The author sniping for gold
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Typically, greenhorn gold miners begin their careers by learning to master the simplest of mining techniques and tools, and then, step by step they advance, augmenting their skills as they go.
The following post chronicles how I, as greenhorn gold miner, low on cash and camping full-time, lived off of the gold I mined while learning to become a sourdough, one step at a time.
First—the Gold Pan
Most gold miners, myself included, launched their careers by learning how to use a gold pan—the simple, indispensable tool that has been handed down through the generations and epitomizes the gold mining industry.
During the winter of 1979 when I began mining gold, I was camped beside California’s North Fork of the Yuba River. All I had to mine with was a pick, shovel, gold pan, and my determination to learn and to succeed.
In my day, the steel gold pan was the norm. Nowadays, the plastic pan has flooded the market and has become the favorite among the majority of miners—largely because it is lighter, doesn’t rust or dent, and is virtually maintenance-free.
Second—the Sluice Box
During the early weeks of that first winter, I panned gold up and down the river every day that the weather allowed. On my first trip to town (Downieville, Ca) for supplies, I sold all the gold I had panned to a buyer who was also a seasoned miner and the local mining supply store owner.
Heeding his advice, I dedicated a significant cut of my proceeds from the gold sale to the purchase (from him) of an aluminum sluice box that he predicted would more than double my gold recovery. It did! I chronicled that story in my blog post: A Greenhorn Gold Miner’s Love Affair With Downieville, Ca—1979.
For the rest of the winter months and through most of the spring, I sluiced spots along the river every day that I could, severe rain and snowstorms being my only limiters. Eight to ten-hour days seldom produced less than a pennyweight or more than four pennyweights of gold.
I wasn’t making much money; the gold value, compared to today, was far lower back then. But no matter; I was young, getting by, and loving the life.
Mid-spring arrived. With the onset of warmer days, the annual gold miners’ migration to the river began. Their motor homes and tents began popping up in every campground.
Among the early arrivals was Ed Vought, a retired Navy man who lived year-round in his camper and came to the river to snipe for gold every year. We struck up a friendship, and he offered to teach me to snipe. I eagerly accepted.
After watching him work for just a couple of weeks, all the while being the benefactor of his expert tutoring, I made plans to store my sluice box, buy a wetsuit, face mask, snorkel, and
Third—Sniping Gear
*To learn the basics of
A wetsuit is important to a sniper’s comfort. The more comfortable you are in the water, the more hours you will be inclined to work. And, over time, the more hours you clock, the more gold you will produce (duh!).
I sniped in a 3mm thick suit; some snipers prefer a thicker one. A five to seven-millimeter-thick wetsuit is commonly used for dredging in temperate waters. For those dredging up north, drysuits or wetsuits with warm water circulating through them are the norms.
There are variables to take into account when selecting a wetsuit—too thin for conditions and you will suffer the cold, too thick and you will feel the heat. And of course, the water temperature is a key consideration; your activity level is another.
Snipers are usually in and out of the stream all day long, quickly working a spot in the water, then feeling the burn of the sun on their black neoprene suits as they scurry to the next. They don’t get as cold as a dredger laboring underwater for much longer periods. Dredgers often prefer a thicker wetsuit.
I dredged in California streams in my three-millimeter-thick suit during the warm season. And I sniped in it throughout the winters too, usually without too much discomfort. Though my resolve was put to the test several times when I had to build a fire to thaw my stiff as a board, ice-encrusted wetsuit on some cold winter mornings, before jumping in the water.
My advice (assuming you’re new to
Fourth—the Metal Detector
Except for a couple of minor detours, I sniped for years through times of plenty and times of naught. Mostly, I barely found enough gold to keep myself fed, clothed, and out of the labor force. Granted, I wasn’t living high on the hog, and I wasn’t exactly keeping up with the Joneses, but I was healthy, happy, and hopeful.
