metal or plastic pan, combined with a generous amount of water, and agitated so that the gold particles, being of higher density than the other material, settle to the bottom of the pan. The lighter ore material such as sand, mud and gravel are then washed over the side of the pan, leaving the gold behind. Once a placer deposit is located by gold panning, the miner usually shifts to equipment that can treat volumes of sand and gravel more quickly and efficiently.

Gold - General Info

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from the Latin aurum, meaning shining dawn) and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal which, for many centuries, has been used as money, a store of value and in jewelry. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, underground "veins" and in alluvial deposits. It is one of the coinage metals. Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile of the known metals. Pure gold has a bright yellow color traditionally considered attractive.

Gold formed the basis for the gold standard used before the fiat currency monetary system was employed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). It is specifically against IMF regulations to base any currency against gold for all IMF member states. The ISO currency code of gold bullion is XAU.

Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics, where gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative corrosion.

Chemically, gold is a trivalent and univalent transition metal. Gold does not react with most chemicals, but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine, aqua regia and cyanide. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but does not react with it. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which will dissolve silver and base metals, and this is the basis of the gold refining technique known as "inquartation and parting". Nitric acid has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items, and this is the origin of the colloquial term "acid test," referring to a gold standard test for genuine value.

A one ounce gold nugget will bring $2,000 to $4,000 on the collectors market. Per a letter from the Department of Agriculture, no permit is needed for recreational gold panning and gold prospecting in the general national forest areas, provided no machinery is used. Our gold panning and prospecting maps show many national forests with gold sites.

The gold maps tell you how to pan, where to look in a streambed and how to tell fool's gold from real gold. You can quickly learn to pan by following the instructions on your map. Some people like to pan for gold at public rights of way where bridges cross gold-bearing streams. Treasure hunters metal detect for coins at the rural schools and churches.A streak of gold mines and gold prospecting sites extends from near Montgomery, Alabama to Washington D.C. The gold was placed there when Africa overrode North America about 250 million years ago. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama have many gold mines and prospecting sites. These states were our main source of gold for 45 years before the California gold discovery. In 1837, the US Government established gold coin mints in Georgia and North Carolina, rather than transport the raw gold to the Philadelphia Mint.The largest true California gold nugget weighed 54 pounds. A 195 pound mass was also found.

The 6,600 gold deposit sites shown on our six California gold prospecting and panning maps are continuous from Mexico to Oregon and to the Arizona and Nevada state lines. All gold sites on the prospecting and panning maps are from official records.