IDAHO CITY, Idaho — I was driving up Highway 21 when I stopped at Grimes Creek to let my dog out to get a drink. That's where we discovered Nick Martinez panning for gold with his two dogs.
Martinez's process starts with digging a hole in the creek and filling his gold pan with a classifier to separate the sediment from the rocks in the stream.
WATCH: Check out the video to see the process
"I'm separating all the heavy materiel from the lighter material," explained Martinez. "This is what you would call the 'pay dirt'; the stuff with all the gold material, and all this other stuff is overburden."
From there, Martinez dumps the sediment into a non-mechanized sluice box that lets gravity and the stream do the work for him to separate out specks of gold. It works because gold is heavier than everything else.
"The gold is going to find every spot that has a ripple," said Martinez. "It is a low pressure zone so it is going to drop and get caught behind here, here, and here. The really fine gold gets caught in these really tiny ripples."
The system Martinez uses doesn't require a permit and between the sluice box, the shovel, the gold pans, and the snuffer bottle, he says his whole set up cost him $169.
"In the past two days I've found two grams of gold," said Martinez. "Right now at today’s price it is a 150 bucks. This equipment has paid for itself many times over."
Prospectors need to access rivers and stream beds on public land while avoiding private property and visible mining claims. When Martinez finishes for the day he will fill in the hole as he follows "Leave No Trace" principles.
"Just be respectful to nature, leave it how you found it and don’t trash the place," said Martinez. "If you are going to dig a hole, fill it in when you are done. You can always come back another time and continue where you left off."
Martinez loves prospecting for gold because it's a fun way to get his dogs outside. He gets exercise and he never knows what he will find.
"You might find some gold you never know," said Martinez. "You might find a nugget and never have to work again or you might just have some fun."
Prospectors that use mechanize equipment such as a sluice, a dredge or a high banker need to apply for a permit from the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
The Boise River Basin and the area surrounding Idaho City has a long heritage of gold mining. Here are some more tips I found courtesy of the Gold Mine in Idaho City.