In the mid-80s, Ron Crone, a metal-detecting friend of mine specializing in detecting coins, jewelry, and artifacts, offered to teach me how to use a detector if I’d help him sharpen his gold prospecting skills.
On his recommendation, I bought the same brand and model detector that he used. On one of our first outings, detecting in gold rush-era tailings piles, I found a splendid quartz/gold specimen weighing 13 ounces, 16 pennyweights.
The story of that find was chronicled in the 1985 winter edition of Treasure Found Magazine. The magazine cover and more on the specimen discovery are featured on this site in my post, Does Metal Decting Pay?
Ron and I detected together a number of times after that, but we found very little gold. We became discouraged. Heck, it was so long ago, maybe it was only me that became discouraged. Anyway, I stored away my detector and resumed
I’m convinced that the reason we weren’t finding much gold was that we were detecting with the wrong machines for our purpose.
I was metal detector technology ignorant; we both were back then. We were using Whites Coinmaster metal detectors engineered and optimized for targeting coins, jewelry, and relics. Sure, they wouldn’t miss nugget-sized gold; however, the vast majority of natural gold in the ground is small by comparison—often under a gram in weight.
Gold detectors are designed for targeting gold. They will zing off on other metals too, but they are optimized for targeting gold. The main difference between the two machines is the frequency at which they operate.
Frequency matters! Coin machines will find some gold, and gold machines will find some coins; however, each detector, in its specialty, will excel and beat the heck out of the other. Case in point, when I got wise and upgraded to a gold detector, the boost to my gold production convinced me to spend less time
If you are looking for a high-quality metal detector at a reasonable price, you’ve come to the right place. Check out Amazon’s affordable, top brand name, tried and true, metal-detecting machines.
In ’95 I threw in with some friends and went back to the Mojave for a season of hard rock mining. Over the course of several months, we sank a hole on a quartz vein above a patch of nuggets I had found the previous year with my detector. And we built a mill to process the ore we mined—all under the guidance of a crusty, old hardrock miner.
Aside from the minuscule amount of gold we recovered, all that we gained from our months of toil was a stack of IOUs, calluses, and blistered, bloody hands. But it wasn’t a total bust—we learned a bunch!
Fifth—the Dredge and Highbanker
I acquired a couple of dredges during my
Next, I bought a high banker and set it up on a gravel bank that showed promise; but after a couple of weeks of hard work, it proved to be a bust too. So, I again went back to
Later, I hired on as a diver for two seasons with dredging outfits in Alaska working the Fortymile River. I was paid a wage; both outfits made money.
* Dredging in some of the top gold-producing states has been highly restricted or banned outright by recent legislation; other states are considering passing similar laws. The curtailments have dealt a crushing blow to the dredge-producing industry. Many, if not most, small dredge manufacturers have gone out of business. Consequently, it’s getting harder to find a decent selection of dredges on the market today.
Miners are fighting back hard against the bans and restrictions. What the final outcome of the dredging battles will be is anybody’s guess. However, it doesn’t look good for dredgers, because, right or wrong, the modern trend in the courts favoring the interests of environmentalists over miners seems to be the norm, and that is an enormous tide for the dredging community to buck.
Sixth—the Drywasher
In 2005, after years of detecting experience, I returned to a remote mining district in the Mojave Desert to prospect for gold. On Christmas day I set up camp and, within a few weeks, I bought a drywasher to work on a placer deposit I had found with my metal detector.
Over the following months, I alternated between nugget shooting in the surrounding hills and ravines with my metal detector and shoveling sand and gravel into my drywasher, predicated upon whim and circumstance.
The second week of June, when the heat and swarming bees became more than I cared to deal with, I packed up and returned to the high country.
My drywasher (below) setup in a Mojave Desert dry wash I was working in 2005.
Drywasher
*Those were the principal skills that I mastered during my mining days. Though I never got rich, I had major fun and learned plenty. Most importantly, I have no regrets.