Its not all gone!

[Daveinthebush]

If you think the gold is all gone your wrong. All that yellow stuff in the top of the pan is flour gold. I did 3-4 ounces in that spot in 7-8 days.

[alpini]

I know it ain't all gone. I always take a pan with me when I go packing. I never know unless I try and besides, it's something to do. Who knows? Someday maybe....
                             Clayton

[Daveinthebush]

While many areas have been heavily prospected there are still some areas out there worth prospecting.  George and Tom Massey (The Outdoor Channel) found 800 oz. one year by dredging under a waterfall that they surmized the early prospectors could not have dammed  up and worked because it was too deep.  

As Tommy relates they worked for days removing overburden before they finally found a layer or gold on the botton bedrock that was just layered.

George also found 1200 oz. one year when he opened up a crack that was a upside down  funnel shaped crack.

It is out there.  The picture above was gotten for a pile that people ignored thinging it was a tailing pile.  It wasn't, it was a pile that had not made it into the sluice yet.

[Sourdough]

Three years ago, on our annual Moose hunt, we stopped for lunch on our way in.  Chuck got out his gold pan and washed upsome dust from the creek where it crossed the trail.  We decided to stop and spend a few days there as we went out.  A week later when we returned, we found a dozer in the creek just above the trail.  A miner was working that stream further up, and he wanted to let everyone know that was his claim.
     Then last year my son and I were running up the Salcha river.  I was having problems with one of my engines so I stopped to make some adjustments.  While we were stopped my son found three nuggets lying on the bottom of the river, in about a foot of water.

[Daveinthebush]

If the guy had a claim on Federal or state land he only has access to the mining rights.  He can not deny you access for other reasons.  The 1872 mining laws are interesting to say the least.

Sounds right about you son though. If your not looking for something is when you usually find it. :roll:

[Robert]

Any given year a river could cut just deep enough to open up something that no-one has ever seen.  And it will just sit there and bury itself until somebdy looks again.