Re: Newbie questions: ( Surveying "virgin" creeks, home panning, suburban watersheds,etc.) Long Intro !

Look for culverts in out of the way places. The ridges act like riffles in
a 
sluice box. Scoop out the concentrate & pan carefully. If there is gold in

the creek it will already be concentrated in the culvert.
Good luck,
Steve
"Andrew" <Reply@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:m6at73h59qqhs668gfk1r9b6m83912scg6@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Greetings,
>
> I am new to this hobbie although I have done some panning both as a boy 
> and recently at
> a known site. I'm located in Northern Virginia and I wonder if I could
get 
> some feedback on
> a few questions.
>
> Allow me a brief intro; I grew up in no. va. back when it was much more 
> rural and a boy was
> expected to get his ass out the door and go "exploring" in the local 
> woods - especially when
> mom got sick of you and your little brother fighting in front of the TV.
I 
> spent a LOT of time in
> no. vir. woods and creeks growing up. Also, my dad had a major in
forestry 
> and minor in geo.
> fron Penn State and he showed me a lot of things on weekend walks that
are 
> very dear to my
> memory. He never bothered to tell me about the "Gold-Pyrite Belt"
although 
> I'm sure he knew
> about it as we once made a trip to Goldvein,VA and other Faq. Co., VA. 
> locales long before the
> current museum was built there.
>
> Little did I know that the same development that gave me a house in the 
> "burbs" would soon
> see almost everything I knew or almost every site I ever played in get 
> paved over or built over.
> I'm sure many of you have your own stories on this. But,...I also know 
> that, and can see, that
> many of these watersheds still exist and in fact are county parklands or

> open spaces or
> whatever. Shouldn't many of these be worth a survey trip ? I realize 
> legality can be an issue
> here but I'm not much troubled by that because I'm not a gross or 
> destructive person and I know
> that not one person/jogger/yuppie/kid in a hundred goes more than 10
feet 
> off the bike/jog path.
> The streams, being gravity-driven, are always in the most central part
of 
> watershed easement area
> and can be amazingly private as long as you are quiet.
>
> So, begging your pardon for the long preface, here's a few questions I'd

> like help with:
>
> 1. What is the best way to survey streams that may be "virgin", i.e., 
> probably never panned,etc.?
>
> 2. Does anyone have tips for working watersheds in the suburban areas ? 
> Experience ?
>
> 3. What about home-panning? (Meaning lugging a few buckets home to work
on 
> there ).
>     I'm especially intersted in ldeas on how to do this in my own
basement 
> without ending up
>     having to s**** the drain !<grin>
>
> THX !
>
> 'Drew