Searching in Sand Bars

Sand bars can be formed in a lot of ways but the most common is by the same ways the gold is deposited. A sand bar means that heavier materials are being accumulated in a certain area. If there is less dense material that has been deposited gold will as well. Regrettably, sand bars are a noticeable characteristic of a stream and because of their popularization this is normally the first place an amateur dredges in.

Because of this factor, a good number of the sand bars in gold country are worked on every single year and are barren not because they do not produce gold anymore but because they are worked on so much and therefore not enough gold can be accumulated in them for dredging.

Where Streams Widen
There are a good number of writers that have said that any area where a stream widens is the perfect place for dredging for gold. However, in many cases people do not point out that this is usually always a bedrock type of job and to be a bedrock placer worthy looking at the area needs to have around thousands of yards to work in.

Besides this after the stream broadens into this kind of area, the gold has been so distributed all over the place that only a huge operation with a bucket dredge would be successfully used in this sort of area. For those that are new at this a bedrock deposit where the stream widens is not something that should be taken into consideration. However, in smaller areas of the mountain stream it is always good to settle on where a stream becomes wider and slows during flood times because this will lead to the production of pocket placers, more specifically those that are found above bedrock.