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| Gold Mine off Dome Rock Road |
The desert is full of gold. Golden sunsets, gold poppies, gold finches, gold mines, and gold
placers. In fact, one of the richest
placer deposits in Arizona is here in the mountains surrounding Quartzsite. The Dome Rock Mountains to the West, the
Plomosa Mountains to the East, and the Livingston Hills to the South are all
full of gold mines and claims.
Situated in between these mountain ranges is the LaPosa
Plain crisscrossed with washes that are literally saturated with gold bearing
gravel. Between the Dome Rock area and
La Paz there are several working mines and numerous claims. The photo is of a trommel at a mine south of
Dome Rock Road. But gold isn’t
everywhere. As the saying goes, “Gold
is where you find it.” So, then,
where, and how, do you find it?
To begin with, search areas that are known to be
productive. Many times, early
prospectors and miners mapped or journaled about the gold bearing areas they
discovered. Some old maps and writings
contain a wealth of information on productive local gold areas.
Modern geology and science give us additional insights into
why gold is found where it is. While
some things about gold deposits still baffle geologists today, for the most
part we know that gold accumulates in particular areas, under predictable
conditions, and for specific reasons.
It is in understanding these “wheres” and “whys” that a prospector’s
chances of finding gold will increase.
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| Trommel at Gold Mine in La Paz |
The two principal types of gold deposits are Lode (primary)
and Placer (secondary). Lode deposits
are veins of gold-bearing ores in solid rock.
Placer deposits are concentrations of free gold – gold that has been
“freed” from its ore body by forces of nature- and deposited in concentrated amounts
in specific places. When a gold
bearing vein is exposed, natural forces erode the rock and release the
gold. Once released, gold is moved by
natural forces like gravity and water along a specific and relatively
predictable path accumulating in particular areas along the way.
Due to its weight and high specific gravity, gold has a
natural tendency to get trapped in crevices and places, like behind a boulder,
where the force of movement slows down enough for gold to drop out and
accumulate. Because of this, gold
deposits are relatively predictable within a known gold bearing area. With study and practice, the prospector can
learn how to “read” the terrain and understand where gold deposits would likely
occur within a placer area.
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| From "Fists Full of Gold" by Chris Ralph |
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| From "Fists Full of Gold" by Chris Ralph |
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| From "Fists Full of Gold" by Chris Ralph |
Additionally, learning how to “read” the terrain is good, but it is also important to get off the beaten path. Gold is here to be found, but time and effort are required to find it. Sometimes that means working areas that are more remote or hard to get to rather than the easy ones where everyone else has gone. It is worth investing a little extra time and effort to make your prospecting trips more successful. Don't forget to enjoy the desert and the other sites while you are out there. There are petroglyphs, stone cabins, ghost towns and, of course, nature, to enjoy while you are out on your prospecting trip.
While prospecting, please care for the land and fill in your holes. And always remember to plan ahead and be prepared. This is the desert, after all. Happy Prospecting!
Gold Is Where You Find It by Jenn Jedidiah Free & RocksInMyHead is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://jedidiahfree.blogspot.com.
For information and locations of placer gold deposits in and around Quartzsite come to Rocks In My Head, Space A37, at Rice Ranch. We also have a great selection of gold prospecting books, supplies, and equipment available, as well as information on how to “read” the terrain. We are open 7 days a week, November through March, and online 24-7 at http://rocksinmyhead.biz/
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| Stone Cabin off Dome Rock Road |
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