I found gold!!!!

Actually I didn't, but my kids want to go gold panning and I know nothing about it. Has anyone actually gone, any success, any tips?

Thanks

 

I went once in Wisconsin when I was about ten. It wasn't too bad.

Where are you going?

 

Either the Fraser River or Coquihalla river in BC. I think the Coquihalla will be better as my kids won't be swept away.

Did you have any luck?

 

I did one of those cheap ones at the amusement park. With the wooden water path, and you pay five bucks to put the strainer through the flowing water. The only thing in there were pieces of gum, and a few pennies.

 

That's what started it, I went on a field trip with my son to a copper mine and they got to pan for gold. He found 10 flakes, now all the kids have gold fever.

 

Damn, I haven't tried that one yet. Gold Panning is only practice at the southern part of our country since the gold mines are mostly found there.

 

Forget gold, Take them diamond mining!

 

If they are young enough, I'd take them to a place where fool's gold is pretty common. Give them the thrill of finding something, but without the years of searching before actually finding anything LOL

 

On cable, the outdoor channel saturday, there is a GPAA program called "Gold Fever", might want to check your listings for this, they pan everywhere it seems. My little boy likes playing in the dirt and puddles, thought about puting him in to work. Cha'ching!

hth,

tom

 

Good luck!
http://www.icmj.com/GoldPanning.htm

 

Yeah, let us know how it pans out.

Sorry.

 

When I was a kid I went on what was probably the worst family vacation that wasn't made into a movie.

We did pan for gold though. We drove out to the middle of nowhere to an old riverbed and just panned ourselves. I found a few flakes, but my mom actually found a small gold nugget. It was really small, but it was still exciting.

I'd say just drive out to somewhere on dirt roads and stop at a dried up riverbed. The scenery will be better and it will be more fun then going to one of those camp places. Just take some water and something flat you can swirl some dirt and water around in.

 

Where is gold mostly found throughout the world.

 

What happened to all of that money the kids were making from their iced tea stand?

You could just take them to Africa and make them work a couple of days in a diamond mine. I'm sure swinging a pick for several hours will make them want to go back to something easier.

 

Forget the gold panning. Hire one of those electric sniffer things and go on the beach after the sun has gone down. You'll pick up more gold in lost jewelery than you will sifting for nuggets.

Ha. Only joking. Go for it but while the kids are absorbed, sneak up river a wee bit and sling some bling in the stream. They'll love it. So will your missus when she gets her wedding ring back.

 

take a few bucks and invest in a precious metals fund. You'll get gold,silver,uranium,iron,zinc,etc,etc. All that glitters is gold and more.

 

That's funny, we didn't go, planning on next weekend, the weather is terrible right now.

Thanks everyone for all the input and as for the lemonade money, they already spent it now they are on a new venture: gold.

 

I have quite a bit of experience. As a kid, I spent several summers with some professional dredgers who made a good living at it. They would hire a helicopter to drop in their equipment and trailer into remote places. I own 50 acres in Placer County, California which has produced the most gold of any county in Califiornia and still spend time during the summer dredging the two streams that are on it.

Gold panning is hard work, but as gold is so heavy, try to picture where the stream would catch gold in the cracks (or pot holes) of bedrock (solid rock river bed) and any gold will be at the very bottom of the crevice. Moss and tree roots will trap the lighter weight flakes. If you are in a gold producing area, look for black sand as it is heavy and is found with gold. Anything you see that glitters on the top of the sand is fools gold. Gold moves downward until something stops it. Bring some digging tools like a screw driver and crowbar to break cracks in bedrock to get the gold that is trapped at the bottom. River beds have carved the bedrock over thousands of years so you can find gold above the current water line where the water once flowed. Good luck.