Bally, the flakes and dust I am getting are from the ancient glacial outwash flooding. The gold is evenly distributed throughout the sand and gravel washed away from the melting glaciers. All the dirt is "pay dirt" if you could dig straight down to the bedrock, approximately 150 feet below, and filter out the gold with every foot you go down.
However, there may be a "pay streak" where the gold is concentrated. I feel that a pay streak is closer to the bedrock in the ancient bed of a meltwater stream from the glaciers. Gold is extremely heavy and accumulates at the lowest levels. So the material dragged along in the glacial till and deposited on hilly moraines will likely have more gold underneath them than in the three feet near the surface where I'm working it.
Ultimately, working my creek is merely honing my methods to retrieve the smallest of the placer deposits spread all over Michigan's "gold belt" left by glacial drift. The better I get with the river sand, the better I will be when I'm in real gold country on a creek near the load where the gold vein is creating the placer deposits in the area. The sluice design and use are key for getting the small stuff, and I want to try to make a rocker box next. That can be used to extract gold when you aren't close to river water and have to pan from a bucket or a bin.
Actually, I just looked up "Michigan gold belt map" and found all kinds of maps that show placer deposits.
However, there may be a "pay streak" where the gold is concentrated. I feel that a pay streak is closer to the bedrock in the ancient bed of a meltwater stream from the glaciers. Gold is extremely heavy and accumulates at the lowest levels. So the material dragged along in the glacial till and deposited on hilly moraines will likely have more gold underneath them than in the three feet near the surface where I'm working it.
Ultimately, working my creek is merely honing my methods to retrieve the smallest of the placer deposits spread all over Michigan's "gold belt" left by glacial drift. The better I get with the river sand, the better I will be when I'm in real gold country on a creek near the load where the gold vein is creating the placer deposits in the area. The sluice design and use are key for getting the small stuff, and I want to try to make a rocker box next. That can be used to extract gold when you aren't close to river water and have to pan from a bucket or a bin.
Actually, I just looked up "Michigan gold belt map" and found all kinds of maps that show placer deposits.
A trail goes two ways and looks different in each direction - There is no such thing as a timid woodland creature - Whatever does not kill you leaves you a survivor - Jesus is NOT a bad word - MSB