Sunday, March 4, 2012

Gold Etiquette 101


Of course just about everyone knows that you should never walk directly upstream of someone else's sluice box but...
What is it about gold prospectors that makes them pass up a quarter mile of good digging spots where no one is digging that day to come down and set-up right on top of the first prospectors they come across?
It reminds me of the novice or casual fishermen that move in right on top of you to the point of throwing their line right across yours ending up in a tangled mess.
I don't know about you, but when we go out to the river or creek, it's as much to enjoy the beauty of being somewhere on a creek semi-alone without feeling like you might as well be at the mall, elbow to elbow with shoppers fighting for a sale item.
We were at the Arapahoe bar today conducting one of our guided gold adventures and letting our customers enjoy the beautiful day on the creek and had intentionally picked a spot away from our usual locations... with a quarter mile of river in either direction open and available and with good gold, two different prospectors came down and set up within a few feet of our setup.... in fact their sluice was in between our sluice and where we were digging so now we have to go around them to get to the hole we were working.
So please, as we teach prospectors on our guided adventures... give other people some space and pick a place far enough from others so as not to impact their day and in the process it will make your day a little better too.
-don
Goldstrike Adventures

2 comments:

  1. Do you know if we can us a dredge on Clear Creek just west of I 170 at Hwy 58? I know that we can not prospect in Wheatridge, but not sure in Golden. Also,are part of a club and if so, how do we become a member? Diane

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  2. Hi Diane and thank you for visiting our blog! Dredging is something that is best done above tunnel 3 or over on hwy 119 on N Fork Clear Creek. The area you are talking about is a very sensative area which perception about dredging and prospecting must be considered. A good place to dredge down here on the flatlands is at Grant Frontier park or as we call it "Montana City".
    Hope this helps,
    -don

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