A Very Short Lesson On Reading the River

When attempting to read the river, you don't want to look at the high water flow
as much as you do the gravel it deposits. The gold and the gravel have a
relationship to each other. Taking the time to learn this relationship is extremely
important. In my experience the old saying " big boulders ­ big gold" is pretty much
true. The larger pieces of gold will drop out with the larger rocks, your average
size pieces of gold will drop out with your average size gravel, And so on, until you
get down to the blonde sand, which will have no gold. When you look up or down
the river you'll notice the larger rocks have a tendency to lineup. With the smaller
gravel deposited to the inside of them. Along this line of boulders is where your
gold is going to start dropping out. From that point, as you move toward the bank,
the gravel and the gold will get smaller. Now there can be exceptions to this, but
generally this is the way it works. The texture of the boulders, the type of bedrock,
the size of gold all come into play, when looking for a location to prospect.

The gold will try to travel in the gut of the river ( lowest point), it will move along
the gut when it's dislodged by an object or the water flow has become sufficient to
put it in suspension. It will leave the gut only when it encounters an obstacle and
the water flow is sufficient to blow it around the obstacles. Once it leaves the guts
of the river it will be deposited where the flow can no longer keep it in suspension.
If it's a large piece of gold most times an obstacle will be bedrock. If it's a piece of
fine gold, a large rock can cause it to move.

One of the most difficult part of reading the river is when you encounter a
section of the river that has changed. When the river changes its course it will
leave high benches, or just stranded sections of river. When this is encountered
you have to depend more on the color, size, and texture of the boulders to give you
an idea of how they were laid down. At this point you are no longer reading the
river, you are reading the gravel. The gravel will provide clues to where in the old
river it was deposited. If a section of high bench has nothing but sand and pea size
gravel in it, the river you know there wasn't much flow. This will tell you, if there is
any gold there, it would have been very fine.

The river will provide you with the clues needed. The course, the bedrock, the
gravel, the vegetation, the general lay of the river, each provide you bits of
knowledge. By putting all these pieces together you will end up with the best
location to prospect. All a person has to do is be willing to take the time to look
and learn.