Go Back To The Land With A Gold Pan

Enlarge Image Image Gallery [1] Panning for placer in a rushing mountain stream. [2J The novice forty-niner's start up kit. [3J Moss on rocks- nature's own filter-can hold a treasure! [4] Golden flecks glittering in the prospector's pan. [5] Pick up the precious flakes with a moist Q-Tip. [6] Setting your strike in jewelry can enhance its appearance . . .and its value! [7] Gold! That ""monster-sized"" nugget . . , every prospector's dream.

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You can profit your vacation...if you

It would be hard to imagine a more exciting, pleasurable, and often lucrative occupation than gold panning. You won't have to spend hundreds of dollars to get yourself started in this pastime, either ... and there's plenty of the famous yellow metal still waitin' to be found!

Back around 1849, gold panning was the major source of income for thousands of prospectors, and the average daily find was about half an ounce per person. If you could do as well today (and there's no reason why you can't! ), such a seemingly small amount of metal -which is, at the time this article is being written, priced at over $200 an ounce -would provide you with a pretty impressive day's wages!

GATHER YOUR GEAR!

Your most important piece of "mining" equipment is a good gold pan. Such a utensil can be as large as 18 inches across, but it's probably best to start with a 12-incher . . . which will cost between $3.00 and $4.00 and should be available at a nearby sporting goods store. When you buy a new steel pan, be sure to wash it to remove the protective coating, then heat it over a campfire or burner (but don't let the metal get red hot) to darken the color and make gold easier to spot. Remember to let the "gold finder" cool gradually-because you can warp a hot pan by dipping it in water-and always keep this vital tool free from grease and oil.

There's also a new plastic pan on the market that simplifies the art of gold panning a bit. In addition to being lightweight . . . the modern device has builtin ridges, which help to trap the gold. If you find that you can't locate one of these "improved" units, they can be ordered-for $4.95 each, postpaid-from the manufacturer: Garrett Electronics, Dept. RLTMEN, 2814 National Drive, Garland, Texas 75041.

You'll also need a small shovel and/or a pickaxe, a crowbar (this tool is optional but would be good for cracking open crevices and probing for bedrock), a trowel and/or spoon (to clean out crannies), a whisk broom, a large container with a wide mouth and a tight lid, glass or plastic vials with caps, a big sturdy pocketknife, tweezers or a camel's-hair brush or Q-tip, a magnifying glass, some nitric or hydrochloric acid, and a small amount of mercury.

GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT

Gold can be found-in large quantities-all over the western United States. Lesser known, however, are the gold fields of the eastern U.S. (see the longer of the two sidebars which accompany this article) . . . including some particularly rich deposits that have been reported in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Pennsylvania.

If you plan to pan on private property, be sure to ask permission to work the stream. However, national forests-and public domain lands under the administration of the Bureau of Land Management-are open panning grounds, while national parks and monuments (with the exception of Death Valley) generally are not. The rules in any of these locations may vary, though, so always check with the rangers before you start your search. And no matter where your gold hunt takes you, it's important to leave the land and streams pretty much as you found them (this, of course, includes filling in any holes you may dig).

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