Maps for Gold Prospecting, Gold Panning, Gold Mining, Treasure Hunting, Metal Detecting, Rockhounding and other Outdoor Recreation activities.

Vast gravel deposits from ancestral rivers within the Sierra Nevada contained large quantities of placer gold, derived from the weathering of gold-quartz veins. Gold mining evolved from hydraulic mining of unconsolidated placer deposits in the early days of the Gold Rush, to underground mining of hardrock deposits, and finally to large-scale dredging of low-grade gravel deposits, which in many areas included the tailings from upstream hydraulic mines.

BIG TEN'S GOLD PROSPECTING AND GOLD PANNING MAPS are used by thousands of families for outdoor recreation when vacationing, RVing, camping, picnicking, hiking, biking, backpacking, canoeing, fishing, hunting, gold panning, gold prospecting, rockhounding, treasure hunting and metal detecting. They are used by tourists, schools, scouts, libraries, geologists, military personnel, gold mining companies, gold museums and real estate interests in gold mining areas. Outdoors people are crazy about them. (These gold prospecting and panning maps make good gifts. We can send them directly to your friend with a note from us saying you are the donor.)
PROSPECTING AND PANNING IS FUN! HOW TO PAN! WHERE TO FIND GOLD!

DISCOVER WHY OUR GOLD PROSPECTING AND PANNING MAPS

	Are wanted
	Save months of research
	Save money and time
	Are right for you
	Are written about in:
	Changing Times, Readers Digest, Family Circle, Popular Mechanics, Modern Maturity, Trailer Life, Retirement Life, Travel Holiday, Gold Prospector, Lost Treasure, Rock and Gem, Western and Eastern Treasures, Southern Living, Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Charlotte Observer and other magazines and newspapers.

GENERAL GOLD INFO 
A one ounce gold nugget will bring $2,000 to $4,000 on the collectors market.

Per a letter from the Department of Agriculture, no permit is needed for recreational gold panning and gold prospecting in the general national forest areas, provided no machinery is used. Our gold prospecting and panning maps show many national forests with gold deposit sites. 

The gold prospecting and panning maps tell you how to pan for gold, where to look for gold in a streambed and how to tell fool's gold from real gold. You can quickly learn panning by following the gold panning instructions on your map.  Some people like to pan for gold at public rights of way where bridges cross gold-bearing streams. Treasure hunters use their metal detectors in gold prospecting and to hunt for coins and jewelry at the rural churches and schools shown on the gold prospecting and panning maps in the southeastern states.

You will enjoy prospecting and panning in the Southeast as the maps guide you to the mining and prospecting locations. A streak of gold mines and gold prospecting sites extends from near Montgomery, Alabama to Washington D.C. The gold was placed there when Africa overrode North America about 250 million years ago. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Alabama have many gold mines and gold prospecting sites. These states were our main domestic source of gold for 45 years before the 1848 California gold discovery. In 1837, the US Government established gold coin mints in Georgia and North Carolina, rather than transport the raw gold from the southern gold mines to the Philadelphia Mint. Prospecting and panning information for each state will be found by clicking on the links in the left-hand margin of this page.

The largest true California gold nugget weighed 54 pounds. A 195 pound mass was also found. The 6,600 gold mining and gold prospecting sites shown on our six California gold prospecting and panning maps are continuous from Mexico to Oregon and to the Arizona and Nevada state lines. All gold mines and prospecting sites on the gold  prospecting and panning maps are from official geological records. Recreational gold prospecting and panning in California is a very popular hobby. Prospecting and panning information for each of the six California gold mining and prospecting regions will be found by clicking on the gold prospecting maps links in the left-hand margin of the page.

We do suggest, however, that on first viewing, the pages shown below be viewed in left to right sequence prior to getting into the prospecting and panning details for each state or region.  

Underground mining of placer deposits (drift mining) and of hardrock gold-quartz vein deposits produced most of California's gold from the mid-1880s to the 1930s. Another important source of gold from the late 1890s to the 1960s was gold-bearing sediment, which was mined using dredging methods. More than 3.6 billion cubic yards of gravel was mined in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, where the dredging continued until 2003.