Treasure Hunting

The Black Rock Desert in northwest Nevada is a great place to go for any type of treasure hunting trip.  Just make sure that you take enough supplies with you and carry a lot of extra water.  There aren’t a whole lot of populated areas, and if you get too far off the paved roads, it’s pretty easy to get lost.  In fact, until you’ve spent some time there and have managed to draw your own maps of the area, it’s best not to go very far from the highway at all.  The desert can fool even the best trackers.

You also want to be careful not to intrude on anyone’s private property.  Even though the area is desolate, there are some sprawling ranches there.  If it looks like the property might belong to anyone, don’t take any chances.  You wouldn’t want someone traipsing around on your land, would you?

There are a lot of people who take metal detectors out in this area.  I’ve never done much with metal detectors (I’m more of a rockhound), but I’d like to learn more.  So, if anyone has any information on what a good ’starter’ metal detector would be, let me know.  By ’starter’ metal detector, I mean one that is easy to use and lightweight while still being decent.  I need to do some more research on it myself, but I’d sure like to hear some testimonials by people who use these things on a regular basis.

I was digging around on the Internet trying to find some more information about Opal Fee Digs and I came across this site.  There are some great pictures of Virgin Valley, Nevada, and a listing of opal claims for sale in that area.  The first claim listed on the site is priced at $300,000.  That might sound steep at first, but it’s 120 acres of land, and, apparently, there’s some uranium there, too.  Some of the claims listed there are for as little as $3,000.  I’d really like to go to the Virgin Valley area and fee dig at the Royal Peacock soon so maybe I’ll swing by and try to get some more information on these other sites.

Speaking of the Royal Peacock mine, take a look at some of these photos.  Now do you see why I want to go?  Plus, I love how friendly the whole site seems - it even has suggestions for the tools you should bring with you on a dig.

Here’s a really nice video of some mineral specimens including some tourmalines found at Hogg Mine in Georgia. I especially like this video because it allows you to see what the tourmalines look like right when they come out of the mine - these particular ones were still stuck in a piece of quartz. In addition to the tourmalines, there are some other nice specimens in the video.

Another video - the one below - from Hogg Mine shows what it is like to actually be out at the mine working. In this video, some awesome pieces of beryl and rose quartz are found. Doesn’t it make you want to get right out there and dig with them?

Sapphires are varieties of the mineral corundum.  Corundum is found in many colors across the spectrum, and all but red corundum is known as sapphire.  The red variety is known as a ruby.  Sapphires rank 9 on the Mohs scale of hardness - the only higher ranking mineral is a diamond at rank 10.  Although the finest specimens of sapphire are reported to be found in Sri Lanka and Kashmir, they are mined in many other parts of the world including the United States.

One of the most interesting varieties of the sapphire is the star sapphire.  It is so-called because it exhibits a star-like pattern on its surface known as an asterism.  

The sapphire is the birthstone for April.  Metaphysical sorts believe the sapphire to bring about inner peace and spiritual enlightenment.  It is also believe to offer healing properties for rheumatism and mental illness.

I found a nice video on YouTube showing how to use a gold pan to pan for gold so I thought that I would talk a little bit more about that subject.

As you can see in the video, there is a definite technique for gold panning. You don’t just fill the pan with water and strain it - which is what many amateurs try to do. If you’d like to read more about panning for gold, this site has an excellent instructional page.

If you want to buy a special pan that is used strictly for panning gold, you can find them at any prospecting shop. They’re also available at many places online, but as we mentioned in a previous entry, you may want to try a commercial site for your first attempt at gold panning just for the instructional advice from the people who work there. A lot of times these places will have pans that you can borrow for free or rent for a very small fee. This will give you a chance to try a couple of different varieties and see which one you like before buying your own.

As it is my birthstone, I have a special fondness for amethyst, particularly in its natural form.  It really is a beautiful crystal.  Amethyst is a type of quartz, and it is well-known for its varying beautiful shades of purple hues.  It can be found all over the world.

The name amethyst comes from the Greek word amethystos which means not intoxicated.  In ancient myths and lore, the stone is associated with purity and piety.  The ancient Greeks and Romans often made wine goblets out of amethyst to ward off drunkenness.

The gem is associated with the astrological sign of Aquarius, and it is the birthstone for the month of February.  Although it was considered rare in some parts of the world long ago, today amethyst is fairly commonplace and can be found in abundance in many locales throughout the Americas, Africa, and Asia.  Despite being fairly inexpensive overall, certain specimens of amethyst can fetch quite a pretty sum.  Amethyst miners will tell you that it’s well worth your time to look for these.

If you’d like to venture out on your own looking for treasure of some sort, it helps if you have an idea of where to go. Being very familiar with the area you’re traveling to and having some guesses can go a long way in that regard, but what do you do if you don’t have that sort of knowledge?

One thing that you can do is look for ghost towns. These are much more prevalent in the western United States than in other parts of the country because of the transient nature of Old West gold miners.  You can start by visiting known ghost towns, but keep in mine that the more people who know about a place, the less likely you are to find anything of value there.  However, knowing the general location of some ghost towns that have already been found can give you hints as to where others might be located.  Even if you don’t happen to find any interesting souvenirs to bring home, you could still get a lot of pictures out of the trip and have some fun.