Contrary Creek, Mineral VA
Two months ago, we set out to see if the laws of gold prospecting hold true to this portion of Contrary Creek. In the first week of Feb, Sempr and I started to work on a large gravel bar between the first and second tailing areas. This is a 250' bar and is directly after a lazy dogleg bend. There is very little elevation change in this area.
 To actually find out where the gold was running, we started on one side of the creek and worked our way over to and into the gravel bar. Over the course of two months, I tracked my recovery from each day, sorted the gold by size (+8, +12, +20, +30, +50, -50) and plotted on a map all pieces greater than 5 grains with a colored flag. Below is my map showing the first dozen or so visits, about 75% of the way through the project. I ended up doing 19 visits in total, and ended up working back downstream towards the end of the bar.  Over the course of two months, I hit the creek religiously every weekend, sometimes even during the week if I could take some leave. Prospecting in February can be a challenge. The water was cold, there was ice some mornings, and a cold rain can make one very miserable. However, Steve and I continued to go out, rain or shine, and finally the warmer weather came in, and we were able to leave the wetsuits and gold weather gear at home. Rich came up for a few visits and used his 2" as well, freezing right along with us! We got some other company once the weather warmed up, like Tinpan, Butch, Adawg, Jason, and my son Chris. My son found two nuggets (not pickers, nuggets) on his second trip out. Go figure... LOL! 
 
 
 
 
 I kept detailed reports of where (on the bar) the gold was coming from, which sizes, and how much. I usually did 3 or 4 cleanups each trip (usually one cleanup per tank of gas, sometimes more), so when I recovered larger piece, I could usually tell where it came from within 5 feet or so, and plot it accordingly on the project map. This is all captured in a daily log and on my updated map. I also updated a couple of charts breaking down each size. The charts really help to show what size gold is where in this bar (within 5 feet). As you can tell by looking at the flags on the map above, there actually is a pattern in that gravel bar as to where the larger pieces of gold were lying. This is why I love prospecting. It's a little geology, a little science, some creative thinking, and hanging out with buds (rain or shine...). What a great hobby! Here are some pics of the gold recovered. Most of the gold in these photos is from this project, although there are a couple grams mixed in from our Nov 2007 outing at Bearfoot Gold, and a couple other grams from another spot Steve and I go to, but 90% of this is from Contrary Creek in the past few months. 
The gold sure adds up. Every night, I would record my recovery, then dump it all in a baby food jar. Over the course of months, it really added up. Unlike most folks, my favorite size is +20. Each piece is about the size of a piece of rice, and it seems to be the most common sized piece from this project. If anyone tells you that there is no gold on the East Coast, just smile and agree with them! Thanks for reading. |
