Have you been searching the nearby creeks and rivers around your home in search of placer gold? If you are not located in a known gold mining area, there is a very good chance that you have had no luck in your search. Even after spending countless hours exploring many different areas, you repeatedly come home empty-handed.
Does this sound about right?
Here is something that most beginners simply overlook or just plain ignore; the most successful gold prospectors out there are finding gold in areas that are well-known and established mining districts.
Finding Old Mining Areas
The most successful gold miners I know do not venture out randomly with a gold pan
It seems counterproductive to many beginning gold prospectors out there, who thing that the best place to find gold would be somewhere that has never been explored before. Certainly there is a small chance that you could discover gold in an undocumented area, but with prospectors scouring the countryside for several centuries now, this is getting less and less likely.
To put it simply, the best places to find gold are places that it has been found before.
So how do you find these areas? There are many good books on the subject of gold prospecting, including good books on where to find gold in each state in the U.S.
Seek out old mining towns, creeks and rivers that were mined by the old-timers. Find out where historic bucket line dredges and hydraulic mining took place, and prospect those exact areas. Believe me, the old timers did NOT get it all.
Finding these areas may be easier said than done. If you live in the West, you probably have some good mining areas around you. If not, then the areas that have gold will probably be less productive for you. Rest assured however, you can find gold in just about any state in the U.S., but in some areas the gold is going to be extremely fine textured, and you are not likely to get rich from gold mining here.
Gold is where you find it, and in most cases, the places that you will find it are the same areas that produced gold for the miners during the original gold rushes in this country. Do some research, explore the mining history of your area, and you will be well on your way to finding some gold.
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