# Vermont area gold panning?



## Exibar (Apr 26, 2008)

I heard that there was gold panning places open to the public in Vermont. Anyone know any details about this please?

thanks!
Mike B


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## Irons (Apr 26, 2008)

The problem with panning Gold on the east coast is that most land is privately owned. In Maine, you have to notify the State in advance before prospecting on State property. Even National Forests might allow panning on surface, unconsolidated gravel but subsurface rights are usually privately held.
I learned the hard way when I was ordered to report to the head Ranger's office because I had dug a hole.

Check the regs before you dig. Ask for permission from the landowner.

Google gold vermont.


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## Exibar (Apr 26, 2008)

I was kind of thinking of one of those places that you'd pay $40 or so and are allowed to pan for the day. Kinda like a North Carolina Gem Mountain type thing.
North Carolina's too far for me to go this year for vacation, and I'm thinking of something that's here in the new england area that would expose my kids to treasure hunting.
We go Metal Detecting on the local beaches and they love that, my son and I would absolutely love panning 

thanks!
Mike B


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## Irons (Apr 26, 2008)

I'm not aware of any pay to play except there is one or two campgrounds in Byron on the Swift River in Western Maine that will give lessons. They probably spike the pan to make sure there's some color.

In a really good day, you might find a tenth of a gram of very fine Gold. Occasionally a small nugget is found. The largest nugget ever found in Maine weighed 18.5 grams.

During the Great Depression there were hundreds of men that dug up and processed just about every cubic inch of gravel on any stream that might contain values, so it's a rare day that anyone makes a big find. There was one big commercial operation where the owner paid 300 men to cart wheelbarrows of soil down from the mountainsides to a sluice on the river. That was a long time ago.

There used to be quite a bit of Gold to be found. In the early 1900's, a man from Lewiston worked the streams in Western Maine for the whole season and staggered out come Fall with nearly a thousand ounces. He never went back and never said where he found it. People are still looking. I suspect he found a pothole in bedrock that was packed. Usually it is distributed fairly evenly over a wide area. Everyone I spoke with said the same thing; It's everywhere, but not enough to make it worthwhile without moving hundreds of yards of material.

I don't go until high Summer when the water warms up enough to be comfortable.

Go too early and your testicles won't come out for a week.


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## JustinNH (Apr 26, 2008)

Irons said:


> Go too early and your testicles won't come out for a week.


hahahaha

My friends and I went Jan 10th. Had to use near freezing water from the river to melt the frozen ground slowly. Found some gold though, so it wasnt too bad and figured out a way to pan without getting wet at all, so we didnt get hypothermia haha

Went last weekend too, between my girlfriend (it was her first time panning) and I found enough to coat the bottom of a small vial just enough to barely see the bottom. Found a good spot that the spring melting in the rivers must have pushed all of the newly disturbed gold to 

And as a side note to the original question, I do not know of any pay places, but i heard if you contact the VT board of tourism they have info on panning... Hope that kinda helps


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## Palladium (Apr 26, 2008)

http://www.geocities.com/vermonster666/places.html

http://www.geocities.com/vermonster666/gold.html

http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/waterq/permits/htm/pm_mineralprospecting.htm

http://www.vtonly.com/hstymay0.htm


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## Exibar (Apr 26, 2008)

good stuff all! thank you very much!


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## Irons (Apr 27, 2008)

A paper company owns the bed of the Swift river and they don't allow digging the banks of the river so you have to get in the water to pan. Bring winches, cables and pry bars. The bed is a mass of rocks and boulders cemented together with clay. It's hard work.
There are places where it might take most of the Summer to get to bedrock, and that's where the values are. The easy spots have been pretty well worked out but Spring flood always brings down some new Gold from the hills.

The paper companies got the rights to stream beds to float lumber to the mills in the 'old days'.

If you want to use a dredge, the State requires written permission from the land owner. It hasn't been a problem in the past but there is a new owner in town and things might change.

The Land Use Regulatory Commission has a web site where the streams that are off limits to dredging are listed.


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## cloomis (Jul 30, 2008)

The gold in vermont is 22 -24 karat ,This is the gold in streams


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## AuMINIMayhem (Jul 31, 2008)

Exibar.. I live in NH and just went recently to VT to do some panning up in Plymouth State Park.. got to pull a couple grains out that day, but there's some things you need to know about the place..

A) NO dredging allowed.. period.. (I believe it's illegal in all of VT)

B) the parking area is a little bit of a hike from where the stream is

C) the creek/stream is in a fairly steep gully (I would guess at least 3 stories down..40-50 foot drop) and I would HIGHLY suggest you go with someone, if something were to happen to you such as a slip and fall, you're S.O.L. :shock: (and no cell phone recpetion).. this is why I decided to make a hasty retreat and only pulled a couple of grains that day..

I'd really like to go back, but I will not without having someone with me. I'd be willing to shoot out that way sometime if you're interested in meeting up. It's a nice little area.. there's also panning up in the white mountains as well. 

PM me if you'd be interested in having a mini gold-rush day or something 

Derek


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