As the high waters recede with the onset of spring and summer, much of the areas where the fine gold is deposited is left exposed up on the banks of the rivers. The fine gold, since it is much lighter in weight, is deposited much higher on the banks, or in the material of the river. Each winter, as the rivers swell with winter rains and snows, much fine gold is washed down them. For this “dry land dredging,” however, there are no uncomfortable and expensive wet-suits to don, no heavy equipment to carry and then set up, and no long period of learning how to operate the equipment, or learning where to find gold.Īnyone who is familiar with mining knows that there is a much larger proportion of fine gold deposited than large gold, in almost any area. It involves using a small, lightweight unit to vacuum cracks and crevices of exposed bedrock, moss on exposed bedrock or boulders, or material in a dry wash in the desert. It is called “Vacking ” and, as you might suppose, involves vacuuming material.Īs a suction dredge vacuums material from the bottom of the river, this is a type of dry-land dredging. I am assuming water from a spring? Maybe for a placer operation in the wash below the 4wd road? Might be a good clue to old placer workings in an area to watch for?Īnd in a spot on the Agua Fria river south of the ghost town of Gillette, I spotted what looked like a large TV antenna perched on a hillside boulder beside the river crossing? Duh,what was that ? Is somebody living underground there? There was a ventilator pipe sticking out of the rocks nearby too now that I recall.You never know what you will see driving backroads in the search for gold.There is a fairly new method of mining out there in the mining community that is rapidly gaining in popularity, with good reason. Off to one side, there were long skinny iron pipes coming down from higher up the hillside. We stopped at a spot on the 4wd trail that had lush greenery showing. I was out in the desert once, north of Pleasant Lake north of Phoenix, with a prospecting buddy on a hot day in June to gold hunt. Ps,Where do you get enough water in a dry hot desert to run a wash plant? The only water sources seem to be the occasional mountain springs or these Tinnaja water tank things on the topo maps?

Dryland dredge nozzle