Gold in the West: Idaho (Part 2)

Bonneville County
Over the years I’ve heard various reports concerning Bonneville County that the Snake River contains very fine placer gold at various locations. Remember, we are talking about flood or “flour” gold
The Mount Pisgah Mining District is located in the Caribou Range southeast of the community of Bone. Although the District wasn’t a big producer, nearly 18,000 troy ounces of placer gold
Camas County
Extremely rich placers were once worked in Camas County along Big Smoky Creek and its smaller counterpart, Little Smoky Creek. This whole region was a very active lode and placer gold mining
Cassia County
Fairly large amounts (over 20,000 troy ounces) of placer gold have been recovered from selected bench gravels
Some hard rock mining also took place in the county near Black Pine Mountain but that included silver as well as gold. No placer gold production has been reported from Black Pine. However, old lode areas are always interesting places to explore, especially if you’re a nugget or ore hunter
Word has it that the Snake River from the American Falls Dam for a considerable distance downstream is chock full of very fine or micron-sized gold particles (some of this stuff is hard to see with the naked eye…that’s how small it is). In the old days the area was pretty much left to Chinese miners because they seemed to be the only ones with enough patience to work and recover this sort of auriferous material.
(Note: Very good returns can be had in this area by experienced, in-the-know miners using fine gold recovery systems like mini-sluices
That’s it for this round but there’ll be more to come. Good luck and be safe out there.
If you liked this post, you may want to read: “Gold in the West: Idaho (Part 1)
http://goldbedrockgold.blogspot.com/2010/08/gold-in-west-idaho-part-1.html
© J.R. 2010
Questions? E-mail me at jr872vt90@yahoo.com
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