Northern California Gold Tailing Areas ?

[Cal_Cobra]

I'm new to MD'ing and would like to have some fun doing some weekend MD'ing at some old gold rush tailing dumps.

I live just off of HWY4 about 1.5 hours directly West of the Sonora area. Can anyone recommend any places around Sonora that has old gold rush tailing dumps I could check out ?

Thanks !!
Cal

 

[jkasta]

"Where to Find Gold in California" by Delos Toole. www.delostooleauthor.com

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Thanks jkasta I'll check it out. I also see a book called "Where to Find Gold in Northern California" by James Klein that looks like a good read too.

When I was a kid during the summers my family did a lot of hiking and camping in the Northern California gold country areas, and I remember seeing massive amounts of gold tailings, but that was thirty years ago

Cal

 

[dave wiseman]

Cobra,I take it your in the Modesto area?The biggest obstacle as any motherlode gold hunter knows is getting access to properties........good luck,Dave

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Hi Dave,

I live in Brentwood, near Stockton and Livermore. I remember as a kid seeing these tailings all over the place when our family traveled the gold country, but I guess it's changed. I ordered a couple of books on NorCal gold country, so hopefully they'll give some insight for areas to check out.

Thanks,
Cal

 

[dave wiseman]

Cal Cobra,are you thinking about the La Grange-Snelling area,or the Chinese Camp vicinity?If you can hook up with an experienced beeper who hunts the southern motherlode,that would be your best bet.Books won't tell what ground is open,try the Tuolomne county assesors office or the BLM in Folsom.Alot of beepers from that area post on arizongoldprospectors.com nuggershooter.com and nuggethunting.com......Ask if you could partnerup with someone in the Sonora-Mariposa areas...........Dave

 

[windbreaker]

Pick an area you would like to hunt, and get a copy of the USGS map of that area. They will show old mines, tunnels, tailings and lots of other points of
interest to people like us.

 

[tab-nabit]

It's been years for me, but I used to be a GPAA member. Used to have the mining book. Between that and a few mining shops, that got me into some areas where I detected, panned, and ran a sluice, with some success, just never did get the big one for me.