Central Montana Prospectors
Central Montana Prospectors

Libby Creek, July 3rd

Libby Creek

     One of the GPAA claims that can be prospected by a member and their group
 is called The Golden Back Achers on Libby Creek just off 1.8 miles off the main highway into Libby, Montana.

     It has been well used but a very nice claim to prospect on. It is a way down the hillside with your equipment but it can be done easily.

 

     Sluicing it up! It is wonderful when you get the sound of the rocks rolling over the sluice just right.

 

    This is a Gold Prospectors Association of America claim called Golden Back Achers on Horse Mountain in the Kootenai National Forest. It is a beautiful site to prospect on and is wide open along Libby Creek.

     When I was prospecting in Zortman at the Yellowstone Prospecting Club out of Billings Memorial Day weekend, a family from Libby said when they knew I was going, “Turn before the bridge.” This was the best advice I could retrieve from my memory because, as you go off the highway your 1.8 miles you reach a bridge. We stopped, turned right and proceeded to check out this mountain claim. It has good access to pullouts and camping spots in order to get down to the creek. The creek was rushing and full.

     The claim shows indication that many people have been there to dig and gather gold to take home or prospect right there. When we put our sluice in the water, the force of the river made for swift rolling sounds of the rocks going over the ridges and processing the gravel readily. We found many interesting rocks including leaf fossils.

     My friend, Renee McKey, liked to gold pan. She took her pan along the creek shore, scooped up gravel soon showing traces of gold in her pan. We processed buckets of gravel and have yet to check out the level of gold obtained. 

     I like to use the Gold Hog and shake my concentrate into a bucket. Renee learned how to use classifier screens to prospect. She helped fill buckets which we put into recycled plastic garden bags to haul up the embankment. Bringing all your supplies to the creek takes many trips up and down.

     People have dug way into the hillside along the creek underneath tree roots; the giant holes twisted in between the roots might have an allure to some. Rock sculptures have been left for your entertainment. No one else was there and we were able to pick mushrooms all over on the ground with wild strawberries abounding. The smell was fabulous and the sounds fantastic. Rock fireplaces are available to cook yourself up some lunch but room for many cars nestled along the roadside. A great experience for ladies day out on their own being successful with recreational prospecting.

 

Scenes on the Creek

     Here is Renee's gold pan full of black sand which means gold is nearby. Maybe it is in our bags of gravel that we brought home. Where there is black sands there is gold.

 

 

     When you prospect where other people have been prospecting as well they leave you little ditties like this sculpture that they have been there as well. Rocks make good sculptures next to your shovels. Love rock art!

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