Gold found in Roads and Sidewalks

A small gold nugget that can be found in sidewalk cracks.
Photo by Rob Lavinsky

The last place you would ever expect to find gold is around roads and sidewalks, but according to our spies it turns out that these are excellent places to search for placer gold. The sidewalk or road all have cracks, and a surface that is ideal for catching gold.  There may not be much, but over time the cracks can collect quite a bit of gold particles.  Another place where gold will collect is on the side of roads or sidewalks.  It has been reported to us that at least one man makes a living from the gold he collects from sidewalk cracks in New York City.

A good place to look for gold is at the sides of roads, or cracks in the pavement/
Aron C's Photos

This doesn’t only work in New York, but can work anywhere’s there are roads and sidewalks.  Obviously it will work better in places where there are existing gold mines like in Timmins, Ontario or Washington, DC that is in the middle of the Appalachian Gold Belt.  Just think about that panning for gold in the middle of our nation’s capitol.

Gold in cracks is going to require some different tools then the average gold miner would think about, although many of them can be found in the average kitchen like a broom and dust pan.  You can’t pan for gold in the middle of the road so you’ll need a plastic bad with a zip top to hold your concentrate until you get home.  Other handy tools include a paint brush, a small carpenter’s level, a magnifying glass and some kind of metal hook to get the gold bearing sand out of the cracks.  A battery powered vacuum cleaner is a nice addition, but not necessary.

Gold lurks in the cracks found in sidewalks.
Photo by Christopher Beland

The carpenter’s level is so you can check the slopes to see which way the gold has traveled.  The broom is for sweeping the sidewalk; the brush is for getting into the cracks.  The vacuum cleaner can be used in place or the broom or brush.  The dustpan is for collecting the dirt from the road or sidewalk.  The plastic bag is to put what you have collected into before taking it home where it is finished.

The major source of this gold it from what is carried onto the sidewalk from peoples feet.  It takes several years for the accumulation of gold to build up enough to be worthwhile.  On roads the gold comes from road sand in colder places, or from gold that is carried onto the road by tires.  Most of this gold migrates to the side of the road by the action of runoff, where it is found right next to the side of the road. 

There are many other odd places where gold can be found especially if you are prospecting around old ghost towns.  Some of the best places to look is where there were former salons or bordellos.  Just remember the old saying; gold is where you find it!

Gold Occurrences in Saskatchewan

Many of the people living in Saskatchewan don’t realize that the province is the largest producer of Uranium in Canada but also has or had some world class gold deposits that are found in the northern part of the province. The starting point for all this mining activity is the city of Saskatoon where many of these mining companies are headquartered. The potential of the province where the surface geology has barely been scratched is vast with many mineral deposits yet to be found.

Rumors of gold being found by trappers on the North Saskatchewan River started filtering out in 1859. These rumors claimed there were one ounce and larger nuggets being found were prevalent during the building of North Battleford. Flour gold can still be recovered by panning the river from Churchill west to Edmonton Alberta and beyond. Some stories even tell of seeing businessmen with their pants rolled up panning gold from the river during lunch hour around Edmonton Alberta.

Gold was first discovered in Saskatchewan near Prince Albert in 1859 in the North Saskatchewan River. The province began producing gold in small quantities in the early 1900s from placer deposits along the North Saskatchewan River and its tributaries. Today there five gold mines have been brought into production since 1987 with additional production coming from base metal mines mainly from around Flin Flon. There are an additional 200 gold occurrences in the province that are not being worked presently.

During the 1980 although gold had been produced since the early 1900s marked the first time that there had been a significant gold exploration program had been used in the province. Most of these occurrences are in the Precambrian shield area except for some small placer deposits draining off the Canadian Shield.

According to the Saskatchewan Geological Survey (SGS) there are still large areas in the Province that haven’t been explored especially in the Canadian Shield. To search for Saskatchewan occurrences of gold, use the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposits Index searchable database, or the Geological Atlas of Saskatchewan. Or open the Mineral Resource Map of Saskatchewan.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Saskatchewan-map.png

It has been pointed out to me by one of my Canadian prospectors whose mother was born in Battleford, SK that they mined placer gold along the Saskatchewan River flowing between Battleford and North Battleford.  Some of the miners reported they were able to recover as much as an ounce a day.