Adventure 098 - Gold Panning

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 098 – Gold Panning

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  June 29, 2012

Location: James Marshall Gold Discovery State Historical Park

Description:
So how hard can gold panning be? You just grab some river bottom, putting it into a pan. Then swish around some water and Eureka! You found gold. James Marshall did not even need a pan to find his gold. Right? Well evidently you need a little more skill than that. As we came up empty, but rich in a better understanding of the impact and experience of the 1840's and 50's. We also found out the meanings of placer (to pan for gold) and lode (to dig or mine for gold). (Are we glad we do not need to pan for gold for a living today!)

According to the Highway 49 web site, how you really pan for gold is as follows:

You will need a gold pan, a 12 or 15 inch steel pan is preferred. Darken the pan by placing it over a burner or in a campfire. This will make the flakes of gold more noticible. • Look for gravel bars in the middle of • rivers or streams • Look for gravel bars around heavy • water runoff • On the downstream side of large boulders or tree roots in streams • In cracks above the water-line, along the edge of the stream • In streaks of gravel that settle above • streambeds and follow the • bottom of stream channels

Place your pan under water, keeping the pan under water at all times, filling the pan nearly full. Throw away the large stones and break up lumps of mud and clay. Hold the pan level with both hands and rotate the pan with swirling motions. As you rotate the pan the heavier gold loosens from the sand, gravel and settles to the bottom. Tilt the pan downward to let the dirty water, sand and gravel wash over the edge of the pan. Continue to raise and lower the lip of the pan so the water will flow over it and remove more of the lighter material. Continue this process until nothing but gold and heavier minerals are left in the pan Carefully inspect the black sand for nuggets or tiny specks of gold or other precious minerals.